shells

Inktober 2018 – Day 8 – Star

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Angela Porter Inktober 2018 Day 8 Star

Migraine gone, slept well, started this around 7am and have just finished at noon!

I drew the black line art on Rhodia Dot Grid paper, scanned in it, removed the dot grid and created a transparent background in GiMP and then coloured it in Autodesk Sketchbook pro.

My tools were – Sakura Micron pens on the paper, and a Microsoft Surface Pen on the Microsoft Surface Studio screen.

I did pencil in the letters before handlettering them, and I also penciled in the outer border for the artwork.

I did make use of gradient tools in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, as well as a glow airbrush tool and layers.

I did want to try to colour it in in a more traditional style with the digital tools, but it just didn’t happen this time …

Now, I need to get my shower and sort myself out for the remainder of the day, which does include starting work again on my next Entangled book for Dover Publications’ Creative Haven series of adult coloring books.

The Inktober 2018 challenge has helped me to get my hand/eye coordination back in some kind of shape after a week or more away from drawing when I took my trip oop t’Yorkshire Dales.

Oh, I just knew I had to include a quote about stars! Goes without saying.

My hand lettering does need some working on, but it’ll do in this instance.

Lazy, arty, Sunday afternoon

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Angela Porter 10 June 2018 watermarked

I dug out one of my Lamy fountain pens, which had a black ink cartridge in it. I swapped the black for green, and drew this on some bristol board.

From time to time I dipped the nib in the black ink so I had some gradients and variation in the drawing.

It was fun to do. Also, it’s been a while since I drew with pen on paper; most of my work of late has been digital drawing, with the occasional pencil/pen sketch on paper.

MHAW18

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Angela Porter20180515

Today I give the second of my anti-stigma talks for Time to Change Wales.  Today, it’s just a couple of miles down the road from me.

I was tired yesterday after my talk; not physically tired, emotionally tired, and I still feel a little so this morning.

I started drawing this before I went off yesterday, did some more work on it last night and finished it this morning.

Art really helps soothe my emotions and helps me find that place of calm, contentment and balance.

That’s my #tuesdaytip.  Find something you can lose yourself in, that brings you peace and calm and contentment and a break from the stresses, worries, problems of life. It’s all about self-care. For me it’s art or making music, sometimes taking a walk, and mindfulness meditation. For others it could be gardening, baking, woodturning, swimming, cycling, or any one of a myriad activities that bring peace and contentment.

Friday is Dangle Day!

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Angela Porter Artwyrd 29 March 2018 Dangle Cards

Angela Porter Artwyrd 29 March 2018 Dangle Cards1

That’s right!  From henceforth Friday shall be known as Dangle Day.  Well, on my blog and the other places I can be found on the interwebs.

As you may know, I have a book coming out later this year that’s all about drawing dangle designs; it’s called A Dangle A Day and is available to preorder now.  In it, I’ll be leading you through, step by step, drawing dangle designs, amongst other things, so you too can create dangle designs like these!  Yes, you can do it!

So, I plan to post at least one completed dangle project each Friday, and this week there’s a bumper crop of five of them.

The cards I’ve made over the last day or two are dangle designs, but not ones to be found in the book. These are all drawn with pen on paper and coloured with either Tombow Dual Brush pens or Kuretake’s Zig Clean Colour Brush Pens.  I’ve also added dots and highlights using Sakura’s Metallic and Stardust Gelly roll pens, not that you can easily see them in the photos.

I will, in the near future, have an announcement to make about a giveaway.

By the sea – update

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22coloured

I’ve spent quite a bit of time on this over the past couple of days, and it’s coming along for sure.

The background colour isn’t the final one; I’ve yet to work out what colour/s would work out well, but just testing out a sandy kind of colour.

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro

Microsoft Surface Book

Microsoft Surface Pen

Mixed media cards – shells and fish

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AngelaPorter_Cards1_10June2017AngelaPorter_Cards2_10June2017AngelaPorter_Cards3_10June2017AngelaPorter_Cards4_10June2017

Over the past few days I’ve been drawing shells, flowers, fish and fungi and sorting them out to be digi-stamps, work all done on my Microsoft Surface Book.  Some have been printed, coloured using my Chameleon Color Tones and Color Tops pens, cut out and mounted on mixed media backgrounds.  The photos above show the fruits of my labours.

Apart from the Chameleon markers, the media I have used are:

  • Distress and Distress Oxide inks
  • Iridescent and metallic paints from Liquitex and Pebeo.
  • Perfect pearls sprays
  • Stencils
  • Stamps
  • Black Archival Ink
  • Inktense pencils
  • 3D Crystal Lacquer
  • Alchemy Wax

I think that’s the complete list of media.  I used mixed media paper for the backgrounds, and the paper was cut out using rectangular dies.  Behind the backgrounds, I used silver mirriboard as a mat.

I’m quite pleased with them.  No so sure about the kraft card bases (which are 5¾” x 4″ in size), but they were what I had.

Now, all I have to do is work out a price for them and pop them into my Etsy shop, though I think I will have to take better photos for that!

Shell Drawings and Chameleon Pens

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AngelaPorter_6June_2017_ColouredShells

Between counselling and errands today, I’ve managed to create over 30 shell ‘digi stamps’ or individual images I can re-size and print out as needed by me, though I am considering putting them together as sets of digi-stamps, though I do need to add line detail to quite a few; that’s a job for another day.

I printed out a few of them on A4 paper, and used my Chameleon Pens to colour them in, and here’s the result – very brightly coloured.

My only problem is to work out what to do with them!  Do I use them in some mixed media index cards or bigger work?  Do I use them to make greetings cards?  Is there something else I could do with them?

At the moment I don’t quite know, but I’ll work it.  First I need to cut them all out.  Hopefully, my scissor skills will improve …

Oh, I drew the shells on my Microsoft Surface book in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.

Mixed media index cards – 5 June 2017; my own library of digital drawings

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AngelaPorter_5June2017_MixedMediaIndexCard1

Mixed media index cards

Two index cards worked on over the last day or two.  The focal points are shells I drew, first on paper, then the image was worked on on my Surface book with Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and my Surface Pen,

I had to use scissors to cut out the shells (not my favourite task as I’m not good with scissors) after I’d coloured them using the Chameleon Color Tones and Color Tops marker pens.  I’m really pleased with the colouring.

Lots of different techniques/media were used on the index cards – stamping, stenciling, inktense pencils, distress inks and distress oxide inks, pebeo dyna paints, perfect pearls sprays, gesso, clear holographic embossing powder from WOW!

I’m happy with them, though I’m not sure they’re quite finished, especially the little one.

Digital drawing library

I’m beginning to build up a library of my own digital drawings – fungi, flowers, shells at the moment, oh and one angler fish skeleton that I’ve not used yet (but that’s an idea for later or tomorrow maybe).

I have to decide if I put these images together as packs of ‘digi-stamps’ for sale…I’m really pleased with my shells here, but the fungi have worked out fine too.  With my limited scissor skills, I’m keeping it in mind I need to keep the outlines relatively simple, but the inside of the design can be rather detailed, which is fun.

Let It Grow

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Let It Grow © Angela Porter

8″x 6″.  Rotring Rapidograph pen and black ink on heavy cartridge paper.

I’m not quite sure yet what I’m going to do with this outline – colour or not to colour, texture or not to texture.

Last night I had friends visiting and a look for the drawing that I did when visiting Tewkesbury Abbey a couple of years ago led they and I to looking through some of my old sketchbooks.  Suddenly, seeing all that had inspired me in the past, showed where my ‘visual vocabulary’ for my abstract art ‘doodles’ has come from.  Prehistoric art, Romanesque and Gothic architecture and sculpture, La Tene art, ammonites and other fossils, microscopic formanifera, microscopic images of cells, stained glass windows, insects, shells, flowers, ‘Celtic’ manuscripts and Anglo-Saxon art to name but a few.  I’d also picked up a copy of the BBC’s History magazine whilst out shopping as it had images of Anglo-Saxon artefacts which reminded me of patterns I use in my art.  Yesterday seems to have been a day of making links between all the work I’ve done in the past and how it flows out of me now, and a reminder of the things that inspire me as well as giving me a sense of validation with the way that I create art.

I think subtle colours for this one, with textures added in places, and just the hints of metallic highlights perhaps – after all, my inner raven demands the sparkle!

Cornucopia

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Approx. 15cm in diameter.  Rotring Rapidograph pens, Zig Art and Graphic pens with water wash, white Sakura Gelly Roll pen and Gold Uniball gel pen on cold pressed watercolour paper.