Drawing Black

One of the things I tend to avoid drawing is anything that is all black like shown in the following photo.  

I sent out a request to my art mentor, Hany, asking what he would advise in how to approach drawing an all black object and my take from what he shared was paying really close attention to the light sources.  That way the drawing won't look like a flat blob of black as I always fear.

Using one of my favorite techniques of laying down color and blending, I chose to work on the earpiece as seen in the photo above.  I made sure I had decent lighting shining down on my work area giving me lights and darks I needed so the piece wouldn't look flat.

I don't think I did too bad with the lighting but wonder if I couldn't have gone a tad lighter in the lit areas...particularly there to the left as you view the drawing.  I didn't want it stark white but think I could have gone a shade lighter with the gray.

Overall, I'm happy with the results and I thank my dear friend and mentor for the guidance helping me gain the results that I did.

Our Youngest Baby - Sadie

This is our 8 month old Maltipoo pup.  Terry wanted a portrait of her so I did this for him.  I've been putting it off because of white on white but after viewing some helpful videos and working Morgan's white Cockatiel, I decided to give it a go.

I actually worked this before Olaf giving me the confidence to draw him for Madison.

 

How I Work the Eyes - Procreate

As a means of reference I can fall back on and maybe as an example to viewers using Procreate, I wanted to document how I work eyes.  I do basically the same thing with human eyes.

With line sketches, I use the BeeJayDel's Standard Inker Streamline brush tool.  This one is from a purchased brush pack he sells.  As for thickness of line, it's a personal preference and for me it just depends on how much ink I might need to blend filling in areas.

My go-to brush tool for adding color and blending is one of the app's default brushes - Painting / Gouache brush tool.  I've tried various brushes and always find myself going back to this one.  

Madison's Dog, Olaf

When Madison came to visit, she brought her dog, Olaf, with her.  What was surprising with her dog, he didn't much care for Terry.  Terry has a way with animals and has never faced one that didn't like him until Olaf came.  Olaf would growl at him every time he saw him, which we all found to be funny.  He was also territorial claiming the living room as his space.  We think it's because his "momma" was there and he was just protecting her.

Because it seems that I am on a roll drawing dog portraits, she asked if I would draw him and this is what I did for her tonight.  

 

In Memory of Morgan's Pet Bird, Sunny

This drawing is for my youngest granddaughter, Morgan, who recently lost her beloved cockatiel by the name of Sunny.  She picked him up during her trip here to Florida two years ago.  I wanted to do something for her as a memory keepsake.

Working white on white is most definitely one of my biggest challenges.  I prefer not to use a background if I can get away with it.  Another thing about white is choosing the right color for shadows/shading and it still look white.

Procreate using Gouache brush and TH Wash Stamp brush for the background.

With background and without the background.

Darlene's Pap

Darlene is here with us (my "sissy" through marriage) visiting for 10 days.  Her first trip to Florida since we moved here.  She is a first time grandmother and weeks ago I finished a drawing of her granddaughter she absolutely loved.

While here she asked if I would consider working a portrait of her Pap who means the absolute world to her.  Although I avoid requests like the plague, I made an exception knowing what it would mean to her.  Usually when asked to do something, I get too nervous and fearful I'll not meet that person's expectations so I avoid it.

Anyways...........I told her no promises but would at least give it a try not knowing if I'd be able to follow through with the portrait.

His hair was a challenge due to white on white background plus the white stubble and eyebrows but I managed to work through it (lots of trial and error).

Ending results ... she absolutely loved as did other family who know her and her Pap.

 

Waxed Amaryllis

This year I decided to grow amaryllis bulbs again after the success I had last year.  I ordered six regular bulbs from Holland Bulb Company (which I am still waiting to receive) and then found a waxed amaryllis through Amaryllis and Caladium Bulb Co.  This will be my first experience with a self-contained flower bulb where all I have to do is stick in a nice sunny window and nothing more.  My brother-in-law shared one he grew last year and I decided I wanted to try one as well.  

As of two days ago...

My middle son, Neal, said how cool this looked........like pathways up a mountain.  And he's right........it really does but I didn't think of that until he mentioned it.

First Rose of 2022 from Neighbor

Our neighbor cut and sent this rose over with Terry to give to me.  This one particular rose bush he has produces roses with a very strong fragrance.  The roses don't last very long but while they do, makes the room smell wonderful.

Using the same technique I used for the frog (starting with a flat color background using the Round brush tool), I ended up with this result.  Results are different to my eyes starting out with a flat color type brush versus my coloring in using my favorite brush tool (Gouache) which is transparent with some variation with each stroke put down on paper.  The round is a solid that does not react with pencil pressure whereas the Gouache does..........putting down darker color with more pressure.

**With a flat color foundation, the layer is totally opaque which would make it easy to add a background layer underneath without it bleeding through the layer with the rose and having to erase that for a clean look.

Process using the Round Brush Tool:

As an experiment, I wanted to see the difference by working my rose with each brush.  I used the exact same color swatch with each brush tool.  When working with the Gouache brush tool, I do not put a lot of pressure on my apple pencil as I like building my color from light to dark.  This example is with my normal pressure (which is hard to explain except I don't apply much pressure).

Notice the difference between the two brush tools in application using the same color swatch.  

This next example shows what it would take by duplicating the original color layer using the Gouache brush tool versus a one time layer of color using the Round brush tool.  If I were to lift my apple pencil up and back down using the Gouache brush tool, the color would darken.......just like glazing in watercolor.

Closeup of the two side by side.  Although not a great deal of difference, I still see some variation or "life" in the one with four layers stacked using the Gouache brush tool.  For me, I like that.

The only difference between them is the foundation layer of basic color.

For added comparison, I worked these simple shapes without darks and highlights.

Frog Out Front

This little guy was on the wall right outside our front door late evening.  Using Procreate, I worked this with tools shown on the demo sheets.

The background was an afterthought using the Spires brush tool found under Organic using both brush tool to put down areas of the texture and using the same under the eraser to remove some areas.  Then added a few lines blending them out trying to mimic the texture of the wall.

Another brush tool mentioned on demo sheets was the BeeJayDel Textures - Scales.  On its own layer, I used it very lightly to add to the detail I put down by hand.  It's very subtle. 

Although three greens are shown on the color key on the demo sheets, I basically only used two......the middle and dark values. 

Portrait of Youngest Granddaughter

After sharing the portrait of my husband's grandson with my eldest son, he sent me a photo of Morgan, his youngest daughter.  He never asked if I would work a portrait of her but I saw it as a subtle hint..........ha ha.  

After receiving the photo, I got to work on it.  I sat up all last night and throughout the day today working with this portrait starting with the initial sketch.  Then I played a bit with color blending before taking on the task of a full color portrait.  Some of that time was taking breaks to rest my eyes, stopping and creating these step sheets along the way as well as taking snap shots of my progress once I started the full color painting.

Brushes I used in Procreate were the HB pencil for the line sketch / Painting-Gouache brush tool for the color application / Gouache and/or Soft Air Brush for blending / Flowing Hair brush tool to help with texture in the hair / BJD's Denim brush tool / A special stamp brush I created to stamp on the background.

Initial Line Sketch:

Playing with different Layer Blend Modes adding a touch of color:

Full Color Portrait:

Comparing Line Sketch with Full Color Portrait

Screen Captures of Progress:

  

Young White Ibis

We had a flock of White Ibis visit our yard to check out what food source we might have that enticed them to our yard.  Those that attract my attention most are the youngsters because they have the brown.  

Worked in Procreate as mentioned in the illustration below showing basic steps I took to produce this.

This little video clip gives an idea of my work progress such as brush tool strokes used.  End was trimmed with all the back and forth fine-tuning with values and other smaller details seen in final results to save on time viewing and size file upload.  The fine-tuning for me is the most time consuming and I often close out the app and return with fresh eyes at least once if not a few times before calling it done. 

Have You Considered Making Your Own Journals?

With everything going on and people staying home due to the Coronavirus, now might be a good time to try your hand at making your own journals. The major positive is having journals with paper you love whether it's one type and brand or a mixed journal of various type papers you enjoy using depending on the mediums you like to use.

Although a little time consuming (which might help with the down time at home), it's really not that difficult once you know where to look for instruction and what to do. Once you finish and you hold that journal in your hand, you'd be amazed by the pride and joy you feel knowing YOU created the book sketching and displaying your artwork.

The easiest of the home-made journals are probably the accordion style (similar to what's shown here) where you fold and cut a full sheet of watercolor paper and simply glue mat board either plain or covered in fancy paper to front and back.

Another easy type of home-made journal would be cutting full sheets of paper down to the size you wish to work on and having it spiral bound...either by purchasing equipment to bind your own or later having it done at a print shop or local office supply. I think the postal service or UPS might do it also for a fee but not sure on that. I have my own binding machine so my knowledge is limited to what's offered out there.

One of my favorites and easy to make would be the Traveler's or Midori style journal with paper cut to preferred size and using a thick piece of faux leather for a cover plus elastic bands to hold your paper in place. There are various ways to make the covers from simple leather/faux leather to sewn fabric covers or even hard casings (which I haven't tried yet).   My favorite are the fabric sewn covers I made a couple years ago for myself and as gifts for several people.

Not only were the journals fun to make but I so enjoyed making charms to hang for that little added interest.

For me, I love all of the above type journals but I have to say the most rewarding has been the hardbound fabric-covered, hand-sewn journals I've made. I have several posts I've made about the various hand-made journals but thought I'd write this one......an update summary of sorts with a pdf I've created that helps me remember what to do that others might find helpful.

This pdf is specific to creating 5 x 5 1/2" size journals. Except for how to cut full sheets for other sizes, the rest is basic information for any size you decide to go with. 

The first two pages of the document is a basic outline I created for myself laying out the steps followed by instructions and images.  Besides the tab at the top of my blog named "Bookbinding," there is  a link within the document to my post of the most helpful videos I found to create my journals.  Sea Lemon is wonderful and easy to follow.

Bookbinding 5x55 BooksCOMP 

So if you'd like to find something different to work on.........challenging but fun to do, consider trying your hand at making your own journals for sketching and painting.  

Flamingo Flower Gift to Me years Ago

Between the wildlife I see everyday, flowers blooming outside, and plants/flowers growing inside, I have plenty of subject material to work on to keep myself sane during a trying time.  Although I may follow news updates just to keep informed, I do make it a point to unplug for long stretches each day and do other things as a break from it all. 

Today's sketch is my Flamingo Flower plant that was gifted to me by my brother-in-law a couple years ago working in my Journal with Fabriano Hotpress  / Pilot Prera w/F nib and #41 Brown ink / DS watercolors.

Lately I've been working between two journals with very different papers and different brands.  One is made up of Arches Coldpress with quite a toothy surface (especially when working with pen and ink) versus the smooth surface of Fabriano Hotpress in another journal.  With each, I find I have to work differently in how I apply my watercolor washes.  In addition, I have to work with different pens and even inks due to tooth and also in how long it takes the ink to dry on the two different surfaces.  For me, it's fun and challenging.

Another thing I like to do is change my order of how I work pen and ink and the watercolor wash......just as a change and the challenge it provides as well.

Chinese Fringe Flower

Today was another beautiful sunny day.  Early afternoon it was 80 when I spent a little time outside with a nice slight breeze.  These evergreen shrubs line the front of our house and are springing to life with new growth as well as flowers blooming. 

Beautiful shrub even without the flowers due to the contrasting reddish/brown to burgundy new leaf growth against the older green leaves.  Leaves have a white fringe like edging and the flowers are little bundles of ribbon like petals.

Until today, we had no idea what shrubs these were.  After doing some research, we learned they are Loropetalum....also called Chinese Fringe Flowers.  They are in the family of Witchhazel and cold hardy in zones 7-10.

5.5 x 6 journal with Arches watercolor paper / Metropolitan with #41 Brown / W&N and DS watercolors.  Pink is Opera and the mix I used for the leaves was W&N Light Red mixed with DS Quin Rose.

Photographed versus Scanned

Yesterday I worked on a watercolor sketch of my Golden Pothos plant.  As I worked, I took a few photographs over a two hour period as I leisurely worked this sketch.  Out of curiosity, I also scanned as I wanted to compare between camera and scanner with colors and tones. 

My scanner tends to "enhance" making the results a bit more vibrant with more contrast.  It doesn't pick up subtle changes in color variation nor does it do a great job picking up certain blues and yellows.  The scanner also does poorly with natural colors of paper like Arches versus bright white papers often appearing blotchy.

I never felt comfortable using a camera for my artwork because of white balance/color cast due to lighting but at least the camera lens picks up what the scanner does not.

In either case, I'm always having to try and fine tune in Photoshop Elements attempting to match actual tones and colors that I see in my journals.  The worst fine tuning when dealing with photographs being the need to remove the color cast or where part of an image might be brighter than another area. 

Using Camera:

For the photographs, I used my Samsung Note 8 camera.  The first two photos were taken within a thirty minute to an hour time frame so not much change in lighting from the window I was sitting at.  By the third photograph, the lighting was definitely different creating a bluish color cast I definitely had to try and fix.  In doing so, I lost part of the pencil line work of the plastic shelf unit the plant sits on.  All three I had to lighten a bit.  I really do not enjoy dealing with white balance issues.  Maybe if I understood it better and how to avoid in the first place, it wouldn't be so bad. 

Although working to remove color cast, the first two still have a yellowish to gray tone whereas the final photograph still shows a slight blue in the white of the paper.  At least the green colors picked up by the camera lens are closer to the actual colors and variations in the watercolor sketch. 

Using the Scanner:

I scanned twice making adjustments in the scanner's software.  Neither could pick up the green variations the camera lens on my phone picked up.

Left:  Auto correction in software at 24 Bit and 300 resolution

Right:  Turned off Auto setting and changed to 48 Bit and 300 resolution

What the difference is between 24 and 48 in how it affects colors, etc. is beyond me.   Something I'll have to do some research on. 

In comparison, turning off the auto correction picked up more of the blues that actual leaves have however still did not render correctly all the green variations in the sketch.  Both scans picked up more of the green making the results more lively than in the photographs.

The actual colors and tones on the page in my journal would fall somewhere between the final photograph above and the right scan below.......leaning more towards the photograph.

 

My final thoughts: 

I still prefer to scan since I often use my art images for making magnets, note cards, and other craft projects.  Scans are cleaner for printing.  Normally the only adjustment I have to make in Photoshop Elements is in the brightness/contrast controls.  The lighting with scanning is constant.  Just wish the scanner picked up the subtle variations in color that a camera lens can pick up.  For printing, I wouldn't want the texture of the paper to show.

As for the photographs.............even if I used my good DSLR, it makes no difference when dealing with white balance.  It might if I knew how to properly set the camera for different lighting situations that constantly change or had a better artificial lighting setup when taking photos of my artwork.  I do like that the camera can pick up the color variations the scanner does not plus it's ability to pick up the texture of the paper for times I might wish for it to show.......whereas the scanner does not. 

Miya's Toy - Different Look with Color

Today I decided I wanted what I did yesterday in color.  One of the positives in working digital AND working everything on separate layers is the ability to work from ALMOST scratch.  In this case creating a new file with a copy of the initial line drawing and building on top of that working color in separate transparent layers.

Another bonus with the layers and digital is trying various color combinations or brush tool/patterns to see what works and what doesn't.  As an example, I had worked the cast shadow in different colors - three separate layers...a bluish gray, purplish gray, and brown.  I didn't care for the blue or purple so I just deleted those layers.  I did similar with the background working one with a soft blue and the one you see here.  Didn't care for the blue.

Today I played with a brush tools I haven't used too much, which is the 2B Compressed Charcoal brush tool.  I also used Gesinski Ink and Splatter brush tools for the table.   I was after a soft plush look and the Compressed Charcoal did the trick for me.

Steps showing how each top layer is used to render the final results:

Monday and Still Waiting

Each day I've been trying to concentrate on sketching as we sit and follow the hurricane updates.  It's so heart wrenching thinking what the people in the Bahamas are going through.  I just can't wrap my head around a storm of this magnitude sitting stationery or barely moving over an area and what it's doing to that location and the emotional toll on those going through it.

This has been such a long drawn out state of the unknown and for so many people, I'm sure, very exhausting.

To keep busy and as a break from the news updates, I've managed the following:

August 31st - Going through photos, I first decided on this Fuchsia flower.  We miss having them here in Florida.  Looking up what information I could find, you can grow the flower here but can be quite a challenge due to the heat and humidity.

I worked this by painting first and then going back and adding the ink lines using a Micron 02 pen.

September 1st brought on a new challenge between my friend, Clare, and myself.  It was her turn to choose the challenge.  Her and I both have what's called the Cuttlelola Dot Pen, so she wanted us to work a sketch using that pen.

Before prepping the pen (charging it), I decided to first use Procreate and the Stipple Brush Tool to work a rather large thumbnail that I would follow when using dot pen in sketchbook.  The advantage of working this in Procreate is the ability to control values and size of dots.

Once the dot pen was charged, I started working this sketch.  I had to recharge several times to finish plus take breaks due to the vibration and hand fatigue.

If I were to choose which I personally liked better, it would be the Procreate sketch.  I particularly like the cloud formations in the digital sketch plus the atmospheric feel to it versus the one done using the actual pen.

Once the ink was totally dry, I decided to add some color using watercolors.  Worked in the Zeta sketchbook.

After the landscape, I decided to work another sketch using the dot pen.  This is some sort of plant from a photo I had taken back in 2010 when we lived in West Virginia.  The challenge here was definitely in the long thin tendrils or whatever they are called using the pen.  I had to keep stopping...lifting the pen and then setting it down hoping I picked up right where I left off as I turned or changed direction with the pen.  It was a bit taxing on the eyes, to say the least.

September 2 - White Breasted Nuthatch.  From another photo taken back in 2010 while living in West Virginia.  A bird I haven't seen here in Florida.

This one is worked in the Hand Sewn journal with old stock of Fabriano Artistico 140lb watercolor paper.  Decided to paint and then stop before taking ink to it.  I've decided to leave as it is.

And for a change I actually remembered to scan along the way.