pen drawing

Inktober Tangles 2021 | Day 3

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This Zentangle tile contains the first three tangle patterns of the Inktober Tangle 2021 prompt list. They are Lunar Flux, Naaki and Dewd, by Debbie New CZT, Nadine Roller CZT, and Zentangle Inc. respectively.

I’ve used Lunar Flux in a similar way to my tile for Day 1. I just think it’s lovely as sprigs of foliage. Dewd works well as a filler pattern behind Lunar Flux. Finally, I used Naaki in the square to create a border.

A 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4⅛” x 5⅞”) piece of Bristol board coloured with Rusty Hinge Distress ink was the base for the design. The line drawing was completed with a 0.3 Unipin pen. Pastel pencils added colour and shadow to the drawing. Finally, Sakura Souffle and Sakura Metallic Gelly roll pens were used to add highlights in white and gold.

A monochrome colour scheme of warm and cool browns was the way to go here. They worked harmoniously with the Distress Ink background colour. For highlights, I didn’t use a white pastel pencil as it didn’t make much of a difference. Instead, I went with dots of white.

It’s all a bit wibbly and wobbly; well, I did draw it sat in bed whilst coming around from a deep night’s sleep.

I do have a couple more sketchbook pages of explorations of Naaki from yesterday. I do want to do similar for Dewd. I’m finding this an interesting experience. Creating variations and iterations of a pattern or motif isn’t something I’ve done much of, but I’m sure I will be doing so going forward with lots of art.

There’s also the question of whether I tackle today’s official Inktober 2021 prompt, which is “vessel”. I dunno. I’ll see how I feel about that later today.

Sketchbook Saturday – My week in art

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Saturday is the day I look back over the art I’ve done from the past week, and a bit older than that too!

Inktober and Inktober Tangles 2021

Naaki by Nadine Roller CZT and ‘suit’ are the two prompts I worked with today.

Instead of creating one drawing, I decided to try out variations of the tangle pattern. And I included the symbols for the four suits in playing cards too.

I may do this for the rest of Inktober. It’s a lot of fun to do, no pressure to create a finished ’tile’ or ‘picture’. And no pressure on me is just what I need at the moment.

Hello October and Inktober!

Angela Porter4 Comments

The first day of a new month, and the first day of Inktober to boot!

This year I’m definitely going to the Inktober Tangle 2021 prompt list of Zentangle patterns. I’m going to try to combine the official Inktober 2021 prompt list with them.

Today, I’ve managed that. ‘Crystals’ is the prompt from the Inktober list. The tangle pattern for today is ‘Lunar Flux’ by Debbie New CZT.

I dug out a piece of paper coloured with Distress Inks from my stash of such paper. It’s a rather grungy kind of green, which appealed to me first thing this morning.

0.1 and 0.3 Unipin pens were used to draw the design. Next, a variety of green and white chalk pastels were used to add colour, shadow and highlight to the design. Finally, embellishments were added with white Sakura Soufflé, yellow/gold Sakura Stardust, and clear Sakura Glaze pens.

There were a number of times through the process where I wondered what on Earth I was doing and was going to give up. The first was when I started to dislike the coloured paper. The next was when I thought the pen work wasn’t looking too good, I didn’t have the space to add a third stem of lunar flux (I like groups of odd numbers). Finally, adding colour with the pastels felt like I was making a bad job worse.

I’m glad I didn’t give up. I’m actually quite pleased with the finished drawing. There’s some volume to the elements, and a sense of layers too. The highlights and shadows really helped to lift the colours and the design.

It’s been a lovely, if a tad frustrating at times, way to spend a couple of hours this morning.

Yesterday evening, I spent some time playing around with the basic idea of Lunar Flux and came up with a sketchbook page full of variations. I’ll show this in tomorrow’s Sketchbook Saturday vlog.

For now, I’m going to get a fresh mug of mocha, and spend sometime drawing, making use of Lunar Flux. I’m still not feeling quite right after my upset tummy Wednesday and yesterday. I had a horrible night’s sleep, with two vivid nightmares that had me wrenching myself awake from them. I have no idea what caused them, but the unease and fear they provoked in me is lingering today, along with a sense of exhaustion too. So, self-care time is very much needed today for sure.

Template Thursday!

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This week’s coloring page / coloring template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group is a typically entangled, abstract, zentangle inspired and rather weird pen drawing.

It’s going to be interesting to see how people add colour to this design. My example here is the third attempt to find colours that I liked, and even then I really am not fussed on the stuff to the left. I do seem to have an ongoing issue with colours this week.

Drawn with a Tombow Fudenosuke pen, coloured digitally in Clip Studio Paint Pro.

Template Thursday…on a Wednesday!

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It’s that day of the week once again. Wednesday. The day I draw the coloring page / coloring template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. And I video the drawing process too.

Today it’s only part of the template. Truly a sneak peek at a work in progress (WIP). I’ve used, so far, two Zentangle Patterns (oysteroid and flux) and a triangle leaf/seaweed kind of motif. I have no idea how this is going to finish, other than well, hopefully.

I’m drawing with a Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen on ClaireFontaine dot grid ‘Sketch’ paper. The pen dries quickly on this paper, there’s little to no feathering of the ink, and the dots I can remove digitally when I’ve finished the drawing. And then add colour…eek!

I started adding colour to another drawing early this morning. Mistake. A BIG mistake. You can see that drawing over on Instagram.

I have no idea why I keep inflicting the torture of colouring drawings in with traditional media upon myself. I don’t know how many times I say to myself I need to stop doing this, and then I go and do it again any way. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome”, is a quote mis-attributed to Einstein, but it seems relevant to myself and my colour struggles!

Today, I’m going to put it down to waking early for the weekly Abel & Cole delivery and being just plain tired. I had to return to sleep after that disastrous coloring session.

This template, when finished, will have some colour added to it digitally. I seem to do so much better when I work with colour in an art package, currently Clip Studio Paint Pro. I think it’s partly because I can make an awful colour choice and then correct/edit it easily. And I tend to stick to limited colour palettes a lot more easily than I do when I have a whole load of pencils, pens, or paints in front of me to choose from. Then it becomes a nightmare for me!

One day, I trust I’ll remember not to add colour when tired and to use limited colour palettes only. One day soon I hope!

Sketchtember Day 28 | Zentangle Tile

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This morning, I needed to have some calm and relaxed creating time.

I started by drawing a pencil grid of squares and triangles to work in. Next, a visit to TanglePatterns.com led me to the motifs, or fragments in Zentangle-speak, that I wanted to use.

The central motifs are a slight variation on Nayu by Eniko Kaneko CZT. This morning, I just couldn’t get the overlapping of the ‘ribbons’ right.

The triangle motifs around the edge are Caro by Lucy Farran CZT. This wasn’t the first choice. I had wanted to do a kind of triangle Celtic Knot, but again, I just couldn’t get it to work for me. Caro has worked out well, with the little flowers reminding me of spring violets.

Materials used:
• 4″ x 4″ grey Fabriano Tone Paper
• Tombow Fudenosuke pen, black
• Inktense pencils in Lagoon, Violet and Sun Yellow along with a damp brush
• White, grey and black pastel pencils with a paper stump / tortillon
• White Sakura Soufflé pen
• Purple and yellow Sakura Stardust pens

I especially needed some time with no pressure on me. Yesterday’s headache turned into a headache with a really upset stomach and I’m feeling fragile and still not right. So, it’s definitely going to be a quiet, easy day for me.

A Zentangle tile for day 27 of Sketchtember 2021

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This morning, I needed to create something that wasn’t too taxing, that was meditative, that could be completed relatively quickly in a process that was familiar to me. So, I chose to create a Zentangle tile. Perfect for when I’ve woken with a stinking headache.

I cut a 4″ x 4″ square of Fabriano Sand Toned Paper and added a few pencil lines to act as the ‘string’ for the design. Next, I had a look on TanglePatterns.com for a pattern to place in the diagonal area. The latest one posted is called TIWA, designed by Ria Mattheussen, one I’ve not drawn before. So, I used that, and let the design grow from there.

To create the tile I used the following: 0.3 Unipin pen, various Stabilo Carbothello pastel pencils and a paper stump, a white Sakura Soufflé pen, and a BR3 Chameleon fineliner for the spiral pattern (Printemps in Zentangle-speak!).

The whole tile took about an hour to create, and I have a speeded up video of this process on YouTube.

I need a quiet, restful, and possibly nap-filled rest of the day. As the headache is beginning to fade, it’s leaving me feeling exhausted in it’s turbulent wake. I do think I may do a little more drawing first.

Sketchtember 2021 | Day 26

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Zentangle style abstract art is my sketchtember artwork today.

The small ones have colour added by Arteza Ever Blend markers. The larger drawing is having colour/shadow applied with Carbothello pastel pencils.

Sketchbook Saturday | 25 Sept 2021

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As autumn has arrived, at least astronomically, As we’ve passed the astronomical point of season’s change, from summer to autumn here in the northern hemisphere, I continue to long for the fiery costume of nature. Warm memories to sustain us as the cold, architectural skeletons of nature are all that remain. A reminder burned in our minds that nature will once again blossom and bloom once the days begin to lengthen once again.

To complete the line art, I used a Tombow Fudenosuke pen. Colour was added with Stabilo Carbothello pencils and a paper tortillon.

Today’s vlog is a sketchbook flip-through showing my week in art.

Link to today’s vlog on YouTube.

Sketchtember 2021 | Days 21 to 24

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Two sketchbook pages done over the past four days. Abstract patterns and shapes, that’s the theme! Just small drawings, lots of them. Perhaps they’ll inspire work in the future.

Pen drawings done on paper coloured and patterned with Distress Inks. Colour adding using Inktense pencils or Cartothello pastel pencils.