This year, as last year, I used the #abstractadvent prompts for my daily drawings in December. The prompts are devised by Chris Francis, @artpedagogy on Instagram, and used by pupils and teachers.

This year, after a false start, I decided to use the prompts to inspire digital art making, with a focus on making animated gifs and AR objects. I used Keynote to make animated gifs, using drawing, shapes and animation to make with.

Working with AR was something I had tried before but this time I went further and learned more. I used Keynote and SketchesPro to make the items I was going to use in the ARMakr app. I learned how to save my drawings with a transparent background, essential for using them later. I also learned how to place objects so that they appeared to be on the surface rather than floating above it, useful for some of the objects. One of the biggest challenges was using the ARMakr app in reduced light – I tended to have time to do this in the evenings, but the app didn’t react well to non natural light.

You can see all the images, gifs and videos I made if you look back through the posts on this blog made in December. Its so useful to have the structure of prompts provided when you’re involved in long term daily drawing, especially in the winter and when I’m very busy at work, so thanks to @artpedagogy and to the other people posting – it’s worth having a look at #artabstract on Instagram as there is a great variety of responses.