Designing With Procreate

Well January has been a busy month for me. Very productive! I have been going full tilt on my iPad with Procreate and with each new project it gets easier and easier, not to mention fun.

I have been working with AI in finding ideas for drawing and have discovered the joy of Scandinavian design. I actually own a few select china pieces with ther same style of art. Have had them since the 80's when I discovered them at a yard sale. Fell in love imediately and since then they have been my pride and joy. Yet I never thought of creating similar images. Makes me wonder what other treasures I own that are worth recreating. I have been probably overdoing things with the blue and white colors but I always seem to come back to that color scheme. It is so soothing for me. I do hope potential customers agree. When I am not creating in Procreate I am working with AI to get new ideas on what to draw. It really is working well for me. I use my generated AI images as a reference tool aas I draw freehand but I admit there are things I just can't do so in those situations I trace till I get it. In the case of the above images I tried and tried but could not get the knack of the pine cones so I traced one and the others were easy to do after that. I just need that guide to get started.

The patterns are all my own idea. I only use AI for inspiration of the images within the patterns. AI (for me anyways) really isn't very good at patterns. You can note my OCD in the straight lines. I am trying to break of that habit but order is much more appealing to me. Probably my own personal flaw. I have quite a few more ideas waiting in the wings for other Scandinavian designs and although I admit these images are pretty predictable in the patterns, there are a few I will be trying to have a more free design. Right now I am working on birds on tree limbs I want to have a more scattered look. We'll see if I can do it. ;)

So with the creating part of my life moving along nicely, I have also added Instagram to my social media for promoting. I signed with it only for the tutorials on Procreate but quickly learned that if I am going to have an account I should be using it so I have started uploading links to my Redbubble and feel they are being well recieved.

I am sort of at odds with Pinterest right now but I am sure I will get over my anger with them and will move on in time. Meanwhile I haven't been uploading to them or repinning anything. I have had my Pinterest account for many years, since they first started up and have loved to use it for ideas on jewelery making and other crafts, not to mention recipes, home design and gardening ideas. I save these links in my Pinterest account because I actually do intend on using them for reference or a learning tool. Many are saved as a sort of dream board too. Anyways they sent me a message a couple of weeks ago that they removed one of the pins I saved in my crafting board and if they have to remove any more they will close my account. I sent them back a message telling them I didn't even know which pin they deleted but it for certain wasn't one I created. If they want to threaten to shut anyone down, it should be the person who created the pin in the first place. I am merely doing what they created the site for and I certainly don't save anything that is illegal or immoral. I am merely repinning creative ideas in my boards and if they aren't going to even tell me which pin it was that they removed I can't even defend my repinning it. Well they responded to my message saying that their decision remains. If they find me repinning something else they deem to be inappropriate then they will have no choice but to close my account. I still fail to see what they find in beading and sewing ideas to be inappropriate but I am apparently a bad person for liking home crafting.

So now I am feeling uncomfortable about investing any more time uploading to Pinterest I am thrilled to have come back into Instagram and also happy to see how far it has come. I still go into Pinterest but I don't feel safe to repin anything. If I really really want to keep a beading project or recipe that I find there I go to the page and bookmark it in my browser. I am thinking of going through back pins and doing the same with some canning recipes and a few more pins I always go to for reference. I just don't trust that they will now find another repin from long ago to be politically incorrrect and then close me down for good as they have threatened.

In the POD side of life, I am still with FineArtAmerica and I do promote them in X/Twitter but still not sure if they are worth hanging onto. I think my art is going in another direction where it might be best to switch to Spoonflower with all my new patterns. Probably best to do that before I have 30 or 40 images to upload at once rather that the dozen I now have. Less time consuming and frustrating. Redbubble will continue to be my main bread winner for now as it is the biggest seller so they will continue to get the prime promotional work. I just wish I didn't have to do any of it but then what artist does enjoy that part. At least with IG I get to see what others are creating and feel a bit envious of their talents. hehehe I hope you are enjoying the freebies in the bow brushes I am sharing with you. I am thinking of sharing a few of my seamless texture brushes for free download soon. I'll keep the bows there also for you to enjoy but I really enjoy using the texture backgrounds I am creating and feel it is something others might enjoy working with too. So stay tuned for that to happen. Not sure when that will be. Well that is all on the creative side for now. Bob is still doing great and both of us are eating healthy and exercising as much as we can in this cold weather. We had an exercise bike delivered yesterday from Amazon so today Bob will be busy building it and then we will both take half an hour out of each day to ride it till we can once again walk about on the property. That could be well into June though. Remember shortly after the spring thaw we get to enjoy Black Fly season here in New Brunswick. Always something!!!

Till my next post

All my best

Leslie :)