Mrs. Cow Down Home – Jacki Kellum Digital Art
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
August 3, 2020

1 week ago, I committed myself to the task of learning how to illustrate on my Ipad Pro with the app Procreate. Fortunately, I already knew how to draw and paint traditionally, and I had a room full of sketches that I could redo in Procreate.

Mrs. Cow Down Home – Jacki Kellum Watercolor Illustration
Fall 2019

At this point, I am convinced that if I work another month as hard as I’ve worked this one week, I’ll eventually know a great deal about Procreate, and I think that I’ll be ready to admit that as far as illustrating goes, Pocreate has traditional art-making beat.

Before I continue, however, I feel the need to say that all of the Procreate illustrations that I am showing today are subject to further refinement. But that is one of the beautiful things about Procreate, you always have the option to continue working on an image–even after you have saved it. I have approached this past week sort of like the way that I approach a free-writing session. I wanted to see as many possibilities as possible–without slowing down to complete a lot of edits.

Gypsy Rose Lee – Jacki Kellum Digital Art

Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
August 2, 2020

Procreate is definitely a great tool for making one side of a face or a vase or a necklace or whatever the same as the other. When I catch a breath, I’ll explain how I accomplished that task in Gypsy Rose Lee, as well as in Mrs. Cow Down Home, and in Dish and Her Man Spoon. I also used a special Procreate brush that made Gypsy’s shawl appear to have texture, in the above image.

Gypsy Rose Lee – Jacki Kellum Sketch for Illustration
Copic Markers
Fall 2019

If you look carefully at Gypsy’s face in the Copic Marker Sketch, you will see that it lacks symmetry. Note: Too much symmetry is not a good thing, and I deliberately did things in my Procreate drawing of Gypsy to offset the look of too much symmetry, but I did like Procreate’s ability to help me achieve more symmetry than I had attained with the Copic marker sketch.

Yet, there are things that I prefer in the traditional Copic marker drawing of Gypsy. Now that I have drawn it more symmetrically with Procreate, I might redo the traditional Copic marker sketch of Gypsy. I’ll leave that as an option.

Dish and Her Man Spoon – Jacki Kellum Digital Art
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
August 1, 2020

The weakness of Procreate lies within the fact that there is a serious limitation to how many layers upon which you can work within one image. The above Dish and Spoon is not a complete illustration. It is only part of the following illustration that I sketched in Copic Markers, but I had used every possible layer in the above drawing.

Mrs. Cow Has Photographs of Dish and Her Man Spoon –
Jacki Kellum Sketch for an Illustration in Copic Markers
Spring 2019

I’ll eventually create the frame for Dish and Her Man Spoon digitally, too, and this reminds me of another real plus in using Procreate. I had to hand-draw every flower in the above Copic marker image of Miss Dish.

Posie – Created in Procreate, and then I duplicated it over and over to create the ring around Miss Dish.

Miss Dish – Jacki Kellum Digital Art
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
July 31, 2020

In Procreate, I only drew one flower and leaf, and  I copy-pasted that over and over again.

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon – Jacki Kellum Digital Art
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
July 31, 2020

The above piece was a true break-through for me. The misty, dusky, and star-lit sky is an important motif for me, and I didn’t dream that I could achieve anything close to that look in Procreate. I am very pleased with what I see happening in the above image.

Mrs. Cow Loves Polka Dots – Jacki Kellum Watercolor Illustration
Spring 2019

At this point, I havwd not yet traditionally painted the Cow Jumped Over the Moon in watercolor, and as you see below, Copic markers are not great for covering a large background.  Yet, you see how my watercolor skies look in Mrs. Cow Loves Polka Dots and in the following traditional watercolor illustration.

The Sun Needs to Rise – Jacki Kellum Watercolor Illustration

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon – Jacki Kellum Sketch for Illustration
Copic Markers
Spring 2019

As I said before, Copic markers are inadequate for covering a large, dark sky and they are very, very expensive. Also, there is no “fixing” a Copic marker drawing–at least not in the way that I work. The same is true for my watercolor paintings. There is no “fixing” them either. In my traditional work, a  mistake means starting over and over and over again.

Procreate allows an infinite number of wiping out and doing again, and the app only costs about $10. I probably emptied about $40 of Copic markers in the sketch of Cow Jumping, and it is still not correct. At this point, I would have to switch to watercolor paper [which is about $20 per sheet], and I would have to paint it, using watercolor paints and brushes. All of the watercolor supplies quickly deplete themselves, and they, too, are very expensive. And most of all, one mistake in one little area means starting over again, in traditional watercolor.

Mr. Moon – Jacki Kellum Watercolor Illustration
Spring 2020

Mr. Moon – Jacki Kellum Digital Drawing
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
July 30, 2020

In the above image of Mr. Moon, I tried a more painterly look. By that, I mean that instead of the look of a watercolor wash, I tried a more opaque approach. The above Mr.Moon looks like an oil painting.

Super Turkey – Jacki Kellum Digital Art
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
July 29, 2020

Ladybug Lou – Jacki Kellum Digital Art
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
July 28, 2020

A Tree – Jacki Kellum DigitalArt
Procreate App on Ipad Pro with Apple Pencil
July 28, 2020