Journey Art Supplies Blog
Tips, Tricks, Thoughts, and inspiration from across the art spectrum.
Plein - Painting... Indoors by Tom Lynch - Part...
<p>Tom Lynch was recently featured in two editions of the <a href="https://www.cheapjoes.com/the-palette-magazine-issue-no-71.html">New Palette Magazine</a>. He is a most adventurous artist and I loved the way that he showed us the photo reference and then the finished painting that he had done en plein air. The basic idea is that he encouraged us to not paint the picture but rather make art from the en plein air scene. Today is part one and I will post part two tomorrow. Also, Tom will be doing a watercolor demo just for Cheap Joe's on Wednesday at 4 pm. Here's the link: <a href="https://youtu.be/aEX-1LHU73c">Tom's Watercolor Demo</a></p>
Plein - Painting... Indoors by Tom Lynch - Part...
<p>Tom Lynch was recently featured in two editions of the <a href="https://www.cheapjoes.com/the-palette-magazine-issue-no-71.html">New Palette Magazine</a>. He is a most adventurous artist and I loved the way that he showed us the...
Bonnie's Garden: A Watercolor Painting from Beg...
In this series of videos, you'll follow along as artist Ward Jene Stroud creates a gorgeous watercolor painting of a butterfly while sharing his tools and techniques. Throughout the videos, you'll hear the thought process behind the artistic decisions a painter makes.
Bonnie's Garden: A Watercolor Painting from Beg...
In this series of videos, you'll follow along as artist Ward Jene Stroud creates a gorgeous watercolor painting of a butterfly while sharing his tools and techniques. Throughout the videos,...
Making it Pop with Pastels!
Hello, everyone! Whenever I find out about a new painting technique, I cannot wait to try it and show you guys how it works! This week, I explored the use of soft pastels with watercolor to achieve greater depth of field. I absolutely love mixed media, which is why I can't believe I hadn't heard of this sooner!
Making it Pop with Pastels!
Hello, everyone! Whenever I find out about a new painting technique, I cannot wait to try it and show you guys how it works! This week, I explored the use...
Tie-Dye Batik with Glue!
Hey, everybody! The warm weather is finally upon us, which means we can start breaking out all the old outdoor activities! One of my personal favorites is tie-dyeing! Sure, you can tie-dye any time of the year, but I have fond memories of dying shirts at my best friend's house as a kid, and her mom yelling at us to take them outside and leaving them to dry by hanging them over a tree branch. Ah, the 90s... So I wanted to bring back that nostalgia--while also adding a little bit of artistry--with this week's project! I've done wax batiking before, but I wanted to go for a more accessible approach this time. And what's more accessible than Elmer's Glue? Everyone and their brother's got a bottle of Elmer's Glue sitting somewhere in their house, and that's literally all you need to create relief designs on dyed shirts! Whatever you cover in glue stays white (or the color of your fabric) while the dye stains around it, and then the glue just dissolves when you rinse it out! I prepped by taping sheets of wax paper to this piece of cardboard, and then slipped my shirt over it and secured it with clips. Obvious tie-dye reminder: 100% cotton shirts are the most absorbent and retain dye the best! And then I just went straight into it! I drew out this little glue flower and didn't take into consideration the way the glue would spread if it's in big globs... So I just filled in the petals and did an outline around it! No mistakes, just happy accidents. And I let my pattern grow from there. If drawing freehand makes you nervous or you'd rather use something like a stencil, you can draw out your design with a fabric pencil and it'll rinse off when you wash the shirt! But I didn't have any plans while making these designs, so I just let the glue go where my hand was taking it. I doodle a lot of swirls, anyway. This was pretty second-nature. Phew! 45 minutes and 2 hand cramps later, I was done! Well, with this part. To make sure the glue was totally dry, I let it sit overnight. When I came back, I had this! What appeared to be a wrinkly shirt actually had a crazy-intricate design spanning it. Next, I folded it up and used the rubberbands that came in the Jacquard Groovy Tie Dye Kit to tie it up like a regular tie-dye shirt. The glue crunched a little bit, but none of the pieces flaked off. Then I put on the gloves and mixed 2 of the 3 dyes per the instructions that came in the kit. I stuck with cyan and magenta because I knew darker colors would work best with showing my design. After dampening the shirt (to let the dye seep into the fabric more easily), it was time to take it outside! I went straight for the section that had the design on it and just doused the whole section in blue. Then I decided purple would look better, so I threw some red in there, too. Obvious tie-dye reminder: be sure to get the dye into all the nooks and crannies! It also helps to squeeze the section you're working on to get the dye worked all the way around. Woohoo! Thoroughly-dyed! Once I was finished, I gently placed it into a handy-dandy Cheap Joe's bag and set it on the windowsill by my desk. When I came back the next morning... I had this! Mildly disappointed by the way the dye I was washing out attached itself to the remaining white parts AND that some of the glue reactivated while the dye set and it created weird additions to my designs, but I still think it's very beautiful! Here are some close-ups: All in all, I'm calling this a successful batik! Can't wait to wear it!
Tie-Dye Batik with Glue!
Hey, everybody! The warm weather is finally upon us, which means we can start breaking out all the old outdoor activities! One of my personal favorites is tie-dyeing! Sure, you...
More Fun with Alcohol Inks!
Hi, everyone! More Fun with Alcohol Inks! This week's post goes out to all you alcohol ink artists out there! (OR folks considering getting into alcohol inks!) I'm sure you've used the felt stamps in your work before, but have you tried the PanPastel Sofft Tools? They're perfect for deliberately applying ink, making unique patterns, and even removing ink from paper! First, I jumped right in with making patterns! I began by masking off a leaf on a sheet of Mitz TerraSkin Multimedia Art Paper. Next, I squeezed a combination of Ranger Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Citrus, Clover, and Stream onto my rectangle-shaped Sofft Tool. Then I stamped a few sections of the leaf and dripped the same colors around it. When I pulled the masking fluid away, I was pleased with my result! Except there appeared to be a few places that I missed with masking fluid, and the inks got onto the paper...but no worries! The pointed Sofft Tool is the perfect shape for going back in with Claro Extender and cleaning up those stray marks! That's much better! I used a similar technique with a stencil I made: I cut this stencil out of a piece of polyester film and laid it onto another sheet of TerraSkin. Then I dropped some Wild Plum, Indigo,Watermelon, and Cool Peri onto my round Sofft Tool and Citrus, Clover, and Stream onto my rectangle again. I stamped my respective colors all over my stencil. And pulled the stencil away to reveal this! The greens are a bit dingy (I think because they got a little of the Indigo in them) and my flowers came out kind of sloppy, so I tried again--this time, with less ink on my Sofft Tools. Once again, stamped all over, making sure to keep my colors as contained as possible. And voila! A much nicer result this time! Though I do think both are nice, so I'll keep them for a future project, like putting an initial in the middle of some kind of quotes along the outside. The Sofft Tools give me so much control over these otherwise-wily inks, I love it! Next, I wanted to use my stencil as a relief while I used Claro Extender and a Sofft Tool to pull ink back up from the page. My first couple of attempts ended up looking something like this--too much extender! FINALLY, I found the perfect amount of extender to pull up the ink, without reactivating it and making it bleed. (It's about this much. And even then, I did some test stamps on a plain sheet of paper to get any excess off.) Next, I wanted to use the Sofft Tools as simply applicators for ink. I quickly threw together some light-ish colors (Wild Plum, Cool Peri, Shell Pink, and some Extender). Then I laid my stencil on the dried ink--dang, that looks pretty cool on its own! Inked all the way around with just a combo of Indigo and Cranberry. Tip: Indigo eats every other color you use, so apply it sparingly! Once again, my ink-to-sponge ratio was a bit off, so my flowers bled a little...BUT one portion was salvageable! Now I have a pretty little embellishment to add to a later work :) And if nothing else, you can use the tools to add dimension to the backgrounds of your works! Just squeezy-squeeze a bit onto your Sofft Tools... Apply in a random fashion... And then ink as normal! Since that layer dries before you apply your other inks, they still show through--even from under other inks! Tell me about your favorite alcohol ink techniques!
More Fun with Alcohol Inks!
Hi, everyone! More Fun with Alcohol Inks! This week's post goes out to all you alcohol ink artists out there! (OR folks considering getting into alcohol inks!) I'm sure you've...
Spring Art Swap!
Hi, everyone! It was a great week over here at Cheap Joe's headquarters! For a little over a month now, our employees have been working diligently to create a one-of-a-kind work of art to be swapped for another unique piece made by a fellow employee! Well, today was the day of the swap, and I am extremely excited to show you the products of some of the amazing artists we have here! The theme, of course, was "spring"--but we encouraged the participants to interpret that however they pleased OR go in a different direction entirely. After all, art knows no bounds! In alphabetical order: Artwork by Alex Skala, retail associate at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Alicia Orlando, a member of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Aly Perez, manager of our Asheville Retail Store. Artwork by Amanda Chapman, manager of our Boone Outlet Store. Artwork by Annabelle Prince, manager of our Charlotte Retail Store. Artwork by Becky Stines, part of our receiving gang. (This is the panel I got!) Artwork by Bri Stoehr, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Brian Dubberly, our Marketing Manager. Alicia Orlando also created this piece, on behalf of a new employee in the Distribution Center named Bryan Elrod. Artwork by Byron Cook, our Web Developer is in charge of the entire Cheap Joe's website! Artwork by Carlee Hudson (that's me!), marketing assistant/copywriter/blogger extraordinaire. Artwork by Christy Firk, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Danie Firth, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Dawn Hill, roommate to one of our Call Center gurus, Tammy Guilford. Artwork by Derrick Fowler, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Edwina May, our Workshop Coordinator. Artwork by Erin Guffey, one of our graphic designers, who works on our seasonal sale flyers and orchestrates these art swaps! Artwork by Jacob Woehler, one of the retail associates at our Asheville Location. And here's the back of Jacob's--we're a silly bunch :) Artwork by Jana Smith, another member of our receiving gang. Artwork by Janalee Burke, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Jane Laferla, one of the retail associates at our Asheville location. Artwork by Kevin Brown, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte Location. Artwork by Kevin Bryan, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Lauren Murrell, another retail associate at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Linda Greenup, a retail associate at our Asheville location. Artwork by Lori Inman, the other marketing assistant, in charge of finding awesome new products. Artwork by Luke Russell, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Megan Hart, Content/SEO Management Artwork by Meghann Miller Williams, in charge of promotional donations. Artwork by Michael White, part of the Distribution Center team. Artwork by Michelle Dineen, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Phillip Church, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Sally Garner, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Tammy Guilford, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Taylor Bowers, marketing. Artwork by Terry Henry, part of the graphics team. Artwork by Tippy Kleinman, one of the retail associates in our Boone Outlet Store. And last but certainly not least, Web Alexander, manager/guru supreme of the Call Center.
Spring Art Swap!
Hi, everyone! It was a great week over here at Cheap Joe's headquarters! For a little over a month now, our employees have been working diligently to create a one-of-a-kind...
Spring Succulent Sanctuary!
Hello, everyone! Who's ready for spring? I know I am. The weather has been gorgeous this week--but they say we're supposed to get snow on Sunday! In an effort to fight this Indian Winter, I bought myself a little jade plant to keep in the window by my desk. (Not a photo of mine, but this is a jade plant.) I've used some pretty creative things as planters over the years: Like these dinosaur toys that I gutted and painted! Can you tell I like succulents? So I knew I needed to give this new baby a nice home. I have this terracotta pot (that I believe I stole from my mom a few years ago), but I'm not a huge fan of the pattern on the middle of it. Since I knew anything I painted onto the pot would still show this pattern, I decided to cover it with paper instead! If you've read some of my other posts, you know that covering ugly stuff with gorgeous handmade paper is one of my favorite techniques; it's quick, usually inexpensive, and--most importantly--easy! I went next door and grabbed this pack of stunning monochromatic paper by Shizen. And the process was simple enough: I began by priming the whole pot (two layers on the rim and saucer) with Joe's Prime Really Good Gesso. When that dried insanely quickly, I could put down my paint layer. I painted the rim and saucer with my absolute favorite accent color, Golden's Iridescent Gold Deep (Fine). These are the parts I wasn't going to cover with paper. When that was good and dry, I used Golden Soft Gel Medium (Gloss) to adhere the paper to the pot. One sheet didn't quite wrap around it entirely, but because of how busy the pattern is, you'd hardly be able to tell I had to do any overlapping. When the paper-covered everything, I trimmed it down to the bottom of the pot with an X-Acto Knife and glued the edges down with more gel medium. With another coat of gel medium to seal the paper and paint, I was finished! What a happy little jade! And now it lives in the window, hopefully beckoning springtime and rebuking the snow! There is soo much you can do to create one-of-a-kind planters, especially on these cheap little terracotta pots.
Spring Succulent Sanctuary!
Hello, everyone! Who's ready for spring? I know I am. The weather has been gorgeous this week--but they say we're supposed to get snow on Sunday! In an effort to...
Speedball Screenprinting Workshop!
Hey, everybody! A few weeks ago, we were lucky to have two representatives from Speedball come and show us how to use all the awesome new screen printing stuff we've just started carrying and how to use them! First, Kim (left) and Melissa (right) gave us a rundown of some of the inks we picked up. The teal jar Melissa is holding is part of the line of Acrylic Screen Printing Ink--works the same as regular old acrylic paint, in that it's permanent when dry and highly pigmented for bold, opaque colors! The dark blue jar is the Fabric Screen Printing Ink--just like it says, this is ink that is made to be used on fabric and will hold up to the most powerful washing machines once it's properly heat-set. Of course you can use these inks interchangeably, but the acrylic goes on smoother and is ideal for putting down single layers on paper, while the fabric ink has a thicker consistency that'll definitely stick to your clothes! Then we talked about the two kinds of screens we'll have: wooden and aluminum. The Wooden Screen Frames are your standard screen printing frames that work perfectly with both fabric and acrylic inks. The Aluminum Screen Frames are the step up from those because they're a bit sturdier and can have finer screens, allowing for more intricate printing details. Next, Melissa explained to us the pros and cons of different screen-filling techniques. First, you've got your simple stencil method (which Kim is holding up), where you can tape either a stencil you've bought or cut out yourself to the back of your frame and then you push the ink through it and onto your surface. Melissa said they've found that the Bienfang Graphics #360 Marker Paper works wonderfully for stencils because it's translucent, waterproof, and very easy to cut through. Speedball also has this great Block Out Tape with an adhesive strong enough to withstand inks without leaving any sticky residue on your screen! Tip: a coworker who has a lot of experience in screen printing prefers to use vinyl stickers for stencils because they stick right to the screen and you don't have to worry about the possibility of them moving! Because of the impermanence of stencils, this technique is recommended for those who are only making a handful of prints. Second, there's the drawing fluid technique. As you can see from the labels, the bottom layer is just Drawing Fluid used on a screen if you printed this as is, you would get ink on everything except for "Speedball Drawing Fluid." The middle layer is drawing fluid with Screen Filler in the remaining empty parts of the screen (ya know, because it fills the holes). This is the next step you would take if you wanted to get to the top layer, where they've rinsed the drawing fluid while the screen filler stays to make it so "Speedball" is now the only thing that gets inked. This method is more permanent and reliable than the stencil method and is recommended for those who are making <100 prints. And then there's the photo emulsion technique--the most advanced method of screen printing. The top layer is your blank screen (obviously. The next layer is filled in with a mixture of Photo Emulsion and Sensitizer--you need BOTH of these for the photo emulsion technique and, thankfully, there's a kit to make sure you have the right ratio! Once that dries in a dark place (Melissa recommended the drawer under your oven if you don't have cookie sheets in there), place or tape a photo positive (meaning the dark parts are what you want to be inked) that's printed onto a clear surface, like polyester film or acetate onto the front of your screen. Rather than using a printed image, you could also paint directly onto your clear surface with some super-dark India Ink--whatever you do, just make sure your image is completely opaque. The final layer is the result of exposing your screen to a light source and then rinsing out the unexposed areas aka your design! This technique is extremely reliable and recommended for those who are making hundreds of prints. If you're worried about not being able to reuse your screens, you shouldn't be! The drawing fluid and screen filler can both be washed out with soap and warm water, and the photo emulsion can be removed with--you guessed it--Photo Emulsion Remover! After dropping all of this knowledge on us, Kim and Melissa thought it was time for the fun part: printing! Since they already had a photo emulsion screen ready, we jumped right in to print some Speedball logos on these awesome bags they brought for us! With a craft stick, I applied what I thought was a reasonable amount of ink to the top of my screen... But Melissa said I needed more, so I added more. With screen printing, you don't need to worry about using too much ink because whatever you don't use can simply be added back into your jar and saved for another print! Then came the moment of truth! Melissa explained how I should hold my Squeegee at about a 45-degree angle and drag the ink down my screen slowly and carefully. If you don't have a friend or Speedball representative to hold your screen down for you, it's necessary to grab a Base Unit to keep it from sliding around. Once I pulled the ink over the screen once, I was done! But Melissa says it's a good idea to pull the ink back over your design (with your screen in the air above your surface) as what is referred to as "flooding." This fills ONLY your design with ink and makes it ready for a second pull across your surface. Woohoo! Look at that! My very own screen printed bag! After that, we had a little fun with cutting out our own stencils and using different inks for different surfaces. Here's Web, our call center supervisor, about to print with a stencil I made for him. This gorgeous blue is actually part of the Night-Glo line, which glows in the dark! Night-Glo comes in fabric ink as well as acrylic ink, giving our outlet store manager, Amanda, the opportunity to brand her apron with this design she made of her initials! In the light, this design made by our search engine optimizer, Megan, is a radiant "Peacock Blue." But with the lights out, it glows an incredible green! I've had some issues getting even coverage with glow-in-the-dark paint before, but screen printing ensures perfectly even coating! You can probably tell I'm pretty excited about this new line of supplies, so go and check them out yourselves!
Speedball Screenprinting Workshop!
Hey, everybody! A few weeks ago, we were lucky to have two representatives from Speedball come and show us how to use all the awesome new screen printing stuff we've...
The Cheap Joe's 2016 Guide to Great Art!
Hello, everybody! Have you guys heard about this year's catalog? Well, not only is it jam-packed with a bunch more art stuff, but the cover is color-able! With how popular and fun grown-up coloring books are right now, we wanted to make our catalog just as exciting! These covers can withstand colored pencils, markers, pastels, pens, crayons, watercolor pencils, and even regular watercolors if you work lightly! With mine, I chose to go with a limited palette and only use Prismacolor Colored Pencils in blues and greens: At first, I was a little worried that the trees would fade into the background, but I think it turned out pretty good considering I didn't have the whole spectrum of colors to work with! Take a look at some of the others from around Cheap Joe's! Megan, our SEO Analyst, put this beauty together. I love how she left snowy peaks on the mountains! Our Website Manager, Byron, has been working on this one in between website updates. His combination of highlighters and colored pencils really makes the cover pop! TJ, one of our Customer Service Representatives in the call center, took a creative approach in making his mountains into pyramids! Now that's thinking outside the box! One of our retail store associates, Tippy, colored this one. Gotta love those purple-mountain Majesties! It's easy to forget that you don't have to color every single shape in its entirety, and by leaving some shapes white, she drew even more attention to the sections that are colored! Taylor, another CSR, has been working diligently on hers during the limited downtime in the call center. It's tough to get art done on the job, but it provides such a relaxing atmosphere! And another of our retail store associates, Kathleen, is slowly but surely filling hers in, too! She's even got a little doodle from Cheap Joe himself to add a unique touch! And these are just a FEW of the awesome covers we've got over here at headquarters. What's even better is that some customers have been sending us photos of what they've done with their catalogs: Marion from Florida sent us this magical wonderland! She even included glitter, though it didn't photograph particularly well. She says this is just her FIRST draft and she plans on putting snow on the mountains in her next one! Then we've got Wilton, also from Florida, who decided to turn one of his mountains into Grandfather Mountain, located just a few minutes from us! Click here to request your own 2016 catalog with this awesome coloring book cover, and then send us a picture of what you create! Who knows, it could be entered into a contest where you could win a prize... :)
The Cheap Joe's 2016 Guide to Great Art!
Hello, everybody! Have you guys heard about this year's catalog? Well, not only is it jam-packed with a bunch more art stuff, but the cover is color-able! With how popular...
Citra Solv Collage Paper!
Hi, everyone! Do you guys know about Citra Solv? Yep, the natural cleaner, degreaser, and solvent! But I'm wondering if you've heard about using it as an art medium. This week, I want to show you how to create some one-of-a-kind paper designs just using Citra Solv! I'm using National Geographics because the paper is clay-coated, which lets the ink on the pages dissolve almost entirely. I've tried using this technique with other magazines, but to no avail... Thankfully, it seems like everyone has stacks upon stacks of old Nat Geos hanging around. To start, you'll need to rip out the covers and ads on the front and the back. These pages aren't clay-coated and the ink doesn't dissolve at all, so don't waste your time or medium. You should also flip through to remove any other ads that are hiding in between the pages and you can also unfold these big sheets so that you'll be able to apply the Citra Solv to the entire page. I started by spritzing each of the pages with a small spray bottle, to really coat the magazine with Citra Solv. But that didn't end up giving me the result I wanted... So I went back through and used one of these Jacquard Plastic Droppers to give higher concentrated droplets in a more random pattern. Once I got all the way through, I closed it up and let it sit for about 10 minutes. When I opened it back up, there were still a few pages that weren't dissolved as much as I wanted them to be... So I just smudged the images with my finger and then closed the magazine back up to give me a new design! When I opened it back up, I had a TON of gorgeous pages! Just look at these beauts! I let them dry a little while longer (about 20 minutes or so in front of my space heater) and then I was ready to use them! Since I had a lot of browns and darker-colored papers, I decided to collage a nice Barred Owl. First I cut out a branch shape from a page that had some really cool bark-ish texture on it. Next, I used a darker sheet to give me the tail and part of the body of my owl. I used another sheet of a similar tone to make the rest of the body and the little footsies. With a few more shapes cut out from different pages, I had my owl! I wasn't happy with the branch going off the page or with how dark the feet were, so I trimmed and snipped a few more shapes... And then I was done! I used the same sheet for the talons that I used as part of the face, to keep the colors consistent and balanced. I also added some scraps around his neck to give him a little more dimension. I left the background blank because I didn't want anything to take away from the gorgeous textures I got in my papers! I still have stacks and stacks of unused pages that I can't wait to use in more projects. widget type="Magento\CatalogWidget\Block\Product\ProductsList" template="Magento_CatalogWidget::product/widget/content/grid.phtml" anchor_text="" id_path="" show_pager="0" products_count="1" condition_option="sku" condition_option_value="mgps-6nm" type_name="Catalog Products List" conditions_encoded="^[`1`:^[`aggregator`:`all`,`new_child`:``,`type`:`Magento||CatalogWidget||Model||Rule||Condition||Combine`,`value`:`1`^],`1--1`:^[`operator`:`()`,`type`:`Magento||CatalogWidget||Model||Rule||Condition||Product`,`attribute`:`sku`,`value`:`mgps-6nm`^]^]" sort_order="position_by_sku"
Citra Solv Collage Paper!
Hi, everyone! Do you guys know about Citra Solv? Yep, the natural cleaner, degreaser, and solvent! But I'm wondering if you've heard about using it as an art medium. This...
Bettering Your Lettering!
Hey, everybody! Typography has always been a passion of mine. As an artist with an English degree, it seems only natural that I'd be drawn to the creative ways you can present text. I've noticed that one of the popular fads right now is hand-lettering. Whether it's in advertisements or on wedding decorations, folks seem to be ditching the somewhat-cold feeling of perfectly straight fonts and are gravitating towards the uniqueness and personal touch that hand-lettering provides. This week, I'm going to go over some ways you can get into and practice hand-lettering for yourself! The easiest way to start is by taking your normal handwriting and just jazzing it up a bit: Here, I've penciled out "paintbrush" in both my regular print and regular cursive--taking care to make it cleaner-looking than it normally would. To make it fancy, all you need to do is thicken parts of your letters. Tip: A good rule of thumb is to widen on the down strokes and leave the horizontals their normal width. Then I went over it in my 08/.50mm Sakura Pigma Micron and erased any residual pencil marks. Not super exciting, but still nicer to look at than the regular old lines. I followed suit with the cursive example, again thickening the vertical lines, only a bit smoother this time. And that's how you fake calligraphy! (Just make sure you wait longer than 10 seconds to erase your pencil marks, or you'll smudge your ink as I did...) If you don't particularly care for your handwriting or are looking to go for something specific, you can draw inspiration from--or simply copy--a font that already exists! Fonts.com has thousands of fonts in a myriad of styles for you to look through and test with your own sentences. I've also found a lot of great, free fonts by browsing Pinterest boards. This one is called Cantoni and I found it through Pinterest. Just like I did with my own handwriting, I sketched it out in pencil first and then went over it in ink. I like this font a lot better than my regular cursive, and with a bit of practice, I could eventually get the motions of the letters memorized and it can become my own! Tip: Practicing your lettering by writing out each letter in order is boring and feels a bit like when you had to learn cursive in school. Instead, use pangrams (phrases that incorporate the entire alphabet), like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" or "When zombies arrive, quickly fax judge Pat." This will help you figure out ways to connect letters naturally and find a smooth rhythm in which to write. Something neat I found online is this 30-Day Lettering + Doodle Challenge. These 30-Day Challenges are an awesome and super-fun way to make a habit out of something you want to explore more--I've done writing and poetry challenges before but never doodling and lettering! I went ahead and drew out what I was feeling for Day #4's prompt, "Dreamer." In my head, I imagined a font that was all capitals but with somewhat-thin letters that had slight flourishes. So I took to Pinterest and found Lettersmith. With a few simple accent stars, I had already completed the day's challenge! (It always looks better in ink.) I fully intend to keep this 30-Day Challenge going--even though I skipped ahead a few days. And I can either doodle the odd days, as suggested, or use ALL of the words as prompts for lettering! This guy is another I found on Pinterest, and he's called Bellwethers. Some fonts, like Bellwethers, will come with optional letter flourishes (like how the P and H are swoopy-er than the other letters). Flourishes like this are a great way to draw attention to a single word or add a kind-of border to a short phrase. You can add flourishes around your letters or directly to them, depending on the type of font you're using--printed fonts usually look better with non-connected flourishes that echo the shapes of the letters, while cursive scripts are prettier and more complete with swirly accents either around the letters or connected to them. If you're lacking inspiration for flourishes, there are plenty of templates for those online as well! Here's a small section of a HUGE template I found also on Pinterest--an incredible resource, honestly. Eventually, all of these little tricks and cheats will become second nature and you won't have to rely on outside sources anymore! Once you get to that point and are feeling more confident with your lettering, you can try upping your game with thicker markers or full-blown calligraphy pens! Use the Pitt Big Brush Artist Pen for chunky lettering that you want to cover a large area with. For daintier fonts that still need to cover some space, try the smaller Brush Tip Pitt Artist Pen. If you wanna get REALLY nuts, bust out a bottle of India ink and your tiniest detail brush to fill in your sketches. It's a super quick way to fill in a lot of letters that have varying line widths. A happy medium between using a pen and a brush and ink is one of these Niji Waterbrushes! I filled this one with some water and (maybe not quite enough of) American Journey June Bug and wrote out my word without penciling first. And, of course, we have actual calligraphy pen sets for those of you who are already awesome at lettering. But even if you only master one font, there are still endless possibilities for mediums to use it with and flourishes to add to it. Plus, since to err is human, each instance will be a little bit different from the ones you've done before. And that's what hand-lettering is all about :)
Bettering Your Lettering!
Hey, everybody! Typography has always been a passion of mine. As an artist with an English degree, it seems only natural that I'd be drawn to the creative ways you...
6 Ways to Use Your Old Brushes!
Hello, everyone! And welcome to the new year! I hope you all had fabulous holidays full of brand new art supplies! If you got some new brushes for Christmas this year, you're probably considering tossing out your old ones. But don't! Old brushes may seem obsolete once you've replaced them, but you can always find a use! Here are some ways you can still get some mileage out of them: If your rounds/detail brushes have lost their point, give them a new job! Your round can now be used to make more bold, expressive strokes and continuous fat lines and that detail brush would be perfect for applying masking fluid! But maybe you've got a brush whose bristles are really spread out: Don't toss it! Brushes with crazy bristles can give you organic textures and help you create patterns you otherwise couldn't. Plus, when you stop caring about the quality of your brush, you can just throw caution to the wind and go nuts with it. Brushes that have been left sitting on their tips almost always come out looking something like this: There goes a perfectly good Flat... OR there goes a brand new Deerfoot Stippler! Experiment with the new shapes you can make with your new-shaped brush! If you've committed the cardinal sin of acrylic painting and accidentally let your paint dry onto your brush, it's not a lost cause! You can use your seemingly-hopeless brush to create interesting patterns and designs within the paint, just like you would with a color shaper! And when that fails, you can still use...the handle! Some brushes have this cool tapered tip to them, which can double as a color shaper, Paint Pusher, or palette knife! Since these handles are made to be used with art supplies, they can withstand the torment of mixing paint or varnish--and you don't have to ruin a perfectly good butter knife! If you have a brush with bristles that are just too far gone, consider just cutting it all the way down. The short hairs all packed together tightly will act similarly to a scrubber brush, and you can use it to pick up color you've already laid down! Of course, you can only do so much with some brushes, and then it's just time to let them go. The best way to keep your brushes from aging too quickly is to clean and condition them with a product I personally adore, The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver.
6 Ways to Use Your Old Brushes!
Hello, everyone! And welcome to the new year! I hope you all had fabulous holidays full of brand new art supplies! If you got some new brushes for Christmas this...
