Tag: sketchbook

Sketchbook update 14/06/22

DemelzaB Leave a comment

Most days I will do something in my sketchbook. I’m using an A4 ring-bound book from Amazon and I would rate it average-good. It isn’t the best for wet/heavier work, but felt-tips won’t bleed through which is a plus. It meets my current needs but I wouldn’t stick with it forever. I used to draw solely from life, a habit I was taught at college. While I see the benefits of this, it isn’t always practical. Therefore, I’ve been trying new ways.

First of all, I will show you some sketching I did do from life. A still-life to be specific.

A broccoli.

One I had already cut-up for lunch and had parts left-over.

(An incomplete broccoli.)

Ink & drawing

(top, blue fineliner, continuous line drawing) (bottom- right, biro drawing, ink applied afterwards)
fine liner pen on green card
Layer 1:
diluted India inks (Emerald and sunshine yellow)

Using the wet-on-wet technique to achieve the splotchy effect. Being in-experienced with inks, I went in boldly!

Layer 2:

It is possible to see the separate colours I used, as I didn’t blend everywhere. This makes the painting punchy and bright, but is not how I would have approached the study, had I been using watercolours. I began to pre-mix colours in the palette wells half way through the painting.

I like the mixture of opacity throughout the layers.

Acrylic painting

Painting from photographs 1

I took this photo on my phone, while walking through South Park. On my way to yoga class, for some reason I had decided to walk instead of taking the bus. I had just walked up the hill and enjoying my favourite view in Oxford. It was the start of a warm day and the start of June. This was at about 10am, before the clouds lifted. It looks moody but didn’t feel moody to me. Of course I wanted to paint it!

I don’t remember the last time I painted with acrylics, so I wanted to get back into it. I wanted to capture the mood rather than details. I began with this purple layer to establish the tones. (deep red and ultramarine from the cheap acrylic set I found under my bed).

I honestly felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. Just making it up as I go along, I added the shady areas.

As much as I love the view of the spires in the distance, I didn’t add them to this painting. The painting became a thing of its own and not very Oxford at all! The hills became mountains instead. I dotted some flowers in the grass using the end of the paintbrush.

Painting from photographs 2

Again, I wanted to do things my way. I wouldn’t be representing the street perfectly, but I don’t feel the need to.

This time, the reference photo was one I had taken last month in Portsmouth. I again chose purple for the first layer because this colour suits the overall theme I was going for. I wouldn’t always choose purple, if I felt a different colour was more appropriate for the mood.

(check out the purple nails and bed sheet, I couldn’t help including here and no it’s not my favourite colour actually!)

A bit more progress…

The painting without any outlines.
The finished painting with the addition of fineliner pen drawing over the dried paint.

Painting from photographs 3

This time, I needed to paint my sliders. A recent purchase I don’t regret!

I worked from a reference photo of me wearing the shoes, purely because I wanted this angle.

I began by drawing them with a felt-pen and using the continuous, blind line drawing technique. If you don’t know what that is, it’s where I avoid lifting the pen off the paper and don’t look at the paper in the process of drawing. It gives the work a fun style and helps my hand/ eye to loosen up:

I used washi tape for this painting. I have never used washi tape and wanted to try it out after watching a video by Minnie Small, who swears by it. (Minnie Small is an amazing illustrator who I’ve followed on social media for years, check out her work if you’re curious)

I mainly wanted to play with colour for this study. I therefore taped off 2 small areas of my sketchbook page, so I could try 2 different ‘themes’.

cold and hot?

I used a square brush (is there a proper name for these square ended brushes?)

I worked loosely and had fun with it instead of being precise/neat.

Of course, the best bit is removing the tape, which only tore the paper a bit. (There’s a few reasons why this could be: good standard washi tape, weak paper, not sticking it to a surface before applying it to the paper, maybe I pulled it off to fast, maybe it was the weather?)

Collage experimentation

DemelzaB Leave a comment

Isabel Reitemeyer

Collage artist based in Berlin. What I find interesting about her work is the variety of techniques she uses in her collages. Each collage is different and surprising. She experiments with the physical quality of the paper. Sometimes folding it like a fabric and other times cutting the paper with a scalpel.

Images from isabel reitemeyer (@isabelreitemeyer) • Instagram photos and videos

In this image, she has cut the paper carefully into a smooth curved line. The area of the face stands alone on the page. Cutting an area out is an other way of concealing an area, this adds mystery.

I like the choppy style of cutting within this collage. It reminds me of a smashed window. Some lines are parallel but the piece is asymmetrical.

The white area hides the image behind. Because of its shape, we see glimpses of the figure between the branch-like shapes. The flat quality of the white area balances out the depth and blackness of the photograph.

Cutting out sections of an image means you can re-arrange them on the page to your liking. The medium of collage means you can be selective with what to include. In this image, I am drawn to the shape of the negative/white space.

I like the way Reitemeyer plays with layers in this piece. The shape she has cut from the yellow paper acts as a frame for the image behind. The choice of plain yellow draws the focus to the figure. If she had used another image for this top layer, it might look confusing or flat.

I like the way she has broken the image into sections. To me, this symbolises something broken or unsettled about the character or narrative.

When starting the project of making my final zine, I wasn’t quite sure where to start. I needed to generate more ideas about the context, layout and visual elements. Having experimented with format, I was happy I had 3 possible formats to work with.

I began to take photos with my phone camera. I focused loosely on the themes of water, home, fragments and seasons. I took the following photos:

I converted some of the images into black and white before printing them. I used these photos as collage pieces to incorporate into my sketchbook along with the image of my chosen object, the raincoat girl.

Before & after photoshop/ camera RAW

I softened the image and turned down the saturation.
Softening this image make the photo look smokey and dream-like.
Collage experimentation

Within my sketchbook, I began experimenting with collage as a way to play with ideas for the zine.

I printed the photo of the raincoat girl figure in black and white. I photocopied the photo while moving it around on the scanner. I liked the effect because it gave a wavy underwater feeling.

I placed the photo back into the paper compartment of the printer. I then printed the image of the puddle on top. I found that the combination of the dark areas and lighter image underneath worked well.

This experiment wasn’t as effective because the background is darker than the photo I printed on top of the background.

I printed this page from the book The Unofficial Countryside by Richard Mabey. I chose this text because of its reference to seasons and the idea of rebirth. I like the combination of colour with black and white.