Today’s tangle pattern is “Hollibaugh” by Zentangle Inc. It forms the white ‘beams’ that overlap and form the gaps between them. Instead of adding patterns to the beams, which is what I would usually do, I decided to add patterns to the gaps. In some of these gaps, I added Kwazeela, a lovely leafy tangle pattern by Eni Oken CZT.
I drew all of this design in today’s video, but I added the colour and highlights while the video was uploading and processing. To add colour, I used Ohuhu markers and a white Gelly Roll pen to add the highlights.
It was a nice way to spend a couple or so hours while I recover from a bout of tiredness, headache and upset digestive system as side effects of my ‘flu jab on Saturday.
After filming yesterday’s vlog, I decided to try using marker pens with a drawing I’d done on a Distress Ink background. The drawing on the left is the result of this experiment.
To add colour, I used Chameleon Color Tones marker pens. I chose colours that would be similar to those in the background.
I really enjoyed adding colour to this drawing. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy using the Chameleon pens and the ease of achieving gradients with these pens.
I completed the drawing with embellishments of white and yellow Sakura Soufflé pens, muted Sakrua Gelly Roll Moonlight pens, and some shiny areas of clear Sakura Glaze pen.
I was so happy with the result, that I started work on the drawing to the right, some of which I do in today’s vlog.
I really love the way that the background tones down the brighter colours of the marker pens. Which shouldn’t surprise me as marker pens are transparent! But it did surprise me!
Something else that I was struck with was how similar using markers is to how I add colour digitally. I haven’t made that connection before, but it is likely to inform me on my way forward in adding colour to my artwork. I may be trying to force water-soluble media and coloured pencils into behaving like markers, which is something that they’re not meant to do. I find it hard to work with the looser, possibly more chaotic water-based media, even though I love the effects that other seem to achieve with them. No matter what I do, I’m never totally happy with the end result, something I’ve blogged and vlogged about an awful lot.
Working with alcohol markers has shown me that I can work well with colour, with the medium that matches my artistic style – precise and controlled. The more chaotic, loose, aspects of this work come from the Distress Ink coloured backgrounds.
Now, if only I can accept this and focus on using markers in my work more than other media. Well, apart from digital coloring that is!
Angela Porter 