Derwent Inktense pencils, I love them!

I'm back and in color! My birthday was last week, I was going to buy this as a gift to myself when I found out my friend ordered it for me, yeah! Derwent Inktense Pencils

I have been fascinated with them for a LONG time, they work like a colored pencil, watercolor pencil and ink all at the same time. You can lay down color then go over it with water like watercolor, then once it's dry, the pigment is permanent like ink.

I played around a bit with them as soon as I got them home, here are the two things I did, both are flowers, you can click the image to view full size:

The yellow flower above, I did that on Pen Sketcher's paper, 11"x8.5", it says it's a heavyweight paper made for pencil, pen and ink & pens, recommended for Prismacolor markers, I will say the paper is smooth, very smooth, but I wouldn't call it heavy, you can't go over something multiple times if the medium is wet otherwise the paper rolls up and buckles. I'll use that paper for strictly ink work, but nothing wet, I would question how well markers would work on this.

The next flower below, a nightshade that resides in my front yard, that was done on Strathmore Mixed Media 300 series paper, 9"x12", vellum surface, now THAT is some paper to use in this method, it IS thick, smooth, takes the colored pencil well and more importantly, it takes the moisture well without buckling or falling apart when you go over it multiple times.

 This is the Derwent Inktense Pencils, I got the 24 pack.

I used a waterbrush to activate the pencil to ink, you can see my waterbrushes 2 pictures above, they are on the left of the computer, one has a blue band and the other has a red band, there is a third in the set. An idea I had and it works is to use a Koi colorless blender brush pen to do some of the fine work, it blends the pencil/ink without causing it to bleed, I was very impressed with how that worked. Hopefully with my new camera, and if I can find my tripod, I'll make an attempt at doing a video

I am quite happy with them, I'll go over to my friend's house tomorrow and we can both play with these pencils, I can't wait to see what we create.

Doodle # 35

I did this doodle while sitting in jury duty, not actually IN jury duty, but waiting with the rest of the potential selectees, it is a monotangle of Paradox, I just started making triangle shapes, then filling them with Paradox, I left one triangle blank. It's funny, now that it's finished, I can't find the original triangle shapes, the tangle Paradox has an interesting way of blurring the original space-shape that is being filled. After drawing it in with ink, I used a graphite pencil to shade it.

I chose this tangle because I didn't have to think too much, I could just do it over and over and still pay attention to what was going on in the room. I ended up being there all day, I made it through the first 2 thinning where they cut people loose, it was at the final selection that I was cut loose, I am glad I didn't have to sit on that jury, I understand it took another 3 days, I wouldn't have minded being on a jury that only lasts a day.

I believe I was the only person who brought anything to jury duty, you couldn't take anything electronic, no cell phones, no tablets, not even a MP3 player, most of the other potential jurors were very antsy with nothing to do, they couldn't even tell what time it was without their electronic gadgets to tell them. I have one more month to be on call for jury duty, it's not a bad thing.

I used a Strathmore Visual Journal with watercolor paper in it, 5.5"X8". I used a Sakura Micron Pen in 01,  Ticonderoga pencil to shade it.

Imaginary Animals #1

I finally dug out my book on Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals by Carla Sonheim, this book is about seeing creatures in ordinary everyday things, like faces in wood-grain, critters in the clouds and such. Today I was sitting at my desk and saw this little thing sitting on the floor, even though it looks like a bug, it's really a piece of dry dead grass with some roots attached, one of the dogs must have brought it in on their fur. In this little piece of grass I could see a flea, a moth, and a bird, the only artist's prerogative I took with it was the size and the colors on it. The shape of it is pretty much as it looks.

I used a journal I just got, a Strathmore Visual Journal with watercolor paper in it, 5.5"X8". I used a Ticonderoga pencil to sketch it, then I used Sakura Koi Coloring Brush Pen and a waterbrush to give it a watercolor look and blend it. I finished it with Sakura Micron Pen in 005. I might add some highlights with a white gel pen, but for now I'm enjoying it as it is.

Got (creative) juice? Need juice?

This is a GREAT way to get your creative juices flowing

direct link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd0pM3ZZV8w

Christmas cards 2013 (Doodle # 17-35)

Alrighty, been super busy but wanted to make some Christmas cards, since leading the zendoodle class a few months ago, and learning that at least one of the ladies in the class were going to be making cards, I felt like I really needed to make these cards... besides, it was so fun! Any excuse to get to doodle, right?

When I started I had no idea how many I would make, it ended up being 19 (plus one that didn't get scanned, I'll explain later), I just sat down several times over a few days and got them done. First I sketched them in pencil, then inked, then some got colored pencil, or colored marker, and/or shading with pencil. I used a gold pen, a silver pen, white pen and silver sharpie marker, on the scans the silver ink comes out looking grey, that's just the nature of the beast.

I did a combination of ZIA and cutesy bears, and one cutesy dog, the dog card went to my neighbor who gave us a rescue dog (Zoe). Turned out that I had almost exactly the number of cards I needed to give to everyone, I still need to make 2 more then I'll be done. The one I didn't scan went to a friend who just lost her husband, I made that card last (of this batch) and didn't have time to scan it.

All the cards with the exception of one are 100% hand done, including the lettering, the only one that I used Photoshop on was the Noel card (on the circles and letters only), I wanted to make the letters look like they were on a spherical surface, after doing the all the hand lettering on the other cards, I know I could have done that as well. All images can be clicked on if you wish to see it larger.

  This is the only dog, and it went to my neighbor up the road who gave us Zoe.

 The lettering was colored with silver Sharpie marker, the bears are shaded with pencil.

 The inside of this card says "A Very Beary Christmas".

 The circles of the balls and the letters were done in Photoshop, all the rest of this card is hand done. I used gold and silver ink on this one.

 I had a good time doing the lettering on this one, when it's first done, it looks so messy, then when I started adding the designs and color, it really came together.

 This one I thought I would be my least favorite, and it turned out to be one of my favorites once I added color.

 I incorporated a ZIA and a realistic leaf design.

 I tried something new by putting in the scrolls, wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but it turned out just fine.

 This was my most intricate design.

 I was running out of ideas, but this still turned out pretty good.

 PB didn't get this one until I colored in the black around the bear. The letters on this are colored with silver Sharpie marker.

 I began adding doves to my designs, I like it.

 I added more doves, I shaded around the doves to make them "pop".

 Some of the letters are done in silver Sharpie marker.

 Silver Sharpie marker...

 I had a good time drawing the bears :)

 Didn't like this one until I added color, then it looked just fine.

 This is the only one I did with colored pencil, it came out OK, it is actually brighter than the scan appears to be.

Another one with silver Sharpie marker.













Altogether, I used:
White cardstock 8.5x11 folded in half
Micron liner pens, black
colored markers
silver Sharpie marker
gold, silver and white ink pen
Ticonderoga pencil

Doodle # 16

Click to enlarge the images.

This is a special doodle, it's a birthday present for a wonderful friend, she is a Halloween baby :) I was her caretaker for several years, her health is better now so she doesn't need me like she did, during the time I was her caretaker, we spent a lot of time together and we got very close, she considers me like her daughter and I consider her like a mother.

I worked on this for a couple of days, maybe 5-6 hours total, I didn't want it to get busy, I like the white space. I also debated about the shading, after deciding to do it, I am happy that I did it, it really sets off the piece.

I used something new and different (to me) to do this picture, I used tracing paper, it's almost like very thin vellum, it takes the ink very well, and it also takes graphite for shading very well. Being so thin and translucent, it does need a backing sheet of white paper in the frame to make the background look white. Even though it's thin and seems delicate, it is sturdy paper and holds up well to the ink, graphite, eraser, blending stump and all the handling it received before finally going into the frame.

I drew my design/line art in Photoshop, printed it off, then using the tracing paper for what it's best for, I traced the image in ink, then I began to add the doodles and details in ink. Once I was satisfied with the inking, I used a graphite pencil and a blending stump to add the shading.

I put this in a plain black frame, it's about 8x10, I did have to trim the tracing paper to fit.

Supplies:
01, 03, 08 Micron pens, black
black Ticonderoga graphite pencil
blending stump
Mead Academie tracing paper - medium weight - 9x12
black frame 8x10

I took it over to her house shortly after finishing it, she loved it!

Doodle # 15

This is my first entry into The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #73, I had quite the good time with this, since the line drawing is already done, it makes it easy to just fill in the spaces, of course I say that now, I'm sure there will be a challenging one in the future :)

Click on image to see full size...

When I first saw this, this screamed for the tangle called Leaflet, that's the ONLY thing I could even consider to put in this layout. I added the flower in the center and the bubbles around the outside. I shaded it with a graphite pencil. I look forward to the next challenge!

I used:

Micron black liner 01, 03

Ticonderoga black graphite pencil

standard white printer paper