Paintology block coloring / Easy way to create unique drawings

You will probably have seen some of the recent tutorials and blog posts talking about ‘block coloring’ with the Paintology app.

This new method of drawing which is fun and easy to do and is ideal for those wanting a quick reward for their efforts. Also, it increases your appreciation of gray/color tones (essential to drawing) and improves drawing skills in the digital medium.

If you want to check out some of the previous posts, you can go directly to the link below.

More information on the block coloring method using Paintology.
Creating similar drawings to traditional using digital.

Block coloring of swans with Paintology:

In this drawing, I took a picture of swans in the lake a few months back and decided to draw this using the block coloring approach. Surprisingly enough, it was very easy to do compared to some of the complex drawings of the past. This maybe due to the dark background which can be more forgiving on your drawings skills due to the higher contrasts. I also found that when drawing with pastel pencils on gray toned paper or black paper, I was able to produce drawings that also looked more appealing over say a white canvas or paper.

A video of the swan drawing can be found below:

Swan drawing using the block coloring method with Paintology

The swan drawing is very easy to do and just requires a quick tutorial of how to go about this.

Here are the steps to the drawing:

  • Load Image: You first load the image in trace mode of the Paintology app which allows you to move easily from the image and your drawing canvas using the trace bar. For this tutorial, the traced image of the swan is already preloaded in the background for you to start drawing. You can load any image of your choice and do block coloring with this.
  • Block Coloring: To make the drawing you need to use a simple approach of doing block coloring. Block coloring is different to what is found in the online dictionary. The term is used here to imply blocking coloring based on the underlying color of the image. To do this, we set the trace bar to mid-point where we can access the colors of the underlying image we are trying to draw. We use the color picker to draw a small ‘block’, we pick the color and start blocking out a small area with that color. We repeat the process for another region that we think has a change of colors. Depending on how far you can zoom in and how detailed you want the drawing, you can do block coloring in miniature steps. In this way, you can create almost life like drawings which are close to the original image. You can see examples below.
  • Brush Tool: I have mainly used the line brush to make block drawings, but you can use other brushes too. Depending on the density and hardness setting, you can vary the outcome of the drawing with a style that is unique to you. I will provide more examples of this types of drawing in my next tutorial or blog post. Keep watching!
  • Shading: In this drawing of the swans, I wanted to diffuse the hard edges of the block coloring using the line brush. I therefore decided to use the shade brush to diffuse the hard edges towards the end. You can see this in the actual video towards the end.

I spent about 2 hours making this drawing on my Galaxy Note 10 using a stylus. Normally, I am quite fast with drawings, but on this occasion, I decided to take it easy. If you are a beginner, I suggest you try to take your time and get used to drawing this way. The great advantage of drawing with a phone or tablet is that you can try and try again until you get better at it. Remember, not to set high goals initially, you need to understand the process of drawing on a digital medium if you have not done this before. Go slowly and become comfortable in the medium before you aim big. You will eventually get better as I did.

You can also try the other similar block coloring drawings done with the Paintology app:

You can also read more about the block coloring method of drawing on the blog post link below:

https://paintology.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=8983&action=edit

An Analogy to Paint by Numbers Kits:

I am hoping to make this block coloring method of drawing more easily available to other artists so that they can unleash their creativity. One way to think about block coloring is to compare it to the traditional Paint by Numbers kit that you can get in hobby stores and learn painting.

In a similar fashion the block coloring with Paintology is a variation of the Paint by Numbers. The difference is that you choose the numbers and the colors, so you set the amount of details you want in the drawing. By picking large blocks, the final drawing will appear blocky but nevertheless could be used as an artistic expression, for example, Picasso’s cubism. By going to much smaller blocks, you can almost replicate the underlying drawing with little difference. An example is the drawing that I made of Constable’s painting, the Hay Wain mentioned above.

An additional fun factor in this way of drawing is that you can download any image of your choice and do block coloring. Drawing in this manner can open up many doors to creative expression. As a further example, I took Turner’s famous drawing of ‘Dutch boats in a Gale’ and cropped the interesting part of the painting which was the boat.

I decided to do a block coloring for most of the scenes and then decided to go creative. I thought the scene would be great to add more splashing water to give the impression of a torrential storm rather than just a gale. The idea came to me after I was doing the block coloring. You can see Turners initial cropped image along with what I produced below.

Get creative with the Paintology app!

I used the line brush with different opacity to get the waves of water around the boat. It was fun to do and had to tap into my imagination and art skills of the app.

If you enjoy Paint by Numbers, you are sure to enjoy this and not be constrained by preloaded paint by number artwork and load an image that you like. This is an excellent way to learn on the digital medium and all you need is the Paintology app from the Google play store, your phone or tablet.

The Paintology app has over 400 tutorials that are designed for beginners and advanced, super fun and easy. Most of all it will improve your skills in drawing which can be highly satisfying and rewarding.

Paintology App & Social Sites:

Download the free Paintology app from the Google play store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paintology.lite

water mark for Paintology on Google play store

App links:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paintology.lite

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paintology.lite.pencil.drawing

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paintology.lite.paint.by.number

Artsite:
https://www.paintology.com

Ferdouse:
https://www.ferdouse.com

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/paintology.app/
https://www.instagram.com/ferdousekhal/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Paintology.apps

Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/Ferdouse
https://www.youtube.com/c/Paintology

Udemy:
https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?p=2&q=paintology&src=ukw

Quora:
https://www.quora.com/profile/Ferdouse-Khaleque

Others:
https://www.tiktok.com/@paintology3
https://www.pinterest.com/FerdouseKhaleque/
https://www.pinterest.com/Paintology

Happy Painting & Drawing!

#blockcoloring #paintologyapp #learndrawing #easydrawing