Dusky Alice

Alice is very happy for the cooler autumn weather. She’s way more energetic on her walks and this week we’ve returned to our trails now that it’s less buggy in the woods. She’s so happy to be reunited with the other dogs that walk there too, and when we get home she’s ready for a long nap.

Before I sketched, I updated the Procreate app on my iPad to the new Procreate 5.4. If you are a Procreate user, you may already know that there are 18 new brush sets on there, including gouache, oil, watercolour, ink and charcoal sets.

While Alice was napping, I tried out the Dusky charcoal brush. I’m not a very sophisticated Procreate user. I just like to use the drawing tools like I would the tools in my studio: draw with them, erase if I can, and try to figure out how closely they replicate their analog versions. This Dusky charcoal brush is really nice. If I hold my Apple pencil upright, I get a defined line. If I use the side of the pencil, I get smudge marks, as if I was using one of those stump blenders. And since I often draw on my iPad when I don’t have much time, the best thing about this is that I don’t have to hunt around in my studio for paper and charcoal, plus my fingers are clean at the end.

Alice moved her paws while I was drawing her so I don’t think I got that front paw quite right. I tried to put it back in place but she would have none of it. You know what they say about sleeping dogs…