digital art

Mandala WIP

Angela Porter1 Comment

It’s been too hot for me for the past few days. I’ve seriously wilted and haven’t been able to focus much. The very broken sleep during the hot nights hasn’t helped.

Today, however, it’s been cooler in my little nook of the world, thankfully. So, I managed to add colour to one of the two colouring pages I need to get done for Daydreams to complete that project.

To keep myself awake this evening, I’ve had a bit of an exploration of creating art without any visible line art.

Now, this isn’t something I do much. I dip my toes into this style occasionally, particularly with digital art. I seem to get on better with it when working digitally.

Every time I work this way I wonder why I don’t do more of it. And then I get distracted by contracts and the like.

As I work this way it feels very uncomfortable, almost unnatural. There are bits of this work that I like. The bits I dislike are mainly the areas filled with blobs and the chosen colours. I really like the curves and the shapes created. I also enjoyed figuring out how to add texture to the areas of colour. Oh, I love the way the colours practically glow against the charcoal coloured background.

I realise I need to get my head around using layers in my digital work as that would make it a lot easier to change colours and parts of the design I don’t like. Tonight isn’t the night for that though; I’m just about asleep as I type and try to think!

Oh, the shapes and forms are very much inspired by the work of Ernst Haeckel. What has flowed from my surface pen onto the screen of my surface studio has definitely welled up from my arty heart and subconscious.

I started off without a sketch. But, I decided to sketch out the main shapes/motifs for the remaining layers. I rather like the ghostly chalk-like outline hinting at the next phases of work.

Colouring Page – 5 September 2023

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A nice morning spent drawing a mandala and adding colour to it. Well, part of it! The full design fits an A4 page with margins.

Mandalas are always so soothing to draw. In this case, I knew I wanted to start with a sunflower motif. And it just grew from there!

There’s a late summer / early autumn kind of feel to the colours I’ve used. I’m eager for the colour of the world to start to change and for nature to be at her most glorious! I know I have a little time to wait, but it’s getting closer. The quality of the light is changing as the seasons change. There’s a feeling of liminality about the world – it’s neither one season nor the other. It’s a threshold of the year, a point of change.

I feel excited as I think about autumn’s incipient arrival. I’m reminded of Bilbo and Frodo in Lord of the Rings who love walking in autumn. The warm enough days to wander, though at the moment it is just way too hot in the valleys of South Wales. Then there are the cool, refreshing nights where sleep is so easy compared to the heat of summer.

There’s a feeling of magic in the air. I feel it, and contentment and wonder follow.

It is these small moments of wonder that raise one’s spirits constantly. They’re there if we just take the time to pay attention to them. Then, for a while at least, we can put aside our worries and troubles and enjoy something full of beauty and awe.

That can be hard to remember when I’m having one of my wobbly days. I’m trusting the autumn will bring a sense of wanderlust to me. The wandering may not be far in distance, but in observation and enjoyment of the natural world, the wandering will be great, bringing inspiration and joy, wonderment and magic of its own. Memories to treasure in words and images.

Entangled Art WIP

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A new month today, and with it I’m adding colour to this drawing.

The drawing was done with pen on paper (05 Unipin fineliner). I’m adding colour with Clip Studio Paint. So, this makes this #tradigital – a combination of traditional and digital methods.

It’s taken me several attempts to settle on a colour palette to use. The brighter, more vibrant colours represent the way the world is starting to come alive this spring, for us in the Northern Hemisphere at least. Nature is quickening and lacy leafy green delicately cloaks the the skeletal winter trees and the ground. All the wonderful shades of green of spring make a beautiful tapestry , with texture added by the darker trunks and branches still peeping through. I delight in the variety of greens, that will soon darken to the truly monochrome green of summer.

Colouring Page – 1 April 2023

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Drawn with Unipin Fineliner pens on A4 Canson Imagine paper.
Colour added digitally using ClipStudio Paint.

This is such a typical ‘Angela’ style of entangled art, kind of Zentangle Inspired too. Unusual colour choices for me. I particularly like the moss-green and cream in the arches towards the top right. Though the dusky blues filling in the basket weave pattern to the top left I find nice too. I felt like using coppery tones for the fine borders in the arches rather than gold this time.

Mandala Colouring Page WIP

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I finally managed to get some mental focus this evening and enjoyed drawing this mandala, and adding some colour to it. Colour really does put some ‘flesh’ on the bare bones of the line drawing.

It was a soothing process for me to do, which is what I need at this time.

This colouring page is available to members of the Angela Porters Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

Mandala Colouring Page – 3 Feb 2023

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This week’s template for the Facebook group Angela Porter’s Colouring Book Fans is a mandala.

I need soothing, calming art today. One day I may share why I’m so topsy-turvy emotionally and mentally. But not now.

For now, I’m being creative in a way that soothes my inner maelstrom. It’s a mini maelstrom, but still enough to provoke unease, fear, and unsettling emotions. Still, these things pass in time. And I have a lot to experience and learn connected to this unease and fear. I just don’t know the timescale and that kind of makes it worse!

But art is always my solace, though I need to find others too. There’s my illustrated journal – writing and, erm, art! It’s been a long while since I played my flute. Nearly a week since I went out for a walk. I still have an electric folk harp I’ve not learned how to play! And there’s plenty of tea to drink.

Tea! Twice, thrice and twice-twice blessed! Tea is always soothing, especially at that magic temperature where it just feels like every part of you relaxes, and a sigh of relief and pleasure is released!

So, once I’ve finished all my social media stuff, I’ll get another mug of tea and get a YouTube video done. Yes, more art. But I love drawing!

Entangled Colouring Page – 26 January 2023

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I had a lot of fun drawing this colouring page in my entangled style. It was so lovely getting back in the ‘entangled’ groove for colouring pages; there is a reason for me needing to do this. I also had some fun with adding colour. Though, as is usual for my colouring pages, it’s a partial colour! My attention needs to be turned towards other things.

This template is available to the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook group.

Drawn with a 0.5 Unipin pen on dot grid paper. Colour was added digitally using Clip Studio Paint.

Aww, shucks…

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Aww, shucks…

Another daily creepy cute critter. Well, almost daily. I’ll explain more in a moment, first to this lovely bunch of pals, or not lovely, depending on your interpretation.

I’m not sure what the possible story is or what stories are here. But that’s part of the fun. I suspect we’ll each see what makes sense to us, given where we are at any particular moment. I feel the tall one is having an aww shucks moment, especially as the ears are blushing (not the cheeks!). Is it a celebration? Or surprised someone would think of them, and the little one is rolling their eyes… again! Is tall always blue in colour, or is it a sign of their low mood and the others have thought to cheer them up?

But, of course, that is just one interpretation. It’s fun to muse about what’s going on for sure.

‘Puter Probs…

I’ve been missing from blog posts, social media and YouTube for a few days thanks to some computer problems. But all seems to be fine now, and I have a shiny new laptop that will function as a backup for digital art should my main computer have problems again. I have no idea what went wrong, but I went into full flap and panic mode. Or, an enormous flap and panic mode as I was already overwhelmed with a second deadline looming at the end of this week. The only problem with the new one is the pen on the screen is not as good as my main puter. So, I see a drawing tablet in the future, just in case…

I still have a lot of anxiety left over from this flap and panic, which is tiring me out. But that will fade. Tea will definitely help this morning! As will some art just for art’s sake too.

Trust me, I know where I’m going…

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But who is leading, and who is doing the trusting? Little, big, bird or balloonist?

And how many times have we all heard that particular statement, only to find out they didn’t know where they were going. Sometimes that ends in disaster, but sometimes it results in a fantastic adventure!

All I know is there are multiple possible tales to be told from this illustration. And that kind of excites me!

Drawn with a Tombow Fudenosuke pen on paper. Colour added using Clip Studio Paint. Tradigital art.

A Grand Day (Creepy Cute Style!)

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Where has this monstrous mushroom been? And why has the raven accompanied him? The sun has set on the day, and the stars twinkle in an alien sky. Yet the mushroom has managed to acquire a cute heart balloon and a rainbow lollipop, and a bit of a sickly complexion too. Where in the galaxy have these companions been and what have they been up to?

I’m sure there’s a story to tell, but if there is, these unlikely companions are keeping it to themselves… for now. And if I know the tale, and I’m not saying I do, then I will have been sworn to secrecy too!

I could be accused of having too much fun with my creepy cuties (Kreepy Kuties?). Does that bother me? Not one tiny bit! I’m enjoying drawing, exploring a new kind of style to add to my toolbox, and just plain indulging myself in some creepy, crazy, cute, critter-y, klutzy monsters!

I finally turned to digital art to colour in my pen drawing. What a sigh of relief I gave as I did so. Yes, it’s fun to add colour with traditional media, to a degree in my case. But it’s so much more satisfying for me to add colour and texture digitally.

Traditional pen drawing on paper combined with the addition of digital colour makes it tradigital art!