This week I have two special digital paintings created in Procreate 5X. Both of these paintings were created using custom brushes and textures. Hope you like them!

While I talking about brushes, some folks have emailed me asking how I create my paints. So I assembled some tips;

1. Before I start a painting, but after I roughed up major themes, I assemble 3-11 reference images. Very few images are based on one picture / photo. I like to take parts of images and then blend them. I do the blending in Adobe Photoshop or in about 30% in Procreate 5X.
2. Most of my paintings start with darker colours and I “rough out” solid blocks or areas of colour. Then I will start to cleanup shapes and add basic details (but not too detailed.
3. In order to simulate acrylic or oil brush strokes, I always start at first on low opacity and then work up to higher opacity. A good example is pet fur. You have to build it up slowly. Then as you build the fur texture up, you can add fur that is reflecting light and shadows.
4. Part of building up colour is creating shades and tints of colour. Simply adding black or white to colour can make a big difference.
5. Textures and texture brushes can be custom created from pictures of rocks, scans of brooms and other household items. I buy about 70% of my brushes as it saves me time. That said creating digital if fun and there are many different ways to customize press sensitivity, angle of the brush, colour dynamics and technical specs that are complex to most people. Experimenting is the key.

This is just 5 quick techniques or tips that I use. Eventually, I will record videos to show people how I paint. The challenge is some paintings take many hours and condensing it down to 3-5 mins or at most 15 mins.

Lastly, many of my digital paintings are available as prints. They vary in size from

8 1/2” x 12” to 24” x 36”. I have 3 common sizes that are priced very low for now. To be honest, my goal is to get my art out in the world and build a following.

Have a great day!