Tag: Procreate

Werewolf Storyboard

My next practice exercise in illustrator Martín Tognola’s Animated Illustration in Procreate: Tell a Story with Movement Domestika course is to use word lists, mind maps and a ‘visual data dump’ to come up with an idea for a short looping animation.

As I’ve been thinking about my Baring Gould centenary show in Horbury’s Redbox Gallery for a while now, I’ve skipped the word list stage and gone straight on to a visual mind map. I’m a visual rather than word-based thinker.

I realise that I’m not short of potential material.

With mid-Victorian factory smoke and steam in the air plus the ‘Flame and Flood’ in the title of the novel inspired by his time at the mission at Horbury Bridge, I’ve got the basis of a swirling movement to frame the snapshots of Baring Gould’s life and literature that I’d like to include.

What, Who and Where-Wolf?

storyboard

Martín suggests looking for a not-too-obvious but not-too-obscure middle ground solution for an animation idea. His example is for an illustration to accompany an online editorial article but my animation will be stand-alone, so I’ve gone for instantly obvious versions of each idea, answering the questions what, who and where:

  • Baring Gould’s ‘Book of Werewolves’ clunks down into the frame and an assortment of historic werewolves pop out from the pages.
  • Carrying his carpet bag, Baring Gould, the new curate, arrives by steam train at Horbury Station, steps out of a billowing cloud of steam and introduces himself by doffing his hat.
  • We zoom in on a graphic version of the Redbox Gallery.

The Redbox Gallery sequence would be along the lines of the film production intros that precede a movie. I’m thinking of the intros that have a graphic, hand-drawn look such as those for Bad Robot and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free production companies.

Frame from hand-drawn animation for Scott Free intro, in which a running figure morphs into an eagle.

Redbox Format

If I’m technically able to show my animation in the Redbox Gallery, a former telephone box, a screen aligned in portrait format would be the most appropriate. To make the animation Instagram friendly and more versatile in general, I’ll set it up in Procreate in a square format but make sure that the main action is always fits into a portrait-format rectangle.

Canada Goose

Canada goose spread

This morning a skein of 60 or 70 wild grey geese went over, heading west. Our local Canada Geese meanwhile had gathered on a shingle bank on the quiet inner bend of the meander of the River Calder around the marshy field known as the Wyke.

Canada goose

This is my final spread for my Naturalist Animal Illustration with Procreate Domestika course by Román García Mora, drawn on the iPad in Procreate.

Canada goose

Canada Goose Plumage

plumage studies

Canada goose plumage swatches, drawn on the iPad in Procreate for my Naturalist Animal Illustration with Procreate Domestika course by Román García Mora.

Fur and Feather

fur and feather textures

Fur and feather textures drawn for my Naturalist Animal Illustration with Procreate
Domestika course by Román García Mora, using some of the virtual brushes he created.

Fur Balls

Back to my animal illustration course and today we’re making our own Procreate brushes to represent animal hair. It’s the equivalent of using a fan brush or an old splayed brush in traditional watercolours.

Bag and Brush

brush

Barbara’s mum and her friend used to go into town on the access bus on a Friday morning and she’d often come back with a brush. This bannister brush from Wilko’s was a bit of a bargain at £1.49.

camera bag

I drew the brush and my camera bag in Procreate on the iPad, using Procreate’s Technical Pen.

A Leggy Pelargonium

pelargonium

We’ve had this pelargonium for more than a year, so it’s not surprising that its now looking leggy undernourished, but the leaf-scarred stems make it more interesting to draw.

Drawn in Procreate with the ‘Technical Pen’, a plain no-nonsense virtual pen.

Pelargonium

Pelargonium

After a year, our zonal pelargonium is beginning to look a bit leggy.

Drawn in Procreate on the iPad using the Tinderbox virtual pen from the Inking section. Having got through all three of my PenTips 2 soft Apple Pencil tips, I’m now back to a plain Apple Pencil tip but the canvas texture of the PenTips Magnetic Matte Screenprotector is working well for me, an improvement on drawing on the iPad’s glass screen.