I recently re-introduced a daily art practice into my life as a way to deal with what I call “being a funk”. I wanted to explore this personal creativity while learning two iPad apps: Procreate and Adobe Fresco. I had learned Procreate several years ago, but had stopped using it in favour of a hands-on art journal practice. I used that practice for learning about the power of mistakes and imperfection, intuitive creation, exploring styles and much more. Through this practice of producing art on an [almost] daily basis, I gained the knowledge and confidence to express myself and develop my artistic voice. As a graphic designer, creating collages and mixed media art became an efficient and satisfying method of making complex visuals to use in my art licensing/graphic design creative process. I would meticulously scan and composite these images in Photoshop to create large abstract artwork that I have successfully licensed and sold around the world. But the process could become unwieldly and time consuming [and quite frankly, tedious]. It was time to find a more spontaneous and intuitive way to work!

That’s when I took the plunge and bought a new iPad. I am going to share with you my own [new] method of creating collages in Adobe Fresco in this class Digital Mixed Media Collage in Adobe Fresco. In this class, I am going to demonstrate how I now create visually appealing digital collages from sourced online free images, and “natural mixed media”, without the entire scanning and compositing stage.

Let’s take the time to practice our skills by completing a project together. Each one of my practice-based projects follows a variety of processes from start to finish until we end up with new “natural media” pieces. At the end, I have several captivating designs which can be used in a wide range of projects, from greeting cards, to pillows, to flags and wall art; really just great pieces for my portfolio and art licensing. Through the process I have learned to use these two programs and I have strengthened my creative muscles… bonus!

Adobe Fresco entered the iPad art and illustration scene with significant buzz in approximately late 2019, with the feeling of real paints and pencils. This was game changing, and I am so glad I bought the new iPad to do it justice. There are so many fun brushes, from realistic watercolor brushes that spread paint and water like a miracle in front of your eyes, to wet oil paints that can mix with paint already on the canvas, and tons of brilliantly designed pixel brushes, and even scalable vector brushes. It's actually quite amazing! You can even import your favorite Photoshop brushes!

Now, I must say that using these tools in isolation would be criminal. You can combine these tools like never before, like a real mixed-media artist, just as I have always done in my art journals. You can do this too! When you start playing and experimenting with the digital tools your mind will be blown. You can make a mess without getting messy and without having to wait for paint and water to dry. In this class, I'll show my unique method of using Adobe Fresco to create alternative pieces of abstract art, mixing up the tools in delightfully intuitive ways. I've created 6 comprehensive step-by-step lessons where I take you through powerful brush and technique combos to make bold, adventurous and fun pieces of artwork.

These lessons are the perfect place to flex your creative muscles and work in a spontaneous and intuitive manner. This class is for you, whether you are a professional artist/illustrator or you just want to make art for fun. Check out the inspirational example work I mention in Lesson 1, and just imagine what you'll be able to create after completing this class. You don't need to know how to draw, or even have ever worked with Adobe Fresco before. All you need is an open mind, the willingness to learn and take risks, and the drive to have a ton of fun! You will need an iPad, and Adobe Fresco, of course.

The key concepts I will include:

review of my techniques in creating the initial layout
planning value and tone in my composition
discovery and adventure when developing a new style
approaches you can take in your creative work

This is a great course for you to take no matter what the purpose for the art you create. Approach this course with and open mind and heart, and you will create something to love! Please join me for this action-packed class! Let's get crackin’.

Intro:

This short intro will give you an overview of the class.

Lesson 1 Overview and General Discussion

In this short lesson, I will show you the work of several artists whose work I admire. Exploring the different styles is a method to jumpstart your process. Throughout the class I will be referring to these and other artists and I have added links to relevant reference in the projects section on the course outline sheet for you to download.

Lesson 2: Reference, Sketching and Prep Work

In this lesson, I will explain my motivation behind learning the Fresco program. I will explain how a daily art practice has so many advantages, and how this daily practice has helped me stay positive.

Lesson 3: The Qualities and Merits of Adobe Fresco

In this lesson, I go through some of the functionality of Adobe Fresco and demonstrate some of its qualities and merits.

Lesson 4: Starting the Mixed Media Art Piece

You will watch my demonstration of the progression of my painting in this lesson. I will explain what steps I take, such as blending and color picking. I also talk about my process and show you as I add details to give more depth and contour, as well as interest, with pattern brushes and water drips.

Lesson 5: Building Up More Detail and lnterest

In this lesson, we start getting to the nitty gritty of the final artwork. You will see me use several different techniques to add interest and detail. Throughout the process you learn more about brush settings, as well as layer settings and how to adjust properties. We will use the Transparency Lock feature too.

Lesson 6: Finalizing and Altering in Photoshop

At this stage of the game, we start to pull our layout together, and I will add tons of small detail to add textural interest. You will see a timelapse of the progression of my piece at the beginning of the lesson and I give you workflow tips along the way. I will then speak to the fact that some functionality is still missing in Fresco, and I take the artwork into Photoshop to make additional changes, mainly to the color scheme.

Lesson 7: Conclusion and Mockups

This is the last step and in this lesson I will be finalizing and then looking at it on mock ups. We will conclude everything in this lesson with a chat about next steps.

Concepts covered:

Concepts covered include but are not limited to the Fresco interface, watercolour live brushes, pixel brushes, vector brushes, spatter brushes, layering, transparency lock feature, finding appropriate reference, Orly Aviniri, Teesha Moore, Laura Horn, Marilou Cardiz, Claire Bremnar, Flora Bowley, Tracy Vertugo, Yellena James, Anahata Katkin, daily art practice, art journaling, how to plan out lighting and shadows, settings in Fresco, Fresco layers, the Fresco gallery, organizing brushes in Fresco, importing brushes, workflow best practices, underpainting, painting best practices, techniques with paints and blending, and much more.

You will get the bonus of…

an hour and 10 minutes of direction from an instructor who has been in the graphic design business and education for over 40 years
knowledge of multiple ways to solve each design challenge
handouts explaining key concepts
a list of helpful online sites to further your education into surface pattern design.

Astrid Blanchard

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