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Another ATC! This one took forever, but I'm kind of happy with the result. It was inspired by finding a shimmery dark green in my advent calendar, and, well... What to do with that? Old glass was my first thought. Also, two different light sources (one cold, one warm), just to make my life difficult...



In the end, I actually managed to use all the four different types of shimmer and glitter from my advent calendar in the picture! (Shimmery transparent white on the window and the glass parts of the thermometer-weather-thingy, shimmery green on the bottles and the leaves (because why wouldn't those shimmer? XD), golden gel pen (on the jewelry, thermometer-thingy and fire-thingy), and silver gel pen on the rock samples - I guess those are ore minerals, then...) It feels kind of decadent to have a designated old-glass-watercolor, but hey, I love drawing old technology and lab equipment (and old glass often does have this color - not because people dyed it but because they had no way of removing the iron impurities), so I absolutely needed that one, I just didn't know it yet!

( List of art supplies behind the cut. )

This ATC was for the advent calendar, so, I drew this some time ago, but I'm posting it now after the fact. Maana is a character from a story/project of the person my calendar was for. :) A lot of fun, especially because it's not the kind of thing I typically draw at all! (As in, she's clearly not a plant... LOL) Leaving my comfort zone at least occasionally is a good idea, I know! XD

Literally. A "postcard" (though I'll have to send it in an envelope because I don't think the paper is going to survive otherwise) for someone on Postcrossing. This person likes snails. Did I have a store-bought snail postcard? No. Am I able to draw one when I have to? Kind of. So, here's a giant snail... XD



Materials:
- paper: this is on an interesting handmade watercolor paper from India, called "Wanderings", in light brown. Layers on top of each other are not really possible, so the paper is mostly suited for more "sketch-like" work, but I like the effects the color creates on this a lot.
- fineliners: Copic multiliner 1.0 in black, Faber Castell PITT artist pen S in dark sepia
- watercolors: Schmincke Chromoxidgrün stumpf (PG17), White Nights Indanthrene Blue (PB60) and Mars Brown (PBr6tr)
- acrylic pen: Posca in white

Drew this at Planten un Blomen (a park in Hamburg). Unfortunately, the very tame bird came over as soon as it noticed me and begged for food. They do that...



Materials:
- suuuper awesome sketchbook; a grey page this time
- Fineliner: Faber Castell Multimark permanent, black, in F
- Marker: Faber Castell Pitt big brush in Cold Grey III
- Acrylic pen: Flysea Acrylic Painter Extra Fine in white (in some places diluted with water and paintbrush)

Another fast sketch in the new chess sketchbook from antaresnox! This morning, I was walking when I saw this very large flower growing from a crack in the asphalt! (I kind of regret not getting that crack into the picture, but the plant was too large to draw the whole thing while getting any level of detail.) Different pens this time: the very professional (LOL) art technique is called "grab some pens from the bottom of your bag". I don't use markers very often but I really enjoy these ones: they each have two sides with shades of the same color, one dark and one light, which makes shading and blending easy.

In case you were wondering: yes, of course I occasionally sketch on white paper, too! You know I'm mainly whining about the constant lack of sketchbooks with toned paper that is not brown or grey, but that's not because I dislike white paper. It's just that I can walk into any art supply store (and even most stationery shops) and get a very nice sketchbook with white paper (not as nice as a handmade one, obviously, but at least one I can use); no whining needed. I really like having a book with different paper colors for different occasions!

This time, I actually managed to destroy the paper: it takes acrylic pens fine, it takes the markers themselves fine as well, but the spots where I used the white Posca to draw highlights over the marker-colored areas kind of dissolved. Interesting! XD (No matter how nice the paper, there's always some way to damage it, and I usually find it very quickly. LOL)



Materials:
- suuuper awesome sketchbook; a white page this time
- Copic Multiliner, black, 1.0
- Markers: Kuretake ZIG Brushables in spring green and hyacinth
- Acrylic pen: Uni Posca PC-5M in white

Just something quick I drew for someone on Postcrossing - the person likes hippos, but unfortunately, I didn't have a hippo card in my collection, so I made one. I had to use lots of references for the animal because I simply don't see them very often. (Fortunately. I don't particularly want to encounter one...)

I'm mainly posting this because I (finally) took the opportunity to use one of the Schmincke supergranulating watercolors I was posting about a few days ago. All that grainy dark blue that brings out the paper texture is done with layers of Tundra Blue (PB29, PBr7) over the other colors. I think it's especially noticeable when you compare the earthy shore (no supergranulating layer, just ochre - ironically, my favorite ochre is a very cheap one but I love the tone - and some purplish PR102) to its mirror image in the water (same paints, but with a layer of Tundra Blue over it).



Materials I used:
JAXON watercolor postcard paper (approx. A6 size)
Copic Multiliner in 0.4 and BM (brush)
Watercolors: BLOCKX Blockx Red (PR254), Michael Harding Yellow Lake (PY180), Phoenix Yellow Ochre (PY42), Nila Colori Armenian Violet Ochre (PR102), Mijello Bamboo Green (PG36), Daniel Smith Jadeite Genuine, Daler Rowney Manganese Blue Hue, Schmincke Horadam Tundra Blue (PB29, PBr7), Rembrandt Spinel Grey (PBk26)
FlySea Acrylic pen, white, fine

...aaaand the third ATC made with the help of the craft materials sent to me by Up-Quark.



I still had a large clock sticker and two metallic pens I had not used yet at all, soooo, I had to use them on this card! The materials used are:

By the way, I'm sure the jeweler doesn't just make jewelry: he also has tools for much rougher work out, and the scales seem a bit big for small stones... All this sparkly stuff has to be a front. The question is what the lady REALLY wants in the store! Presumably, it's not purely for, uh, fashionable purposes... XD

Another page filled in the sketchbook from antaresnox. I'm trying to draw something fast every day. The forsythia is in front of the house... And, of course, rhododendron is everywhere.



It's kind of fascinating: rhododendron is an invasive plant, and when I was a kid, people started to plant it in their gardens deliberately "because the bugs don't eat it". This used to be true, except, oh wait, these days they do... I suppose we're seeing some evolution in progress. XD

So, a few weeks ago, I received a wonderful handmade sketchbook from antaresnox, and I just (finally) got around to testing it!



Isn't it lovely? It's tiny (7x7 cm, which is a bit under 3x3'') and has colored pages in pink, yellow, green, and blue. YAY! I love drawing on colored paper!

( More pictures, including the art supplies, behind the cut! )

Here are proper scans of my first two sketches, fuchsia (on a pink page) and aconitum (on a blue page). I used fineliners (Staedtler in 0.1 and Faber castell PITT in M), markers (Faber Castell PITT pen B in sky blue, pink madder lake, and light phthalo green), and a white gel pen (Pentel).





I already adore this little book! :D

As I mentioned a few days ago, I drew ATC outlines for Atlicedrawsstuff to color... And she was super fast! (She found someone to swap the card with already, too.)



Atlice used Ohuhu markers (alcohol-based), colored pencils, and gel pen on my fineliner drawing. :) I really love the colors she chose!