Peas in a Pod - Dangerous Doodle Drawing Tutorial (Video)

 

I have been doing a bit of gardening lately.  Well let me correct that slightly,  I have been sitting in a deck chair drawing pretty flowers and vegetables in my sketchbook, while my HUSBAND actually does the gardening.   I like to think of myself as providing the encouragement for the garden, saying important things like 'those tomatoes are so big and shiny', and 'how long will that horse poo take to get properly mixed into the compost heap?'. 

My husband has been experimenting with many different compost ingredients, and today brought home a huge bucket of fish guts from the local fish and chip shop.  The cat was given some as his new year's eve present, and set about dragging the stuff all over the place in case some other cats might come along and grab it off him.  I could just imagine my husband lovingly  placing pieces of fish guts around each vegetable in the garden, and inquired whether this was practical with all the stray cats and dogs that hang around our place.  My husband informed me that he would be digging a very VERY deep hole, burying the smelly treasure, waiting for a week or so, and then digging it up again and using it to feed our hungry plants.

So  I am looking forward to the super vegetables all this 'compost gold' will produce.   I seem to recall some famous story about a giant turnip and all the people needed to pull it out of the ground...that could be us in a few weeks.  I will keep you posted.

I hope that little story explains why I have started drawing peas.  Natural objects really have such beautiful shapes, and when you draw them you really have to appreciate how wonderful they are.  I hope you enjoy my latest drawing tutorial video.  Maybe it will encourage you to get out your gardening gloves as well!

Regards,

'Peas in a Pod' A Dangerous Doodle Drawing Tutorial Video
by Miraculous Mosquito.

Flower Explosion - Video Drawing Tutorial

Wellington...howling wind, fog, hail, landslides, earthquakes...and that's just in one afternoon!  Ok ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but generally here in Wellington, New Zealand, we just have to ignore the weather and get on with things.

I was born here but I lived in a very hot place for most of my life.  When I returned and began complaining about the cold weather, a friend of mine who lived here all her life said to me 'Well, you're just going to have to toughen up a bit!'.  She said it in a joking way, of course. I am glad she said it, because it's true, there is no point complaining about the weather. Why? Because when spring and summer come around it is all worth putting up with.

Suddenly there is an explosion of flowers, crystal clear blue skies reflecting in the breathtaking beauty of the harbor, and everything turns an amazing shade of emerald green.  The hills are covered in dense forest, similar in texture to large clumps of brocolli. The botanical gardens come alive and burst into colour, like something out of a children's picture book.

Spring has already sprung here and the flowers are now at their best. Now summer is here. I thought I would capture the floral inspiration before they finish, with this latest tutorial.  These blooms are obviously not going to win any prizes for botanical drawing, they are straight out of my imagination.

Have a go at drawing your own flower explosion...it's lots of fun!  I know the weather where you live may be turning a little chilly, but when you have finished drawing these cheerful flowers, you will feel as warm as a sunny summer's day.

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog and You Tube, send me a video response with your drawing (in the comments below the tutorial video on You Tube), or add your artwork to the 'Dangerous Doodles' group on Flickr,  I can't wait to see your wonderful floral creations!

Regards,

Fancy Lettering Update

I'm making some progress with my fancy lettering videos.  As you can see, they are not meant to be perfectly polished lettering, just a fun design with a few quick curls and frilly bits. 

I was going for the hand-drawn look.  Although I love using the computer to draw and add colour, it can sometimes turn out a bit mass-produced and cold looking.  If you start with one of your own drawings on paper, scan it, and then use the computer to colour it, you can still keep that handmade look whilst enjoying the convenience of not having to get all your paints out and then clean up the mess afterwards (although I do love to get my watercolours out every now and again). 

This is meant to be the sort of lettering that anyone could do fairly quickly, on a card or a poster for example.  In the videos below you will be able to see that I have just drawn a very basic outline of each letter, and then added four elements which tie them all together:

1.  A few curls here and there (no rules...just ad-lib and have some fun with it)

2.  Some quick frills on the left hand side.

3.  Some diagonal hatching , again on the left side (just repeated single lines, quick and easy).

4.  A double-lined border, rather roughly drawn.  Who needs rulers, anyway?!

If you would prefer to see a really fancy, much neater 'Illuminated Letter', you can always look at this one (there is a link to the video there too, if you want to watch me draw it).

Anyway, below are the 'Fun with Typography' videos that I have made so far, all in one convenient place.  They are all very short and sweet.  I hope you have a go at drawing some groovy fonts of your own, it really is fun.  By the way, a small trick...start by drawing the basic letter shape first (like a thin stick) and then draw a thicker outline around that, as if you were drawing a plank of wood, or a letter made out of a balloon.  Hey...why don't you just make your letters look like balloons?  Now there's an idea!


Happy drawing!
Regards,

The Letter A

The Letter B





The Letter C




The Letter D

Paisley Power

Do you like Paisleys?  I do!  For some reason I have always found myself attracted to the Paisley design, whether it be on wrapping paper, clothes...I think I once had a very loud Paisley shirt when I was at university (I was such a dag back then...probably now too hehe.)

Oh...sorry...'dag'? That's a bit of kiwi/New Zealand slang for you.  See, you get so much free bonus information here at the MM drawing blog.  It's worth subscribing just so that you can learn these useful little gems of kiwi culture.  The word 'dag' can mean a variety of things, usually 'unfashionable' or 'old fashioned', but it can also mean that a person is funny, or has a good sense of humour.  There is also another meaning, but I will let you Google that one and find out.  I will give you a clue...it has something to do with sheep.  When you Google 'dag', you might also find a person called 'Fred Dag'...he's another story altogether LOL.

Anyway back to the point (yes, there was a point to this post, I promise).  I am really addicted to the Paisley design and I love drawing them.  Once you know how to draw that curly teardrop shape, the world is your oyster.  You can really go for it and fill those wonderful shapes with all sorts of patterns and decorations.  They can be as bright and colourful as the one shown in my drawing above, or you can draw them in soft pastels, or perhaps just limit your design to one or two colours, which always looks effective.  

I really enjoyed drawing and editing the latest video tutorial, 'Paisley Power'.  I hope you enjoy it.  Don't forget to let me know what you think either in the comments below or on my youtube channel...and why not have a go at drawing your own paisley, record it, and create a video response to the tutorial video?  I would be so happy if you did:)

Happy drawing!

Regards, 

'Paisley Power' - The Full-Length Tutorial Version

'Pasley Power' - The Speed-Drawing Version

A is for Alphabet

Presenting...the letter A! The first letter in my Typography video series.  My son's name begins with 'A' so he is pretty excited.  The inspiration for this series came from my children, who are learning the alphabet.  Ahhh those were the days! Now if only they could hurry up and learn how to put the letters together so I can introduce them to the idea of sitting back and enjoying a nice long book.  Then, instead of hearing the sound of a whole tub of lego being emptied onto the lounge room floor, I could say:  'Why don't you go and do a bit of quiet reading while mummy does some drawing?'

The rest of the ABC coming soon...go to the playlist to see what I have done so far.  Don't forget to share and subscribe!
Enjoy the video.
Regards,

Fun with Animation.

I really enjoy making my drawing videos, and I have been feeling a bit more experimental lately.  I want  to spice things up a bit.  Yesterday I reached 1000 subscribers (YAY! Thanks, everyone!) and I realised that to keep my subscribers I have to start improving my videos, adding a bit of imagination and entertainment.  Having secretly always wanted to become an animator, I have been playing around with some simple animations using some of my previous drawings.  I am currently working on a stop animation (a very crude one, I guess I have to start somewhere!) and have been playing around with some different animation techniques.  I must admit I cheated a bit and used this cool website called 'LunaPic' for the animated GIFs above, but ooooooooooh, it is so much fun!  Give it a try if you have the chance.  I just took the design from my last drawing video and did a bit of experimenting.  Enjoy!

Regards,