Which Digi Brush?

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

Followers of this blog will know that I like to take a break from the more serious side of photography by playing around in Adobe Photoshop to create some kind of arty picture using a whole host of edits and layering etc. I tend to go for abstracts which entails a multiplicity of transformations from the original photo but I also like how Photoshop also can create illustration styles with the merest of adjustments

Photoshop is by its nature a very ‘hands off approach and so more recently I’ve also been using the the Zenbrush3 app on iPhone/iPad which is more tactile in that with a touch sensitive screen, finger or stylus/pencil can draw:

“with the feel of the East Asian ink brush which can be used to perform calligraphy, ink painting and more.”

At first I aimed to try and recreate those lovely minimalist brushed outlines of Japanese and Chinese paintings but soon realized I have not the flair or patience for it.

Instead I discovered that the various brushes, colours and watery textures could also make abstracts!

Not only that but the facility to import drawings or photos into a ZB3 layer gives so much more scope

For a while recently I’ve eschewed colour and gone to the basics of the line drawing

In art, a line is a fundamental mark or stoke that defines the shape, contour or outline of a form and can convey, motion, direction or emotion ~ Source

Lightroom and Photoshop can also combine with ZB3 so the scope of the digital artist is ultimately not a this or that choice but having it all.
[And with all this digital art work piling up I’m going to have to add a gallery to this blog – watch this space!]

Every which way but loose!

Photoart Friday: and having some fun with edits and apps

23 thoughts on “Which Digi Brush?”

  1. Laura I applaud, appreciate the artist who plays with the raw unknown. It is the artist who draws me as much or more than result as such. My own leaning is more to alter the well enough known thus to find a newer way to see what already is. Giving more to the machine just becomes more machine to me. Not the conversation I want to have. (sort of no one home, I mean)

    Your 4th, that Asian inspired B&W, is the side I call home. What’s that term applied to food… Asian infusion. Classic and modern, one in the same. You said no flair or patience – but I’d say well spoken, although patience I can’t address. I like that one very much, whatever is true enough.

    I hope I can be as adventurous in my writing. Sometimes I do. Often, not so much as I mean to be.

    1. #4 styles leave me speechless in their original art forms by the masters and perhaps that is why I am reluctant to emulate (and why I too never try with haiku). But to reiterate your words: “altering the well enough known thus to find a newer way ” is the draw(!) of these digital edits

      1. It has transformed to house building ideas, interior design, garden design etc as we are building our home. A long process that is absorbing me fully. Hopefully this summer we’ll move in.

        1. it is an exciting and absorbing time for you Marina as well as one that can use all your artistic talents – will you have a studio room there too?

          1. Indeed it is!
            For now it’ll be in my room but soon I’m planning to build a kiosk in the garden. The other room is the music studio. Honestly, trying to combine everything to fit our needs is a challenge!

  4. Lovely explorations and experiments! I had the misfortune to try Photoshop when very young, so now all the other stuff just looks foreign to me. A lot has changed as well, with brushes for it now getting just replaced with AI.
    Looking forward to seeing the gallery.

    1. many thanks – you probably have greater expertise with PS than me as I subscribe monthly and only delve as far as I need to go – there is so much more to explore but I dilly-dally around most virtual stuff!

      1. While I think there is no best way, or one way to do things – from my persona experience, dilly-dallying on my own is still a very fulfilling way to learn and explore a digital tool. It feels like fueling my own creativity, as opposed to trying to ‘copy’ something else ( which has its own lovely merit as well), so its what I appreciate seeing from other people as well, like your creations 🙂

    1. You tend to be a very tactile artist with the 3-d dimension too which Digi art struggles to reproduce but I do try to avoid that flatness so thank you for your encouragement.
      And thanks also for pointing me towards your coiling, cascading dragon – not sure how I missed it but so happy to catch sight of it now

  7. The energy flows quickly and easily through these…the red. gold and black abstract appeals to me very much. Zenbrush3 sounds like fun thanks for posting this.

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