My sister wrote me an email a couple of days ago about the digital paintings posted in Unexpected Development.  She said:  “I’m not sure I really understand how it was created, but I’ll read it properly again later.”  I didn’t explain how I painted them in that post, so I thought I’d do that here.

A very important accessory for painting on the computer is a Wacom tablet, or some device that allows you to use a pen on a pad in much the same way you would a pen on paper.  This is a photo of the Wacom Intuos 3 tablet I use.

Wacom Intuos 3 Tablet

You can see the pen in the photo; the pen tip facing up and the eraser (just like you’d expect) is at the other end.  The pen has pressure sensitivity, so that the harder you press, the thicker the pen or pencil or paint stroke is.  The sensitivity of this response can be adjusted to however you want it.  For example, if you want to have a quick flow from a thin line to a thicker one, you can set it to be real sensitive to slightly harder pressures to create that thicker line.  And you can set a maximum thickness you want it to go.  It can also be made to respond to tilting the pen as you draw, so that it responds very much like a pencil or paintbrush would when you tilt them.

If you want to draw something, you just draw with the pen on the sensitive pad in the middle of the Wacom tablet and it comes up on the computer screen.  To erase, you flip the pen around and use it just like an eraser. The pads come in a range of sizes, from 4″ x 6″ up to 12″ x 19″; the one shown above is 4″ x 6″.

The Wacom tablet works with Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many other software applications.  I’m using Adobe Photoshop.  I saved jpeg snapshots of some of the stages as I painted the Horse Chestnut, so I can use these to show a little how it was done.  I don’t have anything saved from the earlier part of creating it, but here’s the first snapshot I have.

1st Stage of the Digital Painting Of Horse Chestnut

I sketched the horse chestnut using a fine simple line that varied a little with pressure applied to the tablet.  And then I applied color with different brushes.

2nd Stage of the Digital Painting of Horse Chestnut

The choice of brushes in Photoshop is a huge topic so far as I can tell.  The essence of it is that you can choose the brush type, size, and variation of brushstroke.

There seem to be an infinite number of ways to arrange a paintbrush.  The idea is that you choose a pattern and size and when you paint with that pattern it repeats itself over and over again as you drag the brush across the page.  You can choose from a set of patterns that are delivered with Photoshop, but you can also add patterns of your own.  And these can be anything, and I mean anything, you want.

3rd Stage of the Digital Painting of the Horse Chestnut

The amazing thing is, that when you choose a pattern, let’s say of what appears to be completely random dots arranged in a swirl, and then you drag it across the page, it can create a brush stroke that is totally unexpected.  By selecting and adjusting, what is at first, a dazzling number of attributes, you can dramatically change the way a particular pattern displays itself when painted on the page.  This means that there really are no limits to what can be achieved, but it also requires lots of experimentation to become familiar to the point of making the computer brush more intuitive to use.

4th Stage of the Digital Painting of the Horse Chestnut: leaf closeup

Depending on the type of pattern and attributes you choose, the paintbrush can be made to look like airbrush, watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylic, and anything you care to invent.  Figuring out which brushes do what can be quite the inventive part.

6th Stage of the Digital Painting of the Horse Chestnut: leaf close-up

Colors and brushstrokes are added layer on layer just like with traditional painting, until eventually the final painting emerges:

Digital Painting of Horse Chestnut

I’m excited about using the computer because it allows me to experiment with different mediums, such as pastel, oil, airbrush, for example, that I could not otherwise use.  My intention is to create art using traditional artistic principles, through the medium of the computer, to produce paintings and sketches in much the same way I would if I were working directly on paper.   As I learn more I’ll share my discoveries here.  I’d love to hear any comments you have.