How to make easy patterns to use on clothing and products in Redbubble.com

I was recently watching tutorials on Youtube about digital art and the free art program Medibang Paint Pro was mentioned. I downloaded it and came across a useful pen for making patterns. The pen is called Rotation Symmetry Pen.

Within days of using Medibang Paint Pro I was creating some really amazing patterns and I decided to use them on products in my Redbubble shop.

Today I created a Hippy type pattern.

https://www.redbubble.com/people/rusty65/works/30734724-pattern-3

Another experiment tracing using a small Wacom tablet.

I felt like having another go at tracing from an inkjet image (masking) taped to my small Wacom graphic tablet.

The reason was I have had a really bad virus for the past week and didn't feel up to tackling anything needing too much effort from me. I'm working on some really good digital paintings at the moment which I'll show in another blog in the coming weeks.

Anyway, I've been watching Youtube videos on digital art and the free graphics software MediBang Paint Pro 13.2 was mentioned.

I downloaded it and really enjoyed using it in my simple way of producing digital paintings - it suited my technological skill level very well, as I don't understand many of the advanced features of some of the free graphics software programs I have installed. I am still painting on one layer at the moment, unless I need a top painting layer to trace a background layer below.

Anyway, I attached a B&W inkjet copy of the painting "Indolence" by Guillaume Seignac to my small Wacom tablet, making sure the woman's face was in the central area, so I could capture as much useful detail without having to move the paper.

This was as much detail as I could get before having to make the canvas bigger.

After making the canvas bigger, I repositioned the A4 B&W inkjet image on the Wacom tablet and then had great fun trying to zoom in and out and move the image around on screen until I matched the position of my pen hovering over the A4 image.

I did a bit more work then accidentally lost my position and struggled to get it lined up correctly.

I am more than pleased with my attempt to capture as much detail as I could using this method.

I think this is an improvement on my last effort and I could work some more on this image digitally by eye (no more tracing needed, as the hardest part of the painting is already done), or I could print this onto cartridge paper and continue in paints or maybe charcoal or pencil? There are no limits, I might be cheating, but it's fun and you end up with some really good images. (I mainly trace portraits, I can draw boats, small figures and landscapes by eye. If I had the time I could draw a portrait by eye, but I have a busy life and see no reason to waste valuable time I don't really have).

By the way, there was one slight problem I encountered - my nib has worn down quite a bit. This could be because of the drag on the paper. I looked on Youtube and found you can make your own nibs easily, so I'll probably have a go at doing that.

Can you digitally recreate an Old Master painting?

I'm only beginning my journey into digital painting, but I figured that I should be able to tap into the skills I have learnt over the years painting with acrylics to enable me to produce a finished digital impressionist copy.

I chose to carry on with a piece of work that I already had. About a year ago I sketched a copy of Claude Monet's 'Argenteuil 1875' onto a piece of brown cardboard that was cut from a cereal box. I then started to paint the picture using inexpensive acrylic paints. I got so far and didn't get back to finishing it off.

Over the past two months I have been experimenting with digital painting using Gimp 2.8. So I scanned my cardboard sketch/initial painting onto the computer and set about finishing it digitally. I mainly used a texture brush for the majority of the painting and a smoke brush for parts of the sky.

I'm very happy with the results, and it didn't take too long to complete. I especially like the pastel effect I got in the background. I think digital painting is well suited to impressionistic paintings and I will be producing many more in the coming months. I'm am also keen to try copying really Old Master paintings from the 1500's onwards.

Some people might question why I would want to copy Old Masters instead of producing digital fantasy art. I would love to be able to produce digital fantasy art, but unfortunately I don't have the ability or such a strong interest as others might. I enjoy art history and love reinterpreting paintings. I feel that art from the past still has a place in the modern world. It stands the test of time and is still
popular and appreciated by many people. I find I am learning all the time and consider it very valuable to revisit the past by copying Old Masters. I would argue that my own work can only improve by looking at how an expert from the past tackled a particular passage in a painting.

Ballpoint pen sketch on cardboard.

Acrylic painted image (cardboard).

Finished digital painting (computer).

Can you paint in a traditional way digitally?

Well I've been having a good go at it over the past couple days. I've photographed half finished works of art and am now working on them digitally. Below are the fruits of my labour so far. they're not finished, but you can see where I'm going with these. It will take a lot of work to finish these pieces, but it's much easier than using real paints. I feel really motivated and am keen to see the finished results.

I'm still using Gimp2 at the moment, even though I have quite a few other free graphics programs that I could use. The main reason for this is that I don't want to waste time learning new software when I've been using Gimp2 for years. Having said that, I am only recently painting digitally with Gimp2, before I would edit scanned pieces of work before uploading to Redbubble.com

How do you become a digital artist?

Expanding on my Carbon Paper Trace Monotype methods, I’ve now started to continue artworks using digital painting techniques for the first time.

I am very surprised at the results I’ve achieved so far and will most likely use this method with most subsequent CPTMs.

Workload productivity can be increased as a result because there is no need to set up paints and other art materials, plus a large area of space is no longer required; just the room for a laptop, mouse and graphic tablet, which could be used on a kitchen/dinning room table or at a library for example.

The example below was pinned to my kitchen wall and photographed as the scanner was out of action (because the printer part was out of ink!).

My copy is after Carl Reichert’s painting – Head of a German Short Haired Pointer.

Carl Reichert. (Austrian 1836-1918).

Once I had the Carbon Paper Trace Monotype copy in Gimp2 I began copying the original image – which I had open next to mine in a separate window.

My copy is not complete yet, but look out for the finished work of art on Redbubble.com

Tracing using a graphic tablet.

The Art of Tracing.

Normally I trace using carbon paper and get really good results, however I recently thought of securing an inkjet image on top of my small graphic tablet with masking tape to see if I could trace that way.

My first ever attempt at doing this is below. I wouldn’t say it’s easy to do, but it is possible. The main problem I encountered was when I needed to move the paper a bit to start tracing a new section. I found I had to move the image around on the screen until it corresponded with the position of the pen hovering over the graphic tablet. With practice it is a viable option for tracing, but I think it works best for images of people or animals rather than objects like cars or motorcycles. I haven’t tried to trace a landscape yet, but I can’t see a problem and it might be possible to produce a convincing charcoal type drawing.

Try a shabby chic style paint finish for your artwork.

Recently I have discovered a way to get a nice shabby chic style paint finish on cardboard which is an ideal background for graphic artwork. The result I got reminded me of photos of ancient Roman frescoes.

First I painted some white acrylic paint onto some brown cardboard cut from a cereal packet. I let it dry a bit for about 5 minuets, then made some really strong tea (2 tea bags, no milk, with a little boiling water in an old cup). Using a sponge, I dabbed the strong tea onto the painted surface to make different patterns. Then I tonked the painted surface with newspaper and found some of the paint came away. Now another way to remove some paint which would be more reliable, would be to use a damp sponge, as you are more likely to get predictable results. On some occasions tonking with newspaper onto acrylic that is too dry may result in newsprint being left on the painted surface (the wrong way round).

If required, the shabby chic background could be scanned and used digitally as a background to graphic art using the layers feature on image editing software. Gimp2, a free downloadable image editor is available on the internet for PC's. Using Gimp2 it is simply a matter of first opening your background image, then open the graphic image you wish to use on top of the background, as a layer. Do this by choosing File and Open as Layers. Now from the menu bar choose Layer and Transparency then Color to Alpha... and press OK. Your image will now merge with the background. It is best if your top image is graphic in nature e.g. line art (or plenty of white background if using a coloured image). I would advise making your top image darker using curves or levels so it is not too faint on top of your background image. The background image could also be made lighter with ease and colour saturation and lightness can be altered. Images can also be made sharper easily enough using Gimp2.

Shabby chic background. (Acrylic and tea on brown cardboard.)

A coloured image with a white background, was added on top of a cropped section of my shabby chic painted background, using layers in Gimp2.