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Top 3 Digital Art Apps for Homeschoolers

My Top 3 Digital Art Apps

Blue background with art app image. Adventures in Digital Art. Digital Art Apps. See the Light Art

There are tons of digital art apps out there, but I mostly work with 3: Procreate, ArtRage, and Sketchbook. If you’re wanting to get started in digital art, any one of these three will do. However, each app has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. 

I’ll give you a feel for those in this video. To learn more about each app, you can check them out at the following URLS: (Note: these are not affiliate links and I receive no compensation for recommending these apps.) 

Procreate: ($9.99) https://procreate.art/ 
ArtRage: ($4.99) https://www.artrage.com/
Sketchbook: (FREE!) https://sketchbook.com/

Intro and closing music courtesy of Bensound.com

Blue background with art app image. Adventures in Digital Art. Digital Art Apps. See the Light Art

Homeschool Digital Art: What Equipment Do I Need?

What Equipment Do I Need to Create Digital Art?

iPad & laptop with text overlay. Adventures in Digital Art. Equipment for Digital Art. See the Light Shine Blog

What do you need to create digital art? As with any other kind of art, you need three things:
1. Something to draw with
2. Something to draw on
3. A medium
So how does that apply to digital art? In this week’s video, Jim reviews the equipment you’ll need to get started creating beautiful works of art digitally. 

Jim has also created a resource sheet that you can download here:

Adventures in Digital Art Resource Sheet – Equipment

 

See the Light Art Class 9-DVD Boxed Set
Try 3 Free Lessons!

Download 3 video art lessons on us!

What you’ll learn…

The foundational skill of art is drawing.

Whether you’re using a pencil, pen, brush, or a piece of chalk, it’s all about drawing.

In your free lessons, you’ll learn…

…The basics of what makes a drawing
…What you need to have in your drawing “toolkit”
…The most essential skill of drawing
…How to synchronize your hand and your eyes
…The basics of composition

Digital Art: Why Go Digital?

Tired of buying a bunch of art supplies for your homeschool art class? Why not try digital art? The up-front investment is a little larger (but not as much as you might guess), but once you have a tablet, stylus, and software, you’re good to go. In this video, See the Light Artist Jim Pence introduces our new series, Adventures in Digital Art.

Over the next 9 weeks, we’ll give you an introduction to digital art, tools, apps, and fun things you can do as you explore this new medium.

Let’s ask the basic question first. Why go digital?

Landscape background with tablet. Text overlay: Adventures in Digital Art. Why Go Digital? How to Get Started in an Exciting New Medium! See the Light Shine

Ring of Tulips 2

Ring of Tulips Lesson, Part 2

About the Project

In Part 2 of the Ring of Tulips project, Jim shows how to add depth and variety to the tulip image created last week. He also demonstrates the value of “happy accidents,” as something unexpected happens with the airbrush–and ends up part of the final picture.

Lesson Objective: 

Continue to master the use of the selection, symmetry, and airbrush tools. You also learn how to crop an image and explore the brush library in this lesson.

Resources Needed:

To create this project, I used Autodesk Sketchbook (sketchbook.com) with a Wacom Intuos Pro graphics tablet.

You can download Sketchbook free at: www.sketchbook.com

You can get a graphics tablet and pressure-sensitive stylus as low as $27 HERE
(Note: This is not an affiliate link. It is only included for your convenience.)

Content Guide:

0:00 – 2:27  Change Background Color.

2:27 – 10:40 Add Texture and Interest to the Background.

10:41 – 16:09 Use the Airbrush Tool to Color the Petals.

16:10 – End Use the Airbrush, Select, and Symmetry Tools to Color the Leaves & Stems

 

Music courtesy of BenSound:  http://bensound.com

Devotional Thought:

A Surprise Plot-Twist in Proverbs! (Proverbs 26:1-12)

I’ve had several novels published, and one of my favorite parts of fiction writing was introducing plot twists. 

Well, plot twists aren’t only for fiction writers. In fact, one of the all time great plot twists can be found in, of all places, the book of Proverbs. The writer leads you down one path (talking about fools) for 11 verses, then BOOM, switches directions and makes a 90-degree shift and hits us all where we live.

The passage is Proverbs 26:1-12 and it begins like this:

Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
    honor is not fitting for a fool (Prov. 26:1 NIV).

Then, for the next 10 verses, the writer characterizes fools, and basically paints a pretty hopeless picture of them. In fact, reading the passage could almost make you look down on these hapless, totally unreliable people that the writer of proverbs describes merely as fools.

Ah, but the writer of Proverbs has something else in mind here. He does not intend to make a point about fools as much as he does about pride.

In verse 12, he writes:

Do you see a person wise in their own eyes?
    There is more hope for a fool than for them.

BOOM!

That is what might be called a “gotcha” moment. This whole time we’ve been nodding our heads and agreeing how hopeless fools can be. Then he looks at us and says, “Oh, by the way, do you know someone who sees himself as wise? There is more hope for a fool than for that person. 

Ouch!

The point of those 12 verses isn’t the hopelessness of fools; it’s the blindness of pride. The truly hopeless person is one who is wise in his own eyes, for he sees no need to change. 

May God help us to set aside pride and walk in humility to all around us, and especially toward God.

Draw a Dazzling Ring of Tulips

Digital Art Projects - Ring of Tulips, Part 1. See the Light Art

About the Project

Learn how to create a stencil effect by drawing a dazzling ring of tulips.

Lesson Objective: 

Develop digital drawing skills by drawing a circle of tulips (stylized) and laying in the base colors. 

Learn to work with symmetry, layers, autofill, reference photos.

Resources Needed:

To create this project, I used Autodesk Sketchbook (sketchbook.com) with a Wacom Intuos Pro graphics tablet.

You can download Sketchbook free at: www.sketchbook.com

You can get a graphics tablet and pressure-sensitive stylus as low as $27 HERE

Tulip photos courtesy of:

Stux – Pixabay.com:
https://pixabay.com/photos/tulip-lily-spring-nature-flowers-65789/

Annie Spratt – Unsplash.com
https://unsplash.com/photos/QJ_NKUci2L8
https://unsplash.com/photos/ofzbB_ntUnE

Music courtesy of:

BenSound
http://bensound.com

Related Video Lessons:

Learn about Selection Tools

Learn about Symmetry Tools

Learn about Layers

 

Content Guide:

0:00-5:00 Planning the Drawing (Reference Photos)

5:00-9:40 Drawing the Ring of Tulips (Symmetry Tool)

9:40-14:15 Coloring the Tulips (Layers, Select Tool, Flood Fill)

14:15-18:05 Coloring the Stems & Leaves (Layers, Select Tool, Flood Fill)

 

Devotional Thought:

In recent months (years, actually), I’ve found myself getting discouraged when I watch the news. Sometimes I get downright angry. 

Road rage, senseless killings, racism, terrorism, hate-filled people. There’s so much evil in our world, and it’s getting worse. 

Some might say it’s just better not to watch the news. Maybe that’s true. But it’s impossible to exist in our high-tech, always connected world without hearing about all the evil around us. How should we respond?

Sadly, I often find myself getting angry and discouraged.

Last week I was listening to a recording of the psalms, and I heard something that impacted me deeply. I’ve heard/read this psalm hundreds, if not thousands, of times. But last week, the words of psalm 37 caught my heart in a new way.

I don’t have the space to go into the whole psalm here, but three times the psalmist tells us: “Do not fret because of evildoers.” In verse 8, he pointedly says, “Do not fret–it leads only to evil.”

When I read that, I realized how much I’d been fretting over evildoers and their success in this world. I also understood that such fretting only hurts me (“It leads only to evil.”)

What’s the alternative? 

The psalmist gives four appropriate responses:

1. Trust in the Lord (v. 3)

2. Delight in the Lord (v. 4)

3. Commit your way to the Lord (v. 5)

4. Be still before the Lord (v. 7)

5. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath (v. 8)

Rather than responding in anger to the world around me, I should commit my way to the Lord and calmly trust in him.

How to Draw a Beautiful Stylized Rose

Mauve background with a rose. Text overlay: Digital Art Projects. Draw a Stylized Rose. See the Light Art

About the Project

This week we’ll build on the skills learned in the Marigold Mandala lesson by drawing a stylized rose. In addition to working with the symmetry tool, we’ll learn how to use layers, lock transparency, and the airbrush tool to give our drawing some depth and dimension.

Lesson Objectives: 

Learn how to —

—add control to your coloring ability by using multiple layers, 

–lock transparency on individual layers to enable you to color different parts of your drawing independently,

–use the airbrush tool to add depth and dimension to your drawing,

–and tone your background to add “pop” to your drawing.

Resources Needed:

To create this project, I used Autodesk Sketchbook (sketchbook.com) with a Wacom Intuos Pro graphics tablet.

You can download Sketchbook free at: www.sketchbook.com

You can get a graphics tablet and pressure-sensitive stylus as low as $27 HERE

Content Guide:

Skip to the parts of the video you’re interested in:
  • Intro & Project Setup – 0:00
  • Draw the Rose – 3:55
  • Add Layers & Color – 5:46
  • Add Depth & Dimension with the Airbrush Tool – 14:48
  • Change the Line Art & Background Color – 20:46

Devotional Thought:

I just happened to do this project on Mothers Day weekend, and I guess that’s appropriate, since I drew a rose. I gave my wife roses for Mothers Day, and I imagine that quite a few other moms got roses or other varieties of flowers for their special day.

Have you ever wondered why we give flowers on special occasions, particularly when we want to express our love for someone? I’m sure there are many possible explanations, but I believe that we show love by giving the gift of beauty.

To behold beauty fills the heart with joy. That’s why I give my wife flowers. Because seeing those flowers fill her heart with joy. I believe this is also one way God shows his love to us. 

In his great high-priestly prayer, Jesus said, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24 NIV).

In another place, the psalmist prays that he might dwell in the temple all the days of his life, that he might, “gaze on the beauty of the Lord,” (Psalm 27:24 NIV).

What a gift God has given those who love him–the gift of seeing his beauty and glory.