I didn't stop sketching, sorry. I like how this came out, so much so I don't even mind telling you who it is supposed to be.
Leighton Meester
I didn't stop sketching, sorry. I like how this came out, so much so I don't even mind telling you who it is supposed to be.
Cupcake inchies
This was just an excuse to be naughty - I bought a cupcake punch just to do these inchies.
I used ruche paper for the frosting, and did a little shading with a pencil. A little red bling cherry was the perfect topper, and I would have been done, except my background was just some thin scrapbooking paper, so I glued them to some nice inchiearts inchie bases. The bases are so thick, I painted a little glue on the sides and dipped them into glitter, so now my cupcakes are well frosted, indeed!
I used ruche paper for the frosting, and did a little shading with a pencil. A little red bling cherry was the perfect topper, and I would have been done, except my background was just some thin scrapbooking paper, so I glued them to some nice inchiearts inchie bases. The bases are so thick, I painted a little glue on the sides and dipped them into glitter, so now my cupcakes are well frosted, indeed!
Lots of cards - card workshop
A girlfriend asked me to design a card workshop for her, so I did, or at least I did most of the way. She wanted "Thank You" cards, and her girlfriend wanted two birthday cards for her 6yo twin grandchildren, one a boy and the other a girl. Third, I had some black duplex cardstock and some silk flowers that were asking to get used.
This "Thank You card is based on a card my friend Chris designed, only I used the Sands of Time papers instead of the Willoughby (TAC papers). Her card used one of the tags that comes with the papers, but I wanted all the people at my workshop to be able to make the same card, so I designed my own tag.
This is the only card I designed that didn't use TAC papers - this was a paper I picked up at Michaels, and the hydrangea silk bush that provided the petals was something I grabbed at Joann. I don't see the point of buying Prima flowers when silk ones are so cheap. I used silver brads because I thought it would brighten the gray in the paper.
The ladies at my workshop had a wonderful time ripping apart the bushes to get the flowers off.
These two cards practically made themselves. The background paper comes with the words on top and the stripes and solid color on the bottom. All I had to do is stamp an image, color it (I used stardust pens for sparkle), and layer it with scraps from the opposite sex paper. I was able to cut 3 boy and three girl backgrounds and mats from the paper, so it was a good thing that not that many people wanted to make little children's birthday cards. I set out some other TAC papers, and they went crazy. Mostly, they only stamped sentiments, and had a ball sticking silk flowers on everything.
After they left, I made a few cards with the scraps left on my table.
These were such easy, straightforward cards, but for most people, that's all you really need. Not everyone is a Technique Junkie.
This "Thank You card is based on a card my friend Chris designed, only I used the Sands of Time papers instead of the Willoughby (TAC papers). Her card used one of the tags that comes with the papers, but I wanted all the people at my workshop to be able to make the same card, so I designed my own tag.
This is the only card I designed that didn't use TAC papers - this was a paper I picked up at Michaels, and the hydrangea silk bush that provided the petals was something I grabbed at Joann. I don't see the point of buying Prima flowers when silk ones are so cheap. I used silver brads because I thought it would brighten the gray in the paper.
The ladies at my workshop had a wonderful time ripping apart the bushes to get the flowers off.
These two cards practically made themselves. The background paper comes with the words on top and the stripes and solid color on the bottom. All I had to do is stamp an image, color it (I used stardust pens for sparkle), and layer it with scraps from the opposite sex paper. I was able to cut 3 boy and three girl backgrounds and mats from the paper, so it was a good thing that not that many people wanted to make little children's birthday cards. I set out some other TAC papers, and they went crazy. Mostly, they only stamped sentiments, and had a ball sticking silk flowers on everything.
After they left, I made a few cards with the scraps left on my table.
These were such easy, straightforward cards, but for most people, that's all you really need. Not everyone is a Technique Junkie.
Pink Label
Another portrait from HOG magazine - in the magazine, she looks a little native american. I made the eyes too large here. I did enjoy working with darker colors. I might try this one again.
HOG
As you probably realize, I use photos in magazines as my models. I'm getting a little tired of doing fashion models, in that in seems the measure of how well I've drawn them is not how well the drawing matches the photo, but how pretty they are. This fellow is from HOG (Harley Owners Group) magazine, who, in addition to his age and weight, is squinting against the sun and has helmet hair. It doesn't really matter if he is pretty, does it?
Iris inchies
The last time I posted inchies, I griped about the size and several other things (inchies can be frustrating). Lisa at Inchie Arts decided she would help me out, and sent me some wonderful inchie bases, and some inchie plus (one and a half inch square) and twinchie (two inch square) bases too for my artistic inspiration.
First of all, let me say that these are some amazing bases - solid core matboard, diecut, and acid free, made from farm grown trees. In the past, I've used scraps and trash for my inchies, so I guess that affected how I felt about them after they were finished. These bases are gorgeous - real museum quality art material. I had seen them in online shops, but I didn't really think about buying them until I saw them in real life. This is one of those things that makes everything you do with it look better.
To be honest, I was a little afraid of them. What if my art isn't good enough for such nice bases, I wondered. Then I had a light bulb moment - if I didn't like what I drew directly on the bases, I could always glue some background paper on there and make a different kind of inchie. The base would get used, either way. Whew!
Thus encouraged, I whipped out some new pens - Staedtler ultra fine point pens. They have a .3mm tip, which is pretty close to the .25mm tip on the Micron One that I like for zentangles, and I got 10 colors in a nice case for about 9 bucks at Staples, a real deal!
I thought I would try something different. I'm not sure whether this would be considered Pointillism or Stippling, but it's a new technique for me. It's fun, too. The trick is to take it slow. If you go too fast, you get dashes instead of dots, and the shading is off (yeah, I learned that the hard way). However, if you go slow, it is a lot easier than drawing line, in my opinion. Try it! I continued the stems and leaves around the edge of the base - you can do that with these bases, because of the solid core. It's a really nice look. It feels like art!
Hair Model
I took a friend to her hair appointment and sketched this from a hair magazine while I waited.
