Photoshop | Mixer Brush and Layering

Today, just like every monday morning I had my professional practice digital skills class which is such a good way to start off a Monday morning.

Todays lesson was about learning the mixer brush and creating layers. As I am still quite shy with the wacom as today was only the second day using it, The first task was to do a simple 15min drawing to get used to the wacom again. This was pretty simple and this was my outcome...

I decided to use my sketches of leaves from my sketchbook to inspire my drawings in photoshop. I used multiple brushes and also used different sizes. I used different tones of green to create a bit of depth and dimension. To improve on this I would work faster as I ran out of time and did not get to finish off during this task.

The second task was to use the mixer brush, We was given about 20-30 mins to experiment with the mixer brush, using different brushes and sizes to create different textures. Here is my outcome...

I am really happy with the outcome of this task, As it is now Autumn the leaves at the trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park were getting more crunchy and brown, So I tried to incorporate that into my drawing although I didn't want to ruin it as I had not learnt that many skills yet and did not know what the best way to make it look crunchy was. The brown I added and smudged with the mixer brush creates the effect of the leaves blowing in the wind. I also used the mixer brush to soften up the edges. 

The final task was to work with layer's... Which seemed scary at first as it's coping with more than one thing at a time. At first I did get a little confused and end up drawing the wrong things on the wrong layers accidentally however I got the hang of it in the end and this was my outcome...

I am so please with this as my first attempt at layers. I tried to do a different texture on each leaf by using different brushes and mark making techniques. To improve on this I would spend a little more time on each leaf to make it more blended and not as harsh, I would also create more leafs so their isn't so much white, I would also add more browns and oranges to the colour pallet too. But I am happy with my first attempt.

In conclusion I am really please with todays digital skills lesson and am learning new things every lesson which is great. These skills are transferable through the textiles industry and are also good skills for myself to learn for the future for designing prints and such. 

Thank you for reading!

Becca