The first draft of this dragonfly was drawn on my iPod in the middle of the night. I have insomnia, so I keep my iPod by the bed to keep myself occupied until I fall back to sleep.
I drew it on an intuitive drawing app called miniDraw. It has lots of options, including layers and gradient fills, but I love that I can use my finger tip to maneuver the lines best of all.
There’s something extraordinarily satisfying about getting my fingers involved in the drawing process. I need that direct contact to feel my way into an image and I’ve never felt that sensation using a pen on a digital tablet.
It’s very engaging to add gradients and patterns to images during the day, but drawing gives shape to my visions in the middle of the night when there is no one else to see.
This dragonfly was created in the years before my bipolar brain was medicated. I’m bipolar II, and my upswings were highly creative and kept me up at night. As you can see, the work is nothing like my current pencil drawings. While I enjoy looking at the colorful work I created in my unmedicated state, I don’t miss those days. See also Turtle of the Month.
