First Digital Tests

I have started to experiment on Photoshop with the Kyle T Webster gouache brushes and I am having so much fun! For such a long time I stayed away from using brushes and creating textures in this way because I thought I wouldn't be able to do it. However, in some ways I find the process easier than actually painting with gouache because if I make a mistake it is easily fixed, I feel less pressure to make things look perfect straight away. This technique is giving me the freedom to change and manipulate areas that I want to improve more easily whilst still being able to keep the sections I am happy with.

I have found using colour fairly difficult as I wasn't sure what kind of tone I wanted to portray in the scene. I was worried that the shades were a bit too dull, but I think I am slowly getting to a happy medium. I want the colours to reflect the dreary nature of 
the moors described in the book, but still be engaging for a reader when looking at it. I still have a way to go, but I think the only way I will progress is to try out variations for each image. 

I had a very quick go at painting figures that could potentially go into frame for portraits in some of the scenes, again trying to keep to a muted, dull colour scheme in relation to the figures and brighter elements that can balance these within the frame. 

At the moment I am enjoying the process of trying out different ways of drawing with the digital tools because they are so new to me. Although I think my practice can benefit greatly from mastering how to use these tools, digitising things makes it easier in the long run to create and change imagery as I go along. Therefore, these methods will work best if working for a company as amendments can be made easily, and time constraints can be managed.