I've been sharing my artwork online sine 2016. Initially I posted some old charcoal drawings just to see what kind of response I'd get. Since then I must have changed my art style about 7 times.
However changing from physical drawings to digital art was when things really started to change for me. The speed I could create a piece of art in on my iPad was incredible and allowed me to create a LOT of artwork and gave me tonnes of content to post in a short space of time.
The speed and volume of content is what allowed me to build my business, but something has always been nagging me in the back of my mind. And that has been a feeling that if all our devices suddenly went away, my work would be lost forever. Digital art for some reason has never felt 'real' to me, it's always felt intangible, something you can't really hold in your hand, despite being able to print each piece.
Each print almost feels like a colourful, clone, a counterfeit.
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or the fact that I'm yet to have a family of my own, but the feeling of wanting to leave something significant behind has been in my thoughts a lot. I think that's what we all think at some point, some might argue that's all we are on this planet to do, our purpose, is to pass something, anything, on to the next generation.
This all seems a bit deep, but these thoughts have led me to want to create something, real. That even when I'm gone, can still be enjoyed and seen by someone, anyone.
The only way I know how to do that is to create physical artwork again.
I bought a cheap acrylic set, with brushes, off amazon last week and I've been having a go at creating my style of artwork on canvas. It's been difficult to adapt so far but I'm making progress. Here are my first 2 attempts.
The main difficulties for me is just getting used to the physicality of the work. Allowing the paint to dry, how much water to have on the brush before applying the paint, creating consistency within paint strokes. These are things that nobody tells you about painting. You can be the best artist in the world but if you don't know how to use the tools, you can never achieve the vision you have for the work.
Another issue is that the style of art I developed on the iPad was very clean looking. I created this style because of the precision the iPad allowed me to have. Perfectly straight lines, blocky, consistent, sharp, almost robotic. But real art, doesn't allow for perfection. In reality things are messy, rough around the edges, which is precisely what gives each piece more character. I don't think my 'block' style is going to transfer over as well as I'd like.
My style of artwork has to work well on whatever canvas I'm using, physical or digital. And I have no problem trying something different.
I'm going to go back to an old style of mine that I didn't explore as much as I'd have liked to. A style of art that was minimalistic, but striking. A style that I LOVED. See image below.
I think this style of work is going to look great on canvas. The fact that nothing on this piece looks perfect, that the piece actually looks hand painted and not AI generated, is drawing me in (pun intended). So for my third attempt, I'm going to re-create this Israel Adesanya piece. We will see how it turns out..
Cally
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