I had some fun creating these simple, pink, suede boots for Day 14 of #inktoberff
Watch the short video of it coming together:
You can see all of my entries for Inktober so far here.
Inktober Day 13: Animal Print (+ Free Download)
So, the prompt for Day 13 of the Inktober Fall Fashion Challenge is 'animal print'. There are pink animals right? You know, like the Pink Panther?
Ok, so maybe it looks more like camouflage than animal print, but I like how it came out all the same.
And because sneakers are so much fun to draw, color and design I thought you might like to have a go! Leave your email below to download and print the outline of my sneakers. Then once you've colored them in tag @BrownPaperBunny and #inktoberff on social media so I can check them out. Have fun!
Here's a little timelapse video of how I painted mine.
Inktober Day 12: Hat
Please note: This blog post contains affiliate links, which help pay for the upkeep of this site. That being said, I will never, ever promote anything I am not 100% in love with!
It's already Day 12 of the Inktober Fall Fashion Challenge! Today's prompt was 'hat' so I created this pink felt number.
Here's a timelapse video of it all coming together - using Tombow Brush Markers as watercolors, and directly on the page, and finished with Micron Pens. Yesterday's post showed how I used the Tombow markers if you're interested in learning more. Sorry the video is a bit blown out!
Inktober Day 11: Blouse (Tombow Marker Tutorial)
Please note: This blog post contains affiliate links, which help pay for the upkeep of this site. That being said, I will never, ever promote anything I am not 100% in love with!
Today's prompt for the Inktober Fall Fashion Illustration Challenge is 'Blouse'. Naturally I added some bunnies. ;)
Someone told me about a 'watercolor' technique using Tombow Brush Markers. I tested it out, and it was pretty cool, so I wanted to share it with you. I assume it would work just as well with any water-soluble markers!
First, pick out the colors you want to use - you can also blend them together to get just the right shade.
Then make yourself a palette. I tried a scrap of watercolor paper, which didn't work so well once I started scrubbing at the marker color with water, so in the end I used tracing paper but I've heard a zip-lock sandwich bag works well too. (UPDATE: Tombow sent me a care package with a plastic coated blending palette, which works a treat. I bet a piece of plastic overhead projector sheet or something similar would also work well).
Scribble some ink down on the palette, this is where you can mix the marker colors.
Then use a paintbrush to wet the marker ink and then start painting on your page. If you aren't getting enough color you usually just need a little more water on your brush.
Here's my finished product.
This technique allows for subtle color build up and layers that you can't always get by using the markers directly on the paper. I'm definitely going to experiment a little more.
Watch the timelapse video below of it all coming together.
Leave me a comment and let me know if you've ever tried this - or if you're going to try it now. :)
And if you'd like to see the rest of my #Inktoberff entries, click here.
31 Things to Draw
Please note: This blog post contains affiliate links, which help pay for the upkeep of this site. That being said, I will never, ever promote anything I am not 100% in love with!
This month I'm participating in a fun challenge that CreativeBug is running to find their next instructor. The contest started on September 1st and the goal is to take one of their monthly challenges and post your take on the themes each day.
I really love everything that Lisa Congdon does, so I'm using her 31 Things to Draw (or in my case draw and paint) workshop as my inspiration for the challenge.
Here is day one: Trees
The other daily prompts are things like chairs, leaves etc. All things that are simple in their own right but that you can really have some fun with - make stylized or embellished.
Have you ever done a monthly challenge where you create every day? Leave me a comment and let me know what the theme was, and whether you enjoyed it or not!
Sketchbook Project Tour
I've been participating in the Sketchbook Project almost since it started (10 years ago). In fact, it's one of the things that got me into art when I was just starting my creative journey.
If you're not familiar, it's a global project run by the Brooklyn Art Library where you purchase a small sketchbook, complete it (there are themes but you don't have to follow them) and send it back by the due date. Then all of the sketchbooks from that year go on a global tour, then live permanently in the Brooklyn Art Library, where you can go and visit them whenever you're in New York.
In all the years I've been participating I've never been in the right place at the right time to see them at one of the mobile tour stops - until now! I made sure to fly back from L.A. a day early, just so I could see the tour when it stopped in Boulder on Saturday. And I'm so glad I made the effort.
Not only did I get to chat with the staff, look at so many incredible sketchbooks from around the world, but I also met a few local Boulder artists who had their books in this year's tour!
This is Allison Wheeler, a Boulder artist who's sketchbook I got to check out from the mobile library
There is such a variety of amazing artwork as part of the project. I would have stayed there all day and looked at books, if it hadn't been 95 degrees in the shade that day! A few years ago I started a Pinterest board just to save all the cool Sketchbook Project books I came across, check it out: http://www.pinterest.com/BrownPaperBunny/sketchbook-project/
I've signed up again this year, so stay tuned for more paper tests, tutorials on how you can remind your sketchbook (while still staying within the project guidelines) and more. Leave me a comment if you have any questions or want to see anything in particular.
90 Days Into The 100 Day Project
Back in April I signed up to do The 100 Day Project, where you pick a project and commit to working on it every day for 100 days. I couldn't come up with one single topic I wouldn't get bored with in that amount of time, so I decided to paint something, anything, every day for the length of the project.
So. We're 90 days in, and what have I found? Here are my tips, and things I wish someone had told me going into it.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself or you'll give up on the project all together. It's meant to be fun after all.
Make it easy to succeed. For example, tell yourself you only have to spend 5 minutes on it - if you do more, great, but if you don't, you've still met your goal. Some days I simply put paint on paper. Any paint, in any fashion, with no goal in mind. But it felt good, really good, just to do that.
Don't feel like you have to post about it every single day on social media, that can become an onerous task in itself. It's fine to post your favorite thing from the week, or just post about it every so often. Here are just a few of the paintings I posted - there certainly aren't 100 in there.
With all of that being said, I certainly found that I started to hone my style, and experiment more with paints and techniques I wouldn't have tried if I was painting less frequently, so I'd say it was definitely worth it. Plus it got me in the habit of creating more regularly and not making excuses..."I'd have to clean my studio first before I can start", "I don't want to start something new I can't finish tonight", "I don't have a clear idea of what I want to paint yet" etc etc.
Let me know in the comments if you've ever done any kind of time-bound or themed project like this!
Repeating Palm Tree Pattern
I'm still learning how to do this repeating pattern stuff, but man it's pretty fun! Here's my latest creation - hot pink palm trees, painted in watercolor. Because, why not?
Maybe I'm subliminally dreaming of warmer weather and wishing all this snow would melt!
I started out by painting the individual trees in my sketchbook.
Then I scanned them into photoshop and started playing around with them until I had them in the layout I wanted. Check out my post on the different ways to create a repeating pattern here.
Next I wanted to see how they would look on actual items, homewares, clothing, and other fun things, so I added the pattern to my Society6 store. What do you think?
Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think I should paint as a pattern next!
Repeating Watercolor Patterns: Trees
So, this is my first ever attempt at making a repeating pattern! I definitely recommend Jenn Coyle's Skillshare class on turning watercolor paintings into repeating patterns, or you could follow the tutorial I found over at The Jungalow which was easy enough to follow, but took a lot more messing around in Photoshop than I expected.
I'm also participating in Anika Starmer's Pattern Challenge. She's creating a pattern every single day in 2016, whereas I've only committed myself to a pattern a week. But I am enjoying her monthly prompts. You can find them here if you'd like to join in, or you can voyeuristically check out everyone else's work here.
This is my original watercolor painting. If you look closely you'll see I had to resize a few pesky trees that just didn't want to fit into my pattern.
I've already painted three more of Anika's January prompts, so stay tuned to see how they look as repeating (or 'conversational') patterns.
If you're interested, I also found this super cute pattern tutorial by Julia Rothman, using nothing more than a sheet of paper, markers, scissors and tape. Check it out on the Design Sponge Blog.
Leave a comment below and let me know if you've ever made any patterns, either digitally, or the old-school way!
Fashion Bloggers as Superheroes
I've been having some fun lately, painting little fashion illustrations of my favorite fashion bloggers as superheroes. This one is Aimee Song, or SongOfStyle as Wonder Woman. (My all-time favorite superhero).
Leave me a comment and let me know if you had a favorite superhero (or super villain) growing up!
4th of July Weekend
We were in Alabama for 4th of July weekend. It was like traveling to a whole different world! Our adventures included a watermelon-eating contest, patriotic golf-cart parade, a family wedding, and visiting the historic house where my great grandfather and grandmother were born and grew up! (If you'd like to see photos, visit instagram.com/SweetDivergence).
Now it's your turn, what did you do to celebrate America's Independence? And did you get in any creative time?
In My Sketchbook
I haven't had a lot of time for painting this week because, well, life has been getting in the way. Plus the weather has been completely gorgeous so it's hard not to spend every second out of doors!
But on the unbearably hot days I did manage to find a few minutes here and there to spend some time sketching in watercolor and ink.
Here's a little peek inside my sketchbook this week.
This is a reimagined version of an origami crane sketch I did a couple of years ago. As a kid I was really into origami. In fact, who am I kidding, I still love it!
This second sketch was to commemorate Bike to Work Day here in Colorado. I'd never participated before, and even though we've just moved quite far from the office, I'm really glad I did. Our town had bike stops with free food and drinks, and bike maintenance set up all over town. There were so many people our riding and the whole atmosphere was really fun!
And yes, that's my bike...the pale pink cruiser with a mint basket, which happens to have cup holders built in!
Leave a comment and tell me if you ever ride to work (or what you've been making, painting, crafting this week)!
National Donut Day!
June 5 is National Donut Day! I have a real sweet tooth, so my solution (to avoid eating 500 of them) is to paint them instead!
To celebrate Donut Day, here's a little download you can print and give to your coworkers, friends, or family - with a fresh donut of course! Just click on the image below to open up the full size, then press print. Easy peasy.
Leave me a comment and tell me what your absolute favorite type of donut is. I'm partial to Krispy Kreme original glazed myself.
And if you haven't subscribed to my email newsletter yet, get cracking. It's where I share special goodies I don't give out anywhere else!
Sketching Donut Day thumbnails in my Sketchbook.
Break Bad News with Calligraphy
I stumbled across Seb Lester's Instagram account, and his brilliant idea to #BreakBadNewsGentlyWithCalligraphy. How could I resist!
So I painted this note to my husband, using watercolors and ink. If you do your own, tag @BrownPaperBunny, I'd love to see!
