Like many artists, I think I am still finding my niche and art style.
When I first starting working on digital art, it was introduced to me through the concept of sketchnoting. For those who are not familiar, sketchnoting is the process of using icons/drawings to communicate information that has been learned. My first introduction was through trainings that were led by staff in the school district I work for. I quickly started practicing this outside of school with books I was reading.
This one from Michael Cohen’s “Educated By Design” is still one of my favorites (my non-art twitter handle is in the lower right corner – my art account is @FernheartDesign):
I spent a lot of time looking at The Noun Project for icon ideas for various topics and even tried live sketchnoting when attending the ISTE conference back in 2019 (my tip for anyone who has ever considered that is to create a general template in advance).
My early art is very icon heavy and simple. I recently came across one of the first tree designs I have drawn and it was VERY different from the work I do now. Next I got really into math-based art or working on icon based images that I could use in the classroom. This then led to creating custom banners for Canvas, the LMS that my school uses, which later lead to creating custom Google Slide templates (but that is for another post).
Somewhere along the way, I started getting interested in nature focused art. Which is nothing new. I have occasionally stumbled across sketchbooks from high school that show my early attempts at drawing jellyfish, seahorses, plants, squirrels, and more.
And it also was driven I think by the amount of time I started spending outside during the early days of the pandemic. The wooded parks and trails near my house gave me a place to relax and breathe. To start to notice the way that the forests and mountains change with the seasons. So I started trying to draw what I saw.
At first, I was very fixated on trying to create realistic digital art. Something that looked like the photos my friends and I took while out on walks. And I will admit that some of these early works are still some of my favorites. One subject seems to appear quite a bit: Mt. Hood.
As the highest point in Oregon, Mt. Hood is easily visible on clear days for miles and changes quite a bit with the light and seasons. I’ve found it to be a fun subject to experiment with different styles and Procreate pens. After my initial attempts to try to draw the mountain accurately, I started to take more of a sketch approach, trying to show light and shadow in a different way. Adding more pops of color.
This gave way to a series of sketches that showed various peaks of the Cascades. The Mt. Hood design was the first, followed by Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. It is still one of my favorite designs – currently my bestseller on Redbubble as well as printed on a poster that I have hanging in my classroom and on the t-shirt I am currently wearing. It has a little bit of science and a lot of color, which are both things that I am fond of. Even though I currently don’t get to teach about volcanoes.
I would later create an additional series that more of the mountain range from Mt. Baker in the north to Lassen Peak in the south. These ones were much more of an ink style drawing and likely the result of me trying to draw in ink on paper-based art.
The Cascades artworks have definitely been the most successful designs for me as an artist. And I know it’s kind of silly, but they follow a color gradient with reds to the north, oranges in the central range, and yellows to the south. The originals were in shades of blue and purple, but I think they turned out a bit too dark.
Around the same time, I started developing an interest in native plants. Growing up, I was often the kid with the guidebook out on hikes who attempted to identify every single tree, flower, bird, or bug I encountered. And when I had time, I would try to sketch them. I’ve been working on a series of ink-style drawings of the various native plants I observed on hikes this spring/summer. It has been interesting to try to start identifying plants not just by their flowers, but by their leaves. And trying to learn a lot of the vocabulary that goes along with that. I take my cell phone with me mostly for taking reference photos that I can later use.
And I know there are loads of other types of art themes I could focus on, but I really like my nature niche. It gives me a chance to learn more about and appreciate the ecosystem around me and the complexity of it. I’m sure I will find new aspects to capture with my art (or maybe someday finally get around to creating a coloring book from some of my designs). Which I will admit would be easier with my more recent sketch style compared to my earlier art.
I also think I would like to start sharing more of what I am learning along the way as part of my art. I did start adding scientific names to some of my designs and it has been interesting to start recognizing parts of these and the connections between plants/animals I never would have guessed were related to one another. But half the adventure of art is not knowing where it will lead you next. And that is part of what makes it fun.
Fernheart Designs 