12 iPad Sunsets

A bunch of quick iPad sketches of sunsets looking out my back window. None of them is that great by itself but I kind of like comparing them all and seeing how much the colors vary from day to day and even moment to moment.

From this morning's life drawing session

Done on the iPad, using the Brushes app, two hours. I like this one much better than my last few of attempts on the iPad. Painting on the iPad is fun, but it's a fight. I remember watching the documentary "It Might Get Loud" a while back and hearing guitarist Jack White talk about how he feels like playing his guitar should feel like a battle, and he's trying to conquer it. That's kind of what painting on the iPad feels like to me, and maybe that's why I haven't given up on it yet.

More iPad Paintings

The sunset one I painted last night out my back door. That effect with the red sunlight hitting the rain from behind was awesome, but lasted only about five minutes. So I tried to just get the colors and then did the rest from memory. It was done in Sketchbook Pro, but when I got it to the computer it looked too purple compared to what I remembered so I touched it up in Photoshop.

The other one was done near Memory Grove in Salt Lake City. I started that one in Brushes then switched to Sketchbook Pro because Sketchbook has a smudge tool for softening edges.

iPaint en iPlein air with an iPad

Here are a few of my first attempts at sketching some of the scenery around here on my new iPad. These were done using the Sketchbook Pro App.


I have never been a trendy gadget guy, but I have been waiting years for someone to come out with something like this. It's not quite fulfilling all my dreams yet, since it lacks the pressure sensitivity of a Cintiq, but it is close. Now I can quickly capture (or try to capture)the fleeting golden hour lighting effects that would be gone by the time I went and got out my oil paints. And I can now do digital painting anywhere I want to, even if it's a little more primitive than what I'm used to. The reviewers said that the iPad is a much better media consumption tool than a media creation tool, and they are absolutely right, but it is still a lot of fun. And all that other stuff it can do is pretty cool too.