Now that a sample of my handbag is on the way from the manufacturer, I'm really excited about creating new products. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of startup capital, so I can't just get twenty samples of different items made up and keep a bunch of things in stock. So I figure I should make mock-up images of the products I have in mind, and show them off here, so I know which ones are most popular when it comes time to get them made up.
This design has been in my head for a while now, and today I had to finally draw it out. It's a wooden picture frame with a printed starfish pattern on the front in grey and blue. There is a slightly darker grey wooden border around the opening and the edge of the frame itself. I know it's hard to tell what the finished product will look like from this picture, but if you think it's something you would like to buy, please let me know in the comments. The more interest it has, the more likely it will be made.
I finally got around to trying out my new camera and uploading a video to Youtube. I've been wanting to post a video of my art for a while now. I'm still a little daunted by the process, but it was more simple than I thought it would be. My camera setup and editing skills will get better with time and practice.
The beginning of the video is cut off because the camera went to sleep while I was setting up and pressing the record button just woke it up rather than starting recording. That's something to keep in mind. I've also found out that recording sessions are recorded to about 29 minutes on still cameras, as the sensor heats up more quickly than conventional video cameras. That wasn't an issue on this occasion, but I was a little wary of it because I don't want to burn out my new camera.
For my first video, I painted a french bulldog with my Derwent watercolour pencils and waterbrush. I haven't used watercolour pencils in years, so I need to get back into practice using them. I like the control of coloured pencil combined with the softness of watercolour, but they can leave scratchy pencil marks that don't blend out very easily. The lineart was drawn with my Bic Mark-It in Tuxedo Black, which is the best waterproof pen I've found. It's important to have a waterproof pen when working with wet media or it will bleed everywhere and become a mess. Trust me. I still remember the times before I knew waterproof pens existed.
I've also been looking into the Icarus Drawing Board If you haven't heard of it, it's a heated pad that warms coloured pencil as you work and melts the wax to form a softer, blended image more quickly. At over $200 for the smallest version, it's a little pricey, so I've been looking for a homemade alternative to melting coloured pencil wax. Burnishing with baby oil works really well, but I've left oil stains on work before by accidently using too much. Finding the right art materials and techniques can be a long and complicated process, but I'm slowly getting to where I need to be.
I'll post a picture of the finished artwork later. For now, enjoy my speed painting of Larry the French Bulldog.
Time for another piece of abstract digital art for a colour palette challenge, this time for Pals Paper Arts. The colours this week are Hello Honey, Crumb Cake and Blackberry Bliss, which sound delicious and make me want a desert.
This one has a little bit of a Moroccan or Arabesque style to it. Like the sort of thing you'd see on a scarf in a marketplace somewhere.
"Samantha", Digital Seamless Tiling Art, 6x6
I've also added this one and
"Jasper" from yesterday to Society6. You can now buy prints, cushions, clocks, iphone covers, galaxy covers, duvet covers and more with these designs printed on them.
These butterfly designs were the first series of images I made for my Etsy shop. They were coloured with watercolour pencils and altered digitally. There are 14 pages in total and the previews below show the assortment of colours.
If you're interested in purchasing these printable papers, you can find them at my Etsy shop, TheSixthFloorStudio, which will go live shortly.
I'm rather pleased with how this pattern turned out. Hopefully there will be more traditional media papers in the future.
