How ‘Sketchy Brett’ makes watercolour-inspired magic with his iPad and Mac set-up
From Cape Town to Italy – why artist Brett Field puts his faith in his iPad to help him sketch a brighter tomorrow for his business globally.
Whether it's traditional or digital art – you can usually tell an artist by the way they express themselves in their art style. The linework, the use of colour, shapes and how these elements all come together define the unique fingerprint that defines an artist.
Brett Field, known by his art alter ego Sketchy Brett, an artist based in Cape Town, has a very distinct art style. With the flair of delicate watercolour and fine liner, Brett, with his brush and pen in hand creates art pieces that feel like they move and enhance the story of the images being drawn. Brett works at the Onit Creative Studio where he and his team handle design and animation, web and UI / UX design, as well as social media content creation.
When he’s not designing away at his work desk, Brett spends his time creating insightful YouTube videos under his Sketchy Brett brand where his goal is to help upskill artists interested in honing their craft.
“My focus now is on passing that knowledge on to others – and I do that in a fun way via my YouTube channel,” Brett says.
When he’s not making YouTube art tutorials and at his day job, he creates artwork for people’s homes and office spaces.
While Brett founded his art business five years ago, he’s been posting videos on his YouTube channel for one year and garnered a following over a thousand subscribers who tune in regularly to hear his sage art advice.
“It's growing nicely. We've started to get a nice sort of tribe behind the channel and a lot of user-generated feedback is coming in and driving the channel. So, yeah, it's all going really well,” he shares.
But building a name for yourself online and commissioning artwork takes the support of tools that can keep up. For Brett, he puts his trust in the capable hands of Apple products to digitise his artwork and edit his videos.
From the iPad he does digital renditions of his work on to the MacBook he does his edits on and his iPhone he keeps on hand to engage with his following – Brett finds immersing himself into the Apple world works best to synthesise his brand approach.
“I use my MacBook Air to run all my admin emails, websites, for handling orders, and managing my online store,” explains Brett. “I use my iPad for doing sketches for inspiration, but also to create quick format inspiration pieces that I will send through to interior designers or to clients so that they can get an idea of what my artwork will look like.”
Brett also relies on his iPhone to notify him when he receives new orders as well as to take pictures and videos which he then turns into content for social media.
As for why he relies on the Apple ecosystem, he says his reasoning is simple – the convenience of AirDrop.
“I can be working on the iPad, send it to my computer, adjust, fix, edit, upload the work or I can send it to my iPhone and rush out the door while still using it when I land at a coffee shop or anywhere,” he reveals.
“It really allows me to be more mobile and send large files really quickly – which I literally do non-stop all day,” Brett enthuses.
As he focuses on growing his YouTube channel going forward, Brett is hopeful that his trust in Apple products will get him to achieve new heights through his art venture.
“The focus at the moment is really on the YouTube channel – I’m building a community there and it’s growing really nicely and, surprisingly, not just in South Africa – I’ve got a really wide international audience and I’ve got trips planned to Italy later in the year,” Brett says eagerly about his hopes for the future.
Brett feels that Apple will help him continue expanding his art business on a global scale as he’ll be able to seamlessly switch between devices while travelling.
“These devices are always interconnected and really have flawless interconnectivity and allow me to move my artworks and capture what I’m doing and put it up onto social media and YouTube,” he adds.
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