Let's gear up for INKTOBER!

Inktober was created in 2009 by the very talented Mr Jake Parker, in an attempt to  challenge and improve his inking skills and to develop positive drawing habits. Drawing is a learned skill, so you can get better with daily practice and Inktober is a fantastic interactive way to do this!

Since then, Inktober has become a yearly event among all creatives! becoming a global phenomenon. I myself have yet to participate in an Inktober. This will be my first year, but I am excited to get out my pens and inks and truly committing to a daily art practice that will set me up for months to come.

Jake puts the rules on his info page but here they are below.

InkTober rules:

1) Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil under-drawing if you want).

2) Post it on your blog (or tumblr, instagram, twitter, facebook, flickr, Pinterest or just pin it on your wall.)

3) Hashtag it with #inktober

4) Repeat

Note: you can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. What ever you decide, just be consistent with it. INKtober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better.

That's it! Now go make something beautiful.

 
It also doesn't have to be this amazing epic work of art, don't let yourself be intimidated before you even begin! some days my inking will only be small!

Some days I want to work on my brush lettering, because lettering is a huge downfall for me, I want so badly to learn brush script but I don't do enough dedicated practice to it, so Inktober is a way for me to force learn!

So my October blog posts will be what I create with the Schmincke Aerocolour Acrylic Ink as well as some other little drawings I work on using my inky pens.

I hope this inspires you to pick up some ink and get to drawing for the month of October!
Have an awesome day!

Courtney Diaz

Canson Paper and Schmincke Watercolour Sketches!

Schmincke, Canson, Princeton!

Hi all!

Unfortunately I was a bit hard-pressed for time in delivering this tutorial because I am under the pump with my final semester at University, so I will hopefully deliver another tutorial on drawing proportions very soon. However, in the meanwhile, I thought I could share with you some of the paintings and sketches I have created using Canson papers and Schmincke Horadam Aquarell Watercolour Paints.

I bought these gorgeous paints a while back and have fallen in love with watercolour all over again. I bought a set of 24 1/2 pans and have had so much fun with them.

The Schmincke watercolours have such a strong pigment and make painting and using the paints so much easier. You know those paints that you've had in the past where you have laden your brush with paint, only to find within a few strokes it's practically all gone? This is the exception, I remember when I first tried them and I touched my wet brush ever so lightly onto the paint and then used it and the colour was amazing! It also lasted so long and this works out in your favor, for not only does it save time and makes working more efficient, but you end up using much less paint because you don't need so much onto your brush.

Tip: Wet the paint brush, rather than wetting the pan, this way you can keep your paints much cleaner.

 Here are some examples of the more involved paintings I've done using these paints:

Truth

 

 Life

 Way

Tip: When building up a painting like this in layers, start with a wash that covers your whole background, so you aren't left with noticeable white spaces.

 The Glass Slipper

Tip: I built this painting up from the lightest colours to the darkest.

A Psychedelic Forrest

~

This is mainly what I use in conjunction with the Schmincke Paints:

Canson Watercolour Paper: This one is a Medium, 185 gsm. I use both the A3 and A4 sizes. I have been using this paper since I started painting when I was 14, I used to save up my pocket money for buying pads of paper!

Princeton brushes, I have a number of sets that I've used which work really well and are affordable too!

Now here is a bit more about the paints:

You receive this super cute colour testing page where you can use your colours and then refer back to it when selecting colours.

The box mine came in, I nursed it preciously home.

Inside the box!

This is what my paints look like now after the dozens of paintings I've used them for!

It appears I am fond of the green colour.

Tip: If you want to keep reusing the same colour mix that you've created, mix the colours on either a plastic or metal surface (like this one) so it doesn't dry so quickly and can very easily be re-hydrated. If you use paper, it just absorbs the paint and dries out super easily. Especially with the pan sets opposed to the tubes of paint.

Some more sketches:

This really shows off the vibrancy of the paints.

 You can see a bit of the bleed effect in the tulips where I overlapped the red onto the yellow.

 This really shows off the nature of the paint. I just wet a part of the paper and transferred paint into the patch and then nudged it with the brush.

 Using a slightly dry-brush technique to achieve this textures.

Tip: Using a brush with a flat/square tip can give you these beautiful marks shown above. Simply wet the brush but then only touch the very tip with the paint and drag it in short succession.

 This was actually the very first thing I painted with the watercolours as a test, was a lot of fun!

Mixing the paint with other mediums.

I hope you have learned a little and hopefully been inspired!

~

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Instagram: @mepxymarkers

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Please send us your work or anything that you create! Thanks for watching!

 

Natalie Wyatt

Natalie's Facebook Page

An Artist's Tool - Keep a sketchbook.

As an artist, we sometimes get stuck in a rut, where we feel that we are not growing or just churning out the same art, I would know this as a few weeks ago I felt just that, I felt that my art wasn't getting any better or worse but I was making and drawing the same things over and over, and it made me slump.
The push to make wonderful finished pages has burnt me out a little, and I decided to start embracing a daily sketchbook. To push myself artistically and to challenge my hands to start drawing new things., create new ideas. Instead of trying hard to put together full finished pages, I focused on learning new things!

A sketchbook is a tool, and a very valuable one at that, a sacred place where nothing is judge, pages are plenty. You can create, explore and test your skills daily between the pages of a sketchbook.
Nothing needs to be pristine, finished or perfect, it is a haven for growth.

 Even before this design team, I worked in canson Sketchbooks, I have many, and if I felt that I didn't want a generic one I could buy from the art supply store, I made my own, using various papers, a little bit of everything to satisfy my want for custom made. Every signature a different paper, to keep things interesting.

But when I want to just draw and not worry, I turn to my big sketchbook that is heavy and thick with pages, and I draw and draw each day to progress in my art. I do not judge my work in my sketchbook for it is just practice, and we all know the saying practice makes perfect.

I paste images that inspire me, reference photos of things I want to try and draw later, tutorials letter guides all for the art of practice.

I implore you to buy a sketchbook, or make your own to start your daily drawing practice. Or even if you are a beginner and say you 'can't draw' I insist you buy a sketchbook and just put pencil to paper daily in some way shape or form, for you will see as the days go on that you will improve. Art is a learned skill, anyone can learn it, you just have to have the drive to keep going.

Enjoy your sketchbooks
Courtney