I’ve got a little bonus post to share today….a bloghop with Colorado Craft Company!
They know that I’m a big Anita fan, so little packages of goodies arrive when they’ve got new Jeram stamps…and while I only just got them, I did some super quick coloring with just a few Copic greys and one orange, and a black clored pencil.
I decided to add a little detail to them since I kept the coloring so simple – and added lines to each one with a fountain pen, but you could honestly use any pen you’ve got!
Details about the DOUBLE giveaway is later on in this post!
#short video!
This one’s just a shortie, a quick preview of the stamp sets then the cards that are below. The link to a Short on YouTube is dodgy, so it might not play here….just head over to my channel.
6 ways to add linear elements!
Each card uses a linear element in a different way – and each totally gives the cards a different look. IN this card, it’s the ground – each one has a wonky pair of lines at the edge, and the lines themselves use no ruler – just keep it loose.
A bit more coloring here! And some masking to make the different dressed-up cats look like they’re in front and behind each other. The sky is colored solid black, and I punched a circle from the background and flipped it upside down.
The lines can also be the background – a wall the characters are walking in front of. Also notice – I’m using a really really limited palette – toned Neenah cardstock with just 3 greys and an orange. And a white pen.
There’s one thanksgiving stamp in this collection; I used a pen to add the leaf and pumpkin stem on top.
A tiny strip of lines works well too – leaving a CAS card as the focus but with that sweet hand drawn addition.
And finally a wider strip of lines. Experiment with how much to use on a card! Here I also added “motion lines” around the bat and pumpkin so they’re clearly flying around.
Shop quick before they sell out
CCC has had some releases sell out, so if there’s anything on your must-have list, I’d recommend shopping quick. Visit the CCC siteto pick out your stamp sets – it’s a super cute release!
Colorado Craft Company Bloghop
CCC is doing two giveaways…You have until October 1st at Midnight MST to enter both of these!
a HUGE complete bundle giveaway to ONE lucky winner….to be entered you have to use MY affiliate link to shop! (My link generates a wee bit of income for me but is at no cost to you!)
a give away of one stamp set to a commenter here on my blog!
You might like to go see what everyone else has made with these too – there’s also a big kitty and pumpkin I haven’t had time to make something with yet but stay tuned and I’ll see if I can get something done shortly on social media 🙂 Here’s the blog list:
It’s the end of my June week of snowmen and snow scenes – and I think you might like the fun textures in this one! I’ve got little tips throughout the video – so even if you’re not going to make a picture this big (8-1/2″ x 11″), you’ll find some goodies in here to use in your own projects.
This post is sponsored by Toheto – they emailed and asked if I’d like to try one of their light pads. I almost said no but….in a recent purge of the studio I tossed a bunch of cords I was “sure” no longer belonged to objects here, and…well, my old light pad was rendered useless by that decision! So thank you to Toheto for bailing me out. I like this one better than my previous; you can charge it then use it without a cord getting in your way which is super helpful! It has a few light color settings too. And it’s a nice big size – the finished drawing shown is a letter-sized sheet, so it is a good size!
Crunchy snow textures in colored pencil were at the top of the list.
Using my “vintage” Prismacolor pencils – Beryl, Sanford, and Eagle
That hat and scarf!
The light pad arrived just before I started – and it actually really helped in making masks!
I think I met them!
I’m debating printing my Christmas cards this year – just making some special ones by hand….I’ve never done that before, but if I have the budget to print them, this little guy might just be the ticket!
I switched to a different storage system for my pencils – not just colored pencils but a lot of different drawers full of them! And the bottom three contain my pastels. I do like these because I can lay them on the desk – they aren’t helpful to take to the sofa, but I don’t often do much art that way anyhow. The trees portion of this project was perfect for that because I could just take the blues and a black with me and do a large section.
ICYMI
In case you missed this week’s social posts related to the weekly theme:
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
I know many of you have HEAT in June…at my house my furnace still comes on in the morning! I wish summer would get here, but in the meantime, here’s some wintry inspiration for those who need to cool off a bit!
New class
This came about because of the new Colored Pencil Winter Wonderland class – when I got out my Gamsol I noticed it was below 1/4 full! While that’s plenty for a few drawings, I always panic when things start looking low…and I started looking around at other colored pencil artist sites to see what solvents they like – and picked out a few to try.
And now…the Video
Spoiler alert: Gamsol was not immediately surpassed by any of these in performance, especially not by price.
Sketch out a bunch of snowballs – stacking 2 seemed to be cuter than 3 to me, as well as easier. Color up the blobs with blue – I started with dry blending from powder first, then added the solutions to each snowman.
Make hats and scarves for them! Different styles, materials, textures. Have fun! And don’t forget to use the leftover pigment on the brush to make the fluffy pompoms on hats.
Then add mittens – and give them things to hold! How cute are they with their art supplies?
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
TGIF! What a brutal couple of weeks it’s been eh? I had to find something to help get me through it and often just doodling does me a lot of good; not a ton of thinking to do, and I can still come out with something beautiful as I process thoughts about all the violence happening nowadays.
I stuck with analagous colors so I wouldn’t be fighting neutral mixes. Blending was almost entirely pencil until I got to the end – a few spots needed more contrast, since pencil on Yupo doesn’t get very dark, and a couple marker strokes helped. It was super hard to blend into mediums to get transitions though, so I wouldn’t use much Copic for something like this; I had to fight to fix some chunky marker lines.
This is the before and after…
ICYMI
In case you missed the socials this week, here you go!
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
It’s Earth Day week…so I’ll be playing with things that grow all week long here and on social media! Be sure to follow along for some crazy ideas.
Before we start….there’s a new class and digi stamps!
It’s spring….let’s do some coloring of flowers! I just launched a brand new Realistic Flowers Class — in colored pencil this time (last month was the Copic class with different flowers). If you only need the images and not the class, check out the Flower printables to color! (Should you accidentally buy the images then decide to take the class, just email and I’ll refund the digistamps fee.)
The simplest – two color tulips, two color greens!
The colors:
Wreath #2
I used Polychromos pencils for this one….
Colors used:
Wreath #3
A little more expressive and loose! Colors are listed in the supply list below.
Inspiration collections of flowers
These pages each have dozens of ideas for florals – if you’re in need of inspiration, have at it!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Easter’s a-coming up, and I’ve been in that springy frame of mind lately – so I thought perhaps drawing a funny Easter chickie and his egg could be a lot of fun! And I’m drawing today on a totally unexpected surface (at least to me it’s unexpected!) – SANDPAPER! You can draw this on any paper of course, but see what you have in the garage and try it out.
Both of these use Polychromos Pencils – you can also convert the colors to Prismacolor or other brands:
The first one is drawn on an art paper – UArt Premium Sanded Pastel Paper. It’s a bit pricey for just playing with on cards, but a very nice surface for drawing. It’s a 400 grit paper, and the higher the grit the more detail you can get. (On Friday I’ll be comparing four of these sanded art papers!)
This next one is actual 1000 grit purple sandpaper – you can find some in your garage, quite possibly! In coming months as we get deeper into inflationary times, I am hoping to find more fun art projects you can create with things you already have around, and this is one of them. I’m sure the woodworker in the family won’t mind lending out a sheet of sandpaper to your art studio!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
