line drawing

Pattern explorations, one step at a time.

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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

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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.

Pattern Exploration No.3 “Eet” | Day 1

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Pattern Exploration No.2 is now done, for now. The page is more or less full.

I enjoyed creating all the drawings on the page, but I learned most from altering the background in different ways, trying out different kinds of media. I talk through this in today’s video (link below).

So, it was time to start the next pattern, No.3. I really must find a better way to label these! I wonder if there’s a random name/word generator I could use…

The answer to that musing is yes! Many in fact. I went to the first one – Random Word Generator – and the word that came up was artisan! Fairly appropriate. Maybe I’ll play with the spelling of it to name pattern no3. Artyzan? The next word that comes up with eat, appropriate for No.3 as everything is looking very seed-poddy. Eet? I like Eet.

So, that’s decided! No.3 is now called Eet.

With this exploration, I’m starting with a teardrop kind of shape and seeing where that leads me. Some of the variations are familiar ones. Others not quite so. I’d like to break away from the familiar and try something different with this shape.

Here’s today’s video:

Pattern Exploration No. 2 | Day 3

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I woke up this morning thinking that I really need to capitalise on my early morning energy and creativity and focus on the coloring templates for ‘Adorable Dogs’. When I’ve achieved my quota of sketches for the day (at least the quota), I can then turn my attention to my personal projects, such as my pattern explorations, and all my social media posting.

That’s why my posts may be later than is usual.

The explorations for pattern No.2 are just about done. I will spend the rest of this afternoon working on the page to complete it, well as much as I want to complete it at this time. Leaving some space for future additions is something that I think will be beneficial. It will encourage me to revisit and add to each pattern, something I’ve not done in the past.

Today, I wanted to try adding Zentangle patterns to the bands in the flowers. Rather than try just one pattern on each flower, I added different patterns to the bands, just to see what would happen! That’s exactly what the pages are for in this sketchbook (and any future pattern explorations ones too) – trying things out to see what happens!

Talking of trying things out. To the left and middle bottom, I’ve added some background patterns and colours. I wanted this to be something rather subtle. I think I’ve achieved that in the top left. In all cases, I used Derwent SoftColour pencils to draw the pattern. As they’d be resistant to water, I added a wash of colour over them achieve shadows, some areas more successfully than others.

I did, of course, film and talk through my thoughts and observations as I added to this page. And here it is:

Pattern Exploration No.2, Day 2 | Stylised flower

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More variations of stems as well as the view of the flower itself today. In today’s video, I talk through how to draw the flower and to add colour to enhance the sense of volume to the bloom.

It’s been so heart-warming to receive such kind, supportive and encouraging messages about my YouTube videos. It’s a really nice feeling, a warmth in my heart and soul, to hear that people are enjoying creating along with me, or being inspired to draw and create.

Here’s today’s video, in case you’d like to join me in drawing some pretty flowers too.

Pattern Exploration No. 2 | Day 1

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Today marks the start of explorations around pattern 2, which is a lovely, stylised floral design.

In the video, I walk you through drawing a couple of the variations and my style of stems too.

Sketchbook Saturday

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A quick look at the art I’ve created in the past week in a vlog.

Pattern Explorations #1, Day 5.

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Some serendipitous ‘accidents’ with fineliners.

I’m almost done with this first page of pattern explorations. I think I have some fussing around and embellishing left to do. However, I will take a fresh look at this page later today.

I thought I’d use Chameleon Fineliners to add some details. And I discovered some interesting effects when applying a waterbrush!

A gold Sakura Pentouch pen was used to add some small areas of dots and metallic accents. Sadly, they either don’t show up in the photo or show up as dark areas. That’s the problem with photographing metallics, especially by someone (me!) who isn’t a very good photographer.

Of course, there’s a video where you can see how I add to this page today. And here it is:

Pattern Explorations #1, Day 4 and Template Thursday.

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Pattern Explorations

The sketchbook page for pattern 1 is filling up nicely! Some more variations added today. The pinky-purple and greens look nice together, adding a kind of playful feel to the drawing added today. Joining the motifs in a Morrisseau tangle pattern way also adds interest and plenty of spaces that may be begging for colour and/or patterns! Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Here’s the video/vlog that shows the addition of the next bits and pieces of this page.

Template Thursday

Here’s the partly coloured sample of this week’s coloring template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

Sample is quite an apt word as this drawing does remind me a bit of an embroidery sampler. It’s been a while since I last designed one of these, and it’s always fun to do.

This kind of sampler template is perfect if you get overwhelmed by the thought of completing a full sized, intricate template. As this one is split up into small sections for you, you can spend as much, or as little, time as you wish adding colour.