Friedrich Poppl's Ruling Pen Minuscule 2

This is a close up section of a rendering of the Latin phrase "verba docent, exempla trahunt" which means "words instruct, illustrations lead." 

This illustration emulates the Ruling Pen Minuscule 2 script of German calligrapher Friedrich Poppl.  His font dates from the 1960s.  I am creating this work on an iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil in the Adobe Draw app and opened in Photoshop to create texture and embossing.  This is a work in progrss, so I am not sure how it will conclude.  I envision a poster and in a different color.

Apart from admiring Poppl's work, I admire his determination.  Here is a short piece on Poppl's challenging life as an amputee and prisoner of war.       

The Oh My of the Apple Pencil and iPad Pro

For years my traditional artist friends have talked about the failure of digital art to provide the sensory experience of traditional media.  I, of course, felt that the graphic sleekness, all colors available, lightening hot learning environment was more appealing from the moment I first began to work in digital art (I'm not the digital art advocate for no reason).  If I thought it before - well - I am now swooning over the new Apple Pencil and iPad Pro.  And the idea of using Astropad, a $20 app, to draw simultaneously on my Mac without a Wacon Cintiq (13" $999+) is pretty amazing.  Oh my, this really is something to look forward to!  

Just Drawing What You See

I started reading the Creative License by Danny Gregory, and I am encouraged to sketch, sketch, sketch whatever is in my line of vision. Here is a beloved old chair in the corner of my livingroom. I made this chair sketch in Sketch Club on my iPad1. It seems that Brushes is often considered the top art app for iPad (e.g. Mac/Life recently described Brushes as the app that has "pretty much owned the 'art on iPad' niche.") True, I don't doubt, but it is not my cup of tea. Sketch Club is one of my favorites, for particular purposes such as graphic sketching. ArtRage is my top pick for serious painting due to texture and the ability to mix paint. Here is a thumbs up for a terrific little app with some powerful features - much more than a simple sketch can convey. Let me say, however, I have not participated in the club sharing feature of this app. It would probably be fun, but I haven't had the time in the last year. Maybe I will go there next.