#8MinuteDraw - My Jouney and Tips

Hey everyone! Miss me?...Probably not but look at me and my bad self I finally found motivation to talk about something. A Challenge! A Challenge posed to us by Jake Parker, a well known Illustrator, Animator, and Artist. He's the creator of #InkTober which is a totally different subject in and of itself....So yeah back on topic!

#8MinuteDraw

Today I tried out the #8MinuteDraw, where you take 8 minutes to draw the same picture 6 times. You draw the first for 4 minutes, second for 2 minutes, third for 1 minute, fourth for 30 seconds, fifth for 15 seconds and finally the last time for 5 seconds. And Yes this is a challenge if you do not have all your art tools handy, and I being blonde kept forgetting to get my knead-able eraser.... Here's my journey that I took today!


I generally stuck with things I knew so I would be able to feel out the "project" and see how much I liked it. So the first idea that was stuck in my head was a mushroom and a butterfly. In general 4 minutes was actually quite giving  since the drawing was so small I wasn't sure of what to do to make it more detailed without making it look like a black blob. - Materials used :  Mechanical Pencil, 08 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, Sketch paper/book.


After this, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had fun. Which is saying something since I don't like pressure, and timed pressure is even worse. The pen I chose however was a bad idea, I ended up using the 08 twice once for this and the other time for the next one; Another bad idea was to not get my knead-able eraser for a while...I didn't get it until I did this challenge about 4 or 5 times...something like that I don't know at  the moment.  - Tip #1: If you are going to do this, make sure you have all of your tools handy now or else this isn't happening with any ease at all. Drawing a picture in 5 seconds is hard enough, please have your tools.  -  Another thing to note is by the time you get to the one minute image you can forget sketching, you are going in there with the pen outright (unless you only use pencil then pfff to the pen).


After my mushroom, I decided to draw a face, so I went with an elf face...why? No idea but it was awesome!!!! LoL! ....Anyway, in drawing the face I did the dumb thing of no guild-lines to start, which for some people that's fine, for me...it's not. But I think it was alright...I guess...the second one I like better and that one I had less time for. - Materials used :  Mechanical Pencil, 08 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, Sketch paper/book.

After this, I learned my lesson with the 08 pen. For me it was too thick for fast lines and adding details. So I switched to an 05 which is smaller, it was better but in the end was too thick as well, but I did 2 rounds of the challenge with it.

So now, I'm thinking I was to do something else I'm generally good at...So I picked a sunflower...Which for some reason wasn't going smooth for me but in the end I think was alright..I suppose anyway. Lol!! By the time 5 seconds came I forgot what I was drawing so that's why it looks like road kill.... -
Materials used :  Mechanical Pencil, 05 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, Sketch paper/book.



 Next up, I thought about drawing a cup of tea so that's just what I did! I wasn't sure of the design so this one took a bit of sculpting with the pencil until I came up with something I liked. A lot of the inking was freestylin' since I didn't know what I was doing. But I think this one is one of my favorites. Around this time as the time passed for each I started to inspect, see and think "Which one of these details can I eliminate to make the general idea", from looking at the image you can see that the pattern on the cup is what changed the most drastically in the overall aspect of things (though the shape did too that was due to lack of time and a sketch more than intentional). - Materials used :  Mechanical Pencil, 05 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, Sketch paper/book.

By this time I was realizing a new problem, my pens are too small for big black areas so I kept in my hat that I needed a thicker black pen for some areas. - Tip #2: Keep 2 pens ready and uncapped for this challenge, so if you want to ad line weight or contrast you'll be ready for the task. (just remember to re-cap when you are done else they will dry out)



 For this one, all I really have to say is the inspiration for this is a pillow I have that has teddy-bears on it.
I also started using the 03 pen for my drawings so I could add more details.

Materials used :  Mechanical Pencil, 03 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, Sketch paper/book.


 This one I actually had to find something to do, 4 minutes was generous in this case. I ended up adding pointless details like the butterfly and ladybug. It was interesting to see how long I could keep those little details without wasting time. In the end 15 and 5 second(s) I ditched the bugs I could hardly get the rose or vase never-mind other details. Another thing to note is I sketched in the sketch for the 2minute point so I could just color it in as I inked the vase to save time and to make it as close to the original as I could.
Materials used :  Mechanical Pencil, 03 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, Sketch paper/book.

These next two I used an 06 Sakura Pigma Sensi pen for the thick lines and an 03 Prismacolor for other lines. I picked out an eye for the first one since I generally do eyes half okay even without a sketch and I wanted to see what I do with it. And for the mouth/nose I originally just wanted to draw lips but I got that done so fast I added a nose, I find it interesting to see how an after thought ended up making it to every version to follow. By the last 3 drawings for each round I just used the 03 so I could get as much done as possible without delay. I also found it interesting that you can see how my foundation in the manga style comes out in the eye when trying to simplify and speed up the process   - Materials used :  Normal #2 HB Pencil, 03 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, 06 Sakura Pigma Sensi, Sketch paper/book.



For the eyes and mouth/nose and all the drawings to follow my sketch was not with the mechanical pencil but with a normal #2 HB pencil, I found the mechanicl pencil was too dark to draw with. Tip #3: If a tool is fighting you or is making another aspect of your artwork too hard to complete then try and find a more effective replacement ASAP. Don't do what I did and keep fighting it hoping it will magically work out. Chances are, it won't.

At this point I was running out of ideas looking around where I was trying to find something to be inspired by so I ended up drawing my pitiful little flip-phone. And this time I switched back and forth with the 06 and 03  even in the 1 minute square, upping the challenge a bit. I was trying to eliminate things to go faster but there wasn't much to eliminate so I ended up not doing the solid black area in black since that was the most time consuming. I wasn't overly happy with this one but eh C'est la vie. - Materials used :  Normal #2 HB Pencil, 03 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, 06 Sakura Pigma Sensi, Sketch paper/book.

 Again I say I was running out of ideas so this was a basically just lets draw a bow and see what happens. For this one I switched as much I could between the 03 and 06 all the way until the end as much as was possible.  I like it, I think the very last one is kinda cute.... - Materials used :  Normal #2 HB Pencil, 03 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, 06 Sakura Pigma Sensi, Sketch paper/book.



I figured since I've gotten some practice doing this 8 minute challenge maybe I should try a face again, so this time I did a male elf face. I kinda was lost doing that since I had no idea what details to add to a face that small. But in the end I think I have improved even after doing just this challenge because the time before I didn't get a face on the head for the 5 second slot, this time I got the hair, face and head...they're ugly but I got it on the page. I suppose that means I improved. I also find it interesting that as with the eye before, when rushing I went back to a very manga look to make things faster.  - Materials used :  Normal #2 HB Pencil, 03 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, 06 Sakura Pigma Sensi, Sketch paper/book.
  

And finally this one. I needed a final idea...I ended up seeing a thumb tack that's on the wall (there is a reason it's there! Lol) and I figured eh idk what else to draw but lets start with a thumb tack. That went somewhat fast so I added an eraser, paperclip and a staple. I ended up adding every element in the 5 second drawing...though you can't really tell what anything is there is a representation of each thing. I also attempted to switch between pens as much as possible. - Materials used :  Normal #2 HB Pencil, 03 Prismacolor Fine Line Marker, 06 Sakura Pigma Sensi, Sketch paper/book.
 

So in the end I really reccomend doing this, it's only 8 minutes and it's actually fun!



If you want to try this out Jake Parker made a timer which can be found here.
And if you want towatch his video about it click here.


Enjoy and thanks for reading.


~ God Bless ~


~ Firefly

Inking Tips: Solid Vs Loose Lines

In this post we're going to talk a little about inking. I've spent a little more time with pens and ink so in my tests and drawings I've learned a few things that I'd like to share. I will sperate this in to two sections: Solid vs Loose Lines and Texture/Shading. This isn't extensive but I hope it's helpful in the long run!

Note: When I say inking, I mean art pens, not a brush or fountain pens, though these things might apply to those as well. I am talking about art pens like Prismacolor pens or Sakura Micron (or pigma) pens (or other pens like them, there are other brands as well).

So, without any further ado, lets begin!

Solid Vs Loose Lines: 

I've learned in recent months and really over the year that just because something is outlined that doesn't mean that the lines themselves have to be totally hard in nature. For example, if I drew a cartoon cat face I could ink with hard lines and you can tell he's fuzzy, or I could ink with looser more fluid lines not following the exact curvature of the face and he could almost appear to feel furry. He's still a cartoon but he's got more detail.

Neither one is better than the other but they are different. However if you like to color with a looser medium like watercolor, or a more detail oriented medium like colored pencils (pencil crayons in some countries) then maybe the looser style is more fitting. Of course it depends on the subject matter.

In the drawing below the inking on the character is loose and the inking on the poppy flower is solid. Knowing when to combined styles is key to making a picture coherent and not just a rambled mess.  Another thing to notice in this drawing is that there are different line thicknesses. The pattern on the dress has thing lines the fur on the character is thicker as well as the outline of the flower itself. It's all about finding what looks good.

Combining styles, knowing when, and creating something nice comes with practice and also some knowlage of yourself. Your style might be different than mine, so as I say these things it's not THE WAY it's just how I see things, take what's useful and ignore what's not....Anyways, moving on!

Texture and Shading:

There are many ways to add texture and shading while using pen, it can be VERY time consuming but it is well worth the effort.

 Within the styles there are many things you can do, a few are:  Hatching, cross-hatching, circles, scribbles, lines, and dots. Each of these have their place and are great for texture and shading, as well as fun patterns if you like artwork that isn't a subject oriented but an abstract style.

As a few examples I drew grapes, a tulip and an eye to show some of the things you can do with ink.

Grapes:

With the grapes I added a lot of black areas, these show contrast, three-dimensionality , and also some shading. I also did cross hatching on the grapes and the leafy part as well as scribbles on the grapes that would be more shaded. The section that says highlights refers  to those little parts I "roped off" that show where light would be hitting the subject.

Tulip:

For the tulip, I also did some contrast with the highlights and cross-hatching, but I also added some lines along the edge of the flower following the curvature, it's a more subtle looking approach to shading lovely for "softer" shadows.  I also added cross hatching in the more shaded areas.

Eye:

The eye shows fluidity with the eye-lashes, making fast but calculated strokes can make your artwork look much more "alive". I also used lines to the hair of the eyebrows, also using fast movement to make the hair look more fluid and textured. Highlights as  well on the white of the eye (since it's really off white and moist you would have a highlight sometimes) and the iris itself.

Another thing you can do with ink is make areas black (or dark if you're using a colored pen) then go over it in white. In this picture I colored the edge of the butterfly-wings black then went over them with a white pen. - You will also notice that I used different pen sizes as well as did lots of contrast black. Also if you look at the picture you'll see I added dots which add texture and a pattern to the butterfly.

In this drawing you can see I used hatching to texture the sash, circles in the paisleys and scribbles to show the shadow of the neck. There's also some contrast shading too.

Overall these are some things I've learned and I hope they help you as well!
Thank you for reading and God bless.


~ Firefly

The Usefulness of Sketchbooks

Sketchbooks, something that I've always wanted but I never had the money to have. Whatever supplies I have (which is a fair amount) they're either old or other people bought them for me or just gave them to me. But recently I was able to buy a sketchbook and wow! I love it, it's like my friend and I hope I can have another one when I finish filling this one up with my practices and ideas and stuffs. In this blog I'd like to talk about some uses for sketchbooks.


First to say what kind of sketchbook I have, which is a Strathmore sketch book, the paper is 50lb (74 g/m²) and 9in x 12in (22.9cm x 30.5cm), it contains 100 sheets. It's good for pastels (the kind I have) ink if you don't press hard on the paper or layer it too much, and colored pencil, as well as normal pencils...okay on to “how to use” a sketchbook, or better some of the uses of one.

1: Freedom

The thing about a sketchbook is that you don't have to finish anything, it doesn't have to be good drawings, you don't even have to draw if you don't want to. It's like a diary of sorts you put your emotions and ideas in to it and make beautiful things without needing the judgement of “but it's not finished” or “it looks terrible!”. You don't need to do any of that, it's just fun!

2: Practice

Pastel and colored pencil practices

I don't know about you, but for me as stated in the opening, I don't have money to buy paper all the time so if I buy good paper I don't want to “waste it” by not finishing drawings; But with this sketching book I can doodle and plan out drawings with ease, no “guilt”, no feeling bad, that's its purpose, to be used for the less of par to make the good drawings great with better planing. And following tutorials, making terrible drawings in the process doesn't feel like I wasted anything. I can feel the accomplishment of finishing a tutorial without being like 'goodness me this looks terrible I wasted a page for nothing!” Also you can practice new mediums which is daunting if you're using good paper but in a sketchbook you can just have fun!

3: Pre-planing

I used this to draft my points system in a game I'm working on.

If you have a sketchbook you can pre-plan your drawings, doodle, work out kinks and bugs. It's a good tool for composition and story-boarding also. As well as writing notes, doing ideas for things like books and games. I personally use my sketchbook to plan out games, writing code that I think up or drag and drop options, as well as splash-screen design and menus. And many other things. Even if you don't stick to the original idea you can still use the pre-planing to help you do your final result on your project.

4: Doodling

This is a doodle.

I know that sounds like a childish thing to do, but doodling can actually teach you a lot. I've learned a lot about pastels by doodling with them, drawing without a sketch and just going alone made some nice results. I've also done things with just a pen, doodling that way is quite lovely and fun. You come up with ideas that way too!

This is a doodle too.

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Now that you've heard some good things about sketchbooks I'm going to talk about a few random things in closing.

Types of sketchbooks:
There are countless types of sketchbooks, some are in flimsy paper like the one I use, some that are almost like watercolor paper and everything in between. The size as well ranges from pocket sized to coffee table sized. You are not limited in any way to be free in what you want to do. You just have to be able to buy it, and for most that isn't a problem.


When to use one:
I  encourage those who are really in to committing to sketching as a good way to learn, to bring a book with you everywhere you go that it's permitted. Got a doctor's appointment? Doodle in the waiting room, it'll relax you. Have a late flight? Sketch a bit so you don't slap the people at that desk that can't help the plane is late but we still blame anyway.....But really putting snarky humor aside I really do think that taking a sketchbook with you can be wonderful! I took a drawing book with me when I was on my 15 minute break, so I could work on a picture a bit. If you can take one with you, do it! And don't feel bad if you don't get to use it every waking moment, it's supposed to be fun not a whip to the back.
_________




I hope this was helpful to somebody!




Blessings and Health to all you know and love!




~ Firefly

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Would You Like To See My Drawings? Click here.

Have A Question?

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Sketching and Inking Process - Scarecrow Wreath

This is a sketch/inking process for a drawing I'm working on. I'm yet to color it but at least you can see the process.

     Enjoy!

Sketch:

First, I block everything in. The wreath outline and the base for the body, including the head. I also put basic facial guidelines.

Now I add details likes hair and clothes on the scarecrow, and guidelines to other things like the cone flowers in the background and a soon to be sunflower along with a leaf (which I later get rid of).

After a while, I've added more details, fleshed out the face and drawn other things like the acorn and pine cone branch where the leaf was. And put leaves on the other side.

After I drew out everything, I lightened some lines and went over the whole drawing with a mechanical pencil. In so doing I also added a tree/wood pattern to the wreath.

Inking:

First, I used a fine-point sharpie that was older so the ink flow was thinner than if it was new.
I started on the clothes and hair, along with the hay-based hands.

Next, I inked more hair and added the bows, along with the face using a new fine-point sharpie which makes a bigger ink-flow. I inked the outer edge of the wreath with a 1.0 Sakura Micron pen.

I also inked the outside of the edge of the pine-cones with the sharpie then I inked the inside using a 005 Sakura Pigma pen.

After I inked the cone flowers with the new sharpie but the inner-part was inked with the 005 point pen. I also inked the sunflower but I forgot to take a picture.  After all that was done I added the wood with the 005 point pen.

In the end, I added some thicker lines and I erased.

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friend; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, Friends, And All Who Know You. ~ Amen

~ Firefly

Useful Links:

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Would You Like To See My Drawings? Click here.

Have A Question?

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Tip of the Week: Add Fluidity

Adding Fluidity

Stiff -vs- "Fluid (Curved)

A drawing needs fluidity, balance, and some freedom. Even in hyper realism there is much fluidity.
If you are drawing a face or a body, you have contours of the muscles and fat of a body...

...Or if you draw an animal, the fur doesn't simply stick out, it flows and follows the shape of the animal.

Animal Fur (cat ear)

 Plants don't grow stiffly up in most cases, they have weight, bends and flows, they move and twist in the wind and though it might sound weird they actually do breath...I suppose what I'm trying to say it that living things aren't stiff, they move, they bend, and the show presence, if you want a good drawing you need to present that in some way.

See how the vine flows?

Same thing with textures like fabric, even sitting there it has depth when something moves past it it flows, when the wind touches it there is a light-weight feeling to it. Take this drawing for example:

One thing to avoid, though, when trying to make things interesting is to not make things seem “plastic”, if you have something at on angle, having a smaller similar object going at the same direction can make it unbalanced like you are trying too hard.




I hope this was helpful!

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friend; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, Friends, And All Who Know You. ~ Amen

~ Firefly

Useful Links:

Would You Like To Read More Blog Posts Similar To This One? Take A Look At The Official Blog Archive.
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{ Game Release } Flufffertini's Pizza Constructor

This has been my secret project for the past week or so! Took a lot of work and brain-draining but I finally got it! This is my first Drag and Drop game ever! Comments are welcomed.

Also note that I am a windows user and don't know how this will work in non-windows OS systems.

_____

 Introducing....

Download

Note:
Due to my host being a private domain (borrowed space) you might get a notice saying this is a virus. This is because the server isn't a "known" source to downloads therefore considered unsafe. I have this screenshot showing I scanned it saying it's safe!

 

© 1/2015 - All Rights Reserved, The Factoid Firefly [Game]

© All Rights Reserved, Jason Shaw, Audionautix [Music]

Programs Used:

• GIMP – Graphics
• Goldwave – Conversion of Music to a .wav file.
• Sony Acid – Sounds
• Gamemaker – Game Construction; Image Editing
• Calculator – Coordinates

Creator's Notes:

Features:

• Drag and Drop Capability
• 3 Bases to Choose From
• 21 Topping Selection + Index
• Delete-able Toppings Once Put On The Pizza Base.
• Easy to Navigate Menus

Annoyances/Bugs:

• Sometimes if you move the mouse as you are releasing the left mouse-button (dropping an object) the object does not fall but still follows the mouse. This can be remedied by clicking again. - This is more likely if you are using a touch-pad but it also happens with a normal mouse.

• Not often, but sometimes a topping starts glowing after you drop it. This has only happened a few times while I was developing so it shouldn't cause you any trouble and it's not harmful you can just delete the dropped topping using right click.

• If an object is too close to another (that has been dropped) and you go to move them again, they might overlap. Once overlapped you cannot pull them apart because though the image looks like a certain shape it's really on a square that is almost identical in size for a background; Because of this, if you click on one object it sees both as one. Just delete them and start over if you don't like how it looks. - This principle applies also to deleting.

• Though images look on top of each-other when you are dragging and object they will always go on top. I don't think there is a way to prevent this.

• For some reason the images look under the dropped images but when dropped it goes on top.

_____

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friend; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, Friends, And All Who Know You. ~ Amen

~ Firefly

Useful Links:

Would You Like To See More Of My Drawings? Click here.
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Drawing Demo #3 - Eye

This is drawing demo #3!

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friends, The Health Of Yourself, Family, And All Those Who Know You. ~ Amen


~ Firefly

Useful Links:

Want so see more of my art? Visit the Official Factoid Firefly Art Archive Here.
All My Factoids Can Be Found At the Official Blog Archive Here.

Have A Question?
Ask The Firefly!

Drawing Demo #2 - Rose

Here is Demo #2! This time is is a rose and it's a different style than the mushroom.

I had to make it a little faster so it might be harder to follow, but that was greatly due to my limited photobucket space and I think it would take less room to have one 6 minute video instead of two 4 minute videos; Hopefully you can still follow along if you so desire. This time it will be three parts:

1. Drawing
2. Outlining
3. Coloring

 

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friends, The Health Of Yourself, Family, And All Those Who Know You. ~ Amen


~ Firefly

Useful Links:

Want so see more of my art? Visit the Official Factoid Firefly Art Archive Here.
All My Factoids Can Be Found At the Official Blog Archive Here.

Have A Question?
Ask The Firefly!

My Process For Inking -

My Process For Inking -

I've been questioned on "how do I create ink-drawings?"; Well, this is how in a nutshell!

I've done a much more detailed post on this, that can be found here.

First I sketch me out a drawing:

When sketching I start with a normal #2 pencil for the lines that show off the form then making the initial lines; Then I switch over to a mechanical pencil to tighten up lines so I see for sure what I want. - When I sketch I do actually sketch out the hatching and cross hatching but it's just as a guide I'll stray a little bit but I do follow it a lot as well. I'll also sketch out shapes for shading just so I know where to go. (More on sketching with 2 pencils here.)

Inking:
Before the actual inking I use my kneadable eraser to ghost out lines (for more information on that click here) then I actually take out my pens. - And speaking of which, I start with a smaller sized pen tip and go thicker as I go along; For pen brand(s) I normally use Sakura Microns or Prismacolor pens, sometimes I use something else like a sharpie or something but not always. (Reviews for pens here)

I ink the main lines first then move on to the details like hatching or patterns, it takes a while but it's easy to make a mistake and you can't really fix it; Correction fluid isn't really ideal although you could use a white pen but it's not a perfect correcting agent.

Once inked I erase my pencil lines, depending on paper and eraser I might have to go over lines to darken them again; Often when erasing the lines become dulled.

Tips:

• If at all possible, ink at a table or at least use a clipboard, the harder the surface the smoother your lines look.
• Don't press hard on a pen, you could: bend the tip, force too much ink out, or cause not enough to come out causing your ink to look sketchy.
• Keep a paper behind your picture when inking (if you are using a sketch book), this is so if ink bleeds it won't go on the next page.
• When you want to add shading and you already added hatching, make lines got the opposite direction of the lines you've already set, this will make a criss-cross effect that will make it appear darker.

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I hope this was helpful to those who asked!

May God Heal and Bless all You Know and Love. ~ Amen ~

~ Firefly

Paper, Canvas, and Artist Boards – Which is best to paint on?

Paper, Canvas, and Artist Boards – Which is best to paint on?

As some of you may know I like to use watercolors, and being this media is wetter than markers and also requires lots of layering and repetitive moistening it's a legitimate question to ask what's the best media to paint on? Well I'm going to tell you a few options you have to pick from and you can decide for yourself what you want to try.


Note: I don't have a brand preference for any of the about to be spoken of “medias”, mainly because I haven't bought any of the things only 1 pad of watercolor paper, everything else was given to me so I never experimented with brands so this is just going to be a generalization of overall experience with different things and also none-experiential knowledge.

Paper:

Paper is going to be the most picky thing out of the 3 subjects I'm going to cover, mainly because unlike canvas it's not fabric and unlike illustration boards it's not as thick; So not being fabric or necessarily thick it tends to bubble up or if too wet flake apart a bit.


There are 3 different papers I'm going to talk about, two I've used, one I have not, but I still think it's worth looking in to.

1; Printer Paper:

Printer paper is the most common paper in households so it's no wonder our first experimentations would be on it, it's already there and we don't want to “waste” the “good stuff” on inexperience.

Image Source

I'll say this, it's okay but not really that good, what I mean by that is, it bubbles up very very quick and I wouldn't use it for a serious art work, maybe for testing stuff out and things like that but nothing that's meant to be “good”. If you still want to try it out, use less water...A Lot Less Water.

2; Watercolor Paper:

Image Source

Watercolor paper is made for watercolor but still you need to decide how much you want to spend, there is 80 lbs press that's very weak but it's cheaper, 140 which is stronger but still bubbles up a bit (that's what I use) it's reasonably priced and it's not just limited to art stores I have an 11X15 pad from Big Lots ( Department Store in the United States), then there is 300 which is much stronger (I've seen this one recommended for it's endurance to water and wet on wet technique) but might cost a bit more.

Mixed Media Painting By Me on Watercolor-Paper

Watercolor paper is generally textured but for watercolor that's good, it adds character to the image and the little dents hold small pockets of paint. Watercolor Paper also, if you buy in pads doesn't have very many pages per pad, so although a pad might be say five dollars it only will have about 12-15 sheets, as opposed to a sketch book having 75 sheets of paper for the same amount of money. This is not to say buy a sketch book for painting, I don't think that's a good idea since sketch paper is normally like printer paper in strength for paint.
Sizes Vary with Watercolor Paper, it can go from small to very large.


If you like to sketch before painting remember that the texture of the paper will make a sketch darker on it's own, so either sketch very very lightly or use a harder pencil which isn't as dark when you press.

So overall I love Watercolor-Paper and I highly recommend it!

3; Bristol Board:

Image Source

This is a paper I have never knowingly used, but all the illustrations of Mark Crilley (and his pages for his comic books) are all drawn on Bristol board. According to him and others, it's stronger than normal paper, and it's also smooth (kind of like Illustration board only thinner) but can warp a bit once it gets too wet.


Mark Crilley's Art Works here and here.

Illustration Boards:

Mixed Media Painting Done By Me On An Illustration Board

There are different kinds, some with more texture some with less, the kind I use is smooth and slick, great for sliding paint across the image you are painting, for me it's a bit different because I normally (although not always) start with colored pencil then paint over it and then use marker and paint for details and shading so it's a bit different than straight paint. But I have done certain parts straight paint and it's good but can be a little tough because it dries pretty fast (assuming you didn't sop it in paint and water) and can be hard to get an even color.




Strength wise, it can handle the paint pretty well although even will bubble after a while but once you're finished and it's fully dried you can put a towel over it and some books to flatten it back out.


I've read and people say use is only if you want to do “washes” because it's so smooth, but I think that it's not so limited. Also people say that it's not “Archival” which means it won't last forever, but if you get a sealant spray I'd think it would be alright.

Canvas:

Mixed Media Paiting Done By Me On A Watercolor Canvas

Canvas, what can I say? I suppose I can say that when you get a canvas, you feel like you finally made it in life as an artist for a moment, like you're becoming something, but then you get scared, scared what if you're not good enough for such a product? What if!? Well Canvas does not bite and it's wonderful so read on!

Original Source

 Canvas is a treated fabric stretched over a wooden frame, it's very thick, durable, and it dries pretty fast for constant work although you will have to leave it for a bit to be fully dried just like anything else.
You can layer on canvas and fix mistakes much easier with it, if you put a wrong color you can apply more water with a brush and use a cloth or tissue to take most of the color off without worrying the surface will start to flake and colors are much more brilliant on canvas.


On thing with canvas is it's like watercolor paper that if you sketch do it very lightly! It's rater textured. Also, when you go to buy canvas make sure it's for watercolor and not for acrylic and oil, the latter is treated different than watercolor canvas, I know because I was given the wrong one, I did paint on it with watercolor but it smudged a bit and it didn't absorb as well.

Canvas Sizes vary as well.


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I hope this was helpful!
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~ Firefly

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