Transfer, Paint, Ink Experiments

I've been experimenting with liquid clay, toner transfers (learned from Lorraine Vogel's tutorial), colored pencils, inks, and paint pens. I started working with the paint pens as a way to salvage ugly old clay pieces but this weekend I worked on made-from-scratch pieces.

I created my own designs for the transfers with shapes I had drawn and scanned then arranged in Illustrator. After that I layered, colored, sliced and diced in Photoshop.

Layer 1 -- toner transfers. My transfers came out a little patchy but it won't matter for this purpose.

Layer 2 -- I put a thin layer of liquid clay over the transfer and cured it before using oil-paint pens to draw lines. The layer of clay is critical to keeping your pens in working order. If you draw directly on the transfer layer, the slight bit of tackiness of the transfer seems to gum up the works.

The "extra fine" point Sharpie pens make the nicest lines. I also tried the relatively cheap CraftSmart brand at Michael's and a more expensive Sakura pen but the Sharpies work well and don't remain gummy after I do the final spray of PYMII. The CraftSmart pens stayed a little tacky so I don't recommend for this purpose but they could be pretty decent for other uses.

The pic of the four pieces were done with the Extra Fine point; the fish was done with the Fine Point which is actually fairly thick).

I put a thin layer of liquid clay over the ink lines once they were dry and cured the pieces.

Layer 3 -- I started shading with colored pencils but they didn't like the liquid clay surface. So I pulled out my favorite ballpoint pens, Ink Joy by PaperMate, and started shading. I shaded as though light was coming from above to give the pieces a bit of 3D effect. After coloring I put another layer of liquid clay on the surface and cured it.

I discovered the purple pen bleeds. I had to touch up the white lines on the tall skinny spike before going further. The orange pen bleeds a bit also so I touched it up too.

Layer 4 -- I glued a clutch pin back on the back of each piece. I covered the backs with a full sheet of a coordinating color that I wrapped around the edges and trimmed flush. I covered the front surface with another layer of liquid clay before curing. The last liquid faded the white somewhat so I revived it with a white pen. When the piece was dry, I gave it a spray of PYMII to protect the last white lines.

Sketchbook: Getting there

Been working and re-working pages in my Arthouse Coop sketchbook. My last one was all black and white ink sketches so I'm making this one in color for variety.
(January 7 comment: Jenny B asked what I used to color these. The ladies were first sketched with pretty pastel fine-tip markers, then inked with a black gel pen, and finished off with colored pencils.)

When I was in elementary school and Junior High in the '70s I wanted to be a fashion illustrator. My grandmother was quite a seamstress and I would go to the Piece Goods store with her when she went shopping for new patterns and fabrics. When I started sewing in 8th grade, I realized how much more useful it was to see the clothing on an actual person. Every outfit in the pattern book looked good on a super skinny watercolor-and-ink lady with legs that were 3/4 of her height! After that I just drew fashion photos from Grandmother's "Harper's Bazaar" and my "Seventeen" -- hairstyles and clothing for fun and practice, I decided being a fashion illustrator had limited utility.

Above and below are more detailed and colorful examples of what I do
while listening to a conference call or staff meeting.

I try to encourage my mom to draw. She'll say, "I don't have anything to draw" and I tell her it doesn't matter what it is, just draw whatever is in front of you.

You can see this one before I added color. Maybe it was better before....oh well, too late now!

Sketchbook 2012: due soon, not nearly finished!

I just realized how close the deadline is and of course my sketchbook is not nearly finished. Here are a few new pages. These are fancier versions of my usual doodles I make during meetings.

Sketchbook 2012: Lame so far

My new sketchbook progress is not going so well. I will definitely have to do new pictures and paste them over some of the pages. I only have three decent pages out of 10 or so. Here are the three that aren't ashamed to show their faces in public...

Virtual Paintout: Romania

I missed last month's Virtual Paintout to Boston so I swore this month I would do my picture early!
I found a good scene and drew it last night while I watched Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly. I used a gray, fine point Sharpie marker. I'm pretty pleased with the picture.
You can see the scene on Google StreetView. This area, Strada Tudor Vladimirescu, Pantelimon, România, seems to be a little shopping district where people have shops in their garages, a tent, or out of the back of their van! Almost everyone seen in the surrounding streets is carrying a package or two.

Artist: Razor_nl

Razor_nl says it very well in his flickr profile:
"For a portrait obsessed person like me, flickr is the real facebook. It's great to find so many beautiful people here, pictured by so many great artists. So far it has been the best art school ever."
Flickr is the best inspiration tool for any kind of artist; there is much talent out in the world!
Look at his very cool swirly pen portraits.

B. Dennis: simple, beautiful sketches

 

I love love love this watercolor and ink sketch by Bill Dennis. A small section of it is shown here but be sure to click to see the full image.
In fact, go look at all the nice pictures on his flickr page.

Sketchbook: Nova Scotia (Virtual Paintout double-duty)

From Leslie Hawes' blog (she makes lovely colored pencil drawings) I learned of the Virtual Paintout. Bill Guffey chooses a location somewhere in the world and participants use Google Maps Streetview to find a scene to render in pencil, paint, ink, or whatever it is they do. FUN! This drawing is doing double-duty as part of my Arthouse Co-op Sketchbook project also. The water part of this picture isn't too good but that's what a sketchbook is for. Practice!