Time flies, doesn't it? Perhaps you have been wondering where I have been all this time, so I thought I would combine a speed drawing with some news about what I have been up to. So much has happened since my last video. Thank you to those of you who have subscribed, especially those who have been following my channel for a long time. Your support and encouragement means so much to me. I am feeling excited about making videos, and hope to have lots more coming your way soon. There are so many ideas in my head, if only there was more time!
Please click the comic page to see a larger image.
Please click the comic page to see a larger image.
Two days ago I decided I needed to draw an online comic strip, and...Voila! 'GARDENABLES' was born! Here is the first exciting episode, entitled 'Trev's New Look' (exciting? Ok I will leave that up to you to decide hehe).
Anyway it's just a bit of fun, and I hope you enjoy it. It's the first time I have ever done an online comic strip, so I would love to hear what you think of the first episode. Please add your comments, ideas, and helpful suggestions below.
Should I keep going and make episode #2? Or should I just kill it now and put it out of its misery? Perhaps you have suggestions for characters or storylines? Let me know.
I have also recorded the drawings and will be posting them on my YouTube channel very soon.
Oh...and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any of the fun!
The letter 'G'! Part of my 'Fun with Typography' series of quick drawing videos. The letter G video is below, and don't forget to check out all the other letters on my YouTube Channel. Subscribe to my YT channel and blog to make sure you don't miss out on any.
Phew! I finally finished my entry for the Shoo Rayner drawing competition. The black and white version is hand-drawn in black ink on paper, and the colour version has been scanned and digitally coloured on the computer, with some extra words added. You can view my video entry below, which shows some small snippets of me drawing. Although it was a lot of work (not just the drawing, but the video editing etc) it was a lot of fun and I learned quite a few new tricks while completing it. It also made me feel like running my own competition sometime soon, once I get the ideas all sorted out in my head.
Regards,
Watch my entry for the Shoo Rayner Drawing Competition.
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to my channel
if you feel so inclined :) It all helps my pen to keep on movin'!
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.
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!
Egg on toast...sunny side up, runny yolk, salt and pepper. Cup of milky tea on the side. My favourite breakfast. This one, however, has been cooked according to a special 'Dangerous Doodle' recipe:
Original black and white version.
Dangerous Doodle Egg on Toast(Serves one)
Ingredients:
1 drawing journal
1 thin black permanent ink pen (approx 0.3)
A generous sprinkling of Dangerous Doodles (eg: Head in the clouds, Deep in the Forest, Spikies, Sea Sick)
1 computer with Photoshop or similar software installed (or a set of coloured pencils or watercolours)
1 Scanner
1 imagination
Proceedure:
Draw the general shape of the egg lightly with a pencil. Outline with the thin black pen, then use your imagination and have fun doodling on the egg using a variety of Dangerous Doodles. Make sure the ink is dry, and erase the pencil lines. Use your choice of medium (Photoshop, coloured pencils or watercolour for example) to add colour to your egg to make it look as delicious as possible. You don't have to stick with yellow and white, splash in a few other different colours to spice things up a bit.
Yesterday I decided that the photos on my posts needed a bit of hand-drawn bling! My children were drawing in their daily journals at the kitchen table (they are 5 and 3 years old...they draw a picture and then they dictate the story to me as I write it next to the picture). I can't watch someone else drawing and not get into it myself, so I whipped out my pencil case and sketchbook, threw down some general shapes, and began to decorate them. Some turned out scannable, and others, I'm afraid, will have to remain in the sketchbook. After scanning I changed the colour in Photoshop (always fun!). I made quite a few of them, so you may see them pop up on future blog posts. Keep your eyes peeled!
As you can see from the picture above, the hand-drawn classified ad spaces are filling up very quickly on Andrea Joseph's upcoming new zine, and she only has 3 spaces left! UK based Andrea's beautiful drawings are very popular, and so are her zines, so this is a good opportunity to get your message out to people who appreciate this sort of thing. Can you spot my funny little tree logo on the page? I purchased a very inexpensive spot in the classifieds a while ago, and can't wait till the zine is published. The classified pages are like an artwork all by themselves!
Check out Andrea Joseph's Sketchblog article to see the other pages and read more information, but be quick!
Here's a bit of Jungly fun for you! Create a tangled jungle pattern with this new Dangerous Doodle tutorial called 'Deep in the Jungle'. I have made it pretty simple for everyone to follow, but you are welcome to get complicated and tangle those vines as much as your heart desires.
Click on the video below. Looking forward to your comments. Enjoy!
Regards,
P.S: (You are welcome to use the 'Dangerous Doodle' pattern designs in any of your own creations, as I have provided them for free, however I would really appreciate it if you have the chance to link back to my articles so that others could share the doodly fun! Thanks :))
Ta-daaaah! A new 'Dangerous Doodle' pattern tutorial. I am really enjoying making these. Can't wait to see what you think of this one. If you use it in your drawing, I would love to see it. Send me a link to your blog or just send me a pikkie.
I'm thinking of running some sort of competition where people submit drawings they have done using some of my patterns. It's in my head at the moment, but I will post a competition soon, so don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on any news!
Happy doodling!
Regards,
P.S: (You are welcome to use the 'Dangerous Doodle' pattern designs in any of your own creations, as I have provided them for free, however I would really appreciate it if you have the chance to link back to my articles so that others could share the doodly fun! Thanks :))
Building up layers is a great way to give perspective to your artwork. Make the top layers bigger than the bottom ones, and voila! You have instant perspective...because we all know that things look smaller as they get further away.
My 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son were mesmerised by the idea that things look smaller far away but are really the same size as the same object close up. I guess it is something we understand but take for granted as grown ups.
Anyway, here is a Dangerous Doodle tutorial for you called 'Over and Under'. I have made it fairly simple, but you could easily embellish this with more shading, colours, and patterns to make it your own. The sky is the limit!
Join the Dangerous Doodles Flickr Group.
How can this be a dangerous doodle, I hear you ask? Well just be careful not to get caught up in those vines or fall through the spaces as you draw...doodling can be a risky business, you know!
I can't wait to see what you come up with! Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the next tutorial, and please share this article with all your doodler friends :)
Send me your doodles at miraculousmosquito (at) gmail (dot) com.
Have fun!
Regards,
P.S: (You are welcome to use the 'Dangerous Doodle' pattern designs in any of your own creations, as I have provided them for free, however I would really appreciate it if you have the chance to link back to my articles so that others could share the doodly fun! Thanks :))
Well to be exact, these doodles are not exactly dangerous, but we all love a bit of alliteration now and again, don't we? I had to think of something dramatic to get your attention!
This first video might not be dangerous, but don't eat too much before you watch it...there are a lot of wavy lines. Hence the name 'Sea Sick'.
Some of my YouTube subscribers have commented that my drawing videos are a tad too fast for them to follow, so I have come up with a series of pattern drawing tutorial videos which are a bit more simple and straight to the point. That way people can use the designs to adapt to their own artwork, and whatever shapes they want to fill.
I have named them my 'Dangerous Doodles' Pattern tutorial series, and I hope you like them. Let me know what you think in the comments below this post, or under the video itself on YouTube.
If you would like to have a go at drawing these patterns yourself, don't forget to use the pause button if you want more time to think about each line and shape before you put it down on paper. Don't get too caught up in trying to make your drawing look exactly like mine. The idea is that you express the lines and shapes in your own way. After all, we all think differently and hold our pens differently, so no two drawings are ever going to turn out the same...that's what makes art so interesting! Just relax, go with the flow, and overall make sure that you enjoy what you are doing.
Use different colours and materials. You don't have to stick with ink. Try a thin paintbrush with some different coloured inks, coloured pencils, aquarelles (water colour pencils), or whatever takes your fancy.
Made a mistake? Fantastic! There is no such thing as a mistake in this sort of drawing, in fact mistakes are a great way to come up with a new pattern or idea for another artwork. Just draw around or over it and turn it into a masterpiece. After all, no one will ever know that it was a mistake except you....shhh!
I have so many more ideas for these tutorials, and have already recorded about eight of them so far, I just have to edit them, and hey presto! So make sure you subscribe to my blog and youtube channel so you don't miss a thing.
If you use any of the patterns in your artwork, I would love to see it, and maybe post it on this blog to inspire others. You can send it to me at miraculousmosquito (at) gmail (dot) com.
Have a great day (or night, depending on where you are on the Earth!)
Regards,
P.S: (You are welcome to use the 'Dangerous Doodle' pattern designs in any of your own creations, as I have provided them for free, however I would really appreciate it if you have the chance to link back to my articles so that others could share the doodly fun! Thanks :))
An enlarged section of 'Illuminated M' - Ink drawing.
Natural patterns can really add beauty to a design. Organic shapes and textures bring your artwork to life, because they are not predictable. A pattern which I use often in my own work is rocks, which can be used in many ways. For example, an underground 'cut earth' look, or an old stone wall. On the left is an enlarged portion of an ink drawing I recently finished. If you want, you can read more about it here. I have used the rock pattern to add a bit of interesting texture.
THE BASIC PATTERN
It is easy to draw your own rock pattern, if you follow these simple steps.
STEP ONE
Draw a general oval shape, but make sure you add a few flat sides. You can make it as sharp or as smooth as you want, depending on what sort of rocks you want.
STEP TWO
Choose one of the flat sides of the first rock, and draw the next rock close against it.
STEP THREE
Continue to draw a few rocks in the same way. Make sure you vary the shape and size of each rock...
...until you have an interesting pattern.
SHADING THE ROCKS
STEP FOUR
Now that we have the basic pattern done, we can begin to add the shading. This is what makes the rocks look 3-Dimensional.
Choose a rock, and draw some lines on one side of it. This is sometimes known as 'hatching'. Try and follow the shape of the rock.
STEP FIVE
Draw some more hatching lines in the same place, but change your direction slightly. Do this a few times until you think it looks good...
... and don't be afraid to draw really dark close to the edge...now it's really beginning to look like a 3D rock!
STEP SIX
Now you're an expert! Go ahead and shade all the rocks, making sure that your shading is on the same side on every one.
Click on image above to enlarge.
DRAWING THE EARTH
Each rock will be surrounded by earth, so now we need to add a bit of cross-hatching in between. The rocks need to look as though they are sitting on something, instead of just floating in mid-air.
Just like we did with the rock surface, hatch in one direction, then in the other. Remember, it is dirt, so you can be as messy as you like with this bit! Hatch in many different directions to show lots of texture.
Give your drawing a once-over with a bit more darkness, especially in the areas closer to the rocks. This adds a bit more depth to your drawing, and helps make the rocks look more three-dimensional.
Add a few wiggly cracks here and there to make your rocks look authentic. They have been underground for thousands of years, after all!
You are now ready to use your new rock drawing skills to create a bit of fancy artwork! Add tree roots, fossils, insects, or even ant tunnels. Experiment with pencil, pen, paint, colour.....have fun!
'Illuminated M', by Miraculous Mosquito, which features the rock pattern technique. Go here to read more about it. Go here to purchase a print of this artwork.
If you enjoyed this tutorial, don't forget to comment, share and subscribe. More coming soon!
Did you use this tutorial in your artwork? Please show me, I would love to see it:)
Have a suggestion for a drawing tutorial? Let me know in the comments below. Regards,
Another flower design finished off at...oh dear, it's two in the morning! The only time of the day I get any complete peace and quiet hehe. Oh well I better get this posted before my eyes drop out of my head.
I drew this one in black marker pen on paper, scanned it in, and then coloured it in Photoshop. I could have used the magic wand tool and the paintbucket to colour it, but I like to do things the hard, old fashioned way...I used my graphics tablet to colour each leaf, petal, vine, etc. It's quite relaxing, though, to do it that way.
The original drawing is the black outline one to the left.
First colour version.
Changed to black and white and inverted.
The image to the right is the design after being hand coloured in photoshop using a graphics tablet. I deliberately made the colours very loud. Below you can see a few more colour combination ideas, where I have fiddled around with things a bit.
A bit easier on the eyes, this one. I quite like it.
Pretty pink version.
White outline on grey background.
So which version do you prefer? Write a comment and let me know :)
Bye for now
MM
ps: (One of my You Tube channel subscribers made a comment on one of my drawing videos, suggesting that I design some stamps (thanks, Scraplynn!). This is an idea I thought about before, and I would love to do it but I woudn't know how to start. I wonder where I would get them made...suggestions, anyone?)
