Blackness is a tutorial book on digital painting using the popular drawing application: Procreate. An embedded memoir and a 2023 - 2021 gallery of Nyasia’s artwork are included. It is written, illustrated, and designed by Black artist Tionna Nyasia Watson. In the book, there are tips and tutorials on how to take full advantage of Procreate. This book also includes techniques discovered that help create her still-life portraits of black women and explanations about why she approaches her art the way she does when creating. The tutorials included are about drawing hair, rendering textured skin, and blending skin tones. She also includes sections on clothing texture, and paper texture, and uses backgrounds as a bonus.
Nyasia shares her journey in finding her style of art through the elements of design: texture and detail, and her medium of choice, the iPad application Procreate. This exploration began when she was a child. Her love for art was heavily influenced by her family, who, she mentions, have impacted her interest in using detail as a weapon of affirmation for women and artistic identity, and not just seeing it as an element of creativity. This book is a glimpse into her future and past; she wants you to create beautiful artwork and discover who you are the same way she has.
Proposal from Nyasia:
I want to take Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book I: Detail & Textures with Embedded Memoir a step further and expand on the content inside, growing on the information I’ve provided in the book because I do feel the information I have included is limited and there most definitely should be more. I would also like to stray away from Procreate and not focus just on digital art because black spans all forms of art not just digital art. One major theme I would like to explore is skin texture and skin tones.
I realized that not only is skin texture diverse but there is also diversity in skin tones and shades. No one can possibly know the number of skin tone shades there, but it’s fun to create as many as you can. Skin tones are more than just honey, golden, almond, chestnut, nutmeg, espresso, and many other names written on foundation bottles. How these tones and used depends on the undertones and light sources. As a portrait painter, Watson has tasked herself to create skin spectra that are diverse and unique.
What's Next:
I intend for Blackness to become a series and in the presentation, I present the next four to come:
Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book II: The Sketch
goes into detail about sketching the face. This is not just about the boring old box and grid methods we learn about in school. This book will be engaging and interactive with pages to practice and sketch.
Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book III: Melanin Skin & Color
goes deeper into creating all types and textures of skin, and skin tones. I want to explore this more because I’ve always been fascinated by different and unique identities.
Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book IV: From Start to Finish
dives into the artist’s secrets and explains it ALL in a single detailed tutorial, creating a beautiful illustration from start to finish.
Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book V: Animalia, Nature, and
Muliebrity
I sort of fell for the word muliebrity, it flows beautifully with Animalia, Flora, and Nature. Another theme I am beginning to explore more in my artwork. So, this book will be all about the merging, comparing, and relations of Animalia, flora, and Womanhood.
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