My First Collage!

Hai. This week will be a little less depressing than the past two, this week I'm gonna show you my first collage!! For those who don't know what a collage is, it's basically paper crafting cutting out shapes to make a piece of artwork gluing or taping together. Some people go all out and use fabric and other 3D things like beads, buttons, other trinkets, sometimes pressed or live flowers, really anything to make a 3D piece of art. I personally used my drawing and painting tools and craft patterned paper I was given by somebody.

I'll tell you a little about what I used since I think it might be interesting.


First, I used printer quality cardstock, it's pretty thick, perfect for marker because it's super smooth but not spongy, it's not good for watercolor though. I used this to cut out the butterflies and the leaves on the middle flower. To cut out the butterflies I cut a smaller piece off of the cardstock and folded it in half drew the wings on one side and cut it out, when unfolded it was even in size and shape. Then I sketched the basic pattern on it and colored with sharpies and Bic markers along with a white gel-pen. I based the orange butterfly off of a Monarch though it's not really a Monarch, and the yellow butterfly is based off of a Swallow-tail butterfly but it doesn't actually look like one at all. I basically based the colors and type of patterns more than anything else. I did make a blue butterfly but it was too big so I gave it to my mother to play with.


For the flowers, I made the purple check-patterned one first, for that one I cut out each petal resulting in a variety of sizes because I did one at a time. For the other two I cut a horizontal strip of the paper I wanted, then cut a piece vertically off of it and used that as a template to cut and have all paper being the basic same size then. After that I piled and used a paperclip to keep secured, drew the petal shape and cut it. - Gluing I glued the petals on to the center part (all centers were made with cardstock) and I glued a scrap piece of cardstock to keep the flowers secured together.


I didn't plan the layout for anything at the start I used laid it out on the paper as I went along. I added all shading and details myself using colored pencils and markers. The background is watercolor, the grassy area is craft paper too.

All Supplies Used:

• 6 Craft Papers (Patterned paper)
• Cardstock (White)
• Mixed media paper – Base paper (what everything is glued on)
• 14 Colored Pencils (5 Prismacolors, 5 Crayola, 2 EK Memory Pencils, 2 Other/Cheap)
• 20 Markers (11 Sharpies, 4 Bic, 4 IDenti Pens, 1 Prismacolor Black)
• Watercolor (Off brand, Raphael)
• 2 Brushes (one flat and one round)

• Scissors
• Eraser
• Stick Glue
• White Pen
• Prismacolor 03 Pen
• Sakura 0.3 mm Pen
• Mechanical pencil
• Three 3D Paint Pens.

Thank you for reading! I hope this was interesting. If you enjoy all things art, please +1, share on whatever social media you like to use, and follow me here. Thanks!


~ God Bless ~


~ Firefly

Some Drawings I've Done Over The Past Few Months

Okay I know the middle or early week would have been better but I'm a lazy jerk and never got the nerve to actually write a decent article so we get these pieces of artwork instead. I'm sorryyyy!!!

Okay here we go, some of these are going to be mentioned in future posts. I'll say a little about some of the artworks. And yeah...it'll explain itself.


Monochrome inked with brown pen and colored with watercolor.

Sunflower with bees, colored with sharpies and colored pencils, on mixed media paper the background is watercolor and the outlines are with inking pens and a sharpie fine tipped marker.

These first two are done on printer cardstock using Prismacolor multi-liners and Sharpies to color. (The light blue from the dress is a Prismacolor marker [I only have 3 of those]).

This next one is I believe the first drawing I've ever colored not in monotone while having the outlines in brown. Colored using watercolor, crayola markers and soft pastels on mixed media paper.

I was watching Jake Parker videos while drawing these from photo reference. I didn't aim for realism just a likeness of the different leaves. The top row left to right: Oak, Ash - Botton Row Left to Right: Maple, Birch.
Colored pencil, pen, soft pastel on sketch paper.

A pen drawing using color inking pens and IDentipens all from Sakura brand.

Opaque watercolor painting on mixed media paper.

Colored pencil drawing on watercolor paper with a watercolor background.

I have drawn more but I think that's enough for now.

I hope you enjoyed these drawings, if you did please +1 on google plus and show other people.
Thank you!


~ God Bless~

~ Firefly

Colored Pencils: Are They Really Worth My Money?

Colored Pencils: Are They Really Worth My Money?

Opening:

Many people buy colored pencils because they are deemed cheaper than markers, and paint can often seem like something the “important” people use, but I am here to tell you that colored pencils are worth the money, whether you buy the “good” quality ones or if you buy the ones from cheaper brands like Crayola ™ or RoseArt ™.

Main Thought:

Sometimes colored pencils get a bad rap, it's like people think colored pencils it's just Crayola and after all “dats kidz stuff!” Although depending on the brand this is true to a point, but colored pencils take as much skill as any other type of media, learning it and mastering it is key; Basically become a Zen Ninja and learn the way of the pigmented graphite! You may think that you cannot make good art with cheap pencils, I beg to differ! I believe that if you can't master the cheap the better/ more expensive will be wasted trying to learn the media; Granted brand and type are different in hardness, color depth and blending, but if you can get good at cheap then you will be able to expand your color variety and also texture, not to mention you can show how pro you are coloring a super cool drawing using kids pencils...!

I use many types of pencils, namely: Prismacolor Premier, Crayola, EK Memory and also many off brands, I will say that I adore some of the cheaper pencils, they are so nice!

This picture is an example of works that can be done with cheaper colored pencils:

Bigger Version Here.

Although the majority is Prismacolor colored pencils (19) in this image, there are also 15 lesser branded pencils, Namely: Crayola and EK Memory, and also 3 off-branded pencils (dollar-store pencils) and Crayola being the majority.

Another example would be this drawing:

Image Taken From An Earlier Blog Post Which Can Be Found Here.

Although it's not the best artistic feat, it's (near if not total) majority of colored pencils are Creatology colored pencils, which on my scale of pencils are on the minor end of the artistic quality “food chain”. Don't think you're cheap for getting colored pencils!

Other artists have much more time and talent dedicated to the usage of colored pencils, look on YouTube and you'll find many artists!

Mixed media:

Blog Post here.

I'm very much a “Mixed Media” - “Artist”, I love to mix up different types of media, put it together, and make something beautiful! Colored pencils have become a literal foundation for coloring my drawings on paper.

When I say foundation I mean, first thing on the paper is normally colored pencil(s), for me it adds texture, depth, as well as texture both rough and smooth, it makes my markers (which are almost exclusively kids markers) slip about on the waxy base and go on much smoother and can even be blended with my finger or tissue. They are also make a very nice paper stiffener, I am currently in a “pencil only” sketch book, so to color with markers is not ideal, but still possible!

Blog Post can be found here.

My tip to you would be to layer the colored pencils on top of each other to make a thick waxy “coat” over the pores of the paper, also I'd recommend to get a “colorless blender pencil”; This is a colorless wax type pencil that you use to blend pencil together, the softer the pencils the more the blender-pencil will do it's job, for this Prismacolor is best as it's the pencil the blender-pencil was designed to work with, but it works somewhat if you mix brands and it works oddly enough nicely on crayons.

The one I use is from Prismacolor, I'm not sure if other brands make it but it's totally possible.

The Images in this section are examples of Mixed Media Drawings.

Storage:

Ways to store:

• Rubber Bands
• Tupperware containers (small for colors, or a (few maybe) bigger ones to store bound colored pencils)
• Bags (I have sewn bags with zippers my mother made me)
• Storage Units with smaller drawers or cubby compartments.

Please, this is a personal plea, when storing your colored pencils please, I beg thee with ever fiber of my being...put them in color order...Nothing is more irritating and inconvenient (to me) than having a bunch of pencils (or markers) not in color order! Let me tell you some of the good things that come from doing this!!

• Coloring is more efficient
• Coloring Trains of thought will not crash as you look for a certain color
• You will realize when you are out of a color so you're prepared before starting a picture with certain colors in mind.
• You will feel good inside
• I will not come to your house to do it for you....That would be awkward...!!!!

Please, put them in color order!

Other things I would like to note is, when putting them in color order, also put them in brand order.

If you use Tupperware containers to store your pencils put each color in rubber bands, blues all together, pinks, greens, etc..., we all have a certain way to think of colors so I shall not say what order to set the pencils, but have some kind of order. Trust me it helps!!

I normally separate brand and color so lets say I have Crayola in Oranges and RoseArt, I'll put the RoseArt Oranges together and the Crayola Together within brand.

I'm getting irritating now, I'm sorry!

Conclusion:

Pencils are useful! Don't diss our graphic friends, embrace them with love and hugs!

If you want to read up on various brands I wrote a review and comparison on 4 different brands in detail and lightly touch on a few other various brands and types. The post can be found here.

I hope this was useful! Now go out there and create something beautiful and epic for all the world to see!

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

~ Firefly

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