It all started with science

So the whole reason I got my digital drawing pad was because of the weekly themed design contest over at Spoonflower. A few rounds ago it was science and, ooo, I had a good idea. It involved the periodic table ('nuff said). But alas, I didn't have the ability to create what I wanted. Of course, with my new BFF the drawing pad, I now do. It totally feels like I'm writing on paper, which I'd read about in the reviews but didn't really believe. It takes a steadier hand than normal to draw a really straight line, but it's so easy to delete what you've messed up that it's OK to take a while to get the hang of it.

So here is my first Spoonflower entry for the theme of daffodils:

Pretty straight-forward. I made a sketch using a light pencil,

then I drew out the design in a thicker pen outline. Then I painted the flowers (the pressure-sensitive pen is key for this) and the leaves, drew in the stems and deleted the pen outline (you know how it is always so satisfying to trace over a pencil outline in pen, then erase the pencil to be left with a super-clean design. I can do that but with the click of a button. Love love love.) It's a simple design, but I like the way it looks when I use the mirror image option in Spoonflower (I can't seem to get my grab app to be working right now, so no picture...you'll have to trust me.)

The best part of this whole thing is that it's got me creating pretty regularly again even with the demands of Bean. If she is in a quiet mood and will play with her toys on her own for 15 minutes, I can tool around with the drawing pad and not worry about art supplies everywhere that she'll want to stick in her gob. I haven't explored the Corel program enough to see if it will let me get my digital glitter on, or gold leaf, or (be still my heart) flocking, but for right now I'm satisfied.