Wednesday WrapUp Remix Your Own Art

Welcome!

I’ve enjoyed providing each week a “Wednesday Warm Up,”— a day of usually quick drawing, inking, brushing as warm up to our serious art. I’ve been sharing a strategy to try each Wednesday using the iPad app ProCreate. I’ve decided to change it up a bit for a few Wednesday Wrap Up— a wrap up of my project tips for the past week or something I’ve learned that may also help others with the same #warmup4art hashtag.

This Week

This week I wrapped up a fun time of remixing my own art. I spent hours creating each of these leaves for this image — getting the color and texture just right as a preparation for my NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month — this November. In my continuing story, the willow, birch, aspen, sycamore, and maple are sacred and helpful trees. While I write, drawing the scenes and artifacts of the story helps me stay focused. Last year, I only got half way through my story of “So Says The River,” so this year the continued saga will be “So Says the Dragon.”

Asset Files and Remix

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Often for such complicated, layered textures and shadows, I need more than one document to create each element. I name those files “assets” so I can change colors and shadings or something if needed. I then create a “flat” file to manipulate and fine tune the shadows — like the layered aspen and willow leaves. That way I can create other patterns or designs with the same elements.

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Finally, I hide the texture and background layers of the designs I like and save the design as a png so I can import it into another new project, adding in the textures and background layers again. This works best because I can change the textures or background without interfering with the original textures, or creating a “too dark” texture in my png asset of the design, which happens when adding another texture on top of the original one.

Now, the asset can be remixed as new designs, like this mug and the fairy dance in the sacred trees:

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Once I’ve a collection, I can upload to my POD sites. And sometimes, just for fun– but either way, all those hours of work to create the original elements now can be applied however I need through my remix of the original elements or the png asset.

Try It

So, that wraps up this Wednesday Wrap Up. I hope it gives you some ideas for remixing your own detailed and careful work, and perhaps you know a trick that I need to know. Either way, I hope you continue to be a part of my  #warmup4art series to learn and enjoy our work together! See my sharing at IG @42Sheri and Twitter @42Sheri.