Watch Engraving Design Using Procreate App (Video)

[Andrew Biggs]

After playing around a bit with Procreate and reading some of the manual I decided to try and attempt something useful with it.

So I imported a watch outline and went for it.

My main objective is to get the design onto the canvas so normally I wouldn’t draw a design in such detail and would stop at all the main lines with no shading……….but I was having such fun that I decided to carry on.

There is a big time lag of about 20 seconds about half way through and I have no idea why that has happened or how to edit it.

And it’s pretty obvious I need to get to better grip with the brushes etc etc.

Anyway, here are the results. My first attempt at electronic/digital drawing

You can view the video here on YouTube

Cheers
Andrew

P.S. Another first. Uploading something to YouTube

 

[Pär Björkman]

Very good, to see a video of this way is incredibly instructive much better than a finished picture. IPad PRO and procreate has probably come to stay as a good tool for developing scroll design.

 

[mvangle]

You guys are amazing.

 

[Brian Trace]

Andrew,
I like your transitions from scroll to eyes and bird heads...magnificent work.

 

[sam]

Andrew, you came out of the gate kicking ass! It's like watching over you shoulder as you draw. Just fantastic!

It sure is fun isn't it

 

[davidshe]

Nice work Andrew and the design is really cool! Question; when you finished this drawing did you vectorize it using image trace in AI (you mentioned this in another post) and then if so, did all the detail in the drawing hold up in a transfer? I ask because I had some issues with image trace on very small detail. Perhaps I used the wrong settings. There are lots of them! Thanks.

 

[Andy]

Great design Andrew! Not sure if it's just image compression from the export but it looks like you need to start from a higher res canvas to hold the minute details. I have found myself well into a design before I realized this myself. You can create any size canvas you need. The larger the canvas the fewer layers you can have but even a huge canvas will yield enough layers for most people.

 

[SamW]

At least I can still click on Icons fairly well. I will try not to choke on youse guys' dust!!

 

[thughes]

Wow Andrew, that was really cool.

Todd

 

[sam]

Great design Andrew! Not sure if it's just image compression from the export but it looks like you need to start from a higher res canvas to hold the minute details. I have found myself well into a design before I realized this myself. You can create any size canvas you need. The larger the canvas the fewer layers you can have but even a huge canvas will yield enough layers for most people.

Andy: We need to test with uncompressed PNG output and see if that makes a noticeable difference.

 

[Jkasal]

This was amazing to watch! Can I ask what type of pen/ stylus you are using or might recommend?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gazzman151]

that's amazing to be able to watch over your shoulder!

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Thanks for the comments and likes. Much appreciated.

This was an experiment only for learning how to use Procreate, iPad and digital pencil and I doubt if I would cut the design as it is. The Tiki head needs a lot of work done to it.

when you finished this drawing did you vectorize it using image trace in AI (you mentioned this in another post) and then if so, did all the detail in the drawing hold up in a transfer?

Yes, I vectorised it in Image Trace (Illustrator) just to make sure the system works from start to finish. I just use the standard settings...........however, I only vectorise the main lines. Never the shading. In fact I very seldom draw the shading.

The detail.......all the main line came out just fine and always have done. I don't particularly care if they are not 100%. So long as I can see them. When I'm cutting I'm always making fine adjustments and adding leaf elements as I go.

Not sure if it's just image compression from the export but it looks like you need to start from a higher res canvas to hold the minute details. I have found myself well into a design before I realized this myself. You can create any size canvas you need. The larger the canvas the fewer layers you can have but even a huge canvas will yield enough layers for most people.

Thanks Andy..........I always draw on A4 paper so I saw no reason to change that. The watch outlines were drawn in Illustrator on my Mac and then saved as a JPG at 300dpi and imported into Procreate from Dropbox (I noticed that the A4 setting in Procreate is also 300dpi)

I got a bit of time to play with it tonight and noticed you can also import anything at 600 dpi and probably higher.

I used the standard brushes and only played with the opacity and size, nothing else. ............importing it into photoshop on my Mac I can see it at 100% image size and the pen brush is very pixelated. So I need to experiment more with the whole thing and read the instruction manual about brushes and all the various settings for them.

Having said that............as I said above, for transfer purposes it made no difference at all and worked out pretty darn good.

One other thing I played with tonight.........Importing a knife bolster outline at 300 dpi. Importing a google image of an animal as a layer and clipping away the background. Then placing the animal on the knife bolster and altering size, rotation, mirroring etc. Then roughly drawing some scroll around it............it was ultra rough and I only had about 10 minutes to do it. But it worked perfectly and was super easy to do. So I can see that is a very useful edition to play with as well when incorporating scene work into the engraving design.

So all in all I have to say the more I play with it the more I like it and I can see it becoming my main drawing tool. One thing I have noticed is that with blue tooth between the iPad and pencil, it is murder on the iPad battery. But it's no big deal and charging while I'm working isn't intrusive.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Pär Björkman]

Thanks Andrew and the rest of you for the tips how to use the iPad Pro to create Engraving designs. I test all the tips on my newly purchased iPad PRO and it is for me a whole new world opening up absolutely fantastic and very funny. I hope you will continue so that we are not yet so skilled learn to use this modern technology.

 

[AliAtiyabi]

Stunning in layout especially in symmetry.

 

[Doc Mark]

I'm going to ask some probably dumb questions. I see the initial object outline and I assume that that is your first layer. Then the light sketch of basic scrolls which can be a bit rough (second layer). Now is when it gets confusing to me. On both yours and Sam's videos, the next layer is much darker and often has the line width gradients. It is also much smoother. Is this layer still being done by you manipulating the pencil by tracing over your previous layer, or is it the program smoothing the lines via a "trace" algorithm? The only experience I've had is using a Wacom Tablet and I've never been able to get such smooth, perfect curves.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Can I ask what type of pen/ stylus you are using or might recommend?

It's the Apple pencil that goes with the iPad Pro

Doc.......First layer is imported outlines of canvas that I did a smoke pull, scanned and outlined in Illustrator. Second layer is the pencil brush to get everything in place and develop ideas. Third layer is the pen brush which acts like a Rotring black technical pen. Third layer is the pen brush for shading etc etc etc.

You have full control over brushes as to their size, shape, opacity and tapering abilities.

Yes, I have used the Wacom tablet for years now and it's hard to get decent curves when drawing. There is a disconnect between drawing on a tablet and it appearing on a screen the is 3ft away...........with the iPad pro it is all happing on the iPad as you draw so there is no disconnect between the two. Basically it is pen and paper but its digital.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[John B.]

Hello Andrew,
Like Doc Mark I don't understand if you are refining the lumps and bumps shown in the initial drawing by redrawing it.
Or does the program refine and take out the dog legs on the second tracing or layer?
Do you have to draw perfect, smooth backbones at some point?

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi John

Think pencil and paper only. What you draw is what you get...................you can set it so that it will smooth curves out. But I have never liked it when the computer tries to out-think you. So I always leave the auto correct curves off. So the pencil is doing exactly what I am doing, just like a real pencil on paper.

Digital drawing works in layers............Think tracing paper overlays when using a real pencil and paper

The first layer is the watch outlines.
Second layer is pencil rough sketch and getting all the elements in place and scrolls properly formed. I draw, rub out, draw, rub out and so on until the drawing is where I want it to be.
Third layer is using a black technical pen to trace over the top of the pencil drawing and refining leaf shapes etc etc.............this is still me drawing by hand. The computer does nothing for me.

This third layer is what I would use for my transfers after it is reduced in size back to the original canvas size.

And of course you can flip (mirror image) and rotate..........But you can do that with pencil and paper and light box as well. The iPad/computer just makes it a bit faster and nothing else.

From there you can create different layers to do shading, cross hatching, filling in backgrounds etc etc......That means you are building up a stack of tracing paper overlays that you are drawing on

At any stage you can turn a layer off or on. Turning that layer off is like pulling that piece of paper out of the pile of tracing paper. You can also decrease the opacity of that layer. That is like using a lightbox and turning down the light source from bright to dim.

And of course the one thing you can't do with pencil and paper is zoom in and out of small areas to get fine detail. (unless you draw under a microscope)

You can also use different brushes. Brushes are only different pencils and pens with different shaped nibs. Just like what is in your pencil case at the moment except they are on your iPad/computer. You have the ability to use a super sharp pencil for fine lines or a really blunt one for wider lines.

So putting it all together it is no different than using a pencil, pens, paper and light box (or window with sun coming through it) which we have all been using for hundreds of years. The only thing that is really different is the terminology. In all other respects it is exactly the same as the good old pencil and paper.

The one feature that is super cool is the video side of things. It is something that can be sent to clients or just for fun. Or not used at all. But it is kind of a fun element.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[John B.]

Thank you Andrew, that clears up a lot of questions for me and I'm sure many other people.
I can see some definite advantages in it, as you say.
But it is much like the quick-trace overlay method done with cheap, thin throw away tracing paper to avoid erasing.
May be the digital method is quicker after a big learning curve.