iPad: Caprice Bohémien

I did this little painting using Sketchbook Pro on my iPad mini. No, she's not Esmerelda.

It's a cleaned-up version of this very messy sketch, which I did (in extremely low light) while listening to Rachmaninov's Caprice Bohémien at a WASO Concert. Don't get me wrong, WASO is fabulous and the music is beautiful, but it makes my mind wander, and if I occupy my hands in response to the music, I can focus on it a lot better. Plus, the person sitting in front of me had the most enormous head ever, and blocked out a good two-thirds-plus of the stage.... and his wife had big hair, so I could only see about three violinists and the double bass, and occasionally the guy on cymbals. >.<

I quite liked the sketch, so when I wanted something to work on while watching tv I snapped a photo of it and took it into Sketchbook Pro. It's quicker working on the computer (and I'm much more polished with that) but I can't lounge around by the heater and watch tv in the evenings if I'm using the computer – I have to sit all alone out in the office. =P 

The linework isn't as clean as usual, so I haven't put up a colouring page on my website, but if anyone would like it, here's the linework on its own so feel free to have a colour – please don't remove my logo or web address, claim as your own or use for profit, but please do have fun!

You can find more colouring pages on my website.

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro on an iPad mini, using a Wacom Intuos Stylus. Slight saturation adjustment in Adobe Photoshop CC.

Portrait: Joan Blondell

Here's a portrait of the fabulous Joan Blondell - initially an exercise in doing a colour portrait from a black and white reference photo, and in using the iPad.

I did most of it using SketchbookPro on my iPad mini, with a Wacom Intuos stylus, but as my reference was also on the iPad, I couldn't see it and my work at the same time, so the likeness was atrocious. I then took it into Photoshop in my computer and fixed it up a bit so that it actually did look like Joan Blondell. It languished for a while before I did that, but I dusted it off and finished it yesterday.

Here's a progress animation compiled from screenshots I took while I was working on the iPad. I had a lot of fun doing the hair! All bar the last (final) stage was done using the ipad:

Autodesk SketchbookPro for iPad, iPad mini, Wacom Intuos stylus, Adobe Photoshop CC and a Wacom Intuos 3.