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~
I'm part of this Facebook group that does art swaps frequently. I took part in their Winter Swap 2015 recently. Most artists are from the US of A. I saw that a few people were from Canada. I was the only one from Asia... (Woohoo! Singapore represent!)
We had to make ATCs using only blue, red, silver, and white. It was a little frustrating to not be able to use black ink... But I managed. They were meant to celebrate Christmas but we have until February to mail them out. Mine probably won't reach anyone in time for Christmas, but I didn't want to send them out during the festive season rush as mail gets lost more frequently around that time of year, and the ATCs will have to travel half way round' the world from Singapore to the United States... Shoutout to Carla Szczuka for being my swap buddy. ^-^
Without further ado, here are all the Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) I made for the swap.
I really tried to vary how each ATC looked like. I hope the people in my group will like what they get, and I'm very excited to receive ATCs from them. I've gotten a couple of ATCs in return already. It really brightens my day to receive snail mail. I might just take part in another swap soon.
Leave me comments on which your favourite is. And if you'd like to do a personal swap with me, I'm always happy to oblige. E-mail me at stephanie@everythingis-art.com for that.
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
If an artist creates and no one is there to see it... is she a bad blogger?
I've missed lots of Zentangle challenges for the past week... I also haven't been posting about what I've created recently. However, I've been creating plenty. Just that I've not gotten around to taking pictures until now. (Oops.)
Ready for awesome-ness?
Let's go.
Sketchbook things:
Originally done for Diva's "African Artist" challenge...
Trying out border patterns. Featuring "Organic", "Fleavy", and "Bonaro".
"Fleavy" and "Gourdeous".
Half done drawing...
New pattern that I like: "Verve"
Drawing things:
It's a skull and a dragonfly, and of course some flowers because that's the theme for my next exhibition, "Blossoms".
A custom drawing for a friend with a quote from the Bible. Haven't filled in the background yet. It's going to be in coloured pencils. I'm excited to get it completed. The yellow drawing at the back is a sneak preview of another drawing for "Blossoms".
I went to East Coast Park for a walk by the ocean. And I saw these coloured trees:
Really pretty.
Lastly, some Christmas-y things from the classes I've taught in the past week:
The idea came from Joey's Zentangle challenge. This one is done by me.
This one is done by a twelve year old girl whose name is "Mihita".
Interested in learning about the Zentangle method? I teach classes in Singapore. Find out more by clicking right here.
And that's all you're getting for now. I have other sketchbook drawings to show you cause I've done so much. I've got some artist trading cards for a swap that I've taken part in to show you too. I'll have an update on the drawings I'm working on for "Blossoms". I've got more time lapse videos that I want to film.
I promise I'll be updating this blog more often.
I'm still creating things every week. I've just not made the time to update all of you. (Sorryyy~)
Be back here in two days' time. I'll have new things to show you, then. ^-^
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.
In case you missed the post I made on my Facebook fan page... I had a Zentangle introductory class with four wonderful kiddos last Friday. Joni made banana smoothies for all of us, and the class went really well.
Concentrating on her tile...
And here are the finished tiles~
Would you like to learn about the Zentangle method? Find out more via this link. Everything Is Art is also currently offering a December special. Five classes for $170, to be completed within this month. Great for kids who are currently having their school holidays. Contact me, Stephanie, at stephanie@everythingis-art.com.
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. ^-^
Arukas is amongst those few tangles that I really struggle with. I'm determined to get better at it, though.
I also played around with Mooka. I didn't actually like the fact that it doesn't close. So I thought of ways to make it work for me. Update: I've made a tutorial on how I draw my version of Mooka. Link is right here: (click me)
A coloured page for Diva's Challenge. Tangle used: "Grained". I haven't decided what tangles to add to the tree..... I'll update this post once I get around to it. (Shoutout to Dilip. It was great seeing you at CZT21.)
"Cruffle" and a variety of things I thought of doing with it... As a border, as a tangle, and as "ornaments".
I've recently been obsessed with Heartswell. It's just such a simple yet elegant tangle...
Done with Coloursoft. I wanted to see how coloured pencils would lay on the sketchbook.
Joni has been busy with a new project for Everything Is Art, so she doesn't have tiles to show for this week... Here's a sneak peak at what she has done so far, though:
Thanks for looking and for leaving such wonderful comments last week.
