Ballpoint Pen Scribble Art

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Week 24 - Ballpoint Pen Scribble Art made with various brands of ballpoint pens in a Fabriano Venice 6x9 sketchbook. I've admired the drawings I've seen on Instagram and Youtube made with this technique and how a picture can magically come out of loose scribbles using a ballpoint pen.

After attempting a couple of scribbly drawings, I searched YouTube for other artists demonstrating their technique for some pointers. I also found a short, informative class on Skillshare called Ballpoint Pen Drawing: Scribbling by Alfonso Perez which was quite enjoyable to watch. The class was well organized with a section on different styles of scribbling, how to start your scribble drawing, and leading up to a final project assignment. I practiced the techniques he demonstrated and felt my scribblings were much more successful.  I was able to make a ballpoint pen scribbly drawing almost every day for the past two weeks, finding it to be very stress-relieving and rewarding. Though, I occasionally found myself with ballpoint ink on my fingers from drawing with the super inky Papermate Inkjoy pen.

Because I enjoyed this creative activity so much, I thought I would try a digital version with the Apple Pencil on my iPad pro and on The Slate that Brenda gave me for Christmas.

I made a free form scribble drawing on The Slate with a Bic Crystal pen, which was connected to my iMac at work. The Slate is a tablet where paper is attached to the surface and strokes of a pencil or pen are recorded on your iPad or Mac. See my review from earlier this year here. There was an update available for The Slate and it was much improved from the last time I used it. The Slate software, Imagink, recorded my scribbling so that I was able to export the video file for uploading. The strokes of the Bic Crystal pen were very accurately recorded in the Imagink software, though the line pressure was the same darkness in the file on the screen compared to the actual drawing on paper where some areas had less pen pressure than others.

I thought I would also try this technique on my iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil. I used the Procreate app, with the technical pen brush set at the smallest diameter. Scribbling with the Apple Pencil was effortless, there was no lag while drawing. The scribbling was much finer than the other drawing methods. This technique could lead to other variations of this style with different brushes in Procreate.

I really enjoyed this drawing exercise, so much so that I spent the past two weeks exploring it, and would like to incorporate it into my sketching routine. 

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017, a year long creative exploration project - make a hand bound sketchbook.

Derwent Inktense Pencils

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Week 23 - Derwent Inktense Pencils, which are much like watercolor pencils in how they work, but after activating them with water, the colors become permanent. Other mediums can be used with them to create interesting effects. 

I thought I would try to make a few cloud studies using Inktense pencils but the finished effect is not how I thought it would turn out. I found the pencils didn't quite blend the way I anticipated, thinking they would be more like watercolor. It was more like I was trying to color the clouds, and I think a different style of drawing would have been better. I do like the pencil texture showing through in the washes after adding water, I think this effect might be better suited to a different subject.

I then made a drawing of foliage with photo reference from Flickr, but I found it difficult to get the vibrant effect I was expecting. I think that it may have been the paper I was using, which was a Stillman and Birn pocket Beta Series sketchbook. Other water media seems to work well with this sketchbook though. The colors appeared more vibrant on the Strathmore Visual Art Journal that I used for the cloud drawings and an onion still life I made from photo reference found on Flickr.

After making the first couple of sketches, and not being happy with the way they turned out, I looked for ways other artists were using the pencils and tried a different technique with the onion drawing. I like this style of drawing with the pencils and I think they might work well with another of the techniques that I use - mixed media drawings with watercolor and Derwent Aquatone pencils. 

I will, for now, put them aside and maybe revisit them in the future for other drawings or journal entries when I start working on a memorial art journal for my mother over the winter and for the 2018 Sketchbook Project, that I'll be starting soon.

Next up in Create-A-Thon, a year long creative exploration - Ballpoint Pen Scribble Art Technique.

The Sketchbook Project 2017

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I have been wanting to participate in the worldwide sketchbook project created by the Brooklyn Art Library for some time, and finally in November I signed up to create a sketchbook. How it works is that you purchase a sketchbook from The Sketchbook Project with the option of having it digitized, and you fill it up when you receive it using one of the themes or with whatever you like, following the rules and size limitations.

After completing your sketchbook, you link it up to the library online and mail it back to be included in their permanent collection. If you have purchased the digitized option, your sketchbook will be scanned and made available online for others to view. The sketchbooks can be checked out and viewed in person at the Brooklyn Art Library or on one of their mobile sketchbook tours around the country.

Here are a few pages from my sketchbook entry with the theme "All about me". The fully digitized version can be viewed here.

Inky Explorations

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Week 20 - Experimenting with ink using an inexpensive bamboo pen, a stick, and ink wash with fountain pen details. I picked up a two pack of the bamboo pens at Hobby Lobby, and the stick from our backyard.

I was inspired to get out the bamboo pens after seeing a video from one of my subscribed channels on YouTube. I used photos of Egyptian Art that I had taken at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore for sketching ideas. I found drawing with the bamboo pen allowed for some variation in the lines and sometimes distributed blobs of ink that were unpredictable, but I like the results. I especially liked the Liquitex Muted Inks with these pens. I have four of the five colors in the line - violet, turquoise, green and pink. I may pick up the last color, gray, at some point.

My niece is studying to be a graphic designer and she showed me one of her college projects made with stick and ink, so I thought I would try that out. Drawing with the stick was even more unpredictable than the bamboo pen and it was easy to make loose, random strokes with it. I held it high away toward the end of the stick, allowing for a less controlled line, the effect is very sketchy. I also liked the Liquitex Muted Inks better with the stick.

I only tried one wash and ink line drawing, the last of the day. This exercise was described in the book, Art Before Breakfast, by Danny Gregory, a great book filled with creative ways to get you drawing more. I like the results with this as well, and may experiment with that technique using different colors of ink.

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017, a year long creative exploration - Derwent Inktense Pencils.

Yupo Paper

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Week 19 - Trying out Yupo Paper. Brenda bought me two sizes of Yupo paper pads for my birthday and I finally got around to trying it out this week. I had used a sheet of it earlier with Winsor and Newton Pigment Markers and I liked the results with that.

I didn't get to experiment with Yupo much during the week but spent all day in my studio with it on Saturday. The surface of the paper is a matte surface with a dull sheen, not slippery or shiny like you would think a plastic synthetic paper would be. The surface is waterproof, so waterbased mediums do not absorb into the paper, but instead the water evaporates and leaves just the pigment.

I tried Yupo with my Winsor and Newton artist quality watercolors, non-waterproof Higgins black ink, and Marabu Mixed Media art spray. Since the mediums don't absorb into the paper, they can be wiped away before or after drying to create interesting effects. I played around with the different mediums, creating several abstract pieces. I also tried a floral painting of plants in a pot. It was very therapeutic and relaxing to spend hours in my studio experimenting. I'm not entirely sure I like any of the pieces that I created, but there is room for more experimentation.

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017, a year long creative exploration - drawing with Bamboo pen, stick and ink, and loose ink wash with pen detail.

Painting En Plein Air

Week 18 - Painting En Plein Air. I had chosen to do this activity during the same week as Digital Collage for a contrast in working styles and also because I could work with one when I couldn't work with the other. 

For the first time trying plein air painting, I packed up my French Field Easel which is usually set up as my studio easel, and helped Brenda get set up with another easel of mine. We headed out to Codorus State Park near the Mary Ann Furnace Trail where the overflow parking is located. There is an old barn there that Brenda made a painting of and I painted a distant hill with trees. I used an inexpensive water mixable oil paint set for the first time and found them stiff at first, but added in Acrylic gloss medium and they went on better. The weather was in the mid seventies, with sunny skies and swirly clouds. The sounds of nature and the occasional car passing on the road below with butterflies bouncing among the tall grass in the field, was also quite pleasant.

We had a couple of ladies out walking their dogs briefly stop to check on what we were painting. Nothing too traumatic, but one of my fears while out painting, that I might actually have to talk to a stranger about what I'm doing. 

Setting up and taking down my French Field Easel was also problem free, thankfully. The time passed quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Brenda had some difficulty painting with the easel I had put together for her, so after watching several plein air painting videos on YouTube and seeing different Pochade Boxes with their fancy straps and drawers, we set about making our own inexpensive Pochade Boxes out of wooden sketching boxes bought from A.C. Moore.

The process involved inserting 1/4 - 20 T-Nuts in the bottom of the boxes allowing them to be mounted on a tripod. We bought inexpensive wooden rulers and used screws to make a brace to keep the lids open while painting and added a bungie cord setup to hold our canvas boards in place while we painted. They fit quite nicely in a backpack with our tripods and other painting essentials. We tried them out on Sunday at another part of Codorus State Park and they worked quite well, though now we feel it is time to invest in better quality paints.

Now that I've experienced Plein Air Painting, it is definitely something I want to do more of this summer and fall. If I continue to enjoy painting en plein air, I may invest in a better quality pochade box, but for now this one is pretty cool.

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017, a yearlong creativity exploration - Experimenting with Yupo Paper.

Digital Collage on iPad Pro

Week 17 - Digital Collage on iPad Pro 12.9" with Apple Pencil. My resources for these collages were my photographs that were digitally altered with Snapseed, Diptic, and Photoshop Mix using my iPad and iPhone. My clipped art resources were from several collections of permission free and copyright free vintage anatomy and clip art.

I prepared the clipped art files by isolating the images in photoshop on the desktop and then saving the files as png so that I could import them already clipped into Procreate on my iPad Pro. The files were saved to a cloud account where I can access them as needed on my iPad. It was very easy then to manipulate and combine the files into a digital collage. Procreate has some very nice brushes to allow for adding effects like the blood splatters and drips in the image above, titled "Three Heads in a Field." The background for that image was a photo from the landscape at Gettysburg, then edited in Snapseed and Photoshop Mix. The background photo was then mirrored in Diptic to create a surrealistic background to this haunting image of three anatomy heads floating above a field.

For "Marburg Skull," I combined a skull photo that I shot in Washington D.C. with another of my favorite things, tentacles, to create what I imagine is beneath Lake Marburg at Codorus State Park, which covers the old town of Marburg.

In "Heart of the Universe" I combined a vintage anatomical illustration of a human heart with a galaxy background that I had created in Procreate last year. I also added other vintage art and brush effects like the water waves brush to complete the piece.

Last night I worked on another, "Fish Filet" where I combined a background photo that I had shot out at Codorus State Park earlier in the week with vintage art illustrations from The Clip Art Book. The background was edited in Diptic, Photoshop Mix, and Snapseed, and the clipped art was colored with the Apple Pencil to create another surrealistic composition.

I really enjoyed working with this digital collage process and will continue to work on it this week when I'm not out painting en plein air with Brenda. Look for an upcoming post on Plein Air Painting coming up in the next few days.

Brush Pen Sampler No. 2

Week 15 - Brush Pen Sampler Number 2 purchased for $26 with free shipping from jetpens.com. Also, this week, I tried out the 12 color Pentel Touch Sign Pen set from Target, purchased for $19.99 plus tax. There are six pens in the Jet Pens sampler, 5 of them disposable with fibrous tips and one nylon brush type cartridge style refillable pen.

The first brush pen I tried was the Kuretake No. 8 Fountain Brush Pen, it is the cartridge style refillable one with nylon bristles. It's very similar to a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, only the brush tip is a little shorter. I really like this style of brush pen, as it allows me to get very fine lines in flowing strokes that can have varying widths. I used that pen to make "The Cooker" drawing, inspired by the audiobook I'm currently listening to on my work commute, "Maplecroft."

I thought I would make drawings of robots to test out the rest of the pens in the sampler. These pens have firmer tips that do not have bristles, but do allow for varying line widths depending on the firmness of each pen. I made the robot sketches a a large Piccadilly Blank Journal with light cream colored pages. I think these journals are really meant for writing, but I like to make sketches in them. I'm almost finished filling my second journal of 240 pages. 

The Kuretake Fudegokochi produces a nice dense black line that does allow for slight variations in weight, but I really like the contrast produced on light paper. Another of my favorites in the sampler is the Zebra Disposable Brush Pen which produced crisp linework in my robot sketch. The other pens in the sampler are Kuretake Bimoji Brush Pen, Pentel Touch Sign Pen, and Pilot Fude-Makase Color Brush Pen. All the pens aside from the Kuretake No. 8 Fountain Brush Pen, are very similar in performance, so it would be a personal preference as to which one feels best in hand. As mentioned before, the Kuretake No. 8 is refillable and has actual brush bristles.

I made a Sugar Skull drawing so I could use all the colors in the 12 color Pentel Touch Sign Pen set that I purchased at Target after hearing about it on the Erasable Podcast. These pens are nice, and of course are just like the Pentel Touch Pen included in the JetPens sampler, only in colors. I think these would probably be good for hand lettering or writing in a journal. 

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017 - Winsor and Newton Watercolor Brush Pens.

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Reeves Water Soluble Pastels

Week 14 - Reeves Water Soluble Pastels 24 color set purchased for $10.50 at The Queen's Ink in Savage, MD. Brenda and I decided to take a spur of the moment road trip down to the Historic Savage Mill so that I could make pinhole photos of the ruins beside the Little Patuxent River and the only remaining portion of a Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge. We found the art supply store in the Savage Mill shopping complex and they had a nice variety of supplies, mostly stamping and inks as the name would suggest.

Working with the pastels started off promising, when I made a drawing of bright red-orange springlike flowers. My next drawing of a Sunflower using a reference photo, was a bit more troublesome with it resembling a picture drawn with a box of crayons. And the last drawing did not work at all, not what I was envisioning of tentacles coming from the bottom of the page. I feel that my drawing skills were lacking for that one and that I was a bit tired before starting to work on it. Some of the colors did not blend at all when applying water, with a crayon type texture showing through.

I used the pastels on plain watercolor paper in a Strathmore Visual Watercolor Journal. I think I should have done a little more research for techniques on how to use water soluble pastels - I had watched a few YouTube videos and one in particular suggesting a base of Gesso to be applied to the paper first. I have to admit I was very busy this week with other creative and extracurricular activities, not leaving me much time to experiment with these. I may revisit them in the future and give them another try.

I also attended a live model figure drawing session on Sunday afternoon, and have been participating in the Sktchy30 drawing challenge using the Sktchy App, but I'm going to have to forego finishing the Sktchy challenge, my mind is mentally exhausted.

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017 - drawing with a variety of brush pens.

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Mixed Media Art

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Week 13 - Mixed Media art made with watercolor wash, Derwent Aquatone Pencils, pocket brush pen, and white gel pen. I've explored this style before about a year ago, but I wanted to revisit the process and continue to create new pages in my visual art journal. 

To start I like to make a colorful background wash using an inexpensive set of Prang Professional Watercolor pans. I usually prepare a few pages with background washes ahead of time and then when I'm ready to work on one, I choose the best color background for the idea that I have. I then fill in the page with solid shapes of color with the Aquatone pencils, which become quite colorful when activated with water. When those are dry, I then add details with brush pen and white gel pen. I think I like the anatomy illustration the best of the three I completed this week. 

Next up - Reeves Water Soluble Pastels.