—— The answer was a raven ——
My colleague Milt once introduced me to the Inktober program in 2019. Milt mainly uses the iPad to draw, and I enjoy watching his sketches on Facebook and Instagram. But I never thought about dusting off my drawing kits for the last two years. One of the Inktober drawing topics this year was Raven. I’ve hit by a sudden inspiration, and I picked up my newly bought Apple Pencil, trying to draw on my iPad Pro. The beautiful raven surprised me at last. I haven‘t drawn in a long while. This raven can be a good restart.
Coloring sketches were my weak point. But iPad could change the game, and there is no more fear of mistakes. I broke my last Apple pencil by dropping it from my hand. The metal transducer beneath the plastic tip was badly distorted. I didn’t send it back to Apple as the warranty was expired. Instead, I bought a new one in a bookshop at my University. The previous pencil was rarely used and had my name laser engraved, but the new one doesn’t.
After achieved several iPad sketches and paintings, I was ready to meet some new drawing materials. I surrounded myself with pencils and gouache tubes every day in my last year of high school. Even I had heard about watercolor painting and oil painting but had no chance to try them. I’d never heard about Acrylic, a medium of extraordinary versatility in my teenage years. I brought home hundreds of color pencils, oil color tubes, and acrylic tubes this week and am still planning to bring home more. No doubt that I’m addicted to the sensation of blending colors.
Then I started to set up a home art studio.
In the beginning, I intended to buy a tripod easel stand, and then we went to a local art supply store. I found a French-style easel there that seemed to suit my drawing need. However, I didn’t bring it home after I thought it over as I wanted to try my adjustable desk riser first. I bought that riser a year and a half ago when the Pandemic had just erupted, as I had to work from home but didn’t want to sit on a chair for a long time. I used the riser for a while but soon left the idea of standing-at-work behind. (when I was typing these words, I still felt bad about my neck.) The riser is ride above on a fordable white table. We moved the table out from a corner, relocated it to another corner to avoid huddled with Aaron’s desk. Then we cleaned the table surface and the riser. EVERYTHING SEEMS JUST RIGHT after placing on all the drawing tools I recently purchased. As you can see from the pictures I posted, I’ve inserted the oil pigments into the sunken iPad holder, making the pigments handy. The glass palette (used to be a picture frame glass) is sitting on the keyboard tray, perfect for color mixing. Now I’m delighted with this setup and ready to get on board.
I felt armed and ready to kick off.
(Also posted on Medium: https://medium.com/@sleepycoffee/how-did-all-things-start-f958638ec6f5)