First of MyDigiArt

06/27/2024

Like the picture above, I created my first digital art using Sketchbook on my iPad Air back in 2019. I came across about apps that allow you to create mandala easily. I researched both Sketchbook and Procreate apps and first downloaded the free Sketchbook to tryout. Although there was not many interesting tutorials on YouTube to follow and learn. On the other hand, there were many digital artists provide Procreate tutorials. That was when I gave in and paid $10.00 to download Procreate. I followed some tutorials and learned to draw in Procreate and realized that $10.00 was the best investment for drawing app, like Procreate. It's not on a subscription makes even better.

My drawing / painting journey started in 2012 while I had a retreat group from Canada. We were discussing about the Flower of Life book I & II. I remembered we did not have the drawing tool, compass, so we used coins to practice drawing the flower of life. That's how my painting journey began.

The Flower of Life is also a mandala like art, and I wanted to be able to create it digitally. Both Sketchbook and Procreate are equipped the "Symmetry" feature. That's why you will be seeing a lot of MyDigiArts are mandala creations.

I believe that if you are looking to get into drawing or painting digitally, Procreate will be your first go-to. It is well featured what you need to draw or paint like doing on the different medias. The user interface is also very friendly. It gives you intuitively feel of using. Sketchbook, on the other hand, is more mechanic. Although the development company is making improvement occasionally. The pay version, Sketchbook Pro works on PC or Mac. I am sure it has more features, but I do not own the software, so no way I can share any using experience.

Since I create a lot of mandalas, I would like to share the difference of symmetry feature between 2 programs. In Procreate, you can only use symmetry in 2, 4 or 8 divisions, but in Sketchbook, you can set up for 2, 3, 4, 5 and all the way up to 16 divisions. Sometimes, I would like to have 7 divisions for 7 chakras or 7 rays, 10, 12, 13 divisions for more. Even that, I would not give up Procreate over Sketchbook or vice versa. I love them both of their individuality and uniqueness.

Part of my "Integration" project, I re-organize and showcase my artworks in different categories. The first category, "MyDigiArt" is ready and I would like to invite you to explore my gallery. MyDigiArt P1 ~ P15 were created in Procreate and MyDigiArt S1 ~ S8 were created using Sketchbook app.

My second category in Gallery will be the showcase of my paintings over the years. I will post another blog for it when it's up and running.