DigitaL art
Technology became an essential part of our life in the past decades. I personally find it fascinating how many new opportunities it opens up not only in the day to day business or personal activities, but in art too. Below you can find a collection of my take on works using a variety of digital tools, sometimes combined with traditional methods.
Cézanne still life
It all begun with an exercise. Master studies are a great way to learn techniques of color, composition and tones. The point is not to take over or appropriate someone else’s style completely, but to extend our palette that we can choose from.
Paul Cézanne strived for a renewal of traditional design methods on the basis of the impressionistic colour space and colour modulation principles, which had a huge impact in flipping 19th century art scene upside down and leading the way towards 20st century cubism.
His still life painting of apples and pears was my first ever reference to a digital painting.
Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch, 2021
Rembrandt selFie in gray
The next step in my digital journey was experimenting with portraits, and with who else then the Dutch Golden Age painter, Rembrandt, and his self-portrait.
Instead of a true visual match my goal was more to visualize the mood I was getting from the original painting and to ensure his signature light and dark contrast is present throughout the image.
Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch, 2021
Digital concept of a city
Later on for a brief moment I turned towards concept art principles and replicated a tonal sketch about city view from a highway. This technique by itself is less of my style, but the toolset I’ve taken away from this experience is what I still use during the planning phase of my bigger works.
Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch, 2021
elderly man
Expressive portraits have been my first love soo it was inevitable that I would create a few digital pieces leaning towards this genre as well.
The depicted elderly man in his hat was a regular model during my art studies.
The main difference between the previous works and this one is that I switched to using an Apple iPad and apple pencil
Procreate, Apple iPad and 1st Gen Pencil, 2022
the Shadow of old times wears a hat
The multiple brushes and tools available in these digital softwares is what makes digital art so variable and interesting yet affordable when it comes to space and environmental impact.
Dry medium brushed like pastels and charcoals created a papergrain-like effect and visual interest on this gray scale figure study.
Procreate, Apple iPad and 1st Gen Pencil, 2022
Digital plein air study I.
Technology allows us to travel all around the world from the comfort of our computer chairs, and that is exactly what happened here. Using a random Google Earth view generator webpage I came across the reference for this study. The painterly affect is achieved with multiple layers of lower opacity brush strokes.
Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch, 2021
Digital plein air study II.
Virtual plein air is a fairly new genre. It originates from the term Plein Air (fr. en plein air – outdoors).
The original technique rebelled against the rigidity of academic art. With painting outdoors, in direct contact with nature they managed to depict the changing appearance of light accurately as weather conditions altered.
Thanks to the efforts and like-mindedness of Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille, a new era begun in the late 1800s.
Now virtual or digital plein air is gaining popularity in the circles of digital artists due to it’s convenience.
I mean, rain is not very likely to fall inside the house and fingers getting rigid from the cold should not be an issue either in the comfort of our studios.
Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch, 2021
exhibitionism in color
It was just a matter of time after getting to know traditional and digital techniques till I started combining the two. Exhibitionism originally started as three-piece oil series but after the first monochromatic definition of shapes I was stuck. I decided to create a photo of the painting and play around with the coloring options in procreate and this is exactly how this expressive hybrid piece was born.
Oil on canvas + Procreate, Apple iPad and 1st Gen Pencil, 2023
Physical and digital prints are available for sale.