Over a decade ago, iconic British artist David Hockney first started using a tablet (an iPad) in 2009 to create digital artworks. And we’re not talking just some colour graphics on a screen. We’re talking artworks that have been exhibited in some of the world’s top museums from Tate in London, the Centre de Pompidou in Paris, Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Australia.
Hockney said in an interview with Louisiana Museum of Modern Art curator Anders Kold in 2011, ‘I just happen to be an artist who uses the iPad, I’m not an iPad artist. It’s just a medium. But I am aware of the revolutionary aspects of it, and its implications.’
The artist, now in his 80s, added in his book of ipad drawings published by Tauschen last year: ‘There was great advantage in this medium because it’s backlit and I could draw in the dark. I didn’t ever have to get out of bed.’
Procreate is not new; its first edition rolled out in 2011 (developed by Savage Interactive), and by 2018 was voted overall bestselling iPad app. Even Disney and Pixar use Procreate in-house.
Lockdowns have forcing many onto screens, and for other artists unable to go to their studios – there has been a flurry of activity recently.
Tech journalist Munroe Brackney writes: ‘With the rising popularity of TikTok during the beginning of COVID-19, Procreate and artists who use it have thrived using the app to promote their work.’
Procreate is not alone in the market – not surprising given the demand. Also popular are the apps Paper by WeTransfer, iOrnament, Zen Brush, iPad Pro, After Effects, and even old favourites like Microsoft Paint and Photoshop.
Brackney continued: ‘Photoshop has been the top program for digital art for years, but with the rise of TikTok and other social media, Procreate has become a top competitor that might one day surpass Photoshop.’
One of the reasons is that, unlike Photoshop, Procreate is available on any iOS device and is extremely portable, plus it is a one-time purchase that is half the monthly Photoshop fee.
‘Price has a lot to do with why it’s so popular,’ one reviewer said.
RECENT SPIKE IN USERS
In August this year, Apple posted a new video to its official YouTube channel to highlight the power of the iPad when it is paired with Procreate. Sure this is about marketing and money, but it is also an indication of the traction and growth experienced around using digital platforms for art making, especially with the rise of Tik Tok and YouTube during the pandemic.
The video was by Olivia Rodrigo, for her new song ‘brutal.’ Featured in the music video were a number of masks that the artist created in the Procreate app.
Olivia Rodrigo’s video includes artwork made with Procreate
FAMOUS TABLET ART MAKERS
ArtsHub has put together this list of iPad and tablet artists, well-known for their use of Procreate. Understandably it is a popular medium for comic artists and illustrators, but it does not stop there. Fine artists, filmmakers and artistic directors are all turning to their tablets to capture creative ideas on the hop.
Comic artists & illustrators
Jim Lee, comics artist and DC Comics Chief Creative Officer who has used it to sketch Batman and the Joker.
Eric Merced, another cartoonist for Marvel and DC recognised for his use of this platform. Preferred Apps: ProCreate.
Jorge Colombo, The New Yorker Illustrator has been using the apps since 2009.
Sara Faber Artist and illustrator running my small illustration business.
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Woman Illustrator draws a portrait on an iPad Pro in procreate. Image shutterstock.
Fine artists
David Hockney: British fine artist turns to the medium largely to create landscape paintings. Preferred Apps: Brushes.
Stefan de Groot: The Dutch illustrator and the children’s books. Preferred Apps: ProCreate.
John Dyer: The English landscape painter, used Procreate as part of the ‘Last Chance to Paint’ project, in partnership with the Eden Project. During the project Dyer to stayed with the Yaminawá people in the Amazon rainforest, where he painted the experience on a tablet.
Mike Henry: Zatransis – designer and illustrator for the gaming world.
Sam Gilbey: From Sony Playstation, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Twitter.
Film
Kyle Lambert: a poster artist notable for creating the Stranger Things poster in Procreate, is also known for his viral Procreate finger-painting of Morgan Freeman. Preferred Apps: ProCreate.
Nikolai Lockertsen: Concept Artist and illustrator in the movie and TV industry.
James Jean: The artist uses Procreate for film poster work, as with his poster for Blade Runner 2049.
Doug Chiang: A concept artist who creates robot, vehicle and creature designs for Star Wars in Procreate.
Raphael Lacoste: Art Director for Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, who uses Procreate for studies.
Australians artists to follow on Instagram
David McLeod: An Australian digital artist specialising in CGI with 221,000 followers.
Anna McNaught: Describes herself as a photoshop artist, with over 139,000 followers.
Ryhia Dank: Combines painted and digital works together, using iPad Pro and Procreate to incorporate her art into all sorts of mediums such as textiles, digital planners, vinyl wraps, and gift cards. The First Nations artist lives on the Sunshine Coast and has 31,800 followers.
Jessica Johnson: Uses Adobe Creative Suite, Indesign, Illustrator and After Effects to create digital designs. A First Nations artist who use the medium for activism, has 41,000 followers.
Madison Connor: First Nations artist who uses Adobe Suite, affinity designer, and Procreate with 33,400 followers.
Miranda Lorikeet: Sydney artist who describes herself as a Microsoft Paint artist, and has 12,200 followers.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
