Some of My: iPad Art, and About Printing My Own Art

*I draw and paint with my finger on the screen, rather than use a stylus. 

My first intentions for seeking out art apps to use, were to do some simple illustrations for some of my poems. Yet, here I am a couple of years later doing much more than this; and quite taken up with this new way of doing my art.

Most of my studies and training are in traditional fine arts, and English literature (and Art and English teaching studies); and painting on a glass screen (unless doing a mono-type on glass) is not something I ever envisioned.

However, art, in whatever way I choose to do it, always plays – when possible – a large part of my (and possibly for many of you) everyday life. The longest I ever put down my pencils, was for nearly a year after the birth of my first son – thirty one years ago. Due mainly to sheer exhaustion and the overwhelming and mostly delightful roller coaster ride, of the first year as a mum.

From iPad Art into Print

It’s funny with my iPad art – the “original” lies within the iPad. A print is the only way to extract this work – which I do regularly; sometimes via laser printing at my local “officechoice” store. In more recent times (2019) I do most of my own printing in my home-studio. You can read more about this here.

This way, I get a good idea of colour and tonal qualities – important considerations, for many artworks, whatever method or media used. And of course, for my iPad drawing or painting, to bring one to completion, printing it is a vital step – a print becomes it’s final home. Certainly not all of my iPad art is printed and shared with others; nor are many of my drawings on paper- seen.

Apart from a few exhibitions and selling my art (traditional media) and my handmade books (colour copies of watercolour and line) locally over the years; to sell my art has never been a high or even low priority. Presentation of my work usually involves just tacking it up around my home, as an ever changing gallery of pictures.

Printing my iPad Art (and Some Scanned in Works) at Home

I hope to begin next year, making “archival” quality prints at home, and I’m in the process of searching around for just the right printer. The basic home printer I use, and in particular my laser prints do actually, give quite good colour reproduction and it does help me see how my art looks brought out into the daylight. 🙂 Printing from home is already good fun; and I look forward forward to doing a lot more of it. *Update: I’ve experimented further with printing my art at home; you can read more about it on my page, “Printing iPad and Traditional Art”.

This is a collection of some prints, that I printed at home, sent via my iPad to our wireless printer. However, the black and white drawing, on the stand, I drew straight onto the small canvas with my black water-soluble Derwent “Inktense” pencil. Excitedly awaiting a set of 24 of these gorgeous pencils.

Sometimes I have attached a print to a small canvas and put gel medium layers on it (as I did to the one on the far left) Quite like how it intensifies the colour…The tiny one, laying down, began as a “inktense drawing”…then scanned it and added colour in the “Art Set Pro” app, then printed it again.

I’m experimenting more with beginning works on paper, scanning them in with my iPad, using the “Scanner Pro” app; then adding some more work on them in an app – then reprinting them. Or begin, in an art app, print it, draw on it…and on it goes.

When it comes to presentation and/or selling an artwork, whatever the media used, there’s a fair bit to consider: the effects of light, archival properties of prints, framing, venues for selling art….As I plan to make more of my art available for purchase, I’ll be looking at these areas more closely in the coming months.

 Hope you get to draw or paint this week, whether on: paper, canvas, iPad – or an android tablet. 🙂