My artist friend and colleague, nationally known watercolorist David Rankin, has gotten into iPad drawing in a big way. His app of choice is Paper 53 and he really knows how to get the most out of it. He’s now teaching workshops about iPad drawing in and around his home city of Cleveland, Ohio.

I sent him this photo I took of the first bloom of the year on my herbaceous peony “Sarah Bernhardt”, saying that I’d love to see how he’d draw it on his iPad.

The very next day he sent me this great little step-by-step. Here’s what he has to say about it: “The image shows 3 stages in the production of this Peony image… using Paper by 53 on an iPad 2 with a Pogo Sketch Pro Stylus. Presently I’m doing a Bird a Day throughout 2013, but I’m considering next year to do a “Flower a Day”. The first stage…the Drawing Stage…is most important…and actually a rather hard stage as you have to pay close attention as I work my way around the entire structure of the flower. I’ve sketched flowers like this for years. But now…with this app…I can add full color and much more comprehensive lighting.”

Of course the same procedure could be used with “real” watercolors. David likes using his iPad for fast studies like this before he does the finish in watercolor, too.

You can see more of David’s work at:

•    David Rankin Daily Birds on Facebook…  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151318758709303.489738.773694302&type=3

•    David Rankin Official Website: http://www.davidrankinwatercolors.com