So, I spent a good chunk of my weekend trying something out, something I’d seen floating around and really liked the look of. It’s tied to this name, Lindsey Schumaker. I kept seeing these cool designs, sort of painterly but digital, and her name popped up.
Naturally, I got curious. I thought, hey, I wanna try making something that feels like that. Looked like a neat style for some personal stuff I was tinkering with, maybe some social media posts or just messing around for fun.
Getting Started – The Hunt
First thing, I started digging around. You know how it is, trying to find how someone actually does something. Wasn’t super easy. Didn’t find like, a step-by-step guide right off the bat. Mostly found examples of work, things people said were inspired by her.
So, I gathered up a bunch of images that had that specific feel. Spread them out, virtually speaking, on my screen. Tried to really look at them, break down what made them tick. Was it the textures? The way the colors blended? Seemed like a mix of things.
Diving In – The Actual Doing
Okay, time to get my hands dirty. Fired up my usual graphics program. Picked a simple idea, nothing too crazy, just wanted to focus on getting that Schumaker-ish texture and feel.
I started layering things. Grabbed some textured brushes I had, played with the opacity, tried blending modes. Man, it was trickier than I thought. For a while, everything just looked muddy or flat. Not that soft, painterly vibe I was aiming for.
- Tried overlaying textures scanned from paper.
- Messed with different brush settings – flow, jitter, all that stuff.
- Spent ages just tweaking colors, trying to get them to blend softly at the edges.
Honestly, got a bit frustrated. You see the finished thing someone else did, and it looks effortless, right? But sitting there, clicking away, trying to make it happen… well, it takes time. Lots of trial and error.
Figuring It Out (Sort Of)
Then I had a little breakthrough. I noticed in one example, it looked like maybe there were multiple layers of the same color, but with slight variations in texture or transparency. So, I tried that. Duplicated a layer, applied a different texture effect, set it to a low opacity.
That started getting me closer. It wasn’t a perfect match, not by a long shot. I suspect there’s some specific technique or maybe custom brushes involved that I just don’t have or know about. But it started to feel less digital and a bit more organic, which was the goal.
Didn’t quite nail the exact Lindsey Schumaker look, I gotta admit. But I ended up with something I actually quite liked! It was my own take, inspired by that style. And the process itself, the fiddling and experimenting, that was the main thing. Learned a few new ways to push my software around, which is always good.
So yeah, that was my weekend project. A dive into trying to replicate a style. Good reminder that things often look simpler than they are, and the real learning is in the trying.
