A Beginner's Guide to Digital Drawing

Painting and sketching have always been my hobbies since childhood. Art gives me an outlet to express my thoughts and imagination. I have always been on the lookout for different forms of art medium, various forms of crafts that I can try. Recently, I got started with digital drawing on my iPad. For most of us who don’t have the patience to draw on paper or canvas or are just not good enough of an artist, digital drawing is meant for all creative people regardless of whether you can draw or not!

HOW YOU CAN GET STARTED

USE THE RIGHT KIND OF IPAD AND APPLE PENCIL

I personally use an iPad Pro 10.5 inches with a 1st-generation Apple Pencil ($99).

The 1st generation Apple Pencil is compatible with the following iPads:

• iPad Air (3rd generation)

• ‌iPad‌ mini (5th generation)

• ‌iPad‌ (7th generation)

• ‌iPad‌ (6th generation)

• ‌iPad Pro‌ 12.9-inch (2nd generation)

• ‌iPad Pro‌ 12.9-inch (1st generation)

• ‌iPad Pro‌ 10.5-inch.

• ‌iPad Pro‌ 9.7-inch.

The 2nd generation Apple Pencil ($129) is compatible with these iPads:

• ‌iPad Pro‌ 12.9-inch (3rd generation)

• ‌iPad Pro‌ 11-inch

I recommended buying the cheapest iPad if you just want to use it for note-taking or digital drawing. The 10.5 inch is the best size for drawing since all the toolbars are accessible easily. The 2nd generation Apple Pencil has a sleeker design and is more pencil-like and it can be charged just by attaching it to the side of the iPad. If you just want to get your job done, go with the 1st-generation one. It works as well as the 2nd-gen.

Affordable alternatives to iPad are Wacom tablets. They come with their own branded pencils and applications to write it. There are several Dell laptops that can be switched to tablet modes and can be used for drawing.

USE A MATTE SCREEN-PROTECTOR FOR IPAD

Use the PaperLike Matte screen-protector for your iPad. It gives a more paper-like feel and you Apple Pencil won’t skip. I have experienced that my Apple Pencil sometimes skips when I use it on my glass screen-protector. A cheap alternative to the PaperLike screen-protector is iCarez Anti-Glare Matte Screen-Protector from Amazon.

WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEOS

If you’re getting started and are a complete beginner with digital drawing (like me!), I advise watching a lot of YouTube tutorials. I did a lot of research on good YouTubers. These are the ones I recommend:

• Art with Flo - she has a series called “You Can Draw This” where she goes in detail about the techniques, kind of brushes to use. I recommend following her tutorials to get started since it is really easy to follow. She also gives away free brushes and color palettes in each of her videos. The duration of her videos is around 30 mins long.

• James Julier Art - this guy is basically the Bob Ross of digital drawing. His videos are so calming and relaxing. The soft background music that usually goes with the theme of his drawing serves as meditation for me. His videos are 30 mins long too!

• Gal Shir - his videos don’t have VoiceOver and can be hard but I recommend him nonetheless after you’re somewhat comfortable with the brushes and layers.

• AmandaRachLee - I usually follow her for bullet journaling but she has some digital art videos. She uses Microsoft Surface Pro for drawing and uses the Krito app (an open-source free drawing app compatible with Mac). So if you want to get a different perspective, go check out her videos!

USE PROCREATE

Procreate is hands-down the best app for digital drawing on the iPad. It comes with a variety of pre-made brushes. It is really easy to use the app. It is $9.99 but it is worth it! Watch Art and Design on YouTube. They have beginner guides and tutorials for Procreate where they go in-depth about the different components and features in Procreate. Their videos are about 10-ish minutes long. Play and mess around with the brushes and learn from there! Apart from that, Procreate has a Youtube playlist with helpful tips and tricks. Go check out Procreate Folio if you want your work to be showcased. There are online forums and discussions for the digital artist community.

Good alternatives to Procreate are that are available on the App Store are ArtBook, ibisPaint X. You can also get free brushes from the BrushesforProcreate app or on the Gumroad website. Have a look at this website for a list of free brushes.

USE PICTURES AS GUIDE

Something I have recently started doing a lot is making digital portraits from pictures. You can always import a picture. Add another layer and start tracing the picture. Reduce the opacity of the picture to be able to capture those finer details on the tracing. After you’re done tracing, start adding colors from the picture. Drag the picture away from the drawing and long press on the picture to pick the colors. After that, shade the regions. Don’t forget to use the blend tool to blend the colors.

USE PINTEREST FOR INSPO

I always look at other people’s works for inspiration. Use Pinterest for inspiration if you’re ever stuck for ideas. Or don’t forget to just look around you to find objects to draw. A nice sunset or tree in your backyard can be good objects to start with. It is a good way to start drawing from home.

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Digital drawing is easy if you get the hang of it. Everyone can draw digitally. It is definitely a lot easier than acrylic or watercolor painting since you can get custom brushes for drawing different features. It is a lot more accessible. Since it is digital, you are obviously able to save it on all your devices. You don't have to worry about having endless supplies and paper. When you are more comfortable with digital drawing, don’t forget to make a portfolio to showcase your skills. Have fun drawing! Remember everyone is an artist! If you have any questions or want more tips/advice on digital drawing, feel free to reach out! Send us your drawings too, we admire artists! :)

Love,

Kuhu