Does anyone plein air here?

[Bryan Wang]

Hi everyone, hope you all are having a great weekend so far. Was wondering if anyone here goes plein air painting or knows of painting groups that meet in Southern California. I would love to get together with other painters to paint the landscape. Here is a painting that I recently did from reference using the heavy paint app on a 2018 iPad Pro. I like the app so far because it seems to be closer to traditional painting as opacity and line variation is not the focus of this app. I’ve been digitally painting for more than 5 years and really wonder if there is a way to brigde the gap between learning how to paint traditionally thru digital media. I know there is no substitute for squeezing paint out of the tube and applying it on canvas. What do you guys think? Is mimicking traditional looks on digital a mute point or is digital painting ripe for a completely new look that one day might be mimicked traditionally?

Cheers,

Bryan

P.s.

You can see more of my artwork on Instagram @drawingitout

instagram 

[Kim Rosenlof]

I think it looks really nice! The textures are nice, and I like that you used minimal strokes, but you can tell what it going on. I don't live in California, but I know that sometimes I will see community or continuing education plein air classes advertised at local colleges. Art teachers from schools may also know of groups that get together.

[Bryan Wang]

@Kim-Rosenlof thanks! Yes thats a good idea will look into it and update you if I go and join.

[Coreyartus]

I know that the Urban Sketching movement is growing rapidly nowadays, and the ease and convenience of digital has a lot to do with that. New "on-site" tools and advice are being developed all the time.

https://www.creativebloq.com/how-to/create-digital-plein-air-paintings
https://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/plein-air-painting-on-a-tablet
https://magazine.artstation.com/2020/07/plein-air-painting-in-procreate-with-mike-mccain/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6q_X5T30sA
https://paperlike.com/blogs/paperlikers-insights/en-plein-air-urban-sketching-ultimate-guide#kot7kaq9v3-

In my opinion, work that embraces the "digital" aesthetic will result in imagery that only digital can create. So from a certain perspective, photo-bashing and photoart (digital images that use photographic assets and manipulate them) might be the closest one can get to a purely "digital" expression. Even with traditional photo collage, it's impossible to achieve some effects without using digital tools.

Regarding whether it's irrelevant to create traditional looks using digital tools: I think it all has to do with the purpose and function of the resulting image. Is it for a type of commercial work that wants a traditional feel? Is it for a specific demographic of collectors? Keep in mind that digital tools have enabled a huge shift in the nature of the workflow in many different types of industries, and conversely the traditional art world has continually needed to redefine what is "traditional" and what isn't (look at your various Art Fair applications and their stipulations on what they'll allow as an example). The lines between the two are getting more and more blurry all the time.

So no, I don't think creating "traditional-looking" work digitally is pointless. I think it depends on whom you're making the work for, what you plan on doing with it, and where you imagine it's going to end up.

I also think, however, that there's a specific kind of consumer that marvels at how "real" digital work looks, and that's the same kind of consumer that thinks the closer to photographic realism a piece can get, the better it is. Witness all the digital art that looks like photography. I think the movie industry, for example, is still stuck in the "more realistic = better" paradigm, and as much as we've moved toward that there is also a burgeoning desire to express and experience stories using Symbolism, Expressionism, Abstraction, and all the other isms that can't be replicated with "real". Children's Illustration is the field that embraces this paradigm the most, I feel. The recent animated Spiderman movie that embraces non-realistic appearance as a storytelling tool is an example of the desire to see work that isn't embracing "Pixar-Realism". There are ways to use digital tools that can render results that only digital can create, and validity in making those expressions.

So I guess there's value in both, honestly. Making something look as traditional as possible is awesome, but making something look digital is also great. I wonder if you just need to figure out where your balance is and what you want to do with what you make.

[Bryan Wang]

@Coreyartus Thank you Corey. Your answer was really helpful. I’ll definitely be referencing the points you made and also thank you for adding the links.

[davido]

@Bryan-Wang I am often trying to achieve traditional methods in digital, mainly because I want to work seamlessly in both formats. Originally I tried to to go digital first, but felt like so much of the instruction was geared to more conventional cel shading or was limited by digital stamping brush engines.

So I ended up just starting my own journey in traditional painting and am now looking at realistic digital painting apps to work out of. Just curious, have you tried any of the other realistic painting apps? I have been seeing some positive feedback on heavy paint. But curious if you might have tried out Rebelle (although I believe it is desktop only), and if so any opinions vs heavy paint?

[Bryan Wang]

@davido Your comment about trying to work seamlessly between digital and analog is a point well taken. You’ve actually made me think how these apps can help with developing compositions and actually trying new techniques and looks to traditional artwork. The benefit of digital I think is that it gives the flexibility of trying new things that would be too time consuming or expensive to try in traditional media.

I have tried a lot of art apps for the ipad. The ones that I think are closer to traditional media are ArtRage, Artset Pro, Adobe Fresco. I haven’t tried Rebelle but I checked it out after you mentioned it. Looks promising.