Over the last few years I’ve shared a lot of illustrations, from sketches to vector art, pixel art, and paintings. But up until now, almost everything that I’ve posted online has been created digitally. It’s all done by hand of course (no gen AI images in this house)! But I’ve made all of it using programs like Procreate, Illustrator, Aesprite, and Photoshop.

I absolutely adore digital art! I think that the flexibility and versatility that it affords is wonderful. The fact that I can do a graphite sketch, an oil painting, and a watercolor piece all in one program, all with the same tool, is so impressive. It’s a real testament to the hard work of the engineers, artists, and designers that develop these tools.

There’s something so casual and low-pressure about opening up a program, like Procreate, and digitally doodling for a bit. It really got me to draw more and casually experiment with new mediums and art styles. If I want to experiment with painting, I don’t have to bring out all the supplies and prep my workspace. I just grab the tablet and mess around with colors and brushes. It’s not perfect, and the cost of entry is much higher than it should be, but digital art is something I love to make. And I’m sticking with it, despite AI unfortunately muddying the waters.

But that’s not where I started! Long before I ever bought my first little drawing tablet, I practiced traditionally using the ol’pencil and paper. I won’t go into my whole history with art, that’s a story for another time, but I will say this; Whenever I start learning a fundamental principle of art (form, perspective, anatomy, color theory), I do so traditionally first.

Most times I just practice with simple tools, like a pencil or a pen and some cheap paper. I have stacks printer paper in my desk filled with form and perspective exercises. I’ve filled sheets of cheap newsprint with tons of gesture and anatomy practice. They’re all just quick exercises, none are “finished” pieces. And that’s mostly what I wanted to make this post about; Making art for art’s sake.

At the end of the day, I just love exploring different mediums. It’s kind of how a musician might like practicing different instruments. It’s genuinely fun to figure out what one medium has in common with another. What does ink have in common with watercolor? Or what do oil pastels have in common with acrylics? It’s a fun puzzle. Learning about one medium can teach you more than you’d expect about another. So let’s take a quick look at few pages from one of my sketchbooks where’s I’ve done some medium exploration. This time it was with graphite!

In the above image, I was messing around with a few different kinds of pencil. What’s their value range? How can I apply the graphite to the page? I even used a black Prismacolor pencil (a wax based colored pencil) to see how it compared to the graphite and carbon pencils. I almost always include a couple eggs and spheres, maybe an eyeball or two. Just little mental shortcuts I use to test shading and technique.

As you can see, it’s a chaotic mess! But that’s the point! I want to see what the tools can do, regardless of the outcome. Here are a few more:

In these two, I’m mostly just continuing what I started on that first page. Creating a bunch of random organic forms, and seeing how I can use the pencils to define them. Then I’ll crank up the complexity a bit:

These images use a mix of reference and imagination. The goal is to use the medium to explore more complicated forms. This is where things can get a lot more fun, but also a lot more frustrating. Oftentimes what I draw just doesn’t match up with what’s in my head. But that’s totally okay! That’s the fun of exploration! You might stumble on a good sketch, or a gremlin sketch. But either way, you’ve learned something AND you’re a step closer to understanding the medium.

That’s the main idea I wanted to get across here. The process is the fun part! For every beautifully rendered painting in a gallery, there are dozens and dozens of sketches and explorations that you’ll never see. A million pictures to learn, one in the frame. The learning is the toughest part, but it’s the best part too!

Anyway, that’s enough rambling for me. I hope you draw today, and draw just to draw! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next month!