Control

I’ve always loved watercolors, but the essence of the medium is letting go of a measure of a control—which is something I have a really, really hard time with. So for this personal project, I purchased a fabulous brush pack from True Grit Textures and began painting in Photoshop. I’ve loved illustrating in Photoshop for a long time and with my Wacom, it feels as though I’m truly painting on paper (with all the control I want).

Control in a digital canvas is a double edged sword. You run the risk of losing some fluidity and motion. You also risk losing the soul of your subject (though that’s arguably the hardest thing to capture to begin with). I feel like that happened in this piece. The reference photo I used (from the incredible photography of Andrea Zvadova) has so much more emotion and story. So, the more I paint in Photoshop, the more I’ll try and lose the control I’ve been given.