Sketching with My Computer
I’ve finally learned enough Photoshop Elements to use it as a design tool. (Which is to say I can eventually figure things out, with the help of a good tutorial book.)
I put those skills to work in creating the composition for my latest piece which features Black Eyed Susans. First, I isolated several of the flowers, “cutting them out” and placing them on a green background. I wanted to show the flower in all its stages, so I chose a variety.
Then, I started resizing, rotating, and flipping, as needed.
When I got pretty close, I added some busy vegetation. It was just distracting,
but I liked the composition pretty well at this point.
This is the final sketch/cartoon I decided to work with:
I could see that I would have a few issues, such as:
– Making the background dark enough to provide contrast with the flowers, but keeping it light enough so the brown seed heads wouldn’t disappear.
– Defining individual flower petals in the sea of yellow.
FYI: I highly recommend the books in the “Teach Yourself Visually ***” series. The *** represents the name of whatever software it explains. These books are VERY easy to use, and at $30, they’re a fantastic value!
Ellen Lindner
