Doodle # 9

This was supposed to be for last week's Diva challenge #133, "Tipple love it or hate it", I didn't get it finished in time to officially include it in the challenge, I will add it to the list on the Diva's site for that challenge after the fact... I hope to do this week's challenge, but I don't know if I'll get one done in time either.

 

You can see two examples of TIPPLE in this image, plus
BEADLINES
a variation on
CUBINE
DIVA DANCE
ESCALATOR
FIFE
FRILLEE
HYPNOTIC
KUKE
PRINTEMPS
I included links to the site where I picked the doodles that would go within each section. The pattern in the middle that has the flowers and just below the flowers is my design.

This is my first Diva Challenge, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. :)

This is what it looked like before I shaded it.

 

The shading is what took me so long, I had the original line drawing done in plenty of time, but didn't know if I wanted to shade it or not, I also didn't want to upload it here until I was finished with it... so I scanned the line drawing, cleaned it up a bit digitally and printed out a copy, that's what I decided to shade before working on my original, which remains unshaded. I like the line art copy that I shaded. It took me a few days to get it shaded like I wanted it, I am glad I took my time on this, this is my first "big" doodle and I am quite happy with it. I did print out a second copy, that one I will color, though honestly I'm not as "in" to the colored ones, I really like the B&W shaded ones.

I did use an eraser to clean up some edges, places where I wanted to shade but not go over into another area, I didn't worry about going over, I just shaded, smudged, blended then used the eraser to remove the shading in the area of overlap. I used a white charcoal pencil, something that sounds like an oxymoron, I have noticed it really isn't WHITE, it has a bit of a yellow tinge, you can't tell until you lay it on some white paper, not sure if I will continue using it for this.

I'm pretty happy with it, PB says he likes the line art (without shading) better... oh well, each to their own.

I used a Micron 01 and 005 black liner, a Ticonderoga #2 pencil, some softer pencils and charcoal pencils, I blended with a blending stump and Q-tips, I added just a touch of white charcoal pencil.

Ticonderoga pencil and ProArt charcoal & graphite pencil reviews

I went to town yesterday, going to town for me means a 3 hour drive (one way!), we do have closer towns but to go to one that has any real shopping, it means a day trip.

I went to Hobby Lobby, I love that they are a Christian organization, there is a Michaels in that town, but that store is almost always poorly stocked and very messy, the first time I went there I thought they were about to close the store (for good) in the following days or week... so it's Hobby Lobby for me from now on, sorry Michaels, you had my heart and my money when I lived in Fort Worth, but the town I shop in now, well that store leaves a lot to be desired...

I went straight to the drawing and paper section of the store, as usual. I was looking specifically for some Ticonderoga brand pencils. These came recommended by an artist I watch on YouTube. You can find Mark Crilley's art supply video here, it should start right at the point where he briefly mentioned the Ticonderoga pencil, then he quickly goes on to the (Heavenly chorus) Prismacolor black pencil... ;)
http://youtu.be/xEBzCr_kNns?t=2m10s

I have never been wowed by a regular graphite pencil before, but these are pretty good, they are smooth and lay down a good line of graphite, they blend well too. You should be able to pick up a box of Ticonderoga pencils at any decent art supply store, they are prices inexpensively enough, if you have a Hobby Lobby nearby, you can sign up for their email newsletter and they will send you a 40% off coupon each month.
http://www.hobbylobby.com/email_subscriptions/subscribe.cfm

The other thing I purchased there was a 10 piece pencil set by Pro Art. These have 7 graphite pencils from 2H to 6B in hardness, it also contains 3 charcoal pencils in 2B, 4B and 6B (hardness).  I played with all of my pencils today, I used to do pencil and charcoal drawings, in the charcoal I used the different hardness' of charcoal in stick form and in vine form, but I've never played with graphite pencils in the different hardness', I had a lot of fun today, sketching, doodling, and shading some of my tangles (see my previous article below with a review on a shading Zentangle book).

The one in the middle is the one I purchased at Hobby Lobby, after seeing the prices on Amazon, I wish I had seen the first one in the line up! Oh well, I did have a 40% off coupon so I didn't pay too much at HL...




Well, this is my review of pencils today, hope you enjoyed it and let me know if you plan on using any of these pencils for shading...