Border patterns

Medieval & Zentangle Inspired Pen Drawing

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Link to today’s video/vlog on YouTube.

Oh, I really enjoyed drawing this design!

The paper is 8″ x 4″ in size and coloured with various Distress Inks in shades of brown. The flowers and leaves were inspired by Medieval illuminated manuscripts, and there’s some zentangle-ish stuff going on at the bottom.

What I really enjoyed was adding contrast with pen strokes. Not graphite pencils, not chalk pastels or markers, just a very fine pen. The end results reminds me of an etching.

I have since added simple washes of colour, using the same colours I used on the paper, with the adding of Old Paper Distress Ink. I’ve mucked up a bit in trying to add shadows beneath the flowers, perhaps. I’ve also added some gold accents. This work isn’t shown in this photograph; I will show it when I’m happy with how things are. Well, happyish. I’m thinking that adding colour may not have been such a good idea after all!

The video is a long one, showing most of the drawing process. But hopefully I’ve done it in a way that if you want to ‘draw with me’, you can!

Pattern explorations, one step at a time.

Angela PorterLeave a comment

It’s been a busy day today for me.

The day started off with working on the revisions of template sketches for the Adorable Dogs book. It’s a kind of fussy and detailed process. Erasing, altering and/or adding to the templates can take a lot of focus. And a lot of kneadable eraser to pick up the eraser dust from a soft polymer eraser! Still, all that needed revisions were seen to and sent off for review. I did get one more new template drawn as well.

It was then time to pop out in the car. Binky, my SmartCar, hadn’t been out for over a week. So, a longer drive was needed to make sure the battery is topped up.

It was lovely to be driving around and seeing the autumnal colours. The skies were a dull grey and drizzly. The dampness made the colours shine all the more brightly against the gloomy skies and dark trunks and branches. So beautiful.

I also braved a local-ish supermarket to get some supplies. And I do mean braved! I’m so anxious to be out around other human beings it’s quite a stressful thing. Luckily, the supermarket was quiet and I was able to whizz around and pick up what I needed, and some treats too.

After lunch, I turned my attention to today’s video, which is a bit different. I’d had a request from a viewer of my videos to put close up images of the patterns at the end of the video. I’d been thinking about doing zoomed-in pattern drawing on a larger scale in a step by step manner.

I actually really enjoyed the drawing process and the insights it gave me into patterns. I’m not quite sure I’ve worked out the best way to do it yet.

Anyhoo, here’s the video :

Pattern Explorations – Borders 1, Day 2

Angela PorterLeave a comment

All the patterns in my sketchbook, and the arch, are variations of a basic grid pattern. A pattern based on Romanesque architecture – something I really, really love.

As I filmed the drawing of the arched patterns, I made many ‘mistakes’, which I worked with to create more variations.

Adding shadow to the central border in the arch really brought it to life. Something that made me smile, a lot. In fact, working with geometric patterns, especially ones that remind me so much of the architecture that I love, made me smile a lot.

It’s amazing how many patterns that are distinctly different can come from the same basic architecture of the pattern – the pencil grid and the initial zig-zag shapes in this example.

I do hope you have a look at the video and have a go at drawing along with me.

Pattern Explorations – Borders 1

Angela PorterLeave a comment

The page of Eetings is complete, for now, so time to start looking at some new patterns!

My next page is going to be filled with border patterns. You can see I’ve used many border patterns in the work in progress. Quite a few are found in Romanesque architecture, or Early Celtic art.

As I use arched border patterns a lot in my art, I thought it would be nice to show how I draw them in my next series of pattern explorations.

So that is what I did in today’s video.

I don’t know what’s up with me today, but I’m more scatter-brained and wittery than usual.

In the video, I show how I’ve added colour to more, but not all, of the Eetings.