100 Pencils Project: A love letter to drawing

For most artists, it all started with a pencil, or a crayon, or marker, or paintbrush — and for Daniel Flores, these simple tools became the inspiration for something bigger than he ever dreamed.

Flores (a.k.a. DTM and DaCreativeGenius) is a multidisciplinary artist with 20 years of experience in graphic design, web development, concept art, and vector Illustration — and his journey began with drawing. “My life memories include drawings. Drawing has been a part of my life, just like breathing and talking.”

Flores brings his passion project to life with the Adobe Creative Residency Community Fund, a program supporting projects from various digital artists. As a resident and one of the beta testers of Adobe Illustrator on iPad, Flores is combining his traditional art background with his digital art style using Adobe Illustrator on iPad for his “100 Pencils Project.”

Image source: 100 Pencils Coloring Book, Dan (DTM) Flores.

We interviewed Flores to learn more about his Creative Residency Project and experience using Adobe Illustrator on the iPad.

What inspired the 100 Pencils Project?

I love drawing. I do not know if I already mentioned that, but yes, I like to draw. I also have a ton of project ideas, and I want to draw them all. In the past year, I have created a couple of children’s books and coloring books that attract a lot of attention from people who like my work.

I chose a coloring book project because I like the engagement and interaction with people who end up coloring my art. It feels like a community collaboration!

How did your passion for traditional art influence your digital style?

My life memories include drawings. Drawing has been a part of my life, just like breathing and talking. I don’t remember deciding to become an artist and make that my career. I know that I’ve always wanted to spend my time drawing more than school, more than family functions, and more than anything else in my life. Growing up, I had the suspicion that artists were getting paid to draw cartoons, create comics, and produce the art that fills popular culture. I didn’t know what it would take for me to do the same, but I knew that I wanted to become one of those living in mythical lands creating new worlds and sharing their dreams in creative projects.

What’s the process for the 100 Pencils Project so far?

My creative process is simple: lots of drawing! I like to take my time to refine my drawings through several sketches, developing composition, and trying different layouts to see what works and what part of the art needs improvement.

I create and document my process using Illustrator on iPad, and I like to share it on social media to get feedback. I also have art mentors to reach out to and bounce my ideas [off of], get my art critiques, and follow through on how to improve my art.

What do you hope for people to take away from your work?

Community. I want people to come together and create. I draw the color. I also want the message of “Art Life” to continue to grow and inspire others to take up art on a serious level and create their projects following their creative skills. Whether drawing, writing, or painting, artists need to see examples of artists working on projects. I will document my process and my workflow from start to finish.

Every step of the way, I will describe my feelings, my creativity, and my self-motivations. I hope other artists take this opportunity to ask questions to help them realize the steps they need to work on their projects.

Image source: Daniel (DTM) Flores on Behance.

100 Pencils Project live on Behance

Follow Flores’ 100 Pencils Project on Behance using Adobe Illustrator on iPad and check out some of the finished artwork on his project page. You can also learn more about the Adobe Creative Residency Community Fund here.