daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Hi all! I’ve been doing quick sketches and doodles on my iPad almost every day (even if it is for just a few minutes) for a while now, but now that October has started, I thought I would give Inktober a try. I’m not going to use ink, nor follow the official prompts, but I’ll just try to do a more “complete” sketch every day. So, without further ado, here are my first two sketches:
One of the aspects of drawing on the iPad that I love is the ability to select and adjust the positioning of facial elements. It’s really difficult for me to draw it right (or even get close) the first time. So I have to move eyes, noses, and chins around till they look right. And then I’ll have to step away for a bit, or maybe even a day or two, before looking at the sketch again with fresh eyes and then see if I got it “good enough” or need to work on it some more.
It’s a process that takes a long time overall, so I have several drawings going at once. It’s all a lot of fun though, and rather than being frustrated at not being able to draw it right the first time, I get a lot of satisfaction when I realize that the drawing has gotten even just a tiny bit better. Little improvements! ☺️
I hope you had a good day!
こんばんは。How’s it going?
I’ve been working on a few sketches, the latest one completed is above. All of them are extremely simple and the time I spend with pen-to-paper (or stylus to screen) is short. However, I have to work on it over several days because I need “fresh eyes” in order to see things I want to change about the sketch. I’ve changed my process to add these breaks between working on a single sketch and I think my work has improved, or at the very least, I’ve saved myself some frustration.
What used to happen is that I’d work on a sketch for a couple of hours, and think it’s done, so I upload it to Instagram or Artstation, but then a while later, I’d notice something that seemed “off” to me. But by that time, the posted sketch would have received a few likes and so I just kept that version published. It was frustrating! Or more commonly, I’d export a sketch from Procreate and edit it in Lightroom/Photoshop, but then while in Photoshop, I’d notice something I want to change and then go through the process again. And again. And again!
So now, it’s better to just take my time, have several sketches in different stages, and alternate among them. After all, there’s no urgency to publish/post, is there?
In other sketching-related news, I ordered a matte screen protector for my iPad Air 3. I used to have one for my iPad 6th Gen, but when I upgraded to the Air, I went with the naked glossy screen. But I missed the texture of the matte screen when drawing, so I went back with the matte protector. The colors might not look as vibrant, but the drawing experience is much nicer, in my opinion.
またね～！
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today was a relaxing Saturday for me. I didn’t spend it napping, though… I actually did a few fun things all at home indoors, so I kept myself somewhat busy.
For the cooking part, I made tortilla chips for the first time ever. They weren’t completely made from scratch, but I made them from a big package of corn tortillas in the freezer. I’ve found corn tortillas are pretty much useless for tacos after defrosting from the freezer and only somewhat salvageable for enchiladas. However, they are great for making chips! Basically, I cut each tortilla into six pizza slices, then deep-fried them in a skillet. It took a while to get through the bag of 36 tortillas, but now we have a decent bag of chips to use for salsa or nachos, and they taste excellent!
For the drawing part of the afternoon, I finished a profile portrait on my iPad. Profiles are a real challenge for me, but I am pleased with the final result:
I also finished a book in record time. I had seen the movie Crazy Rich Asians last year, but just this week I borrowed the Crazy Rich Asians eBook from our library and plowed through it in three days. It was a fun read! The book is even better than the movie, which I also enjoyed. I am looking forward to the rest of the trilogy, which I have on hold at the library.
And finally, I watched the Japanese movie Kids on the Slope 坂道のアポロン. It was pretty good! I loved the setting of Japan in the 60’s.
So that was my Saturday.
I hope you also had a nice one!
またね～
p.s. Today’s photo is just of the items on my desk next to the monitor. It’s not very exciting or interesting, but I think it’s okay to document the mundane things in life. When I think back to our old house or even our apartments in Japan, I wish I had more of these simple images.
こんばんは。I wanted to share my latest iPad sketch that I worked on the past week off and on. Please enjoy the time-lapse video at the bottom of this post!
またね～
