The Twelve Days of Christmas Day Five

If you want the longer version it is below the video. Today is day five of the Twelve Days of Christmas where we are looking at the urban legend of a hidden meaning in the lyrics. So, on the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, five golden rings. According to legend the five golden rings is a reference to the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Torah or the Pentateuch.

The gifts I have for you today are my top five most used software applications in my studio practice.

1-Procreate

2-Photoshop

3-Corel  Painter

4-Brushes app (from the app store)

5-Moment app (from the app store)

Today is day five of the Twelve Days of Christmas where we are looking at the urban legend of a hidden meaning in the lyrics. So, on the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden rings. According to legend the five golden rings is a reference to the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Torah or the Pentateuch.

The gifts I have for you today are my top five most used software applications in my studio practice. I had to give this some serious thought because my most used applications are not necessarily from the creative world. Some of them are downright boring but necessary. So, I am not including software like MS word, power-point, excel or other business applications. I have made this specific to the creative-making or the creative play process.

Number one on my list is Procreate-with my Ipad pro this is my sketchbook that I have with me most of the time. I doodle, practice drawing value scales, and create notans from life on a constant basis. While I still prefer the feel of pencil, pen or brush on paper this is an amazing tool for me when I cannot draw or paint.

Next up is Photoshop. I know many traditional media artists don't have photoshop. You don't have to have Photoshop but you should have something similar. Gimp is free and would get most people what they need for a photo editor. Many artists use Affinity photo which is very reasonably priced. I use Photoshop for many things related to the traditional media world of art. I can move elements around to tighten up my composition before I paint, I can use it to check color values or mock up an image and I find it the best tool for getting scans of my traditional media artwork ready for printing in the studio or sending to my favorite print house.

Next is Corel Painter. For many that may seem like an indulgence. I still use painter quite a bit in my workflow. I use it extensively for background creation, to create sketches or under paintings. It is fast and fun.

The Brushes app is next. You can find it in the app store. Brushes is more fun for me than an app that is associated with workflow. I don't do very much actual production with a phone or Ipad but it is great for getting in to the left brain quickly.

Finally, we come to Moment. You can also find it in the app store.I love this little app and use it for just having fun as well as creating interesting shapes and marks I can later use as backgrounds of under paintings. When I want a spark of creativity, I can open up moment on my phone and create some interesting textures and designs.

Thank-you for joining me I will see you tomorrow for day 6 and some really cool educational gifts that will help to take your art to the next level.