Made using iPad Pro 2020 in the Procreate app with Apple Pencil, using my “Painterly” brush set and the “Van Gogh Flowers” color palette that comes with it. You are very welcome to follow the tutorial with any other brushes you have.
For this abstract painting, I first create a base out of neutrals – beige, white, grey, and black. I lay out a basic shape so I know where my areas of color are going to be, and where my white space is going to be. I then add accents of pink, greyish blue, and gold, and begin to blur and smudge it all together using the smudge tool. The idea here is to blend textures and remove some harsh lines while keeping it realistic. I want to still let some of the texture still peek through.
A Few Tips:
- When creating abstract art, chaos is your friend! Don’t be afraid to get messy, and lean into irregularities.
- Always use a new layer when adding metallics – If you continuously add to metallics on the same layer, you will get a “washed out” effect which is NOT what you are going for here!
- Add a few selective pops of bright color.
- Leave some white space to maximize visual interest without the feeling of clutter.
Specific brushes used:
- Master Impressionist Dual Color
- Choppy Strokes Dual Color
- Dry Oil (Smudge)
- Dry Oil – Super Dry
- Metallic Strokes
Canvas size: 12 x 12 inches at 300 DPI.
