Moonstones have lots of different colours in them. So you're going to have to do some noodling around with your own gemstone even if you decide to try following my tutorial. I do hope that my video would help you in some ways, though... To get a sense of the colours you can use, or the ways to colours the gemstone. Because moonstones look so pastel and have such soft colours, I decided to use complimentary colours for the stone's shadow instead of using black like I usually do.
Joni says: Most of the posts on here are written by Stephanie Jennifer. But for a change, here are some of the works I've done over the past week... Starting off with some Zengems:
Playing around with Printemps.
And here's Sharla-Rella.
If you haven't already heard, Stephanie started a new project called "Travelling Tangles". Travelling Tangles is a collaborative project that aims to show how the Zentangle® method can bring people from around the world closer to one another. The idea is that you will draw on an original Zentangle tile but only finish the drawing half-way. Then you will send it off to another person for him/her to complete it. In exchange, they too will half finish a tile and send it to you for you to complete. Both you and the other person will then each have a tile to keep.
If you'd like to be a part of the project, you can join the Facebook group for it here: https://goo.gl/FW1OiX
Stephanie and I have been busy with Zentangle® classes, but have still managed to find time to create tiles to send to others. Here is the first batch of tiles that I sent out:
Stephanie also posted a video of her showing off two Zentangle cards that she made. The idea was thought up by Grace Mendez.
Here are some pictures of each layer of the cards:
She didn't show this part of one of the cards in the video, but the two sides of the flaps actually converged in the back of the card. I thought it was very creative!
I posted a video on my YouTube channel earlier this week. In it, I showed you how to make your Zengems/jewels look literally three-dimensional. It's a really simple and easy method. In case you missed the video, here it is:
I've completed quite a couple of zengems using this method. Here are some of them:
The one you saw in the video. Also, notice the really pretty "Mooka" that I used as a border. I'll be posting a "Mooka... and then some" tutorial soon.
I love this emerald green.
How did I do it? The answer is that I used Mod Podge's Dimensional Magic. It absolutely has to be Dimensional Magic and not any other glue. I tried using normal white glue, and also Mod Podge Gloss, but they both dried with bubbles in them and ended up looking horrid.
The back of the bottle says to allow 3 hours of drying time, but I usually let them dry overnight. You can draw multiple jewels and then set them aside till' you collect a good amount of them. And then mod podge them all at one go. It's more convenient that way.
Do not shake the bottle as doing so will cause bubbles to form in the glue. If you cap the bottle properly, the glue will remain runny. If you must somehow shake the bottle, don't shake it up and down, but instead roll the bottle between your hands (like if you were to start a fire with sticks). You can keep a pen knife and some tissue handy so that if there are bubbles in the glue, you can poke them/remove them before you let the glue dry.
I hope you create many beautiful things with this new knowledge. Leave me a comment in the comments section below if you'd like, and don't forget to keep tangling~
You're here for the tutorial, eh? It's quite simple, really. Watch the video then read the steps to follow along what I'm doing.
Very lightly outline the shape of the jewel with a pencil; not forgetting to add a border for it.
I'm adding the darkest tone to the left side of the jewel; which is different from what I usually do. But I'm a rebel like that.
Now for the mid tone. You'll notice that I'm following the shape of the jewel- which is a sort of bean shape. It's at this point that I have a slight regret for choosing green as the colour of the jewel. (Is it a jewel, or a shiny bean?) ... But onwards we must go.
Lighter tone... And then the lightest tone (which is a sort of grass green). Looks good.
Now we add black. Just to the very edge of the dark side of the jewel.
And now we saturate the colours, moving from the darkest colour to the lightest colour.
Now for the highlight. I'm using a white Uni-ball Signo Broad pen. Adding white to here, here, and just a little tiny bit there and there.
Shall I lighten things up a little? ... Yea. I'll try. Using a white coloured pencil, I'm lightening the jewel just a tiny bit.
Looks good? ... Looks good. Now all we need is to go crazy with the Zentangle around it. However, I messed up that part. You don't need to see my shame, so there's no video of that.
Hope this tutorial was fun. I should make more of these light-hearted tutorials in the future. I'm going to start adding voice-overs to some of my videos. And I have a super long tips and tricks video in the pipeline so look out for that. ^-^
If you'll like to read a more serious tutorial, read this blog post: (click me)
Woohoo! Part two of what I've done in the past week.
Aside: The title of this post is related to a drawing I'll be showing later. And it's also the title to this really beautiful song... (link right here.) You might want to click on the link to listen to the song while you're reading this post. ^-^
Jewels; jems; gems... Whatever you want to call them...
What happened with this jewel was that I accidentally cracked it... But I decided to just roll with it and enhance the cracks with ink. "How did you crack it, Stephanie? Isn't the jewel drawn onto paper..?" Yes, but I used a special method to make the jewel extra special. I'll be posting a mini tutorial soon.
The next drawing is pretty cool (if I do say so myself). It was inspired by the Willamette River Historical Stream Channels in Oregon.
In 1941, the Mississippi River Commission appointed Harold Fisk to undertake a groundbreaking effort to map the entire Lower Mississippi Valley. Three years later he produced a stunning series of 15 maps that combine over 20 different river paths obtained through historical charts and aerial photography. You can see the original picture (made by cartographer Dan Coe) that inspired the drawing via this direct link: (click me)
Playing around with Cadent and Bunzo. Bundent..? Eh. And a little Leaflet border at the side.
Have I posted this drawing before? I can't remember. I think it looks pretty, though. So here it is (again?). Coloursoft on my tiga sketchbook.
Lastly, a hella rad inked drawing. I like the sci-fi, oriental look it has going.
And that's about it for this week. Thanks for looking~
Joni says: I've recently been playing around a lot with jems. I think they're a really good idea for Christmas cards or custom art works. Here's what I've created in the past week.
Stephanie also created some tutorials showing how you can make these pretty jems too. You can find the tutorials if you click here and also here.
As requested, here's a tutorial showing how I draw a blue jewel/jem/gem on white paper. I wanted this second tutorial to teach you something different from my first, so in this video, I don't use a pen to add highlight. Instead, I use the white of the paper as a substitute. I'm hoping this will be useful for those of you who don't have a white pen, or don't enjoy using pens with your coloured pencils.
Note that I'm using Derwent's Coloursoft pencils, and so I'm not adding any water (unlike if you use Derwent's Inktense pencils). I don't think there's a need for notes this time around because everything is pretty much written out in the video. I've already planned to make another video with some tips on using dry coloured pencils to create jewels. Many artists use Inktense pencils or watercolours, and I think those of you who are looking to just use dry coloured pencils will find my next video useful.
As always, feel free to ask questions in the comments section below, and also to make requests for what coloured/shaped jewels you'd like to see in my next tutorial. ^-^
Isn't the new trend of jewels (or jems, or gems) such fun? I've been looking at all the beautiful works being posted online and I've been so inspired. Having used coloured pencils as one of my main mediums for the past two years and counting, it was a no-brainer that I should try drawing these jewels for myself. And to help others who would like to try it out too, I've made a video showing a really simple way to create these jewels.
Basically, every jewel will have a dark, medium, and light part. Choose what colour you want your jewel to be, then pick three or four pencils from that family of colours. Pro-tip: Choose rougher paper. If you're going to draw on printer paper, it's not going to look as great as compared to if you used drawing paper... If the paper is too smooth, the pigment of the coloured pencils will not have enough tooth to grip on so the colours will look dull.
So for example, if I wanted my jewel to be red-orange, this might be the pencils I'd use:
If I wanted my jewel to be blue, this might be the pencils I'd use:
If I wanted my jewel to be green, this might be the pencils I'd use:
In the video, I decided a purple jewel would look nice. Pro-tip: When using coloured pencils use small circular motions to lay down the pigment. You can see me doing so in the video. This ensures that the colours will be nicely blended and that the jewel will look smooth.
So what, exactly, am I doing in the video...?
I first start off with Blackberry C280 and lay down the dark part of the jewel.
Moving on to Purple C250, I add a mid-tone.
Bright Purple C240 comes next. Small circular strokes and light pressure is the trick.
The last colour I use is Deep Fuschia C140. It goes over the entire jewel.
Then I use White C720 to lighten the area around the highlight.
Is that done? No, not really. I move my way back from Deep Fushia, Bright Purple, Purple, and lastly Blackberry.. Just to saturate the colours and make the jewel really pop.
Then I use my white uni-ball signo broad pen to add the highlights. (I struggle a little in the video to get the ink flowing because my pen is running out of ink.. oh no~)
And we're done!
Pro-tip: If you feel that the coloured pencils aren't filling the entire space and it bother you, there are many ways to solve it. You can:
Use a white pencil (but note that doing so will lighten your colours)
Use an old brush with stiff bristles to brush the pigment into the paper. This might sound ridiculous but I guarantee you it works.
Use spirits. I'm talking about mineral spirits here, but feel free to pray, too.
Derwent sells colourless blender pens. Linky link to a review of them right here (click me).
Use colourless blender pencils.. They're just pencils with wax/oil (depending on the brand you buy from). Think of a coloured pencil without the colour. That's a colourless blender pencil. Here's mine:
Here are some other jewels I've made:
As stated in the video, I'm using Coloursoft coloured pencils by Derwent. Prismacolours were great when they were made in the USA, but now they're made in Mexico and the quality of their pencils has gone down the gutters since. Polychromos are great too, albeit being a little expensive.
If you'd like me to do another video using different colours, or drawing a different shaped jewel, request them in the comments section below. And don't be shy to ask questions too. ^-^
