Artist

Illustrated Journal Page and Lettering Practice

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Sunday morning (and Saturday evening, which was when this page was started) is the perfect time to practice my lettering, a quirky kind of illustrated journal page, and digital art practice.

I had intended to use just three, maybe four, basic colours for this page, but the vegetables threw me a tad!

I drew the page on paper with a fine Zig Mangaka Flexible pen. The Colour was added digitally after scanning the page. And I had a lot of fun as ideas clicked into place to add colour to the lettering.

Admittedly, some of the inking work is a tad clunky, but that could be fixed if I wanted to. It is a sketchbook page, and so perfection isn’t required. Giving myself permission to work with what I deem as less than perfect is an important lesson I’m trying to learn. Expressing myself in this wobbly, wonky, imperfect, quirky, eccentric, whimsical kind of way is a work in progress.

Oh, I’ll still draw detailed, intricate black and white pen designs. But I suspect I’ll do much more of this style of art. I have much to learn about it, using colour with no black lines, for instance. But I know it’s all a process, and I’ll get to where I need to be. I know that I’m really enjoying the combination of traditional ink drawing with digital colour – tradigital?

I’m not sure my Doodleworlds critters belong, but I just couldn’t resist popping them in to fill an awkward space!

Template Thursyay! Doodleworlds.

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It’s Thursday, so that means it’s time for a new colouring page (template) for the facebook group Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans.

I was in a bit of a whimsical mood this morning, so spending some time visiting Doodleworlds was just perfect. I also got a tad lost in adding colour to this template.

These are a lot of fun to draw, and to colour. Because of their cute, whimsical and imaginary nature, any colours go! These are drawings I find easy to add colour to; it seems the brighter, more vibrant and varied the colours are the better! Unline a lot of my other art,w which can become confused and incoherent looking.

So, I lost myself in adding colour to this drawing, even though I’ve not totally coloured it in.

Template Thursyay! Colouring page 28 July 2022

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Thursday is the day I gift a colouring page (or template) to the members of Angela Porter’s Coloring Books Fans Facebook group.

This week it’s a mandala. Why? Well, I just really wanted to draw a mandala!

I enjoy the calming, meditative process of mandala drawing. And as I didn’t want to disturb that calm space I found myself in by making a right mess of adding some colour, I decided to go with an analogous colour scheme. Soft blue, teal and green are also very calming colours.

As it’s a colouring template, I’ve not added lots of textural patterns. However, that is something I can always play around with at another time. For now, the high contrast that brings a feeling of volume and dimension to the design is good enough.

Lettering practice, 23 July 2022

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I’ve had a funny couple of days, not necessarily in the funny ha-ha way, though!

I had a migraine yesterday, so no video nor post was possible. I’m feeling better today, just still very, very tired.

Today, I had plans. I was awake around 5am, again, and so did some pencil lettering ‘sketches’; the finished result of one is in the photo.

I thought I’d start to digitally ink the lettering in and add colour before turning my attention to a YouTube video. And the phone rang, and it was a friend. So, during the over two-hour-long chat, I managed to mostly get this done! Yup, I can ink in a sketch and so on while chatting. I just can’t chat and sketch, generally.

My plans to record a video this afternoon were then scuppered as I couldn’t keep my eyes open! So, on waking, I completed this particular piece of lettering and doodling.

It really is practice for me. I’m not only practising my lettering skills, but I’m also trying out new brushes and tools and so on in Clip Studio Paint. That is a constant practice for me. I tend to learn how to do something when I need to do that something!

This one is probably as good as it’s going to get. Time to move along to the next mini-lettering project and learn and practice more!

Coloring page, 21 July 2022

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This week’s colouring page (colouring template) is a fun one. From time to time, I like to create a page like this – full of whimsy and cuteness and doodles and tangle patterns.

It’s perfect for trying out new colour combinations, new mediums, or new techniques as each image is self-contained yet part of the whole.

Also, it’s perfect if you only have a little time and struggle with leaving something partly finished. There are so many elements here that can be completed quite quickly.

#DrawWithMe – Mandala/Zendala No.3, Part 1

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Just enough time before the heat has become uncomfortable to layout a mandala grid and complete the central motif. This was a lovely way to spend a wee bit of time this morning.

The video takes you through, one step at a time, how I got this far.

Now, it’s just about time for me to move myself to a cooler part of my home for the rest of this heat-scorched day.

#DrawWithMe – A Mandala or Zendala, No 2

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Please click the ‘Watch on YouTube” button, if you’d be so kind. Cheers!

In this video, I draw a mandala (or zendala) step by step so you can join in with me.

I enjoyed creating yesterday’s mandala so much, that I thought I’d repeat the experience! I finished drawing the mandala in this video, but I’ve yet to add shadow, highlight and/or colour. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do that, yet; but there’s no rush to get it done either.

And here’s a photo of the mandala as it is at the moment, with some of my handlettering practice in the background!

Template Thursyay Colouring Page

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This week’s colouring page (or template) is a rambling one, full of clusters of botanical motifs. There is no right way up for this design, despite me having included my initials somewhere.

I’ve gone for fairly pastel colours for this design, but the possibilities for colour palettes are endless.

If you’d like to download and print the colouring page, you need to visit and join the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook group. It’s totally free to join and the template is free to download too.

Lettering practice

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My latest page in my lettering sketchbook. I’m still working on finding how lettering can work for me. It seems that these kinds of letters are something I keep circling back to.

All drawn with various fineliners and some coloured with Arteza Everblend markers. Some highlight dots of white gel pen too.

Fineliners, alcohol markers and contrast – hints and tips video

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The past couple of days have seen me creating videos that go in a slightly different direction to my usual.

Yesterday’s YouTube video was a look at using and blending coloured pencils – not a skill I’m great at, especially when it comes to choosing colours.

I carried on experimenting with my drawing and trying out various media either alone or in various combinations – coloured pencils, Inktense, and/or graphite. I quite like the way graphite dirties up the colours and creates an almost metallic feeling. Not a shiny metallic, but a dull kind of one.

Today’s video was a response to a comment left for me on YouTube about fineliners smearing with alcohol markers. So, I thought I’d do a look at some of the various fineliners I have, the tricks I use to avoid this, and a bit more about achieving contrast, volume and blending markers.