From Digital to Analog Illustration

As I kept drawing on my iPad, I started feeling the urge to draw by hand. This desire emerged during the 21-day drawing challenge.

In that challenge, there was an artist who drew one piece a day using oil pastels, and I was really drawn to the colors and atmosphere of her artwork. That made me want to try drawing on paper myself. I decided that after the challenge, I would definitely give hand drawing a try.

It was probably after I returned from a trip with my kids. I had previously given away all my colored pencils to my daughter, thinking I would never use them again (showing how determined I was to avoid drawing and my relationship with it is over). I also pulled out some pastels that had been buried somewhere and placed them on my desk.

Although I was drawing digitally almost everyday, hand drawing felt like a whole new world to me. I became fascinated by the soft, scratchy feel of the pencils—something you can’t experience with an Apple Pencil.

Despite having owned colored pencils for a while, I had never drawn consistently with them before. I found deep satisfaction in drawing each element, and since hand drawing can’t be easily corrected or undone, I developed a strong attachment to the process.

Even though I wasn’t yet familiar with the materials, I kept wanting to try new ones (colored pencils, oil pastels, crayons, watercolor crayons, transparent watercolors) and started experimenting with each one.

I discovered that each has its own charm and challenges, and even though I wasn’t very good at it, I started sketching little by little while taking lessons.

I took an oil pastel lesson and reinterpreted a picture of a tree I had taken years ago, using it as inspiration for my drawing.

Onion in watercolor.

A lemon I painted in watercolor—it took a long time to find the right paper that gave me the feel I was looking for.

A pear—this one became difficult as I kept adding too much color, trying to achieve the right tone.

In fact, I’ve started attending art classes recently.

When drawing by hand, you can’t hide your skill, as everything you put on paper remains, which is both challenging and appealing. After spending two months mainly focused on hand drawing and spending less time on the iPad, I began feeling like I wanted formal coaching from someone.

As it happens, the husband of my daughter’s piano school owner has an art studio next door. I’d often walked past and seen his metalwork art and wondered what kind of place it was. Then one day, I noticed a flyer saying he runs art classes.

Rather than strictly attending once a week to learn something, I thought the free-form nature of the class, where you can create what you want, was appealing. I had been sending my daughter there since the previous spring. She enjoys making a lot of handcrafted projects.

A few months later my daughter started the art class, I started digital drawing.

Creating art often requires a workspace, but with digital drawing, I didn’t need a dedicated studio, which was a huge advantage, especially since we were already short on space. I could even draw while the kids were asleep, just by picking up my iPad and pen. Without this flexibility, I doubt I would have been able to keep up with drawing consistently.

However, when you teach yourself, you often skip the fundamentals and just focus on the parts you want to work on. For example, when my lines don’t come out right, or shading is difficult, or my perspective is off, I’ll look at books or online courses. But instead of practicing those weak areas consistently, I tend to focus on completing an entire drawing.

Had I spent even a year in an art prep school, I might have had a stronger foundation and been more confident in creating my own artwork. But as I began drawing by hand, my lack of basic skills became painfully obvious. I started to realize that if I stayed at this level, it would be hard to confidently create and promote my own work.

Although I had a negative experience with learning art from others due to childhood experiences, after observing my daughter’s teacher for over a year, I began to feel that I could learn from him as well.

The lotus flower base.

Pencil sketching—it’s incredibly difficult to get the composition right.

I explained to my teacher what kind of artwork I wanted to create in the beginning.

After looking at my drawings and the examples of the kind of artwork I wanted to achieve, the teacher suggested starting with basic sketching.

Having graduated from Japan’s most prestigious art university and being in his 60s, the teacher also taught art prep courses. His teaching style was much more rigid compared to when he worked with my daughter (probably because my basics were lacking).

So now, I’m focusing on pencil sketching.

Is it really possible? Am I sketching again after all these years, having run away from it at age 10? Yes, it seems so.

Second sketch—apparently better than the first.

When I asked for help with watercolor, the teacher brought a lemon and said, “Let’s paint a lemon!”

But first—sketching! And then I did the coloring as homework at home.

Lemon in watercolor.

I received a lot of critique on this one, especially about the shadow. The lemon looked like it was floating in midair, and the color and shape seemed unnatural. He said no one would be convinced this was a lemon. haha.

I was also critiqued on my coloring technique. I explained that I didn’t know much about how to properly use the brush, no matter how hard I tried to change the technique. He then taught me how to use the brush differently.

The teacher’s method of coloring—it wasn’t easy to understand at first, but I followed his instructions. The flat look on this piece disappeared.

He kept telling me, “Don’t just paint what you see! The earth has gravity even if you don’t see it. You have to carefully observe the invisible elements to give your drawing a sense of dimension. The goal isn’t to finish quickly; art isn’t about words, understand?”

Having grown up in a world where words were everything, it was hard to grasp what he meant.

Now, I need to completely change my perspective. Many of his words still puzzle me.

But perhaps I’m able to enjoy this awkward, slightly uncomfortable time because I’m drawing at this stage of my life.

Maybe my past experiences, receiving criticism in other fields, have prepared me for this. When I hear feedback like, “This doesn’t look right to me,” it no longer stings. I’ve become more resilient.

I need to finish coloring the apple at home. It’s so different from how I normally paint, and I’m wondering how I can bring out the taste of the apple in my painting.

I also need to prepare for a group exhibition coming up at the end of July. Yes, the day I showcase my art to a larger audience is approaching.

JAY

Illustrator

書く、そして描くひと。

書きたいことはたくさんあるけれど、誰かが読むと思うとそれが書けない。だけど書きたい。だらか誰もみてない隠しノートだと思うことにしました。