End of April

Hello! How are things going? I've been insanely busy with Sketchbook Skool and The 100 day project so I have lots to show you. A few weeks ago I completed my final assignment in SBS for Seeing and decided to enrol in the next class Exploring, which started this past week. So, without further ado here's what I've been up to since you heard from me last:

Sketchbook Skool - Seeing:

Completely done in pen, we were asked to draw one of our collections of stuff.

A neighbours house on my street.

Sketchbook Skool - Exploring:

The first week we were asked to draw something in pen using hatching to show the form. I also learned that stippling could be used on the pattern and I really liked that effect.

For fun, I decided to try adding watercolour to the cup so you could see the pattern better. Loved it!

 The 100 day Project:

The last image filled my sketchbook, so I had to make a new one! This one is approximately 4"x4" and made up of 100lb Bristol paper.

Personal Projects:

A little something for Earth Day.

Just some chickadee sketches.

This is just a quick summary of what I drew the past while. If you'd like to see more my links to my social media sites are below. If you'd like to learn more about Sketchbook Skool and any of the classes they offer, click here.

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me or working with me for graphic work, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

Beginning of March (finally!) - Another Negative Painting Tutorial!

Hello my friend, and how are you doing this fine (though rainy) day? I hope that, like me, you are looking forward to the lengthening of days, the melting of snow, and the return of the birds that is all March! The weather here the last week or so has been a lot milder than expected and that was a refreshing change from the miserable cold we've been experiencing the past month (there's even been sunshine!).

All that changed with a brief spell of snow and winter cold this past weekend, just in time for my eldest's first winter camping experience with her Girl Guide group. As you can imagine I spent the weekend steeped in simmering anxiety - she's never been away for so long or so far before, and in the cold and snow no less - but my fears were completely unfounded as she returned home with all the bits she left with (minus one hat) and had an absolute blast.

Over the last few weeks I've been working on a painting that was inspired by a photo taken by Jonathan Tucker for a contest in UpHere magazine. His picture was of an ice cavern inside an iceberg. When I saw it in the magazine, even with the very small image provided, I was blown away with the depth of the blues and the way the light glowed all around. I absolutely had to try painting it! My intention was not to perfectly replicate Jonathan's photo, but to see if I could recreate the feeling his photo inspired in me, these are the steps I took:

First I started with thumbnail sketches. I wanted to make sure that specific pieces were inside the frame. I also added tone with shading so I could lead the eye where I wanted it to be in the image.

I chose my colours carefully. These were blues, greens and purples that, to me, were more jewel-like and had a range of intensity. I used Winsor & Newton's Winsor blue, Winsor green, and Indigo plus DaVinci's Prussian blue, Violet, and Phthalo green. I start with a wet-in-wet wash and vaguely layout the shapes and tones where they will be needed.

Working with the colours I start working wet-on-dry in the negative, that is on the shadows of the objects, to better define them. I follow both my thumbnail sketch and the photo reference.

I keep working, mostly wet-on-dry with some dry brushing, with this first layer of colour, always in the negative, all around the painting.

I realize some texture might help to show the rocky nature of the bottom-centre section and add some salt. I've also stared a second layer of wet-on-dry to darken up the front areas.

Continuing with wet-on-dry and dry brush layering in the negative parts of the painting to further enhance the objects or define their characters. This is the final piece and I'm pleased with how it's turned out. I think I managed to convey depth while also keeping the overall luminosity of the ice and snow. 

I should probably have a name for this painting but at the moment all I can think of is "Blue" which doesn't seem descriptive enough. Oh well. On several occasions I was very nervous working on this piece. The beginning stages are easiest because you can change them as you go, but once you start cutting into a shape you are more-or-less committed so you better get it right the first time! It's really cool to see the differences when you compare the first wash with the final piece too!

As well as painting, I'm also still working on vector art tutorials in Adobe Illustrator. This one is by Nataliya Dolotko with EnvatoTuts+ and you can click here to see it. I've always wanted to make up a set like this and it was so much fun! It helps that the characters are cute too! I showed this to my eldest and she said "I like it. Are you going to do girls too?", ha ha, so now I guess I should look into that!

Anyway, to explain the set, yes I made up everything you see on the image, including the background, and then I put some pieces together to make the four boys you see here. I haven't selected my next tutorial just yet but it's likely going to be in the same style, can you blame me?

My version of the character set by Nataliya Dolotko.

This week I'm switching things up a bit by taking a class through Sketchbook Skool. If you haven't heard of it it's a teaching website for people (many of whom aren't trained artists) who want to learn to be more creative, learn to draw, try out different media, etc. It was founded (and is still run by) Danny Gregory, who has written a few books on the subject of introducing art to those afraid of doing it wrong or badly.

I read one of his books many years ago when my eldest was just starting to toddle. I hadn't drawn or done anything creative in years and his book really helped me to not only get back into it but to also be a little more confident in myself. Ultimately his book helped me to get here, so I'm really looking forward to taking this class! The course is Seeing and it runs for 6 weeks, so you can expect to see my progress as I go along.

And that's it for this post! I hope you have a great first few weeks in March. My mantra for the month is "simplify" and I will be doing my best to uncomplicate my life and thought processes, I think everyone will appreciate it!

Have a good one my friend!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me or working with me for graphic work, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

End of January: Progress isn't always pretty

Hello! Is it as gloomy where you are as it is here? So far, I have to say that the weather we've had this January has been less than optimal, we've had a lot of overcast sky, rain, and ice - not even good weather for winter activities! I'm feeling very starved for sunlight!

Temptations

So, we've made it to the last week of January for the year - how are you coming along with your resolutions? I'm still plugging away at mine and things still seem on track, even with the last minute changes from a few weeks ago. One of the things I learned last year was that being a full-time mom means that, at most, you can do part-time school/work and pretty much nothing else. You have to be extremely focused so you can get what you want/need done and not go insane!

The reason I bring this up is that my focus has been tested frequently the last few weeks with all the deals on online art classes and such (I had another one today!). They are so tempting!! But I'm winning so far by reminding myself of my goals for the year and determining whether the temptations will help me get there or will they distract me from them. It's a struggle though, I just don't have the time to do everything I want!

My first Certificate with Lynda

What have I managed to get accomplished the past few weeks? Well, I completed my first course (and received the certificate for it) on Lynda.com, which was a generalized introduction to Graphic Design. It was pretty awesome actually. It covered all the basics that I learned from my Certificate with Conestoga College, but in a more practical and focused way. I really felt confident in my skills and talent as a designer when the course was over. I still have to finish the final assignment and I plan to get that done today, then I hope to finish the remaining courses for the Graphic Design Learning Path before the month is over.

Negative Painting

On the creative side, I've been working through various practice pieces in negative painting in watercolour, with varying degrees of success. Negative painting is quite challenging and I admit to some struggle with it. The biggest challenge for me isn't in looking at the objects you wish to paint from a negative perspective (not that I'm perfect at that yet either), but in the glazing needed to create the layers that make negative painting so appealing! I either have too much water, too much paint, or the wrong colour. Still, this is all learning and I'm progressing through all the "ugly" creations, so I guess it's going well!

If you haven't seen my Facebook/Pinterest feed lately here's what I've managed to do so far:

I feel this is my best and was done following an example by Linda Kemp from her book "Watercolor: Painting Outside the Lines"

I thought I would try my own design based on violets. 

Um, yeah, there's so much wrong here, however I feel the layering idea is improving!

Obviously I need to do more research as to what makes a good negative painting and how to achieve that so that's my goal for the next few weeks. Hopefully you'll see more examples of practice pieces in my next post!

In the meantime I hope you have a great week in whatever way is most important to you. Don't forget to take time out for yourself because you are awesome!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

Week of October 24, 2016: Final Galaxy paintings and a Clipart product!

Hello my friend, and Happy Hallowe'en!!

This past week has been just nuts for me and mine, what with preparing for Hallowe'en, finishing my galaxy series paintings, and my new job! But we made it to the other side without too many casualties so I call that a win. I have a few accomplishments to show you from this week, I made up 3 more galaxy paintings in the Fall/Hallowe'en theme, and I finished setting up my first clipart product and it is now available in my Etsy store!!

Galaxy Paintings:

I finished three more galaxy/nebula paintings which completes the series I think. For each one I tried to push myself and the image just a little more to see where this style could go. Quite a number of the six images received more attention than I expected, the maple leaf especially, so I might have to see about getting them up as products on Etsy. In fact I've already got a buyer for three of the originals (Yay!!)!

A galaxy bat. I really liked the idea of a night creature encompassing the night sky in its body. So cool.

A galaxy maple leaf. This goes more along with the fall theme and I wanted to give this image a more 3D element by adding a shadow. The galaxy/nebula also has a few extra elements. This was a very popular image in my Facebook group!

A galaxy crow. I tried to make this a scary looking crow but that's a bit difficult when you're working in silhouette, and the galaxy/nebula I chose is much larger than previous ones, with a lot more colour. There's so much more going on in this image than in the previous ones.

New Clipart Product on Etsy:

As promised I now have my first clipart product available in my Etsy store! These are the images that you will download instantly upon purchase. Click this link for more details.

Baby elephants clipart set available now in my Etsy store!

While you're in my store feel free to take a look at the few products I have available right now, but also please favourite my shop and share the love!

Coming Up:

This week I have a new challenge: I signed up for a 6 week online course through Newcastle University in Australia titled "Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration 101" and it starts this week. I'm very excited to take this course as it will be my first introduction to science illustration. I've done plenty of scientific drawings in my Biology courses but they were for lab purposes, I'm curious to see how different these will be from my experience. And of course I will be sharing what I do with you here and through my social media channels.

I think that's everything I have to share this week. I hope your Hallowe'en is safe and full of fun and laughter!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

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Week of October 10, 2016: A map, a dog, some fall elements, and new art supplies!

Hello again! I don't know about where you are, but the weather here is downright weird. This past weekend we had every conceivable form of weather aside from snow! Frost first thing in the morning, but mid-afternoon temperatures were in the 20's. It was great for getting some much needed yard work done, right up until the rain hit and hasn't stopped yet. When I bring the girls home from school today (in their rain gear) we'll likely be eating popsicles due to the hot afternoon walk. Not what I expect from October, but we all have to adapt don't we?

How was this past week for you? Any excitement? Did you manage to finally check that one item that's been driving you batty off your to-do list? I have! I finally completed my map for MATS B (pause for cheers and applause)!! I also painted a quick sketch of one my Aunt's chihuahua's, a fall items sketch, and tested out my new pearlescent watercolour palette and sepia Sakura pens!

Map of Kitchener-Waterloo:

My completed map for MATS B

I am so relieved with how this map turned out. If you've been following my posts you'll know just how much I struggled with this assignment. It isn't anything like what I expected it to look like though. I do find it very charming, but I had hoped to create something in a more traditional style. I'm hoping to come back to it at some point to see if I can make it the way I had expected to in the first place, now that it's done I have a better idea of what I could try. One thing Lilla Rogers keeps telling us is to try something new, to break out of our rutts and experiment and I feel I most definitely did that with this project, and for that I am very proud of myself!

Little Chihuahua sketch:

Little Bella, a watercolour and ink sketch.

This is taken from a photo my Mom took of one of three of my Aunt's chihuahua's. She is such a sweet little thing, though she is very protective of her "mom"! When I did the sketch my aim was to keep it loose and light, in part to give the impression of all the energy this little bundle of love has! I think it came across very well. I would like to try to sketch up her brother and sister as well. They will each bring their own challenges because one is completely black with short fur, and the other is tan with long, feathery fur!

Some fall elements:

Fall elements collected during a nature walk.

Last weekend, my husband took the girls out for a nature walk out by the University. They took a bag with them to collect their "treasures" (I have abut twenty horse chestnuts lined up on my hutch right now). I thought it would be fun to go through their collection and sketch up a little spread of elements. I really like the way the covered chestnut and the pinecones turned out here.

New Art Supplies:

A quick fall sketch to test out my new pearlesecnt watercolour palette and sepia Sakura pens.

I had an opportunity this week to purchase some new pens and paints and thought I'd try out this set of pearlescent watercolours! The picture doesn't do the painting justice, the metallic sparkle comes through very well with these paints, though the colours are a bit muted. I love the colours in this set, they perfectly match the more "natural" tones I generally move towards. And the Sakura pens!! I've been wanting to try some sepia pens for inking for a little while now, but what's awesome with this set is that it also comes with a brush-tipped pen!! I'm looking forward to playing with both more in the future. One thing I especially want to try with the pearlescent paints is painting on darker coloured card stock! I've been watching a few videos on Youtube and the results are incredible!

Well, there goes another week! My plans this week are pretty simple, I am going to set up my first clip-art product for my Etsy store, I would like to sketch another one of my Aunt's adorable dogs, and I want to try sketching some ghouls and goblins - I haven't decided if they will be playful or creepy, maybe I'll try one of each!

I hope you have a great week, be happy, and stay safe my friend!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

Week of September 19, 2016 & My Experience with MyMATSPrep (Children's Book Illustration)

Hi again! I can't believe September is almost over already! Summer is done (boo!) and Fall has arrived (yay!). There's a lot about Fall that I enjoy, particularly cuddling up under a warm blanket with a good book and a hot tea :)

Work this past week was a little side-tracked. Lilla Rogers from MakeArtThatSells.com has been promoting her newest class for Children's Book Illustration and this week was offering 5 days of free Matsprep assignments. I think you know me well enough by now to realize that I couldn't possibly turn this down, so I signed up, took a deep breath, tried to let everything go, and let myself go to do my best. I did manage to find some time to work on improving my negative painting skills with a tulip exercise, plus, I followed a design tutorial from Designcuts.com and also created a kids party invitation in Illustrator!

MyMATSPrep:

These assignments are always a challenge and I couldn't wait to dig in! Check it out :)

Day 1: Lilla showed us an old photograph of a young girl she named Minette and asked us to make a character around her. The first page is a study of a style that I would like to adopt, the second is my Minette and who I think she is :)

Day 2: We were asked to look out of our bedroom window and draw what we saw. My bedroom faces the backyard. I think I managed to capture it pretty well :)

Day 3: Because it's a children's book we were asked to redraw our window image but this time flip what we saw, make small things big/big things small, take into account a child's imagination and sense of play.

Day 4: Time to introduce perspective and a sense of distance to the scene.

Day 5: Take our final scene and include little Minette in whatever manner you would expect her to be in it.

I really had a blast making this final image! It was so much fun to put together something that I had thought about for a long time. Because I have two girls, I've often imagined what the yard could look like to a young mind! Plus, I had the chance to draw in a way I've always wanted to, and research and develop a character!


Negative Painting:

I have a passion for negative painting. I love looking at what artist's have created and the complexity of the image is completely different than when you strictly paint in the positive! I've been wanting to practice this style for quite some time now. Several months ago I snagged myself a copy of Roland Roycraft's book "Fill Your Watercolors with Light and Color". I adored looking through the book and was so pleased that it had exercises I could follow, one of which was this beautiful tulips painting:

My negative tulips painting following Roland Roycraft

Children's Party Invitation:

I adore lettering and typography, almost as much as painting, and I never seem to get enough chances to play with them. So when I saw that Designcuts had a tutorial on creating a cute little children's party invitation (with a few freebie graphics!), I knew I had to take the time to try it out! It also gave me the opportunity to flex my Adobe Illustrator muscles. I found a nice card mockup to customize and display it in too :)

My version of Designcuts Children's Party Invitation

So that was my week. It was pretty exhilarating actually! Almost everything I did seemed to be on point, even though none of it was following my intention for the week. I haven't completely figured this week out yet. October is a very busy month at the Wiklund house what with Thanksgiving, Hallowe'en, and a birthday, but I'm sure that's true at your house as well. 

Stay warm, stay safe, hug your family and I hope to talk to you again next week!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave me a message.

If you're interested in commissioning me, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)