Vector art certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea and I get it. It took me a long time until I found my love for it.Found may not be the right word for it. It was more the constant exposure to manga and anime which my hubby loves.
At one point he started to dabble in vector illustrations for a game he was working on. Then I started watching/listening to a vector artist on Twitch while I was doing my art. Yet there is something about the clean lines and simplification of vector art that kept fascinating me. But I was never going to spend the money on Adobe Illustrator and I just didn't like Inkscape, the free software my hubby is using.
Along came Affinity Designer bundled with a 50 % off sale. That's when I got Designer and started working with it - a little. Most of my time was still spent with pixel art either the traditional way or on my iPad Pro in Procreate.
The two really great things about Designer - well, there are more than two but a) it comes as a desktop version AND an iPad version and b) within Affinity you can seemlessly switch between vector and pixel art, they call it personas. Okay, okay, I'll give you a third and fourth reason - Affinity's programs are really great and very affordable one time payments, no subscriptions - yay! Maybe I'll do a more in-depth tutorial about Designer and vector art...
Back to this post's image. So, after I finished the cover for hubby's latest book I wanted to draw some more in Designer, especially at night after work to relax. Yup, that's right, there is something very soothing almost like zen-doodling about adjusting lines and nodes in vector art - we call it node-wrangling. You wouldn't believe how adjustable nodes are and how tempting it is to just get that perfect line or curvature - addicting almost LOL.
And what better subject to illustrate than a nice ocean sunset scene - aaah. No matter when and where that is always a beautiful sight I can't ever get enough of. And I'd kill two birds with one stone because recently I joined the Silver Bloggers community and got my requested community name of Silver Ocean. What other silver name could I have chosen? None, exactly.
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And, finally, the appropriate illustration for Silver Ocean is, of course, a monochrome and framed version of a nice sunset over the ocean.
Silver Ocean
Till next time!
Have a great rest of your day!
Cheers,
(Ocean)Bee
I especially love the monochrome version. I loved playing with vectors a while back. Corel PaintShop Pro is what I have used for vector drawing. I haven't done much lately, due to time constraints, though. Many times I use a gradient to fill so it looks more realistic.
Here's one of my vector drawings I did that looks, I believe, very realistic due to the gradient fills:
Seems like a lot of pixel programs have adopted some version of vector these days. Tell me about time constraints...
Your CD looks really great. I love the little rainbow shine, makes look very realistic. Great job!
Thank you. Once I was introduced to vectors, I was making everything I could vectors since they could then become any size. And changing colors wasn't difficult, either.
Time constraints? Well, considering we own our own business, and it is keeping me rather busy, I don't have the time I want to just play. My husband is also one of the pastors at our church (we moved here for that 2 years ago), so, that also keeps me busy. Once I'm finished for the day, I'm ready to just sit and chat with someone or just relax and do nothing. I stare at a computer all day, I don't want to be on it all night, too, even for a hobby.
This is fine. So, you are good at it
Thank you for your kind words.
Congrats on the name selection that suits your lifestyle. Art form you persued looks clean and colourful, always enjoy what you do!
I love seeing all the Silver (or non-Silver) names everyone chose. Mine is a perfect fit for me.
Thank you for your nice words about my art 😊 - I appreciate it!
Have a wonderful new week!
I love how clean it looks !
If you like messing around with nodes, you should try Meshmixer or Blender 3D design programmes, where you can do it in three dimensions..... it's massively challenging, but when the result comes out as you wanted it to, it gives you a real sense of achievement.
That clean look is exactly what turns me off or on depending on my mood. I'm a perfectionist but I am working on embracing imperfections in paintings. Vectors aren't great at that.
I really have not dabbled in 3D - yet. I downloaded Blender ages ago but never really dove into it. I'm sure there'll be a time when I have more time on hand and I'll try it again. But before that I might try digital sculpting (3D) again with Nomad.
Aha I love vector art too!
Silver Ocean and that is great fit for you 😁
Well, there'll be more from this Silver Ocean.
The art is so colorful and simple and it really invites you into the scene. ♥
Whoops - missed your comment, so sorry.
Thank you for your kind words for my art.
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Thank you for the nomination, that's a tough field this week 😅
It really is, two silver posts too! Good luck 🤞
Nice name Silver Ocean, glad to see you now have an official silver name:) I do like colour, but that last image is my favourite;)
It would be interesting to learn more about vectors.
Thank you very much, Lizelle, I think individual names are a fun way to identify with the community.
I'm sure I'll be posting more vectors in the future, maybe I'll do a bit more explaining.