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: Well a belated Happy Earth Day everyone! I hadn't forgotten it as I was already doing a trade focused on this day on Facebook. I just didn't get a chance to post about it here yet. So with this great day I bring some new things for us to look at!
What I created: I made 2 ATCs for a trade on a Facebook group called Studio A B See. We all sign up and afterwards are randomly assigned partners that we mail 2 ATCs out to going with the theme of that month. The theme was "grow" but I already knew Earth Day was in April as well so I thought "what better way to show a growth theme than to focus on Earth". I wanted to make these cards special just because I was feeling really connected to the theme...and thus I gave myself some opportunities for growth (and learning). YSH: Your Subject Here (or for those on dA this is the Your Character Here image)... I have been wanting to release some of these as options for commissions and decided to attempt it when I first did the hands. I originally planned some dirt with a small plant taking form in the hands but scratched that idea once the hands were completely drawn out. Instead, I saved a scanned copy of just the hands to use as a YCH image. For those that are not used to these terms: typically an artist can create a pose or a background and post it up for anyone who wants to commission the same art being drawn again but changed a bit. In some cases (like with a pose) you edit the character to look like what the commissioner wants while keeping the pose. In other cases you just have a background that you can get a character (or more than one) place in the background. 2D/3D Elements: The small hill with a person standing on top was going to be the second card but I decided to combine the two instead. When I started sketching this person and hill I wanted them to somehow pop out because of the small size that they were made as. This of course got me so excited that I ended up wanting to use the same method on the second card. I made some roses... 8 at first and found that they were so natural to make that I just kept making till I had a total of 30 roses made. I only used 8 on the second card but started planning on more trees of different colors for the other roses. I have some ideas in mind so be on a look out! Shimmering Paint: I have been watching plenty of calligraphy artists an even ATC makers who use shimmer paints to add small touches to their art. I have been waiting for the right art piece to come along to test this out on. I found it worked best with the rose leaves but stuck to the shimmer paint on my Steampunk cards as well. I think using these can be great if done for tiny details, but not so great for bigger areas as they tend to be flat in photographs and scans. Final thoughts: Plenty of experiments happened in this set... I need to get better cutting tools for one! I also need to get nib pens to work with the shimmer paints as brushes tend to have small moments of misery. I do think I like making cute mice and bunnies now... Intro: For those that are interested in this form of snail mail art please read: Deco 101 I have listed details on what I am willing to accept for books plus details on my own books. At the end of this post are instructions on what to do with any of my deco books if you are going to be or have worked on them. Details on Deco Books that I can take: I prefer to work with these mediums: markers, watercolor pencils, watercolor paints, acrylic paint, distress inks, color brush pens, other inks, and detailers (white gel pens or multiliners). Themes I prefer to work on: Any! I am open to any themes but I do love these as I feel more comfortable with them: goddesses, whimsical, pigs, owls, pandas (black&white or red), butterflies, drinks (tea, coffee, etc), food, animals, people (portraits or full body in realistic, comic, or anime form), fashion, flowers, nature (I love mother goddess), curiosity cabinets (kunstkammer), tarot cards, affirmation or oracle cards, origami, steampunk, gothic, victorian, girly (pink and glittery), dragons, pirates, fairy tales, marigolds, roses, harpy eagles, hawks, fantasy creatures, ARPG related, willing to try something new. Not willing to work on anything that requires gore, profanity, promoting a religion (I like making art related to religion but I'll not be promoting any), hard-core politics, suggestive... My Deco Books - Information These are my deco books that have yet to leave my house or are in transit but need artists. I have linked some Pinterest Boards that somewhat help with the theme of each book (if one is available) to help you get some ideas. I have some deco books in the following format: Deco book Name | theme | size | total number of pages in book | number of pages completed | medium | extra info | Pinterest Board | current location | next location
Binding: I am a bit picky on binding...and because my OCD kicks in during binding I like to get pages for anything that I am making done first before I bind them. I am okay with working on pages for something that was bought with the binding already done but if binding is an option that can be completed later then I prefer it that way. I personally feel that the binding sometimes prevents us from creating properly (it does for me). Don'ts: same things that I am not willing to work on are not to be included in my deco books...pretty please. Some nudity is allowed but nothing crazy. Try to keep the religious and political themes tuned down a little but they are not entirely banned. Absolutely no gore or extreme violence. I have a bunch of nephews and nieces that love to look at these so please keep that in mind. Mailing Details: Sending a whole book eventually starts costing more than 1 stamp and for this reason I offer you two options. Either you can make the pages yourself (following the measurements listed here) or I can mail the number of pages you would like to work on along with your trade. Please send me an email at ParadoxSketchbook @ gmail dot com if you are interested in these or get in touch with me on any social network that I am on. I want to get these ones done before opening a few other ones that I have prepared (odd shaped ones). What to do with my deco books.
Intro: I am sure many people have run across these words online already... ACEO (Art Cards, Editions, and Originals), ATC (Artist Trading Cards), Inchies (1"x1" canvas art), Rinchies (1" round canvas art), and Twinchies (2"x2" canvas art).
What is the difference between ATC and ACEO? I am not going to go into details on them except provide a link to a nice place that I discovered... they have a better description of both and in-depth details as well. ATC for All - difference between ACEO and ATC Altered-Art - all about ATC and what you can do with them Also a breakdown of the other three forms of art: What are inchies? ATCs: This is suppose to be more of an in depth discussion on ATCs... but I am not going to bore anyone with details that they already know. I am simply going to post my thoughts about ATCs and the future of this blog when it comes to artist trading cards. I am going to continue using artist trading cards as they provide a good exercising form for all media. I am going participate in a monthly contest on ATCsForAll once in awhile just to test my creative juices but that's about it. I am going to participate in swaps if they seem inspiring enough. I can see myself selling prints of the cards but not in the near future... as they are for exercise purposes only - for practice. I am going to create ATCs as gifts for friends and family but nothing that I'll be posting online to sell. I am going to focus on creating polymer clay (with some air dry clay) trading cards...perhaps creating a different standard size if the traditional 2.5"x3.5" does not work out. I plan on creating a custom display item for the cards as well...perhaps even a way to store them. I can see myself in the future creating multiple ATCs that are to be used as reference (like swatches that artists create for polymer clay colors). If anyone would like to see details (a tutorial perhaps even a video) on how to create something similar do contact me or comment here. Depending on the demand I might create that if I end up making a YouTube channel. Miniature ATC: So there exists a standard size for all ATC created as it must fit a clear plastic sleeve (penny sleeve). Which means that the card can not be too bulky otherwise it is not going to fit in the sleeve. After some research I ran into miniature ATCs... which are only 1.5"x2.5" or 1.75"x2.5". This again reminds me of small artist tiles... or even collectible cabochons (or even inchies). This is something to really look into especially with polymer clay. I can see a collection of miniature ATCs that look like tile samples... or button designs. Inchies, Twinchies, Rinchies: These are smaller forms of ATCs that serve a similar purpose to some extent. Some collectors do go to the next level of creating something bigger by assembling multiple ATCs (like this folded card). Typically inchies (along with rinchies and twinchies) are traded, collected, sold, gifted, etc just like ATCs. Some artist online share their ideas on making fabric inchies used to assemble quilts and other wearable art. The only reason I bring these up is due to the small canvas size, they are quick to make. Inchies are 1"x1" while twinchies are 2"x2" canvas art. Rinchies are round shaped canvas works that are 1" in diameter (the size of bottle caps) and there are B'Twinchies that have varied dimensions. It is great putting them together like a puzzle to create another work of art. These can be used on other artworks, like on ATCs or greeting cards and albums, etc. I think they would serve as good canvas for exercises... even in clay or other 3D media. Final thoughts: I have determined that if I am going to post my ATCs for sale at any point in the future I'll have to organize things once again...which I do not have the time for right now. In the future perhaps I'll think about adding them to a store online or even setting up a store on this blog, but right now I do not plan on selling my ATCs (only trading upon request). This goes for any inchies, twinchies, or rinchies that I create as well. I'll be posting these creations in the future as I make them on here. I have entered organized swaps already to have themes to work with... and plan on entering some more in the future. I'll also be creating these as parts of challenges and perhaps contests...? If anyone is interested in trading ATCs please do contact me I have an account on ATCs for All, my username is ParadoxSketchbook. What I created: I participated in a MMH (Make Me Happy) swap for inchies on. I got the theme of Emoji... and had to create 6 inchies. These are all 1"x1" as all inchies are. For details on each one and a better quality image visit my gallery.
I painted all 6 inchies using watercolor then went over some areas using Prismcolor Colored Pencils and Le Pen fine tip marker. I absolutely loved how these turned out... they look oh so much better when held in your hands because they are just tiny and adorable. I am really starting to like the idea of such a small canvas. It really is hard to work in details but the result is very satisfying.. I felt like I had accomplished something truly grand upon completing these inchies. Further thoughts: This is giving me an idea for artist tiles... I need an excuse to make those anyways so might as well use this theme. If you look at the standard emoji that are common across multiple platforms, you'll see some "scenery" related emoji. I am thinking about painting those on 3.5"x3.5" artist tiles (I recently got an entire pack gifted). So be on the lookout for artist tiles! Possible experiments: I am wondering now how these would look if I had created them using ink... Intro: I wanted to dedicate a small post about the back of my ATCs. Some artist create their own templates while others download them (there are free templates available online). I created my own quick template using only two programs: I used cooltext.com for generating a simple title and then using MS PowerPoint I put together a template with two variations. Cooltext.com has many fonts and icons available to use for free... so if you want to create your own template from there you can. I have included the MS PowerPoint template at the bottom of this post along with the image version that you can use as well. These are free to use... no credit required. So here is a breakdown of what is included on the back of my artist trading cards... Title - the name of the card (the art itself) Series/Collection - the series or collection that the card is a part of (if any) Date & No. - the date that the art was declared as "complete! no more adjustments" and the number of the card in the series (if it belongs to a series) Artist - the artist's name who created the card (me) Signature - the official signature of the artist (only available on the left template; I left a blank spot for the signature on the right template as my signature actually does not look good on top of a line) Contact - e-mail and/or website... address if you want or even phone number Notes - this small spot could contain notes on the art or even a message to the receiver of the card (I kept this in mind for giving ATCs out as gifts). This could also be used to mention the media of the art. Final thoughts: the cards are actually too small to add anything else and personally I think adding way too much information on the card itself takes away from the guidebook. Having a guidebook is a great tool to get your thoughts flowing as you are not only thinking about what you have created but now you have to put it down in words... writing practice - another form of art.
Feel free to print a copy of the image that I have posted. The black borderline is 2.5" by 3.5" the typical ATC size. When I put these on my cards I cut the borderline away if I am creating curved corners but I keep the borderline if the cards are cut simply. I have already altered this to have a version for participating in swaps to include location and Swap name... so you can alter it too. Some have altered a similar template by adding something fancier at the top instead of the basic title that I have. You can download the MS PowerPointRaw template or printable MS Word document for any of the two templates from this folder: Public Google Drive Folder Status: For details on this challenge please read this intro post. Status so far on this challenge...You can also view these any of my two galleries with details. Below is what I have created so far since January 01, 2017 for this challenge. 3D works & sewingATCs for TradeATCs for SwapsInchies for SwapsIntro: I think it is good to on a routine practice certain techniques especially in mediums that you use most often. So I am going to dedicate time to practicing with Watercolor as it my favorite medium to work with. I wanted to work on some exercises that are perhaps productive but mainly relaxing. The first exercise I focus on is texture... you'll see many posts in the future that cover this exercise in different medium. I'll move onto another one once I feel more confident about creating textures. What I created: So I used this as an excuse to get started on the ATCs that I have discuseed in a past post. I thought it would be a great exercise that is relaxing and productive at the same time. There are many things that could be created while working on an exercise such as booksmarks, gift tags, placeholder cards, greeting cards, etc. I find ATCs are the better ones to work with as they come in handy for personal use and can even be used as gifts. Bookmarks are great as well but too many readers are getting away from traditional books to digital books... so the audience is very limited. Using masking fluid in some of the ATCs as foundation I then used these three main texture techniques: 1. The first type of texture I made was using paper towels. There is a bit of variation in texture when you use clear wrap/cling wrap... I tried both just too see how much of a difference there is. 2. Another texture technique I used was done using table salt. This same idea can be completed using sea salt and rice grains to give bigger shapes to the pigment cluster. 3. The last texture type was created using rubbing alcohol. Final touhces were added to the textures once the bookmarks dried using markers and pens. For a cleaner edge you can create a borderline all around the edges using a marker or pen... or even get fancy and use embossing powder. You can purchase stickers online to place on the back of the cards.. or purchase stamps. I just wrote everything by hand using the same felt tip pen I used on the front of the card. I might look into investing in a stamp in the future or create my own as I do have the rubber canvas needed for creating your own stamp. Materials used: I purchased a Canson XL Foldover Watercolor Pad for doing some portraits but decided that I needed a spiral type journal for that. I have instead decided that I am going to use this watercolor pad for creating my ATCs and perhaps other things like tags, bookmarks, cards, etc. I kept the traditional ATC size of 2.5"x3.5" and had a variation in the numbers of cards I got depending on how I divided the page. One way produced only 6 cards...leaving a big chunk of paper at the top that I first thought could be used for bookmarks. Then later I decided to go ahead and divide the page out the opposite way and got 9 cards from the page with zero leftover space. Just enough space is left to allow clean edges to be cut. I used regular masking tape to divide the page into sections. I also used Reeves Watercolor and a mix of Chinese Watercolor when painting this... pretty much whatever happened to be on my pallette already at the time. I also went over the cards (once the paint had dried) using regular sharpie marker (brush tip).
Final thoughts: I do plan on keeping the information section of the cards the same from here on...whether I create them in polymer clay or watercolor. I wanted the back to have detailed information and thus did not purchase the stickers or stamp. Just enough detail for the card on it's own to be informational but not too much so that it looses the interest of the readers if the information is placed inside a guidebook. I think for my first exercise this turned out quite nice...I was expecting more of a disaster. I have decided that it may be time to invest in some better quality watercolor if I am to keep creating watercolor works. Better quality versions of the ATCs can be viewed here: ParadoxSketchbook Gallery at ATCsforAll. I wonder if this same texture exercise can be studied using other mediums...? Intro: I am sure many of us have heard of Omni Journals...or maybe even have one. I decided that it was time to dedicate a notebook/sketchbook as a personal omni journal.
What is it? If we look at the definition of "omni" we can easily define the journal itself as well. Omni means "all; of all things; in all ways or places" so just use that definition with a journal. Which in summary means that this journal has no limits like this blog. Mixed media journal, scrapbook journal, paint journal, sketchbook, art book, doodle book, diary...etc any and all of those things combined is an omni journal. You can go from doodling to writing down dreams that you have had... events that have taken places or even put pictures you take in the journal and decorate the page as you would do in a scrapbook. That is why I like the idea of omni journaling - there are no limits... no clear definitions. My omni journal: I decided to keep it small in size as I wanted something that I could easily carry around any where I went... from doctor's office to shopping or work or even dinner at a restaurant. The main purpose was to have a surface to place my thoughts and ideas on and have them be readily available in one location. Previously I have had multiple sketchbooks and journals scattered around: some at work, some at home, some are actually sticky notes laying in the car. I wanted to get rid of the imbalance to get some stress off of my shoulders. Too much stress that is created from materials gets in the way of the actual art from being created. i purchased the Strathmore Sketchbook 300 Series that is 3.5" x 5.0" and has 100 sheets. The other psychological way of looking at this is - the size of the journal that I picked. I think artists (or anyone in general) feels more accomplished when they have smaller tasks that they can check off. Compared to one big task getting completed that takes just so much time to complete in the end it looses it's full apperiation from the creator. By having a journal/sketchbook that is small I want to set myself up for achieving personal goals on completing sketchbooks... something I have never done in my life before. I have countless sketchbooks and journals that are unfinished... some close to finishing but deserted. It's always good to have small motivations in life that keep our inner self pleased because in the end if we are happy with ourselves then we are going to feel better about the things we create. In order to appericiate the works I create more than I currently do I want to show myself that I am capable of accomplishing art related goals. By completing these small journals I hope to achieve this goal... as it is going to help in leading to bigger projects (like the Sketchbook Project). Final thoughts: You'll be seeing actual snippets from my journal in the future categorized under it's own keyword Omni Journal. Intro: I have recently been looking at ATCs (artist trading cards)... perhaps creating my own? I do plan on creating them in multiple mediums and then assembling them to create a bigger work of art.
What are they: just as it sounds... trading cards for artists. Collectors use them to collect art of certain artists or various artworks surrounding a theme. An artist can use these cards to brainstorm, doodle, work on ideas, or even create mini versions of final works. Some use these to create 2D versions of something they'll make in 3D materials. Artists do exchange ATCs with each other, some sell them, some gift them...the possibilities are endless. What I am going to make: I am going to be creating 3D ATCs using either air dry clay or even polymer clay. I want to try and make previous paintings or sketches come alive by recreating them in 3D materials. I am going to assemble a collection of watercolor ATCs so you'll be seeing some of them in the future uploaded here as they are created. I do believe the polymer clay ATCs are considered Artist Tiles and not trading cards... but the whole idea is to use them with the same purpose as trading cards - collecting, exchanging, or gifting. Final thoughts: For now I am going to simply start by painting on watercolor paper, keeping the same size and then assemble my own set of cards once I have around 10. I am not going to purchase pre-cut cards.. I'll just cut them on my own. Once I decide that I am able to create enough art on such a small canvas then I'll purchase pre-cut cards. With that I'll also be creating a collection of ATCs focused on "studying." It'll include drawings done in pencils and pens about the human figure and natural objects (trees, birds, etc). You'll be seeing plenty of tests and discussions related to this topic in the future. Here's to a brand new year of creativity with hopefully a lot of new exciting projects... and a truck load of productivity! |
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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