Magical Rainforest Class: A peek into one lesson with a dinosaur!

Magical Rainforest Class: A peek into one lesson with a dinosaur!

Is a dinosaur magic? And do they live in the rainforest? Frankly both could be true, but I’m going to guess not. I’ve mashed together a bunch of things that have been going on in my head and in my news feed – and turned it into some really fun art you can learn to make with your alcohol markers in the new Magical Rainforest Class!

Let’s deal with the rainforest first; Have you seen the news stories about the children who were lost in the rainforest for 40 days? Oh my, what a story of tragedy – and ending in the blessed survival of the children! READ THE STORY

And then there’s another story about the Brontosaurus being restored to its rightful place after being displaced for 100 years (ineffectively!) by the Apatosaurus. It’s a rather long crazy story I tell in the video but you can read more in an article here. I decided the Apatosaurus would win the battle for who gets into my drawing.

Tutorial: Dinosaur in magical rainforest

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Scene first?

Typically I don’t color a scene first – I start with the featured image. But in this case, the scene is the bonus lesson in the new Magical Rainforest class, and the dino was just for YT – and thus, it’s scene first.

Dino sketch

The sketch for the dinosaur is also included in the bonus lesson, in case you decide to try this kind of a scene!

Colors

In class I use Copics, but you can also adapt to other brands. Note that Olo doesn’t have the pale colors that the other two do, but…..Olo users are likely used to finding adaptations 🙂

Magical Rainforest Class

This is a level 4 class – and a little of the backstory is that I wanted to have a Level 4 alcohol marker class that wasn’t as pricey as the Enchantment series or other advanced classes. Magical Rainforest Class is a good chance to see if you’re at that level without having to break the art bank to pay for a big class! So it has fewer lessons in it to keep the price manageable.

A little reminder: use code SUPERPOWER to get 10% off throughout June on all adult classes!

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Drawing of Emmanuel Todd Lopez!

Drawing of Emmanuel Todd Lopez!

Whether or not you know yet about Emmanuel the emu….this might be a fun little thing to watch! He’s a social media star – and I included a little clip of one time when he was being good and not knocking over the camera. LOL

Tutorial: Emmanuel Todd Lopez

Emmanuel is getting over a bout of bird flu that took out all the rest of his bird friends on the farm! He’d been unable to walk for a while, but he’s back to tearing around the farmyard again, fortunately.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Update

I was hoping the new Drawing on Nature classes ready today but….alas, the week got ahead of me. Finding 7 hours to do voiceovers (and more hours because I often do them 2-3 times) just didn’t happen with jury duty and the rest of life. I’m hoping this weekend is going to be SUPER productive though. I’m determined to get this movin’!

Are you following Knucklebump Farms?

Go check them out on Instagram! 

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Alternate paper for Copics? (Bear cub drawing)

Alternate paper for Copics? (Bear cub drawing)

I made a little discovery of an alternate paper for Copics than the Neenah and marker papers that I’ve used for decades….and it’s a paper that really shouldn’t, by all rights, be for alcohol markers! It’s my favorite pencil drawing paper, and I was surprised that my little idea worked!

I’ve wanted to use pencils on top of alcohol marker, but hadn’t done so in ages because, well, marker papers and neenah don’t ‘feel’ as nice as Stonehenge drawing paper. So I had the idea to see if I could bring the markers to the pencil paper rather than the pencils to the marker paper.

Caveat:

I do realise that some artists won’t like the more pencil-ly look; totally fine! I’ve always resisted the tendency toward an almost digitally-perfect blend. I love to see the hand of the artist shown in their work. With the advent of that “perfection” in AI, I relish it all the more.

Tutorial: Alternate paper for Copics? Bear cub drawing

This won’t be a solution for everything, by any means; and switching to this paper for ALL your alcohol marker work might get cost prohibitive. But for fur? For fur it’s pretty amazing!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

A few more tips

A few things I learned along the way:

  • if your markers are dry, they’ll feel a little dryer on this paper. The soft surface has a little drag naturally, and a dry marker responds. But it’s nothing that more layers can’t fix.
  • Colors are not as cartoony-bright as on some other papers like marker paper or Neenah. But since I love making things look realistic, the slight dulling down is perfect for me. IF you like brighter, just step up the saturation in your color choices.
  • Alcohol can serve as a light blending solution – so how about a Copic? BINGO. You do have to clean off marker nibs on scratch paper, and it can stain them but it won’t have a permanent effect other than nib discoloring.
  • The technique I use with a lot of textures is washing over the area with a glaze of color to soften it and pull it together–and it works even BETTER on Stonehenge than Neenah! 

Perfect for fur

I enjoyed a couple drawings SO much so that I started immediately prepping a class series that a lot of students have asked me for, because this paper, marker, and pencil combo are perrrrrfect for it: ANIMALS! This lil bear will be a lesson in the “big” class (read on.)

Drawing on Nature

I’m calling it the “Drawing on Nature” series of classes; don’t worry, I’m not headed exclusively in this direction, but I’ve been needing to find a way to create more advanced courses without pricing myself compeltely out of the market! I’m so used to making 5-10 lessons out of a topic that I couldn’t figure out what to do when each lesson triples in length from what I normally do!

So instead, classes will be for invididual drawings, not a huge set. Choose your adventure!

I’m hoping to have everything ready in maybe a week or so – join the art-classes email list if you haven’t already, I’ll be shouting from the rooftops as soon as it’s all ready to roll! 

There will be discounts if you sign up for a few of the single classes at a time, so be sure to read to get the coupon code you’ll need; I can’t figure out how to automate it, since the plugin I bought for bulk purchase discounts won’t work on classes, so coupon code it is.

There’ll also be a get-em-all class with each of the 10 drawings in it PLUS the narrated bear drawing. The bear’s the only one with much of a scene – that log was way too much fun to play with! And he won’t be a separate class, he’ll be in the big class only.

On jury duty

I’m starting jury duty today – and I’m one of those weirdos who relishes the chance to perform civic duty! I’d be altogether too happy to serve my community if they choose me. I was on a case a few decades ago and it was a fascinating process – and gave me so much confidence in our judicial system. Crossing my fingers I get selected. 🙂

I may or may not have some creativity for you the rest of the week depending on that –  but as Arnold says…. I’ll be back!

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Art lessons from drawing Hermey the Elf

Art lessons from drawing Hermey the Elf

Hey it’s HERMEY! If you’re a fan of the Rankin/Bass productions of holiday tv shows like I am, Hermey will be familiar to you. If not – go watch Rudolph!

There are three reasons I chose this subject today:

  1. Jules Bass just passed away in October….so I thought a tribute to thank him for years of holiday cheer would be appropriate.
  2. A stop-motion image has simpler shapes and shadows for those who struggle with “seeing” shadows and highlights. These are well lit even if from a couple angles.
  3. I resonate with Hermey’s desire to be a dentist! Sometimes other people want us to do things that benefit them, like Hermey’s boss the grumpy elf.  I get that a lot – folks who want to tell me what medium or project they think I should do more of.

Tutorial: Art lessons from drawing Hermey the Elf

This video is speedy – but I hope that helps you see the changes happen faster. Sometimes if I work on the same area for 10 minutes it’s hard to notice changes in real time.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Benefits of simpler images

A simpler figure like Hermey has a deliberately round head – it has some variations, for instance the eyes are inset a little, the nose protrudes…but it’s not like looking at a human figure with softly gradated cheek bones, or an animal with fur on a curved plane.

Beware that you’re not always replicating someone ELSE’s shading. Even mine. You’re getting one step removed from the original…it’s like a photocopy of a photocopy, and it loses something in the translation.

So if you’re looking for a reference so you can color a bird stamp – find a photo of a bird to work from, not someone’s coloring of a bird.

Layer, layer, layer

Don’t be afraid to add a lot of layers to slowly change the color. If working on tiny images that requires more rest time in between layers at times, because if the paper gets completely saturated you’ll find it bleeding. But the smaller you make each color shift – like in the hair where I added purples after the yellows, then more yellows – the easier it’ll be to get to where you’re headed without overdoing it too fast.

Need this drawing?

It’ll be for sale over on my fine art site on Friday – along with a bunch of ornaments and other fun things created just for Black Friday. Hope you find something you like!

No sabbatical this year, but….

The last few years I’ve taken a YT sabbatical in December. It was from the exhaustion of the runup to the holidays, keeping up with new releases, and throwing videos out as fast as I could! 

Now that I’m off the affiliate train (I still post affiliate links, it’s just no longer a focus since I lost so many thousands of dollars in payments due)…….I don’t feel nearly the exhaustion!

However – December is a low month in general for viewing YouTube videos, that’s always been the case. Instead of working hard on tutorials, I may create more pieces like today’s, as well as some DIY decorations, or other fun things. I may put out more Shorts instead. I’m not really sure but I’ll give myself permission to spend December playing. And that will hopefully help in not having to totally start the engines up all over again in January!

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  • Main product
  • Medium
  • Paper
  • Other
  • Brushes

 

From Value Study to finished drawing

From Value Study to finished drawing

A bit ago I said I was going to do more studies before finished works….this time I did it! Do I get applause? hahaha! Sometimes we just need to take a bow in our own studio so I’m doin’ it!

The study here was done on toned paper – sometimes it’s easier to add highlights and shadows rather than trying to create so many midtones! Conté crayons are messy but they make me work quick and easy rather than laboring. I didnt even stress much about any blending, just blocking in shapes and tones. Once I finished this I had a much better idea where this piece was headed.

Video

Can you guess from this picture what my favorite little vignette part of the drawing is? Scroll down to look at the finished art before you click to watch and see if you found my little treasure. Watch the video below or click here to see it on YouTube.

The finished piece was a lot of fun! About three days taking up space in the studio – but worth it, methinks. My favorite spot is that window peeking through the archway. I was surprised I actually pulled that off.

That taxi gave me fits. It’s a little rounded and pudgy now, but at least it seems like it might be a car. Ha!

Original drawing for sale

That’s right here if you need it hanging on your wall.

ICYMI

In case you missed this week’s social media tips with silhouettes….Click on the linked text in the captions. The bunny stamp is here, and Lamp black and Lunar black are compared in the telephone pole video.

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Copic Cherry Blossom Branch (part 2)

Copic Cherry Blossom Branch (part 2)

We’re at the end of cherry blossom week – and during this speed Copic drawing I’ll talk through some of the things I learned about color, about masking, about my less-than-perfect airbrushing…..and much more!

NOTE: the date got moved for cherry blossom week so I know the original art won’t make it in time for Mother’s Day *unless* you’re local – in which case I’ll drive it over! 🙂

Video

Watch below or click here to see it on YouTube.

As you see by the ginormous pile of markers I used almost all the pinks and purples! It was sure one way to learn the colors more and see which ones shifted the color to the warmer or cooler temperature.

Hopefully the rest of our neighborhood cherry trees will stay vertical for years to come – that street cornr is one we walk along regularly, and each time I see the hole in the ground I feel bad for that poor tree!

Classes on sale

The classes on sale for the month of May are all the florals, check them out here!

ICYMI

Below are all the cherry blossom posts you may have missed this week on social media!

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