Here are five new illustrations for verses from Revelation. They were the templates/samples for this evening’s Bible Journaling Session at the Studio. You’re welcome to book in for this monthly session, usually held on the second Monday of the month and open to beginners or confident artists. For more details, see my workshops page. As normal, the templates are available as a free download for you to use (but not share!). Scroll down for further information about how I completed each illustration.
Illustration notes
Unusually, I started with an acrylic paint background. There was bleed-through from the previous page that was going to interfere with this illustration, so the opacity of the paint would hide it. I then had to use graphite paper to trace the template on before colouring with a combination of coloured pencils and Posca pens. I highlighted the main letters with dimensional glaze puffed with holographic glitter for a bit of fine sparkle.
DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint: Light Buttermilk / Buttermilk / Driftwood
Posca paint pens
Faber Castell Polychromos colouring pencils
DecoArt Liquid Glass
DecoArt Glamour Dust: Crystal
Every now and then, Facebook throws up an advert on my timeline that I click through to and eventually, after much hemming and hawing, go on to buy. Color Cubes by Sarah Renae Clark are one example – not cheap, but I now have 500 coaster-sized cards with selected colour palettes based on photos. They’re not unlike Design Seeds, but physical not digital. I matched up the colours to this card and used them for my illustration. I blended some distress ink around the edge for a vignette effect.
Faber Castell Polychromos colouring pencils
Ranger / Tim Holtz distress ink and watercolour pencil: Spun Sugar
Another colour-matched palette for this one. The circle around the head was achieved with a punched hole in Post-it paper to act as a stencil. I used it again for the next illustration. Blended distress inks came in handy for the background.
Faber Castell Polychromos colouring pencils
Ranger / Tim Holtz distress ink: Mustard Seed / Fossilized Amber
Tombow Calligraphy Pen
Choose another Color Cube card and match up your colours. I really *need* the full spectrum of 120 coloured pencils as I was missing some much-desired colours… But I made do with what I could find and it turned into a mixed media piece. I used my circle stencil to highlight areas of the illustrations using colour and adding a grey for an adjacent B&W contrast.
Posca paint pens
Faber Castell Polychromos colouring pencils
Ranger / Tim Holtz distress ink: Weathered Wood
Ranger/ Tim Holtz distress watercolour pencil: Broken China
Derwent Inktense paint pan: Payne’s Grey
This gave me a bit of trouble… Lots of layers were used until I was happy with the result! Start with the purple text, then colour in the main letters with gold acrylic paint pen. Dry and then outline the purple with the white, dry, and touch up the purple again. Outline the white with a gel pen (normal pigment pen doesn’t stick to the metallic penwork). Add the shadows and outline to the gold letters with Posca/fineliner.
Posca paint pens
Sakura Gelly Roll: Gloss Black
The next Bible Journaling Session will take place, after a summer break, on Monday 9th September at 7:30pm. The theme will be ‘secure in God’. As always, the session is open to regulars and beginners alike and non-artists are particularly welcome! All materials and refreshments are provided. All you need to do is bring your wide-margined Bible to illustrate.