In today’s vlog, I share some experiments on adding colour after drawing with the acrylic ink. I wanted to do these first so I didn’t mess up the ink!
It turns out that the ink seems to be pretty resilient to water soluble media, chalky pastels and even matt graphite! Even a pale blue alcohol marker didn’t change the hue much.
I managed to film some drawing this morning, putting into practice some of the things I learned from yesterday’s ‘messes’, and some kind of successes.
For this tile, I’m using Arteza Everblend markers to add colour, and a humble black ball point pen to add shadow.
Oh, what a difference the ballpoint pen makes. Graphite always feels a bit ‘grimy’ to me, which is fine. But the lines and cleaner grey that can be achieved by the ballpoint pen… well, they’re different.
My warm up art this morning was to add some pattern to this particular 4″ square tile. I made a couple of booboos, again. Decided to leave them and see what would happen when I added shadow to the design.
I decided to use a brown Micron pen to add pattern to the inner segments, to separate them from the outer edges.
I have to say, I’m not at all sure about this. Perhaps that’s because I know there are booboos in it. It may be because I’ve not added enough shadow, particularly to the brown segments. Or, it could be that I need to do something to help with the confusion of all the borders around the various sections.
Today, I continue the exploration of “Well”, a tangle pattern deconstructed by Zentangle Inc.
Some of the variations work out well, others not quite so, and a couple I’m just a tad confused about too. I also decided to create a 4″ square Zentangle “tile” using Well as the main pattern. I slipped up on one of the sections and now I have a dilemma – do I try to work with it and make it part of the whole design, or do I re-draw the tile so far.
In the realms of Zentangle, there are no mistakes. Whatever you do you work with. The hyperperfectionist (which is edging closer to just being a perfectionist!) in me is getting rather antsy about that though. Perhaps I’ll just do two tiles!
I started my arty day by drawing variations of the pattern “Well” deconstructed by Zentangle Inc.. I filmed it for today’s vlog, and you can see it by following this link.
This is one of my favourite patterns (I have many !). It is one I’m familiar with from Early Celtic art, and possibly Anglo-Saxon. Also, it’s not a pattern that I’ve tackled as a pattern exploration. But I have now, in part. I have the feeling there is a lot more I could do!
But not today. I now need to focus on getting today’s coloring template done. Then, inking templates for Adorable Dogs.
And the third day of trees. Why? Because I can! And there’s so many variations on the theme I can share. It can be difficult to work out which to do so.
For this series of videos, I have drawn lots, and lots of trees in my A4 sketchbook (two pages full, near enough). Some are successes, others not quite so. Indeed, there were a couple of “Oh, that didn’t go so well” trees in today’s video.
All of this, however, is sketchbook work. It’s OK to try things out. It’s just fine that things don’t always work out the way you thought they might. It’s quite okay that what may have seemed like a good idea in the head doesn’t translate too well onto paper.
In fact, it’s the ‘oops’ trees (and other drawings) that lead to artistic growth. They make me work out what’s not right, what I don’t like about them, and what I can learn from this. Sometimes I have another go at the idea, but better informed from the first version. Sometimes I realise it’s a lost cause…for now perhaps. Other times, it’s worked out, but it’s not just my thing. And that too, is perfectly OK.
Without trying things out we won’t know what we do and don’t like. It’s like cooking and tasting to see if the seasoning and spices are right or need adjusting. And just like cooking, sometimes things just don’t work, and occasionally can’t be saved!
The only difference is I’m not likely to make someone ill by drawing in a sketchbook!
Today’s video really brought home how important colours is in artwork. And shadows/highlights. But colour especially. Colour serves not only to bring life to the drawing, but to lift it from the background.
Yes, that can be done with various ways of adding shadow – cross hatching, line width, stippling, and so on. But there’s just something about colour, even simple colour, that just helps things along.
Indeed, simple colour seems to be my kind of style. At the moment. And looking at the upper picture, mixing coloured elements with monochrome is an interesting approach too. That may be a way I can move forward adding more colour to drawings, but only to parts that are focal points or where colour would really help with the composition. Otherwise, shading is the way to go.
And not just graphite pencil shading. I need to spend some time experimenting with other media – alcohol markers, grey watersoluble media, Pitt Artist pens, and so on.
Lots of things to think about and consider today. All insights I may have missed if I wasn’t making videos and having to talk about what was passing ephemerally and abstractly through my mind. Giving those passing thoughts words results in awareness, understanding, and, perhaps, learning.
After several hours digitally inking in colouring templates for “Adorable Dogs”, I needed to do some pen drawing, on paper. So set to drawing … more trees. Even a couple of gravity defying ones!
I had a lot of fun with these. Some of them, I realised, would make fab earrings. Shame I can’t make jewellery! Though I would love to design jewellery, for someone else to make!
Of course there’s a video showing how I drew these trees, and here it is!
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.
Eke, by Zentangle Inc, is the last tangle pattern in the Inktober Tangles 2021 challenge.
It was a bit of a challenge as it seems so simple and not much you can do with it. But I managed to get creative!
So, that’s Inktober 2021 done for another year. I feel rather weird about it. I feel I’ve got that sense of satisfaction when something is completed successfully. But there’s also a sadness and an emptiness that comes with the ending too.
I’m in a liminal place at the moment – a point in time where I’m between an ending and a beginning. Quite fitting given that it is Hallowe’en, which is a very liminal time. A time where the veil betwixt the living and the afterlife is thinnest. A time where in older, pagan times, the time of harvest was over and winter was beginning to take hold.
And that quite happily fits how I feel today really. I do have a project to focus on from tomorrow – the Adorable Dogs colouring book. However, I’d like a focus for a daily practice that helps me keep my hand and eye coordination tip-top and encourages creativity too.
So, I already have some new A5 sketchbooks in my stash, and I’d like to continue this practice of filling a page a day. Or maybe one page over two or three days so I don’t take my focus away from the Adorable Dogs. I also think videoing this practice and sharing may be useful for some people.
It won’t just be tangle patterns, but other patterns and motifs that I use a lot in my artwork, whether coloring books or the more abstract art or mandalas I create.
It’s also making me re-evaluate whether to take part in CZT training, but that will only take place if there are online sessions.
Later today, I’ll be posting a video where I look back over all the Inktober Tangles 2021 sketchbook pages I’ve completed. I’ll post the link in a separate post.
Tree Leaf is a lovely tangle pattern by Debbie New CZT . It is, to me, an unusual way of drawing a branch of leaves, but it works out. I have to say that I fell into my way of drawing branches where I use the gaps to attach the leaves. Either way seems to work just fine and dandy for sure.
The branch I kept fairly consistent in my drawing today. However the leaves…it was fun to use my favourite shapes of leaves, and a few others. A couple of berries and acorns have sneaked their way in as well.
This tangle pattern makes it really easy to layer leaves; very useful for me in my work creating coloring books!
To add colour to the leaves (and berries), I’ve used a whole host of media – Pitt graphite matt pencil, Graphitint pencils, Graphitint paints, Inktense blocks used like watercolours, and Sakura metallic, starlight and moonlight gelly roll pens. I also used white Gelly Roll and Posca pens to add the higlights.
I’ve not done much in the way of shading. There comes a point when I really need to take a break from the work. I’ve reached that point with this page. I may return to add shadow and more highlight, I may not. Regardless, this page is a great reference for me going forward. In fact, I have an idea to incorporate it into one of my other drawings I’m working on at the moment.
Tomorrow, I’ll film my thoughts and reflections as I look back on my week in art. But for today, I have filmed a video of the drawing and colouring of the small branch in the top left.
Art is the Adventure 