artwyrd

“Thistle” – An Art Nouveau Inspired Drawing

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I’ve spent some time over the last day or two looking at Art Nouveau flower designs. I was particularly fascinated by a thistle design.

This is my interpretation of the design drawn with Copic Multiliner SP pens (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5) on paper. Then, after scanning the drawing, I added colour digitally using Clip Studio Paint. So, this counts as ‘tradigital’ art!

I chose a simple colour palette; I was inspired by William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau. And, the colours are more mellow than is, perhaps, characteristic of my work.

The version on the left has just flat colours, no shade or highlight; I let the contour lines suggest volume. This is more true, I think, to the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau.

To the version on the right, I added some shadows and highlights, but subtly for me. And even though they are subtle, they have a distinct effect, which surprised me.

These show just two of the many coloured backgrounds I tried out. This is why I love adding colour digitally! It’s so easy to try out different colour combinations, methods of adding colour, and so on.

Which version do you prefer?

I like them both, but I think the one on the right is my favourite; I like the stronger background colour which allows the flower to ‘pop’. I also think the subtle shadows and highlights do add a little something to it too.

“Bs” – Inktober Tangles 2022, Day 21

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YouTube drawing tutorial.

Bs by Midori Furuhashi CZT is a lovely floral zentangle pattern, yet it managed to throw me a few curve balls! I explore this pattern in today’s YouTube drawing tutorial video.

However, those curveballs helped me to better understand the tangle. They also helped me discover some interesting variations and a beautiful flower bud too!

I tried adding some texture lines and patterns to the petals, but they just didn’t feel right. However, using colour to add shadow and highlight worked well. To do this, I used Inktense pencils and a water brush. They reacted in some surprising, but nice, ways with the Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves and Villainous Potion) I’d used to add colour to the paper.

“TagH” and “Walk the line” | Inktober Tangles 2022, Days 19 and 20

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To view the accompanying drawing tutorial on YouTube, click on this link.

Two lovely tangles today- TagH by Zentangle and Walk the line by Chris Titus CZT.

I really enjoyed trying out different shapes in the leafy Tagh. There are just so very many possibilities for this kind of pattern. I’ve long used this pattern in my artwork without knowing it was a Zentangle pattern!

Walk the line reminds me so much of eroded rock strata and microscopic images of cells. It’s a lovely contrast to Tagh. Again, it’s a pattern I’ve often used in my own art, and it’s nice to find it’s also been added to the ever-growing library of tangle pattern step-outs!

“Slowpoke” Inktober Tangles 2022, Day 18

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Click on this link to watch the accompanying video tutorial for Slowpoke on YouTube

Slowpoke, by Cris Letourneau CZT, looks complicated, but it’s actually quite simple to draw, one step at a time! The fun comes in adding embellishments, which I did with a gold Uniball Signo gel pen. The central coloured panel with Slowpoke on is the only part that I did during today’s video on YouTube.

I coloured the paper with various Distress Inks before I started to draw. In person, the colours aren’t so garish, honest!

Around the panel with Slowpoke on, I’ve added a border of stylised flowers and leaves, all in a very Arts and Crafts Movement style. I need to fill out a couple of areas a little more, but I quite like the simplicity of the coloured panel with the black and white and rather dense border around it.

Inktober Tangles 2022 – Days 16 and 17 – Dinovel and Lollywimple.

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Click on this link to view the accompanying drawing tutorial on YouTube.

Today, I took a look at two quite delightful #zentangle tangle patterns – Dinovel by Susan Yeo CZT and Lollywimple by Sally Hunter CZT.

The fabulously floral Dinovel lends itself so easily to variations, only a few of which I drew.

Lollywimple is an interesting and lovely pattern that I haven’t used before, as far as I know. It reminds me of a knobbly branch, and so I kind of used it that way.

I really did need a calm, quiet start to my day. Indeed, I still need a calm quiet day.

Inktober Tangles 2022, Day 15 – “Noom” or “Noom Repus” by Zentangle Inc

Angela PorterLeave a comment
Click on this link to view the accompanying video drawing tutorial on YouTube.

Noom, or Noom Repus, is a lovely interlinked tangle, a chain, leaves, or shells if you will. It is a tangle that vexed me until I saw a tutorial video a long while ago, and suddenly the pieces fell into place.

I have to say, it’s not a tangle pattern that I’ve used often in my work, but after playing around with it in this video, I’ll try to use it more often!

I tried out some variations with Noom and found that it does lend itself quite well to embellishments, particularly in ‘auras’ around it. Adding colour to create shade and light does bring out the curvy nature of each part of this design.

Of course, this is for my sketchbook, so it’s not finished. It really was just working with the pattern to see what I could do. And of course, that sparks off lots of ideas for other variations further down the line.

Inktober Tangles 2022 – Day 14 “Slidehat” by Karin Frank

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Click on this link to view the accompanying drawing tutorial on YouTube

I had a lovely time drawing many variations of Slidehat by Karin Frank earlier today.

Although not all the ‘hats’ worked out well, they were still fun to explore as possibilities. As this is a sketchbook page, the permission to experiment, explore, and try things out is implicit. A sketchbook is a place to do all these things and more. You can finish a piece of art or not. You can show people or not.

A safe place to be artful, that’s how I think of my sketchbooks more and more. I put too much pressure on myself to always finish a drawing, to have it polished and “imperfectly perfect”. If I don’t finish something, I can beat myself up. But I’m learning that in a sketchbook, I can do all I need to learn, grow, and develop. And sometimes that includes knowing when enough has been done!

It may take me a long while to be able to set aside my perfectionism to fully embrace this, but like everything in life, it is a work in progress!

Inktober Tangles 2022, Day 10- Finery

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Click on this link to view the accompanying ‘Draw With Me’ video on YouTube.

Finery – a revisit

After losing this morning’s video (or so I thought – more later!), I decided to have another go at Finery and record it.

I started with an A6-sized piece of mixed media paper and used the black side of a piece of Cut’n’Dry foam to add Distress Inks – Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Saltwater Taffy and Spiced Marmalade. These colours gave a warm, almost autumnal feel to the paper, a contrast to the grey-green paper I’m using for my Inktober Tangles sampler.

Next, it was time to tackle Finery for the second time today. This wasn’t without some trepidation. I know how this tangle vexes me. I decided to use a plumptious Sumu motif for the finery grow from. After drawing that, I added the veins of the Finery. A happy accident led to the multiple leafy stoppers on these.

Then, it was the tricksy bit, adding the lines to create some Finery.

And would you believe it, I actually did it as the pattern was intended! I was shocked but pleased.

I used Inktense pencils (Thistle, Sienna Gold and Dusky Purple) to add the shadows. Finer 01 and 03 Unipin pens allowed me to add the filler patterns into the reticular (grids) of the Finery. Finally, a white 05 Gelly roll let me add subtle highlights, which make a difference.

I’m actually pleased with the outcome. This made a nice change from the Inktober Tangle sampler and from some other art I’ve been playing around with lately.

The curious case of the self-deleting file…

The mystery of the deleted video file has been solved! I saved this file and couldn’t find it. Then, I remembered I’d updated the video editing software I use and hadn’t changed where I, not the software, wanted the videos saved.

So, I went on a hunt to seemingly the most arcane regions of my computer’s hard drive. I couldn’t find anything. And then I was struck with a flash of inspiration – open the app in the software for recording from cameras and see where it’s saving it!

Ta-da! I found not only this video but the one I thought I’d deleted by mistake! I chose to go with this video for a bit of a change from the Inktober Tangles sampler.

Inktober Tangles 2022, Day 10 “Finery”

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It’s just one of them days…

I’m having one of those days, it seems. You know, the kind of day when you’re careless in deleting files, thinking that the video that’s processing is today’s. The reality is different. I managed to delete today’s video, and reprocess yesterday’s video as today’s!

I’m not going to repeat what I called myself when I discovered that… but at least I discovered what I’d done before I uploaded it to YouTube!

Inktober Tangles Day 10

I added ‘Finery‘ to the top right of my Inktober Tangles ‘sampler’ today, using its sections as a ‘reticulum’ to contain other patterns. To fill one part of Finery, I used Isea-u from day 3. I also used Well and B’tweed for two other sections. The last one is one that is a bit of a nod to one of the sections of ‘Souk‘, the tangle pattern for day 4.

I used Finery as a kind of reticulum (grid or net for a repeating pattern of fragments) as I, yet again, struggled with this tangle. I don’t know what it is about it, but I always mess it up somehow! However, if I hadn’t messed up this time, I may not have got the idea to fill the spaces with other tangles! So, it worked out fine(-ery) in the end!

It’s a shame I managed to send the file into the netherworlds of the recycling bin, never to be recovered or seen again. I realised my mistakes (yes, there were more than one!), but persevered saying that I had to trust I could recover from it(them). I think I did. As Adam Savage would say, I managed to ‘hide the crimes’!

#Inktober #InktoberTangles2022, Day 9 “Sumu”

Angela PorterLeave a comment
Click on this link to watch the accompanying YouTube drawing tutorial for ‘Sumu’.

Suma (to the bottom and left of the drawing) is a lovely, lovely pattern, deconstructed by Lin Chiu CZT. It very much reminds me of Medieval manuscripts and architectural sculpture. So, it was a given that I’d love it, just like Tomàs Padrós’ “Snack” in Day 8 of the Inktober Tangles 2022 challenge.

Although Lin Chiu has given many possible variations, just as Tomàs did for Snack, I kept it simple, repeating the basic form around the bottom and left of the Heartfully ‘rug’. It also had to have that architectural, sculptured, carved ‘feel’ to it. Not sure I’ve quite managed it, but it’ll do!

My design is looking a bit higgledy-piggledy at the moment; I’m just going to trust the process and see how it works out at the end of Inktober.