Going Rogue – A Set of Mixed Media Works

When I started out doing all this, I was in a deep creative headspace where I experimented quite a bit. While time-consuming, it's worth discovering different ways of expressing an idea. Here, I showcase a set of digital illustration work as a result of such experimentation - mixed media.

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Digital ArtProcess
Image of woman in a hoodie. The illustration transitions from a pencil sketch to a colored vector illustration.

A mix of media. Raster based work combined with vector, and some photo and color manipulation.

As I was getting the hang of digital drawing, I started focusing more on completing a piece. I came up with the idea of taking the subject and then combining it with something geometric. Making it a bit more abstract.

Rogue - mixed media, colored vector and digital pencil illustration.
“Rogue” – a mix of raster and vector illustration.
Colored vector illustration of an abstract heart.
“Cœur”, a complete digital illustration done in vector but heavy on the color manipulation. Those rays, were not intentional.

Since the primary medium for drawing was raster based, I was using ArtRage. Start with an illustration and, to add some geometry, it made sense to make it in vector rather than draw it. I thought it would be a fun experiment and I shifted the work to Affinity Designer.

For the finishing touches, and to give it lo-fi feel, I used Affinity Photo to manipulate the entire piece. I modified some of the included filters to get that light touch feel.

Mixed media illustration of an alien being in a western aesthetic.
“Sujet: Xeno”
Mixed media illustration of a bust of a phoenix.
“Phoenix”
Mixed media illustration of woman lightly clothed on the ground.
“Blossom”
Mixed media illustration of a beautiful mermaid.
“Amara”

I have to admit that every single digital illustration took a long time to create. The more detailed the drawing, the longer it took. The more the color play, the even longer it took! I did learn a few things along the way, though.

One thing I did learn, besides patience, is that I enjoyed the process. While it does need finessing, I’ll give it another shot in the future!

We’ll see. 😏