digital art - using the ipad April 2020 Y6
David Hockney is one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century and an important contributor to the 1960s’ Pop Art movement. He has been creating paintings on his iPad for almost 10 years. Hockney has emailed 300 iPad drawings to an exhibition in Paris. The iPad has become a different tool for the artist, mainly in that it allows him to paint at any time of the day and employ the full spectrum of the colour wheel.
April 2020 Y6
April 2020 Y6
April 2020 Y6
April 2020 Y6
Hockney first started making use of this technology in 2008. Since then he has produced hundreds of drawings on his iPhone and then his iPad, too. Some of the results of his work went on show in an exhibition David Hockney: Fleurs Fraîches at the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, Paris. The title of the exhibition comes from one of Hockney’s favourite sayings “I draw flowers every day on my iPhone,” he told me, “and send them to my friends, so they get fresh flowers every morning. And my flowers last. Not only can I draw them as if in a little sketchbook, I can also then send them to 15 or 20 people who then get them that morning when they wake up.” April 2020 Y6
Hockney “I was fascinated by it, because I think it’s a stunning visual tool,” he says. “It took a while to master how to get thicker and thinner lines, transparency and soft edges. But then I realised that it had marvellous advantages.” He uses an app called Brushes. “People keep sending me new drawings apps to try out, but once you get used to one it’s sufficient.”
April 2020 Y6
Starting to produce work on his iphone Hockney beagn to think…
“There are gains and losses with everything. You miss the resistance of paper a little, but you can get a marvellous flow. So much variety is possible. You can’t overwork this, because it’s not a real surface. In watercolour, for instance, about three layers are the maximum. Beyond that it starts to get muddy. Here you can put anything on anything. You can put a bright, bright blue on top of an intense yellow.” April 2020 Y6
After initial work on his iphone Hockney then began work on the ipad , with its larger screen. “I thought the iPhone was great, but this takes it to a new level – simply because it’s eight times the size of the iPhone, as big as a reasonably sized sketchbook.”
On the ipad, Hockney draws with all his fingers, rather than just his thumb. Hockney began carrying his iPad around in his pocket. Previously it would contain a book of drawing paper.
April 2020 Y6
One of the features that impressed the artist with the ipad was being able to rerun the different stages of the drawing. The screen starts blank with lines and washes reappear one after another, showing the drawing transforming through all it’s stages from start to finish. The result is, in effect, a performing drawing
April 2020 Y6
USING THE IPAD TO CREATE YOUR OWN ARTWORK Looking at the examples of Hockneys work for inspiration and making use of the brushes app, (or one of the many others available free) create your own ipad art.
Share your art work with a friend. Send to school for your teacher to enjoy. This could be the start of a real interest that could last like Hockney for many years‌
April 2020 Y6