Introductory Blog Post

What is In-Depth?

In-Depth is a leadership driven inquiry project done every year in the TALONS program.  In this project, one chooses a specific topic or skill to pursue from January to the remainder of the school year (and willfully beyond.) This skill or topic must be comprehensible and doable, from anything like street fashion to shooting a basketball. This project must include an achievable goal, frequent updates on progress, as well as a mentor to help build skills and learn more efficiently.

What is Digital Art?

My In-Depth topic this year is Digital Art.  Digital art in this context is painting and drawing digitally. This is done using a drawing tablet and a drawing program (Krita & Photoshop). Learning digital art will include sharpening my current knowledge and skill in art as well as becoming more familiar with drawing software.

Why am I pursuing Digital Art?

I picked up drawing near the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic and have been drawing on-and-off since. My experience with drawing has been super positive and I enjoy the calm and peace you get from doodling. Additionally, I spend a lot of time online browsing other artists, and I have fallen in love with the way many artists have been able to draw digitally

(here are some examples.)

Credit:bangjoy2021

Credit: matchavi

To hopefully surpass the skills of these artists, I have to draw more and learn more about digital art. Funny thing is, I did character drawing as my In-Depth in 2021, so drawing digitally will also be a great way to learn something new and build off my current skillset. To cut it short, drawing is fun. Plus being able to take commissions is a good side hustle too.

What would I like to achieve in Digital Art?

My more specific goal is being able to start a successful Instagram art account and gain a decent following. This would signify my growth as an artist and a digital artist. A vaguer goal I would like to achieve during In-Depth is to be more fluent in digital art software, this goal illustrates being more comfortable with efficiently using digital drawing software. And lastly, my biggest goal would be to improve my art skills.

How will I do it?

Study & draw everyday.

1. ~30 minutes average each day of doodling (2/3 digital, 1/3 traditional to purely work on my art.)
   1. Drawing digitally will both improve my art knowledge and my software knowledge.
2. Study anatomy, digital art software, perspective, and other tools to help my art skills. This will be done with my mentor and art tutorials.
3. Put the skills I learned into practice
4. Browse other artists and use their techniques and tricks to draw better.
5. I’m taking Graphics Art 11 this year which is using software like photoshop to make posters and edit images, this also includes a bit of digital drawing, which will help a lot during my In-Depth journey.

What is my current skillset?

I started drawing ~2 years ago inconsistently and sometimes taking breaks. My art skills are still mostly beginner and I have a lot to learn. My understanding of anatomy and perspective is alright. I’ve also dabbled a bit in digital art (specifically Krita), so I have a bit of digital art experience, but I have lots to learn, which is why I chose digital art as my In-Depth topic this year!

Who is my mentor?

I’ve reached out to many artists that I look up to however all have said they weren’t available to mentor me or did not reply. I still have more people that I’m trying to contact/get a reply back from so for now I do not have a mentor. If possible, I can ask the Graphics Art 11 teacher when semester 2 starts if they would be kind enough to offer mentorship.

Timeline:

Draw everyday and post art on my art account twice every 3 weeks starting February. Create final piece (sort of like a thesis for the end of In-Depth) in around the middle of may and finish it for the final blog post and In-Depth night. But at heart it’s draw every day.

What can you do to help?

Ask me to commission something!