patterns

Template Thursyay!

Angela Porter2 Comments
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Today is the last day of astronomical summer; tomorrow is the autumnal equinox, the first day of astronomical autumn. Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the warm, balmy days and the cooler, snuggly evenings cwtched up under a warm blankie. The changing colours are glorious – nature in her fiery finery!

I’m hoping that the glories of autumn will entice me out from home a bit more often, camera in hand. I can hope. I’m still finding it hard to go out and about. But little by little, I am getting out a bit more, from time to time.

Anyhoo, today’s colouring page is an autumn-themed mandala. Now I know that for those south of the equator, spring is incoming for them, but Hallowe’en and Thanksgiving and other celebrations take place according to the calendar rather than the seasons. So though I’ve coloured this template in rich autumn tones, it could be coloured in any way you wish.

I love to draw mandalas, and this one was no exception, especially the cute, whimsical mushrooms and pumpkins! And not forgetting the acorns and oak leaves too. I even managed to sneak a few hearts in there. And of course, stars and moons, berries and botanicals are always most welcome!

Exploring Mark Making and Pattern #DrawWithMe

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Click on this link to view today’s video on YouTube.

I had a lot of fun with this sketchbook page. It’s well out of my ‘comfort-zone’ as there are absolutely no black lines, not even the lines that define the basic shapes.

This is inspired by illustrator Kate Sutton, whose Domestika course I started watching yesterday. And there’s another project I have on the go that is inspiring me to explore this kind of drawing.

I’ve tried this before, but felt so uncomfortable with it that I gave up very quickly. Today, I was determined not to use any black lines at all. Instead, I picked a colour palette of just four colours of Arteza EverBlend markers. For each colour, I chose a similar one from my set of Zig Writer pens.

I started by creating the collage of simple shapes using the markers, overlapping them so that the colours mixed. I was careful not to mix the pink and green; I didn’t want to make mud!

Once I was happy with the basic design, I used the Zig writers to add patterns made from simple marks. To begin with, this felt really awkward, uncomfortable, and just plain wrong. However, the more I did, the easier it became, and the more I liked what was happening. I’m so glad that I persevered!

I dug out a white gel pen to add some brighter, lighter marks and to play with the ‘stitching’ to the top right. The idea that I was using pen ‘stitching’ to connect shapes and patterns amused me.

Using the white gel pen reminded me I had other gel pens to use, and use them I did.

I love the translucency of the marker pens and the way that the patterned shapes seem to float. The use of monochrome colours in these shapes, along with white, just gives an airy, delicate feel to them. I can now see the value of this way of using no black line. I have a lot more exploring and experimenting to do. My mind is ticking over how I can make use of this in a project I’m developing at the moment.

As eager as I am to continue my explorations, I have an errand to do first. But when I return home, well, I’m going to try out some of my ideas both on paper and digitally and see where this takes me.

Colouring Template! Template Thursyay!

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I’m feeling a tad delicate today. I ate something that disagreed with me yesterday it seems. So, some soothing art needed to be done, with no pressure involved.

Mandalas are drawings I turn to when I need soothing. I know they’ll work out for me, that I can indulge myself in abstract patterns, and even if the colours are a bit of a mess, they kind of work out in the way a kaleidoscope always does.

Having said that, I’m fairly happy with my colour scheme! The only thing I’d change is the saturation of the colours in the centre; they look a tad insipid next to the next few rings!

I really like the way the Zentangle pattern Tripoli looks all bumpy at the top and bottom too. That playing with shadow and highlight is something I really, really love.

So, this template is available for free to members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Books Fans Facebook group. It’s free to join the group too!

Various patterns – getting a design ready for some handlettering!

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Click on this link to see a video showing how these designs were drawn.

I needed a break from digital drawing this afternoon. So, I did some traditional drawing!

I want to hand letter a quote in the top left corner, but first, panels of patterns are going to be completed. They weren’t all done in the video and I’ve yet to add any more. But I will!

Inktober Tangles 2021 | Day 6 “Brrst”

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Oh, I enjoyed creating this page so much! I absolutely love botanical patterns, but I also have great affection for grid-based, repeating, symmetrical patterns.

Brrst, by Kelly Barone CZT, is one of those grid-based patterns. It’s based on a square ‘fragment’ that is rotated around a central point. The final pattern has so many possibilities for adding shadow and highlight.

I used the original Brrst in a ‘crazy’, assymetrical grid, which was a lot of fun to do.

However, what I loved the most was playing with the basic idea and modifying, exploring the possibilities. The ones I like best are where I’ve added spirals in the ‘tucked under’ circular area.

I think the triangular variations could be interesting to work with, but I’m not at all fussed on the circular ones.

My internal debate is whether I go back to sleep, or whether I work on this week’s coloring template. I’ve been awake since before 4am (it is Wednesday, so my grocery delivery arrives around 5am most weeks!), so it won’t be long before I can’t keep my eyes open.

I do know that this sketchbook page is all I’ll do today for the Inktober Tangles 2021 challenge. I think I’ll be putting aside the official Inktober challenge for now. I find I’m enjoy the Tangle challenge far more. Also, I do need to turn my attention soon to the templates for the Adorable Dogs book for Creative Haven, due out April 2022.

Sketchtember 2021 | Day 26

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Zentangle style abstract art is my sketchtember artwork today.

The small ones have colour added by Arteza Ever Blend markers. The larger drawing is having colour/shadow applied with Carbothello pastel pencils.

Template Thursday…on a Wednesday?

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Here’s the link to a timelapse video of the drawing of this template on YouTube.

It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for the sneak peek of Thursday’s coloring template for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

I’m still on a mushroom kick, so this template is full of marvellous mushrooms. Indeed, it could be said to be a fantastic, fabulous fungi fest!

I had a lot of fun drawing this template. It took well over two hours to do so, and so I’ve added a timelapse of the process to my YouTube channel.

I’ve added some colour using Arteza Ever Blend markers.

Mandala Tile

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As I was coming around from yesterday’s headache, I plopped yesterday’s drawing into Repper to see what geometric patterns and tiles I could create.

Repper is a browser app that is great fun to play around with and makes the creation of tiling patterns from my artwork so simple.

Rather than save the patterns, I saved the tiles as so many of them looked like perfect inspiration for mandalas.

So, I chose one design, popped it into Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, and used it to inspire this particular pattern.

I chose a colour palette of soft pinks and greens, colours that are related to self-love, self-care, balance and harmony. Perfect for how I was feeling yesterday!

Today, I’m still feeling somewhat tired and fragile. That’s mainly due to a really poor night’s sleep. Emotionally, however, I feel a lot better than I have the past few days. There was an emotional storm brewing and it the headache was the torrential downpour that was needed to clear the skies by forcing me to take care and shelter myself.

So, the rest of today is going to be a quiet. nurturing kind of time to shake off the lingering wisps of stormy clouds.

Entangled Art – almost finished!

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It is almost finished too. I’m dithering about the un-shaded arcs, and whether gold and /or white gel pens need to be used to add small accents and highlights. I can also see places where colour/shading is needed. However, there is no rush for it to be done!

The paper is 12″ x 9″, so I can’t scan it in one image. It’s Daler-Rowney Murano paper for chalk pastels and coloured pencils. So, as well as having fun just filling the page with shapes and patterns, I took the opportunity to try different kinds of pencils to add colour, shadow and highlight. I certainly enjoyed experimenting with gel pens and various kinds of pencils to create this drawing.

It looks a lot better in the photo than in real life, even with the weird banded light on the photo.

Sunday Work In Progress

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This is one of a couple of drawings I have on the go at the moment. The scan has washed out and altered the colours a tad. The gradations of colour are a lot smoother too. But I think you get the idea.

This was was drawn with Copic Multiliners on heavy smooth cartridge paper by Daler Rowney. I’m using Staedtler and Chameleon fineliners to add texture/pattern to the drawing. The larger areas of colour were achieved with Carbothello pastel pencils and a paper tortillon.

I was going to stick to a monochrome colour scheme, but some of those tendrils, fronds and leaves just needed a touch of a muted green. And then that led me to including that central ‘orb’ of turquoise (which isn’t as pale or lacking gradient as it appears).

I’m getting to the point where I need to decide how much white space to leave in the design, and where I’m going to add colour and/or texture and pattern. I also need to think about whether some of those coloured spaces need either more shadow or lightening up a bit. That means it’s time for me to take a break from this particular artwork and go and do another or something else completely different!

Before that, there are elements in this design that I really like – the strange columns/antenna at the top and bottom left, the organic trellis of fronds in the largest part of the design. That horizontal bar towards the top. however, just jars with the rest of th design.