After a few weeks of leaning in hard on very time-intensive quiltlike images, I decided to scroll Skillshare for another project entirely.
I landed on How To Create Vintage-Inspired Animal Characters in Procreate by Lisa Glanz.
Do I have Procreate? Nah.
The artist was using Procreate to emulate watercolor, and I have watercolor. Bosh.
You can learn something new all the time, even when you don’t think a lesson is for you.
Now that I’ve imparted that sick-ass wisdom, let’s peep some other pages from my watercolor sketchbook!
Can’t stop, won’t stop on the quilt patterns:
I forgot how good it felt to draw with dip quill pens. ^
Watercolor triangles are a juicy delight. ^
Tom Nook is here to collect your mortgage. ^
Ghost — or sperm? ^
This moth looks like a Labubu. ^
Floral frenzy! ^
Here’s a fun way to drop $50:
Gansai Tambi Watercolors. They’re really chunky and opaque, sort of in between gouache2 and watercolor. My recommendation for this is to pick 5 colors you like and start with those. Just drop like $15. Choose mid-to-dark colors. You can dilute a dark color, but you can’t darken a light color.
I drove a purple Dodge Neon Sport from 1998 through high school, through college, and into my current career. A Canson XL sketchbook is the Dodge Neon of paper. It’s a trusty, inexpensive friend and I won’t hear any negative words about it.
Synthetic brushes. I am 41 and I just realized I don’t like floppy, natural brushes. I want them to be plastic and springy. So, I’ve been in the process of buying all new brushes, which is fun.
Dip pens with flexible, pointy nibs. If the above graphic doesn’t get your heart rate up, I don’t know why you’re reading this blog, I simply do not.
Plug your nib in a $2 holder and dunk in in India ink. Enjoy making those yummy, wobbly lines. Then let it dry, and boom, watercolor right over that jawn without smudging.
Imagine: you could create something like…
… or better.
You can (and should) strive for better!
