Art

Sketchbook Snapshot: Rebelle 4 Practice

I’ve really been enjoying my new digital art software, Rebelle 4 (updated since Rebelle 3), and have been practicing on it quite a bit. As I learn the software more, I’m actually starting to enjoy working in Rebelle vs Traditional Pen and Paper MORE (which came as a shock to me) because of all the amazing digital tools that make it easier to make mistakes and fix them quickly. 😉

Here are a few of the things I created while I was practicing with my new tools:

A digital drawing of a little boy in a blue long sleeve shirt and maroon pants is running with a white string that seems to be attached to an unseen kite. The sky is many shades of purple and blue.
Me trying to get the hang of drawing children for the children’s book I eventually want to do. This is a background character from the wonderful book, The Magical Yet.
A digital watercolor drawing of a white woman with red glasses, a red headband with bow, a pearl necklace and a turquoise A-line dress. There is a red belt around her waist that also has a red bow on it. Her shoulders are raised and her arms are up in the air as if she is shrugging.
My confused girl. Working on using watercolor in Rebelle and also learning how to do highlights from light.
A digital watercolor drawing of fish with a large purple eye in blue water. The fish is many shades of pink and purple swirled together.
Playing around with watercolor to create a happy little fish. 🙂

Sketchbook Snapshot: Leveling Up

So I’m trying to ‘level up’ my art skills and I’ve been working on shadows and highlights, proportions and just other basic art fundamentals that I never took the time to learn. I have been watching SO MANY art YouTube videos. I can already see a big difference in my drawings. Here are a few things I’ve drawn this week as practice.

This is from a ‘Complete This Drawing’ book from Picadilly that I’ve had for a while now. It’s great for when I want to draw but I’m too tired to start from scratch.
I’m not sure why she ended up looking like Angelina Jolie.
Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor.

Sketchbook Snapshot: What Does the Fox Say?

More sketching in Rebelle 3! 🙂 This is my little fox friend who is very happy.

a smiling red fox, curled up with it's fluffy tail around it.
Watercolor and ink.

Also, in case you don’t already have the song stuck in your head, you’re welcome. 😉

Sketchbook Snapshot: Rainbow Dash

So this is a somewhat different Sketchbook Snapshot. It’s a digital sketch made with my new digital art tools! 🙂

I tried some new things and I think I’m really starting to get the hang of Rebelle 3 and my graphics drawing tablet. Exciting!

a drawing of rainbow dash from My Little Pony. A blue pony with blue wings and a rainbow tail and mane.
Ink and watercolor in Rebelle 3.

Watercolor Christmas Tags

I’ve decided to make watercolor Christmas tags this year. Most of the time for watercolor, I sketch in pencil, go over it in ink and then watercolor over that. For these, I was a little more spontaneous and just went straight for it with the watercolor. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. 🙂

purple watercolor letters that say "fuck this"
This is not a Christmas tag. About halfway through on day 2, I got a little frustrated.
But I persevered.

Happy Holidays to you and yours. <3

Watercolor Cards

I love making homemade watercolor cards. These are going to family in Louisiana who I haven’t seen since February 2020 and probably won’t get to see until Spring or Summer 2021. It’s been tough, I miss them so much but I feel like these little things help us to stay connected in a small way.

Two personified red and white mushrooms, leaning close to one other with smiles on their faces. A red heart is above them.
Happy Anniversary card for my dad and step-mom. Watercolor and Ink.
3 pink jellyfish float in the blue ocean. Purple watercolor letters say "may your birthday be filled with wonder"
Birthday card for my Maw-Maw. Watercolor, Ink and white Gel Pen.

New Digital Art Tools

So I got an early Christmas present! A graphics drawing tablet and Rebelle 3. I. AM. SO. EXCITED. I was literally giggling as I tried it out for the first time. If you’d like to see a video of how COOL Rebelle 3 is for digital watercolor, check out this guy, Martin Hanschild:

And here are the first two drawings I did with my new tools. 🙂

QUACK.
A watercolor and ink drawing of the TARDIS from the Doctor Who show.
Of course one of the first things I’d draw is Doctor Who related.

Sketchbook Snapshot: Cartoons & Comics

I’ve been reading a lot of web comics lately and so now my brain is thinking in ‘comics’ so I’d like to try my hand at creating some. Here are some sketches I did to get a feel for different faces and eyes of different characters.

My daughter helped me pick out some of the characters. 😉

I’ve really been enjoying Sarah Andersen’s & Dami Lee’s comics.
Love Art by Moga and Safely Endangered.

Leaf Sketches

My family and I went on a walk and my daughter and I collected lovely fall leaves to do some different projects. She made a fall wreath (well, most of one – she got tired halfway through) and I made these.

A large leaf glued to a piece of paper. Drawings surround it. It is made to look as if the leaf is the head of a person who is saying "What the hell did you do to my hair, Jeannine? I'm not paying $130 for this."
Fucking Jeannine.
Four comic panels each with a leaf and a face drawn on the leaf. Top left: a leaf saying "Hello sailor" to a tree. Top right: a leaf finding a penny on the ground and saying "Oh look! A penny! My lucky day!". Bottom left: an oak leaf under a disco ball saying "The party man has arrived!" Bottom right: a leaf saying "I'm alive" as a doctor looks on in horror.
Are leaves attracted to trees? I don’t know.
Two red leaves in front of a tree house. One red leaf is saying "Only RED leaves are allowed here!" to a small yellow and orange leaf who looks sad.
RUDE.
3 comic panels. Top left: A leaf relaxing on a lounger by the pool thinking "This is the LIFE." Top Right: a leaf on a bus who is thinking "I is sad." and has a sad face. Bottom panel: Three leaves stand in front of a backdrop in order of height (tallest to shortest). The one in the middle says 'Just stand still and SMILE!" as a camera snaps a family photo.
I is sad today too.
3 leaves are leaving a Whole Foods. Two are a couple and are standing close together. The woman of the couple says "Hey Mark! Hey! It's Grace & Phil from the potluck." "Hi" says Mark. "We just got back from a lovely couples' vacation in Italy. You should go!" Grace coos. "By the way, how's the divorce going?" she asks innocently. "Not great Grace!" mark yells back.
Mind your own business, Grace!