Intro: I am hosting the inchie-a-thon for a week on ATCsForAll.com this year. Just wanted to share some of the fun things I made following the prompts and challenges that were listed. I'll post one last post when the a-thon is over with the rest of the creations. Cute kittens - they are going to be used to make a chunky page that is front and back completed... after I finish making one more. Absolutely no plans for this pair yet. I might create a few more to use in a giveaway instead or use them for a future Easter Hunt on DeviantART.com by making a few more. These 3 have more that I have lined but not painted yet. As you can see they are laid out on a grid...that grid is actually cut out now and is going to be an inchie exploding box. On the bottom: all of the finished anthropomorphic food that I made in one setting and mounted to scrapbook paper. I used five of them to complete one of the challenges for the a-thon: make an inchie accordion book. I made 3 each of elephants and bees but was only able to finish one each to post in time. The Elephant, Rhino, and Bee related inchies and art is going to be used to auction off or sell off in order to donate the earnings to the appropriate animal that needs them.
My rinchie is inspired by a monthly prompt set out by the Droogon-Sky group on DeviantArt. We are to make a mask for our Droogon (tiny potato dragons) and then create another art piece that shows our Droogon wearing their mask or making it. I decided to make the mask inspired by another ARPG: Shi'vali Empire. The mask is of a Foo Lion (foo dog). I am thinking about remaking it into a twinchie and attaching some movable parts or maybe making it out of clay...? Time shall tell what the muse can get done.
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Intro: this challenge has been going off great so far. I have managed to get an emoji scenery tile done for each day of the first week!
Issues: I had a feeling that the canvas I had originally picked was going to cause me problems...and it did! The pack of artist tiles that I had set aside for this challenge is 300gsm regular print paper and watercolor does not work too great on them. I only created Day 01 on this paper before tossing it aside... I ended up switching back to what I am most used to - cold pressed watercolor paper. Which actually worked wonders! The original tiles were 3.5"x3.5" and I created a frame around the tiles so that I had a 3"x3" surface to paint on. What I created: When I switched over to cold pressed watercolor paper I used scraps that I get when I cut a 9"x12" paper into ATCs. The scraps are great because I can cut them perfectly into 1.5"x1.5" tiles (also called betwinchies as the size in between inchies and twinchies). These would be considered as mini artist tiles as well but I think artists are more familiar with the term betwinchies when looking at those measurements. I stuck to my theme, and plan to for the rest of the month. I used my normal tools of watercolor paints, watercolor pencils, Stadler liners, white gel pen, distress ink, and Prismacolor markers. I almost felt like switching over to acrylic paints but at the last second decided against it as I do not get use multiple mediums when I work with acrylic paint. Final thoughts: for those that are interested - don't forget that this is laid back with no strict guidelines or deadlines! So just jump in and out when you have time! Congratulations on those of us doing this challenge (mainly on Instagram) and for surviving week one!!! Intro: I have created a challenge for myself for the month of April (I wrote a brief post about it back in January).
I have participated in other challenges that have shown just how beneficial it is to be a part of a challenge. Feel free to join me on this and challenge yourself! For my dA friends you can just post your creations there. If you do not have an account then feel free to link here for everyone to see. Especially if you want some feedback then do share links. I am using #smallcanvaschallenge2017 to tag my works for this challenge. For feedback options continue reading... Details: The main purpose of this challenge is to get better at creating details on small canvases (#smallcanvaschallenge2017). And to develop the ability to recognize what details are important in keeping on a small and limited canvas and which details are not relevant. I am personally going to work on creating Artist Tiles for this challenge. The other goal at the end is going to be: how to display or use the small canvases that you have spent a whole month creating? When working with larger canvases that is not an issue as they are simply displayed as is... but because the canvas you are working on is so small there is an advantage that you have of creating a bigger work of art by assembling them. Examples: creating a scrapbook album, collector album, shadowbox, display canvas, cards, etc. It can be anything! Definition of small canvas: What I define as small canvas typically includes ATCs, inchies, small artist tiles, tea bags, paper dolls, etc. Any canvas that is 5"x5" and smaller is considered as a small canvas. For 3D works maximum dimensions on any side is 5 inches (5"x5"x5"). Rules:
Blog Posts: So you might be wondering how I'll be handling posts on this blog and elsewhere for this challenge? I am going to post only once a week with what I have created, so in total there are going to be 4 update posts for this month. At the end I'll also be posting a summary of this challenge that'll have links and details on anyone else who participates (also a journal feature on DeviantArt). Share what you make/feedback: Share your creations by using the hashtag #smallcanvaschallenge2017
Just remember it is a challenge but not a contest - do not add on pressure. This is all about creativity...and art. There should be no stress...only fun! Intro: I wanted to extend this offer out to the world without limiting myself to a certain project or challenge. This is open at all times (all year long... for as many years as I can work on this). All you have to do is just contact me.
Details: Send me a reference to work with... multiple references if possible in case I am able to paint one better than the other. Portraits are either done on ATC size (2.5"x3.5") or on Postcard size (4.0"x6.0") canvases. I am currently using the following materials for these requests:
Note: Portraits are drawn/painted for free and posted online as creations that I have made. All portraits created as requests are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You can get the physical portrait mailed for free upon completion, but you are in charge of shipping costs. Define Selfy: This is another add-on to this open art request. I am gathering a group of volunteers (20+ people) for a portrait related project. If you are interested then let me know. It is not just face focused, you can do thigh and up - but no full body image. I'll provide more details once I get enough volunteers to put together an official project description - which is about 10ish people. Intro: As you already know I have plenty of portraits sketched out and ready to go. They are on their final stages, with the guided lines that I use to paint already set up on watercolor paper. All of them are 4"x6" and waiting for my to lay down paint on them. I do believe I have now roughly 24 total faces with half of them painted and completed. Below are the first pair that I actually got requests for during the 29 Faces Challenge. What I created: again, 4"x6" postcards done on Canson watercolor paper using Reeves watercolor paints and normal white gel pen with Le Pen marker for detailing. Face #11 - plumhill2001 (Lisa R.) She has given me permission to keep the original as a part of my portfolio. She provided me 3 references to work with and I found this one to be the most unique as it is not a simple selfy done with a mobile phone. This makes me wonder if I can get enough volunteers to sign up for a Selfy project... Face #12 - zandradee (Rebecca W.) I have got permission to keep this portrait in my portfolio as well. I really liked how the realistic anime approach worked out with this portrait - something that I need to practice. Define Selfy (Project): I mentioned it in face #11 so might as well give some details on it. I am hoping to get roughly 20 people to sign up for this project or more (even better if I get more). I think it'll be interesting to see how people take selfies, not just using a mobile phone. I'll limit a "normal" and modern selfy to only one individual from the group of volunteers and request that everyone else tries something different. It'll be hard to get volunteers as not that many people like getting paintings done of themselves. Limiting the use of phones might not be a good idea... but it would be less unique if everyone who volunteered used a phone. It would be free of charge of course... all you have to do is send me a reference picture to work with and be okay with getting a printed copy of the original work.
I really want to do this project, especially near September. Let me know if you are interested? Any tips or ideas maybe...? Intro: as predicted by myself... I got behind due to other art distractions! Woohoos for starting off my first challenge properly. At any rate... I am putting all efforts into this challenge now as I find it is helping me find my own art style. I am starting to figure out what things (elements, color choices, decorations, etc) I like putting in my art. I spent the weekend (partially) catching up but did not spend enough time. If I had spent some of Sunday catching up then I would have gotten ahead but that was not to be...
What I created: As you can see from the slideshow above, I created four total faces this weekend. I had only one sketched out before but I sketched the other three on Thursday. All four were painted Friday evening and majority of Saturday afternoon. All four are ATC sized (2.5"x3.5") and done in watercolors with some detailing in Le Pen marker and white gel pen. These are probably going to be the last of my ATC sized faces for this month... I have up to number 24 sketched out all on postcard sized canvases (4"x6"). I might for the last few come back to ATC just because they are quicker to finish but who knows...it'll depend on my mood. For Portrait #06 (Janine) I went and had a little experiment with materials and my style. I would say that it was fun but I would probably not make faces in this style again as I did not like how her hair turned out in the end. I used distress ink to lay down the foundation for background and some parts of the face. Then went in with watercolors on the face only. Added to that I used Prismacolor Markers to make the bold shading in the hair plus some areas of the face. Final touches were done with a white gel pen, Le Pen Marker, Sharpie Fine-Point. Further thoughts: Out of nowhere... I have gotten this blog an Instagram account (ParadoxSketchbook). I'll be focusing on uploading all of my work on there (all media, and all canvas types). I might eventually start sharing some works-in-progress and just other musings. Along with ARPG related art... that'll be big starting in March as I have officially joined 2 ARPGs and am in the process of working on joining 3 more. You ask why so many? Only because I know I get tired of drawing the same subject over and over again... so just to keep my creativity fresh and your eyes fresh it'll be nice to keep rotating between them all. I am planning on finishing up my first art related to an ARPG for a February event soon but it is not a priority right now. March has another challenge in store for me... Arch Triptych Challenge! I have already prepared the canvas that I'll be painting for the challenge... and soon to start coming up with themes and possible sketches this week. I hope you do join me when the time comes as I find the challenge quite entertaining. Intro: I ran into some contests that were happening on DeviantArt.com and just couldn't resist entering because the prices were too good to pass by. I do not have any hopes of winning but I think it helps as I have some art now that I can use in trades or swaps or even as gifts.
What I created: I had to make a group icon (final is only 50x100 pixels exact) and not having a computer I could not use my tablet to do digital work. So! I ended up cutting out domino tile sized watercolor paper (1"x2") and using those to make three total designs for the group. The purpose of the group is ATC being made and possibly even traded but focusing on ARPGs in the dA community. All three were made using watercolors, Prismacolor Colored Pencils, Le Pen marker, and white gel pen. I also entered another contest where we had to draw an original character created by the host - a lioness. The lioness was personally a struggle for me. I am not sure if it is the materials... my motivation or some other factors that got in the way but it was a true struggle. I had decided I was going to paint the lioness in watercolors from the start. So I sketched her out on a 4"x6" (postcard sized) watercolor paper cut-out. I started working in simple values using watercolor paints. When I went in to start blending the results were horrifying. To hide the nightmare I decided to use Prismacolor Markers... with the same thoughts I laid down the main values then decided to use Baby Oil to blend them together to get a painterly effect. Another mistake... it looked like a blurred out painting with no ideas as to what the painting subject is. My final attempts on the lioness was to use watercolors again on top to see if I could fix some things. I was not able to get much done as the watercolors kept sliding as if there was wax underneath. In the end I used a black marker (pen) and a white gel pen to create lines. I outlined the main parts to make the whole thing look like lineart then added some shading in using cross hatch and other techniques using just a black pen. I could not fix it any further...and was too frustrated to make a new one so I ended up submitting her as is into the contest. The final image is above this post. Closing thoughts: Both contests end on February 14th so I should know a few days after that on what my status is.. .as I said I have no hope of winning. For anyone interested I have given a brief into to ARPGs below as I am participating in them now. I believe it'll be a good way to continue adding works to the dA gallery. Also it has inspired me to finally start working on my own story. I am now going to be working on a mixture of literature and art.. combined together. I call them "Quick Reads" because the written part is only suppose to focus on perhaps aiding the illustration or making up missing parts. They are suppose to be shorter than traditional novels, perhaps something in between a manga and a children's illustration book. When I post my first one I'll explain the whole idea at that time... What is ARPG: Like me, most of you are wondering what this is and perhaps are going to be interested in taking part too. Does anyone one remember RPGs? Role Playing Games that you can play on any platform (from mobile, to PC, to handheld)... but instead of playing the actual game add art to it. ARPG (Art Role Playing Game) are designed so that you can progress through set stories (or your own storyline) by making art. When there is a quest, you draw your character participating in said quest. Some artists even take it to a different level by writing only. You can draw just a scene summarizing the quest or you can show a progression by doing multiple art works or setting it up like a comic strip. For those of us struggling to find inspiration or themes to draw/paint these ARPGs are a great place to go. Having regular timed events happening also encourages artists to use skills on a regular basis allowing for the development that any artist seeks. Some people participate in these to make money, while others do it for the development of their artistic skills. Stuff to come: I have been getting behind on my 29 Faces challenges (applause) because I have been busy with contests, swaps, and now ARPGs. So a little overview of what is to come for the rest of this month and perhaps even some of March:
Full list: Art Challenges and Projects 2017 Intro: Week one of the 29 Faces Challenge for February was great and very productive. I was able to get the first two faces done in one day... but then this weekend got really tiring and just not healthy. I was not able to create face #06... Looks like this week I'll be playing catch up. I was able to get #06 to #24 all sketched out and ready to go! #06 is still an ATC (for this swap) but the rest are all on 4"x6" postcard canvases. I already went ahead and purchased an simple leather album from Hobby Lobby (only for $3.49) to start collecting postcards in. My first blind postcard from a PIF already came in, plus I'll be getting 2 more from MMHs so it looks like the album should fill up quickly. Especially when I have all of these faces completed.
What I created: I made all of the faces on ATCs sized canvases (2.5"x3.5"). The first two have already been traded for personal trades (so quick!). And the next three are for the Paying Tribute - Celebrities We Lost in 2016 Swap. All were done with watercolor paints plus detailing done using Le Pen markers and white gel pen. Further thoughts: I am not so sure if I'll be able to get the bigger sized canvases done all in one day now.. I found that working with the faces on ATC sized canvas was pretty quick even with details. But the details did get difficult to create even with a really tiny brush. It looks like I might need to purchase markers/pens for detailing seeing as the brushes are not working out. At any rate I am still going to stick to my goal of finishing one face a day even if they are on postcard sized canvases now. No further requests came in for portraits but I was able to get a really lovely collection put together on Paint My Photo plus some images from a Facebook page (with permission). I still have 5 more faces left to think about... I might use the Facebook page for those seeing as I have not used any of their images for reference. For the upcoming week I'll have my first 3 requests completed. I have already sketched a self-portrait so I'll not be shying away from that. I am going to keep the last 5 slots open still just in case I do get a request.
Intro: The start of a new month... and the start of a new challenge: 29 Faces! A challenge started by Ayala... it is held every February and September. The goal is to draw, illustrate, or paint 29 faces (yes that means those dreadful portraits) and have them completed by the end of the month. Some artists work on really detailed and time-consuming faces and thus cannot complete 29 faces in one month... but there are no set rules saying that you have to complete that many.
February 2017: So for the month of February 2017, I'll be working on portraits as well. I have had a similar project come up in the past that after not much activity ended up at a standstill. I am going to bring that back up once again to see if I can get two birds with one stone. I have a list of friends who have already signed up (eons ago) to have their portraits done by me..and the invitation is still open to everyone. If I do not get to your portrait this month then I'll get to it in September...so do let me know if you want to help me by being a model. You can send me an image to work with as that works out best... due to location differences it can be difficult to do live modeling but we can attempt it. You can read about it all on my dA journal. I'll be posting my works for this challenge on here once a week... you can keep tabs by selecting the #29faces category on this blog. My theme: There is already a theme set as it is about faces but I wanted to get more specific... I have previously done portraits in pencils...colored pencils and pens so this time I am going to focus on watercolor. I am going to put my Strathmore Visual Journal to use by filling it up with these 29 portraits. Who knows...if I feel inspired enough I might switch over to some acrylic portraits...maybe even oil paint (I have doubts about oil paint). I am going to stick to postcard sized canvas to try out portraits on a smaller scale. I do not think I am yet ready for ATC sized ones but perhaps when the challenge happens again in September I might be ready. References: for those needing references feel free to browse Paint My Photo. I am going to be referring to PMP when I run out of requests. There is also a whole thread focused on free-source reference photograph websites on ATCsForAll. Check that out if you need more references. Do share links to where you are going to be posting if you are participating in the challenge!
Intro: I wanted to share something with everyone before it actually happens. I am going to be challenging myself in April, 2017 by learning to create on small canvases.
Details: By small canvas, I am not referring to the tiny canvases that you can purchase with an easel in art stores. I am referring to any surface in any shape and form that is no bigger than 5"x5"x5". I have always worked with a bigger surface and have always loved to put in details on my works. I want to see if I can still accomplish those types of details on a smaller scale and thus created this challenge for myself. When I mentioned it to a few friends they got excited about it too... and now it has turned into something public and huge! Do you want to participate? The challenge is going to take place during the whole month of April. You can create anything (any theme) in any media on any surface type as long as the surface is small. I'll be posting the official details a week before the challenge starts in April. For those on dA: yes you'll get a chance at getting features along with gallery submission to groups (with group features towards the end). Goal: the goal is to get better at working on a smaller canvas or try something (new media or canvas type) for those that have been working on them. At the end I am going to encourage anyone who participates in assembling their work into something presentable. I am going to create one artist tile a day and then assemble an album. Get ready! So if you want to start planning now then go for it! Think about themes or media that you want to tackle. Or perhaps you have been wanting to assemble something huge out of small art. To get you started here are some types of small canvases to consider: paper dolls, twinchies, inchies, rinchies, artist tiles, domino tiles, domino books, match boxes, tins, glass bottles, small books, tea bags, ATCs, actual small canvases, postcards, envelopes, other types of cards (oracle, tarot, etc), mini sculptures, handmade clay items, dices/cubes... these are just a few that I could think off the top of my head. The possibilities are endless on the type of canvas you could work with... as long as it is 5"x5"x5" and smaller. Extra: There is a countdown widget on my ABOUT page for anyone interested in keeping track. You can click on the widget to save a copy for yourself... here is a link for those interested in sharing: Countdown on the challenge starting in April |
Author: RejiI used to be a digital artist but switched back to traditional art as I feel more connected with the art I create this way. Currently, I create art whenever I can for art trades and commissions. I have worked with clay (earth clay to modern forms like Polymer, Sculpey, even Air Dry clay) along with watercolors, acrylics, oil paints, pastels, charcoal, pen and pencil drawings, India ink, Chinese Colors, wires, felt fabric, yarn, weaving, basket making, and the list goes on and on. I am currently working on exploring nail art, make-up, dress making, scrapbooking, and small canvas art. Archives
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