Two Different Fruit Growing - Two Different Methods

Attempting again to work in my journal, I managed this page of lemons at their early stage of growth.  I worked this thinking and writing about Terry and Travis as they headed to Key Largo for the first time.

Timing was evening before the sun set so there were no real shadows to capture.

Fabriano Artistico / TWSBI 580R w/#Urban Grey ink

This is the stage of our first grapefruit tree, which is a Ruby Red.  It was planted two years ago and I thought I'd do this before Terry pulls all the fruit off in order for the energy to feed the tree itself.  We read it's best to do this the first two years of growth.  Terry did say he might leave a few on the tree but hasn't made up his mind yet.

Procreate using the Gouache brush tool

This is early afternoon in very bright sun showing strong shadows from over-hanging leaves (as seen in top left leaf) and from the fruit itself on the leaves.

One of the positive attributes of working digital is the ability to render color pretty true to life.  Unlike fighting with paint trying to mix the right color and with me seldom hitting the right combination or mix.  The other major plus for me with digital is the blending attribute.  I can't say it enough how much I love blending.  You can take your time without fear of paint drying too fast as you try to blend your colors.

Although I do not plan on giving up on pen and ink and watercolor, I honestly feel I've found my niche in digital art.  Unlike other mediums that have both advantages and disadvantages, I have yet to find any disadvantage I can state with digital.  If there is a disadvantage to it, it's in how people (particularly traditional artists) might view it as an art form.  To me it's just another medium we have in being creative with its own set of techniques and challenges.  

For me, I feel so much more relaxed while at the same time challenged with selection of brush tools and how best to apply them for various textures and results I'm hoping for.  There is no fear of messing up and having to start over again (which I don't handle very well and often just say forget it).  You are free to experiment along the way without having to start fresh with each trial and error....just create a new layer and if it works, keep it and if it doesn't, delete the layers.  There's no rush trying to beat drying time for various techniques to work properly.  There's no long wait for paint to dry before being able to move to the next step.  And there's no frustration with color mixing to get the right color nor fear of mixing mud.  It does take more time (at least for me) in working these sketches/drawings versus using watercolor (as an example) but that's a positive for me.  There's no major set-up involved or space requirement for a work area...plus no clean-up afterwards.  You can work anywhere.

And as much as I love graphite, even rendering graphite digitally is a positive over traditional because there's no fear of smudging like traditional graphite.  I tend to often work right to left (which may sound strange to most people as I'm right handed) and I'm always dealing with smudges and having to clean up afterwards.  Then have to spray the page which can have mixed results depending on the spray I use.  I am very sensitive to smells/fumes, etc. and always have trouble even if spraying outside.  And here in Florida, spraying outside you might find a bug stuck to the page as it dries.  

So, yeah.........I'm finding I am leaning more towards grabbing the Ipad and Apple Pencil before pencil, pen, and brush on paper.