A learning curve
When starting the masters course, I knew there would be a steep learning curve for the digital artwork aspect and anatomy learning, the last four years I had spent going at my own pace and using almost exclusively traditional mediums. I did not expect to take to it as well as I have though. The structure and pace to a digital project is totally different as to how I would approach a traditional piece. It could maybe be equated to working out how to do something in maths, except the polygons are not being calculated by myself and it looks a lot prettier.
Usually I would be working with oil paints, and to tackle a painting I would break it down into stages. First would be the drawing, I prefer to sketch on canvases with a biro pen as it makes me focus better I have found. Then I would go in with a base colour, something off-white so the values in the painting aren’t skewed with a bright white background. After that would be an underpainting, which, at some point, accidentally turns into the actual painting.
Working digitally is a completely different kettle of fish however. With this, if I am working on something 2D, I will sketch something out with a pen or pencil, then trace this outline or mock up in Photoshop. I find this to be the best drawing software I’ve used, much preferred over Procreate, though I think that is just because I have not spent as much time on that software. Then I will move over to whatever software is best suited, but this would usually be within the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. This software I find to be the most intuitive, and make the workflow much smoother. For 3D work, I might sketch something first, but it will be a lot looser. I actually find modelling something quickly out of playdough, clay, even a putty rubber helps me to think in a 3D way. Then to the software, which would most likely be in the Maxon One suite, or Blender.
What an invention the ‘undo’ button is! Painting taught me to not be too precious about my work, and so if I need to change anything, I am not scared to try it. Digital artwork taught me to make copy after copy of work before doing something I’m not entirely sure I can reverse if it goes wrong. The two meet in the middle to help push the workflow forward at a steady pace. I have a lot of learning still to do, especially what all the software can do in the Maxon One suite with the Unreal Engine and Redshift.