Chameleon Magazine

Digital Art by Chameleon

 Digital Process: Drawing First, Always

Before anything else — before color, motion, or layers — I start with a line.

I used to sketch on paper, scan it in, and build from there. It worked, but it always felt like two separate worlds trying to meet: analog intention and digital execution.

Now, with the iPad and Procreate, I draw directly on the screen. The gap’s gone. It’s still my hand, still my eye — just fewer barriers between the impulse and the image.

I usually begin with a loose line drawing. Sometimes it’s just a fragment — a curve, a figure, a strange shape that pulls me in. That’s all I need. From there, everything builds. The lines guide the form. The form suggests the mood. The mood finds its color. It’s organic, layered, and led by instinct more than plan.

Digital hasn’t replaced traditional for me — it’s extended it. What used to take multiple steps now flows in one motion, like sketching with light instead of graphite.

Once that base drawing is down, that’s when I open the doors. I like to layer in as many mediums as I can — textures, photos, brushwork, overlays, color shifts, typography.

Sometimes I’ll pull in a scanned piece of paper I painted weeks ago.

If it fits, it stays. If it brings something new, it’s welcome.

That’s the beauty of digital — I can mix, play, erase, rebuild — as many times as it takes to get that spark just right.

For me, it’s never just about making something polished.

It’s about exploring, layering, discovering.

Each piece is part instinct, part accident, and part puzzle — and I love the way all those pieces talk to each other as it evolves.