The Beginnings of an Art Journal

I have been wanting to start an art journal for a very long time. I just never got started. Finally one day on Pinterest I saw lots of other art journals. I just couldn't take it anymore and I had to start my own. I found lots of posts that had prompts or ideas of how to fill up your own art journal or bullet journal. (links at the bottom of the post)

My News

Hello,

I am sorry that I haven't posted in so long. I have some news for you guys. I was recently offered a job at a summer camp that I have been wanting to work at since I was in third grade. I am very excited about this opportunity. Unfortunately, this means that I cannot continue to post during the summer.  This does mean, however, that in the fall this blog and my novel will be my job. So in the fall I will be back bigger and better than ever and I am looking forward to it. Thank you so much for all your support!

Zentangling - Part 1: Basic Tangling

Zentangling is a type of ink art that has been around for about a decade now. The idea between zentangling is to connect a series of patterns to make a bigger picture. It is a lot easier than it sounds. When it is really boiled down all you have to do is draw a shape, divide it up and fill it in with a fun pattern. But enough talking, let me show you some of my own drawings.

If you look at this pictures you can mostly see the sections of the images and the patterns that I used for each section. Here is an image that you can use to practice any patterns that you come up with. I know that this week was very basic but next week we will be going into more detail with some complex zentangling and what you can do with it. Plus, a surprise!! 

Add to the outline and zentangle. What will you make? Will it be a city scene? An airport? Show me what you created in the comments. Be creative!

Enter a Give Away for a $10 amazon Gift Card!

I'm so excited to partner with my friend and teacher Nicole@feedyourfictionaddiction for a class giveaway! How you win is that you comment or follow my blog and the blogs of my friends, also you can follow me on Instagram! We will select not one but two winners from everyone who enters! Both winners will receive a $10 dollar Amazon gift card. Let me know if you win!

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Valentine's Day collab!

Hi! Happy Valentines Day!

I'm doing a collab with Maddi at food-frenzi . We are each going to provide ideas for two essential parts for any valentine's day party, decorations, and food. Here are my ideas for any valentines day party.

The next part is the what brings the party to life! The food! I'm going to show you one image now ans you can check the rest at food-frenzi.

Turning Words into Art - Filled in Shapes

Words: Bye Bye Miss. American Pie drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry and good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye singin' this will be the day that I die. 

One of the first projects I did in my third-grade art class was to put words into shapes, It is a very simple technique that requires not very advanced equipment. In this blog post, I hope to show you how to use this technique on your own and what you can use it for. 

Step 1: Picking the words

This should be the easiest part of the process. This is where you get to select your favorite book quote or lyrics. It is really up to you. 

Here are some sites you can check out if you are out of ideas:

Brainy Quote

Quotes by Topic

Step 2: Picking a good shape

let's say you choose this quote:

No great artist ever sees things as they are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.
- Oscar Wilde

Think about all the potential shapes or objects that come to mind. For the American pie picture that I have at the top, it didn't take me long to decide on a pie. Other quotes can be more tricky but get creative!

Some images that come to mind might be:

A paint brush

A paint palette

A canvas

Step 3: Drawing out the shape on paper.

For this step use a pencil and the sheet of paper that you won't put your final piece on. You are going to want to keep a few things in mind as you choose what you want the shape to look like. 

1. Make it simple and obvious to what it is. 

2. The length of your quote and where each word will eventually go. 

Here is an example:

Step 4: Inserting the words

Continue using a pencil and lightly work on filling the shape in with words. Go lightly because you might need to try a few times before it will fit properly. 

Here is an example:

Step 5: Redo it all on your final sheet of paper. 

Still remain to be cautious and use that pencil lightly. You might have to accommodate for the size difference between your practice image and your final one.

Step 6: Color it in

Again a few things that you might want to keep in mind. 

1. The color of your object

2. What would be easy to read

3. Make the letters pop from the background

Step 7: Admire You beautiful Art Work!

Drops Of Jupiter - Mixed Media Artwork

Turning Your Favorite Song Into Art

This is my very first multimedia piece! I was inspired to make this piece by the song Drops of Jupiter by Train. This is my favorite song of all time. It is fun to listen to and to play on guitar. The songs lyrics are fun and imaginative. It is one of those songs that proves that you don't need to be dirty to have a good song. The songs lyrics have always painted images in my head and I have always wanted to make a piece of art using the song lyrics. It took a few years before I knew what I wanted to do and until I was able to except that whatever I did won't be perfect. I'm going to show you how I used different lyrics in the song to contribute to each element and what I used to make each element.

The Girl On Saturn

Lyrics; Was it everything you wanted to find

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken
Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance five-hour phone
Conversation
The best soy latte that you ever had, and me

For this part I used  oil pastels to draw Saturn and colored pencils to draw the girl drinking the soy latte. i like to think that she is contemplating all the good things in life while she stares into space looking for herself.

Shooting Star

Lyrics: Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star

One without a permanent scar

The star was made out of sketchbook paper, oil pastels and chalk pastels.

The Sun

Lyrics: Tell me did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated

For the main part of the sun I used color pencils and light oil pastel. For the rays I used oil pastes. I purposely made two of the rays faded to fit the lyrics.

Venus 

Lyrics: Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet

Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day

And head back to the milky way

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind

Venus was made out of oil pastel. The background is painted onto a canvas with oil pastels.

Drops of Jupiter

Lyrics: Now that she's back in the atmosphere

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey

Jupiter is again drawn with oil pastels. It took me a while to decided how I wanted Jupiter to look like but eventually I choose to have the drops of Jupiter rolling off.

What's your favorite song or a song you want to see as a piece of art? Let me know in the comments!

Review of Prismacolor Colored Pencils

This here is a picture of the 150 piece set of Prismacolor pencils. This is the set that I own and use for my colored pencil drawings. I have found these pencils to be very, very useful. They color variety is huge and extremely helpful. The thing that you have to keep in mind is that colored pencils are different from paints when it comes to the amount that you have to own when you start off. When you start off with paints you only need the primary colors, white and black until you have decided that that is the medium you want to build up your supplies and skills in. Colored pencils are a little more of an all in thing in terms of you can't mix them to make the colors you want. You need to buy many so this set if perfect for someone who wants to draw all types of pictures. 

The question that a lot of people have been asking me is why would I spend more money to buy 150 Prismacolor pencils when I could get a set of 150 from other brands and companies for far cheaper? Well, the answer comes down to what I want to do with the pencils. If you want colored pencils for zentangling or coloring books you can you whatever brand you want. If you have the goal I have to create realistic portraits with color pencils Prisma is the only brand to consider. Unlike normal pencils where you have to see the evidence of every stroke you make, Prismacolor pencils blend very well and you can draw areas solidly without the annoying lines. Until you try shading with color pencils you can't understand how huge this is.

How did you here about Prismacolor Colored Pencils? I watch many, many speed drawing videos on YouTube. I paid very close attention to the pencil companies that were used in the videos. Almost every single one used Prismacolor. My art teacher let me try some of his pencils, which were all Prisma, and the worked beautifully. 

Speed Drawing - Black Widow

Speed Drawing - Taylor Swift

Speed Drawing - Eye

[Note: I don't own any of these videos but the artist are incredibly talented so give the each a like!)

Can you tell the difference of the quality of your work since using the Prismacolor Pencils? Yes, absolutely. If you want to see an example of some of my work before the Prismacolor pencil click here. Here is an example of my work after using Prismacolor pencils.

I'm finishing off a huge two portrait project. Thank you for your patient. I hope this helped any of you that were considering buying Prismacolor Pencils. 

What would the first thing you would draw with these pencils? Let me know in the comments!

Check me out on Instagram! @creative_Indulgences

Documenting Your Art

               ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks#/media/File:Nighthawks_by_Edward_Hopper_1942.jpg

This morning I was thinking that I would be writing a blog post on my favorite piece of art. Nighthawks painted by Edward Hopper in 1942 when I was reading about his wife Josephine Hopper. What I found interesting about Josephine Hopper is that Josephine kept a Journal where she and her husband would keep the record of a paintings progress, when they when finally completed, who modeled for the painting, and other details. Whenever you look up an article on Nighthawks you find information on this journal. This made me think that I should start keeping a record of my art pieces and how long they took me.

^https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Hopper#/media/File:Robert_Henri_-_The_Art_Student_(Miss_Josephine_Nivison).jpg

Why? Well, by no means am I claiming to be Edward Hopper but even if you aren't a famous artist there are still going to be people that are interested in your artwork. For example your friends, family, blog readers, etc. It also is nice for you to have a record of what inspired you to make certain pieces, or what your goal was in a piece so you can see the evolution of your artwork over time.

It's a new year and a fresh start so I challenge you to join me with the challenge of keeping an art record journal. Please let me know in the comments below if you will be keeping a journal record. Remember it does just have to be for art, it can be for anything you create!

Do you have a way to document your art?

Indulge Creatively,

                   Emma Grace

P.S. No original art today but some more will be coming soon.

Don't forget to check me out at  https://www.instagram.com/creative_indulgences/