A Procreate Journey
I bought an iPad and got procreate here's how it's going
Hello friends, stars and random folk! It's been ages, I'm sorry for that. I have ADHD and get a lot of great ideas then lose interest or forget about them and end up abandoning them, poor ideas.
The newest hyperfocus is making Art on my new (in November) iPad using Procreate, the Logitech crayon, onelab, and a paper-like screen protector from Amazon. I will link to my new tools (and inspirations) at the end of this post.
At first, I was extremely overwhelmed by Procreate. Despite my fairly adequate experience with 2D art, Photoshop, graphic design and more, Procreate still left me sort of floundering. However, I was also intrigued and curious because I have seen a massive amount of truly incredible work done on procreate; so I started to play.
It took me a while to even begin to grasp the basic tools. The number of brushes and settings were both massive and felt somewhat foreign coming from the creative cloud suite (which I haven't touched in years). I was a complete noob.
But eventually I figured out a few fun tricks from trial and error as well as lucking into a few reels by Procreate users. I was building momentum.
I also was extremely busy when I first got the iPad and stuff so I didn't really have time to really dedicate to learning a new OS, format, app and periphral. But I chipped away at it. I did get inspired by a light installation I helped build for 8 weeks and created this piece. It's titled after the area of the installation “Into The Sunset:”
And I think the beauty and joy this image instilled in me helped keep me from fully giving up on making art on my ipad. Listen I bought the thing firstly because my 12 year old son got an iphone and I didn't own any iOS devices.
Unfortunately for another month after the winter holidays, I got sick, depressed and anxious. So the iPad sat pretty neglected while I hid away in Stardew Valley. But I kept it close and it patiently awaited my return.
Then something shifted. I genuinely don't know if it was one thing or some magical combination of several things but someday in February I picked up Procreate again. I could look up the date but it doesn't matter.
What matters is that suddenly I couldn't stop making art on my ipad. In the last month I have made literally dozens of canvases on Procreate as well as made several edits of those canvases on the OneLab app, which is the most wild and powerful image editing app I have ever used.
I also started sharing a lot of this work on my various social medias because sharing inspiring, beautiful art is revolutionary when the house of cards is crashing down around you.
Then the other day I was looking at my Instagram profile and saw my Substack link. I figured it is the perfect place to more deeply share not only my finished work but also the time-lapses, thought processes, challenges and triumphs I face with each new piece. Giving those who want it a deeper more personal view of the art and artist. And more importantly creating a record for myself to reflect on down the road.
So, that, dear reader, is why I have returned. I may still post other things if I feel inspired but right now I am inspired by Procreate.
Here is a gallery of several pieces I have made so far. Some are good, some are messy, and they're all imperfect, like me and by me.
Love, Julia Star ⭐️
Inspired by Art with Flo
Case and screen protector
