greetings card

Another December Dangle Design

Angela PorterLeave a comment

As one of my current goals is to improve my hand lettering I thought it would be fun to practice it with another dangle design.

For this one, I used some dangles from my book ‘A Dangle A Day’ to build the dangle designs with a wintry, Christmassy vibe to the finished design, thanks to the traditional Christmas colours of red, green and gold, along with with some blues, purples and cool pinks thrown in.

Of course, I could’ve chosen a non-traditional series of colours too, for fun. For example, the baubles on the dangles and the wreath could be done in pink, purple and blue. Whatever your decor at this time of the year it can be reflected in your colour scheme for your dangle design.

From the initial sketch to posting it on this blog it’s taken me around 6 hours to complete. 

Yes, I started with a sketch and then inked it in traditionally, pen on paper. I scanned that drawing into GiMP so I could remove the dot grid and the faint echoes of erased pencil lines. This was followed by coloring the image. For this I used marker and blender brushes . The last steps were to add texture to the design, a coloured background, a drop shadow and then the watermarks.

I used a Microsoft Surface Pen, a Microsoft Surface Studio and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro to complete the digital colouring and so on.

The charms on the dangles are a lot easier to draw than they appear, it’s the colour that really brings them to life and gives them dimension.

It’s always fun to string charms together to make these dangles. I often tend towards more symmetrical designs, but ones like this are good to do too. They all have their own charm, pardon the dreadful pun there.

I take you designing dangles step by easy step in my book ‘A Dangle A Day‘. There are lots of examples of dangle designs in the book that are ready to use, but it’s easy to rearrange things to suit your particular needs. The release date is 8 January 2019, a new style of creativity to start in the New Year, and throughout the year as all the seasons and many different celebrations are covered in the book, along with suggestions for projects using dangle designs.

B is for … a dangle design

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela Porter 7 Nov 2018 B is for

B is for birthday balloons, birthday cupcakes, birthday gifts…baking … beads …beautiful cats, beautiful flowers…bullet journal (BuJo)…

It’s Friday and it’s taken me a couple or three days to get this monogram dangle design finished, mainly because yesterday was another jolly jaunty day with Liz (more of that on my other blog – Curious Stops and Tea Shops – when I get to write it, that is).

Today’s dangle design features some cute kitties, as is the theme of my current series of monogram dangle designs.

I started by sketching out my ideas in pencil on dot grid paper then scanning it into Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. The next step was digitally inking in and adjusting the design. Finally, colour and texture was added to the design before adding my watermarks. My digital tools were my trusty Microsoft Surface Pen and Microsoft Surface Studio.

I like the design, not so sure about the colour choices though. I also got a bit heavy handed with the added textures in some places.

After I’ve got my other tasks done today, I think I may print this design out and colour it with my Chameleon markers and see the difference. It looks like we’re going to have some heavy rain and some strong winds here today, so cwtching up indoors with some nice arty stuff to do could be the way to spend some of the day.

Friday means it’s #dangleday. My tutorial book about designing dangles, called ‘A Dangle A Day’ is available to preorder. In it I take you step by step through simple hand lettering, monogram dangle designs, and other kinds of dangle designs, showing how you too can draw and design your own. There’s lots and lots of examples in the book as well as suggestions of how to use them as greeting cards, notecards, bookmarks and framed pictures, as well as in BuJos, planners, diaries, scrapbooks…how to use them is limited only by your creativity!

 

Inktober 2018 Day 28 ‘Gift’

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela Porter Inktober 2018 Day 28 Gift small

Day 28 of the Inktober challenge and I’ve done another kitty dangle design, with a rather surprised looking kitty in a gift box with a party hat on.

How cute would this be as a greetings card for the human of a kitty?

I sketched the design in pencil on dot grid paper then scanned it into my Surface Studio. I then drew the design using a pen brush and the symmetry tool in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. After drawing, I added colour and texture as well as a bit of a drop shadow.

This image makes me smile just a bit. It was a nice thing to do this morning. I’m tired today.

Yesterday, I was absolutely shattered after the Hallowe’en Coffee Morning and being in charge of the craft corner. The little monsters (read little darlings dressed up in their Hallowe’en finery) kept me nicely busy and they seemed to have a lot of fun making pumpkins on glow sticks and paper pumpkins and other things. I had a lot of fun too.

At the end of the morning, it was lovely to have some help to clear up; thankfully my plans on using glue dots and double sided sticky tape and paper fasteners and staples rather than glue sticks helped greatly with this. As did the washable marker pens and the like.

I came home and had some lunch and then slept. On waking I had time to have more tea, shower and get ready to pop out in the evening.

As lovely as my couple of hours out were, I was glad to get home. It was really chilly last night here in South Wales. The cold got into me even in my short journeys; I chilled right off in the morning too. So, today my hands and feet are a tad achy and stiff with arthritis.

Using the Microsoft Surface Pen on the Surface Studio certainly helps my finger joints – so little pressure is needed. The pen is a tad weighty, but it’s rather well balanced so I can cope. On days like today I could do with a slightly thicker barrel, so I need to find some grippy things that I could slide on my pen for days like this.

I do want to work on my sketch of the viking kitty that I did for yesterdays’ Inktober prompt. I need a quiet day of self-care today. Not only was yesterday a busy one for me in terms of interacting with people it was also the end of British Summer Time and the clocks went back by an hour some time during the night. This means we got an extra hour of sleep, in theory. In practice I slept the same amount of time! The change in the clocks will cause confusion for a while I think.

I am an introvert, though people seem to assume I’m an extrovert. I learned at a young age that I had to be loud and seemingly outward going like my very loud brothers to have even a chance of being noticed or listened to (that didn’t happen often). I have a fairly extrovert mask I wear when out and about and with people, until I get to know them and then the introvert can relax and come out. I like people, but I also recognise that I need alone time to recharge my batteries. Being with people both lifts me and drains me. So, today is a day for some quiet time, before I have to head out this evening for a couple of hours to be with people again.

 

Inktober 2018 – Day 4 – ‘Spell’. A Dangle Design

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela Porter Inktober 2018 Day 4 - Spell

I’m a day behind in the Inktober Challenge as far as the calendar goes. Not that it’s all that important methinks.

One thing I’m sure of is that the prompt for day 4 – ‘spell’ – just spoke dangle design to me, and as I’ve made Friday #dangleday, well it was perfect that I worked on it today.

I started by drawing the black line art on dot grid paper with a black Papermate Ink Joy gel pen. These pens are a joy to use, often a bit too thick a line for much of my drawing, but perfect for this one. I drew the design in one go – no pencil lines for anything, even though my letter S is a bit squiffy and there’s a wonky dangle.

I scanned my ink drawing into GiMP so I could remove the dot grid and create a transparent background for the line art.

Next it was using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro to add simple colour to the design and background, then to add texture using brushes. Oh, and a drop shadow. That drop shadow helps to lift the design from the background just a bit.

I’m actually quite pleased with this design, though it was touch and go whether I’d finish it or show it at one point.

When I’d finished the line drawing I thought ‘oh no, how awful this looks!’. I didn’t give up, though. I was going to try to keep it monotone, adding shading in stipples and lines and so on, but I decided colour may be the thing that brings it to life.

I’m always doing my best to say thank you to members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook page and other colorists for bringing my line art to life by wielding their magical coloured pens and pencils and other media, and commenting on how wonderful they make my line art/coloring template/illustrations look.

I often cringe at some of the drawings I did for books just a few years ago, and often at the work I do now, today’s dangle design in it’s line art version being an example of that.

Then, when colour is added it works like a magic spell in making the art look wonderful, even the simple colouring I’ve done with this dangle design.

So, all of you colorists out there, continue to work your magic spells on the black and white coloring templates and please show me the results of your color spells on my coloring templates by tagging me on Facebook, Instagram or twitter.

This would look really nice as a bujo, planner or scrapbooks spread for Hallowe’en. I think it would make a lovely greetings card or note card. It would look fabulous printed and framed in a spooky black, glittery frame and displayed as part of some Halloween decorations. In fact, it would look great all year round for fans of magical fiction, films or TV.

What would you do with it? Where do you think it could be used? Please leave comments.

Just a reminder that my book ‘A Dangle A Day’ is available for preorder and it’s due for publication in January 2019.

#Inktober2018 #adangleaday #angelaporterillustrator

 

Tiny botanical tile 23 September 2018

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela Porter 23 September 2018

Yesterday, I had an enjoyable couple of hours drawing fairly cute designs that are 6cm x 6cm (approx. 2½” x 2½”).

I drew my little designs (twelve of them in total, and not all of them I’m all that fussed on at the moment) on Rhodia dot grid paper with a Uniball Unipin 05 pen. Then, I scanned them into the computer and did my usual magic to remove the dot grid and create a transparent background.

Finally, I used Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and a Microsoft Surface Pen, along with my Microsoft Surface Studio to colour the image.

I used various brushes and brush textures to achieve the colouring.

It’s really small, for me. A 6cm x 6cm size would look darling on a small greetings card or note card. I also think they’d make a lovely addition to a BuJo, Planner or Scrapbook page.

Sunday, sunday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela Porter 13 May 2018Another floral wreath card, hand drawn on watercolour paper, coloured using the Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens with a water-brush.  I added some Gold Sakura Gellyroll highlights, as well as some sparkly crystals in red, amber, and two shades of green.

Not my usual kind of colour combination, and I’m not at all sure I’m happy with it.

The design would make a pretty bujo spread or month cover, just enough space in the middle for a title.

Trying to find those #weekendvibes.

It’s Friday!

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela Porter 6 April 2018 colouredFriday means it’s #dangleday, #freebiefriday #fridayfreebie and #furbabyfriday all over the web!

I’ve designed the dangle to the left for #dangleday.  I will also be putting an uncoloured version of it on my facebookpage – Angela Porter Illustrator – for you to download and colour for free.  So that makes it a #fridayfreebie.  It’s also great for getting into that #weekendvibes going – nothing like a bit of creativity to relax you after a busy week.

I’ve left the banner blank so you can add your own message.

Perfect for a bullet journal (BuJo) cover page.  Lovely turned into a greetings card.

Make sure you print it out to the size you need; the image is sized to fit on an A5 BuJo page, but it will print out cleanly to A4 (US letter) sized paper.

All I ask is that you don’t share the uncoloured image, but feel free to share the coloured image stating where you got it from. Also, the template is not for resale either in it’s uncoloured or coloured form; it’s for personal use only, though you can give the finished project away as a gift if you wish.

I’d love to see how you use the template, so please share on my facebook page.  You can also tag me on Instagram as @angelaporterillustrator or on Twitter as @wyrdsmithing.  On facebook you can tag me either as #angelaporter.

Don’t forget, my new book ‘A Dangle A Day’ is available to preorder.

It’s also #furbabyfriday over on the facebook group Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans, and I love to see everyone’s furbabies!  I don’t know if I’ll manage to get my very camera shy kitty to allow me to snap a pic of him…

 

 

Dream Big

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela Porter Dream Big Dangle 4 April 2018

Today’s small dangle design.  Lots of shimmer and sparkle on this one, though it’s not photographed all that well, mounted on a 5″x7″ card blank.

Let me know if you’d like to see a printable digital download of the design available in my Etsy shop, Artwyrd.

A Dangle A Day, my upcoming book, is available for pre-order now.

Dream…

Angela PorterLeave a comment
Greetings Cards

Dream is the message on a three 6″ x 4″ greetings cards I’ve made over the past couple of days.
DreamCard3©Angela Porter 2012

DreamCard1©Angela Porter 2012

DreamCard2©Angela Porter 2012

Each card measures approx 4″ x 6″.  The card blank is made from brown kraft paper card.  The little artwork on each has been created with the use of Sakura Glaze pens, watercolour paints and metallic pens/paints.

The lovely purples, blues and greens relate to Neptune, the planet associated with dreams and visions.  The flowing forms in two of the cards related to the flowing energy of this planet, astrologically speaking that is.  The saying ‘Shoot for the Moon; even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars’ has inspired the use of Moons and stars.

I’ve also made some with Thank You, Joy, Peace and Love on them, as well as quite a few with abstract trees on them.  They, along with the dream cards, are available from my shop at Etsy.

JoyCard1©Angela Porter 2012

ThankYouCard1©Angela Porter 2012

PeaceCard1©Angela Porter 2012

LoveCard1©Angela Porter 2012

I’m trying to find my ‘style’ with this kind of thing.  It’s an interesting kind of thing to do, exploring something new and finding my way along with them.  I’ll eventually work out exactly how I want this to work, in fact I’ve just had an idea now as I am tip-tapping away at the keyboard.

I want to create artworks with inspirational words within them, and this seems to be a good way to do that…or a good way to start to do this…

Etsy

I’ve been making a home for my art and craft works on Etsy over the past few months, and it’s an interesting kind of place for lots of reasons.

There are an incredible number of gifted arts and crafts people there whose works are a great source of inspiration.  I can spent way too much time just browsing through the listings …

What is a cause of concern for me is pricing my wares there.  It’s a very difficult idea for me to grasp – that my artwork has value.  What value it has is still beyond me, and trying to price things sensibly is … difficult.

I have had two pieces of work purchased through Etsy – one a custom ordered auragraph/mandala, the other a piece of my textile jewellery, so it has, from that point of view, been a successful venture.  It also means that I am not out of pocket in the great Etsy Escapade.  I’m hoping it will be a way for me to share my art with others, for others to own a little bit of my creativity, to share in the pleasure that creating art gives me.

Having said that, I have had a request from someone on deviantART for a listing for a torc to be placed on Etsy, so that is something I will need to get along with.  First find the photos of the torcs I have created in the past!