Art Journal
Bible Journaling: Stencils

Posted on 20th December 2018 by Neil

I recently took up bullet journaling as a means of recording what I intended to do each week alongside what I actually did (or didn’t). I thought it would be helpful to have some visual prompts for my pages, so invested in a set of stencils designed for bullet journalers. Well, the bullet journaling lasted about 8 months, but the stencils hung around and I started using them in my Bible journaling instead. There was just one problem – they were too big to use in the margins of my journaling Bible. So, this week, I created my own to fit!

Here are some journal entries demonstrating my stencils in use:

Continue reading →

Art Journal
Bible Journaling: Christmas 2018

Posted on 15th December 2018 by Neil

The weather outside is frightful – the risk of freezing rain didn’t amount to much, but it’s cold, dark, blustery with heavy rain. As a result, I am in a toasty warm studio with pencils and pens out and doing some Bible journaling. I thought I’d take some of the less familiar scripture verses that are relevant to the Christmas story and develop some graphics to capture them in my margins.

Continue reading →

Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Abacus

Posted on 3rd December 2018 by Neil

This is a relatively simple tangle pattern, which could probably be drawn in a couple of different ways for speed. That said, it’ll work well as a space filler or, indeed, as a border pattern:

Continue reading →

Lasered
Tangle Pattern: Balls Squared

Posted on 29th November 2018 by Neil

This is the next instalment in a short series of new tangle patterns. I like the geometry of this one, with the curves interplaying with the curves. The negative space is quite pleasing as well, with a cross appearing as the pattern is tiled. Below are a sample card and two 3D versions of the pattern etched into wood.

Continue reading →

Art Journal
Bible Journaling: Another November release

Posted on 26th November 2018 by Neil

I’m not exactly busy in The Studio at the moment – I’m no longer doing TV prep and I’m not on any design teams, so I’m left to my own devices. I have plenty of time, as a result, to do my own thing. At the moment, it’s developing tangle patterns and Bible journaling – and prepping for my craft stall on Friday and Saturday (Lutterworth Town Hall, F: 5-9pm, S:10am – 4pm if you’re interested).

For this release of Bible journaled verses, I kept to my general style, but I have added a couple of sketches (one thanks to free-to-use Armour of God from ChristianityCove.com). I also added a motivational phrase to illustrate the verse – this is the first time I have used text other than the verse itself. As is now normal, I have used coloured pencils and fine tip pigment pens to avoid bleed-through.

Now seems to be a good opportunity for a plug… Starting on the third Monday in January, I will be hosting a Bible Journaling Session here at The Studio from 7:30-10pm, £5. We’ll look at materials and methods and then have themes for the evenings such as lettering, colouring techniques and using different media to decorate our Bibles.

Continue reading →

Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Bs & Ds

Posted on 23rd November 2018 by Neil

I’ve been busy designing some more line patterns, and this is the first of a few. I thought it would be helpful to see a ‘real life’ use of the patterns I design. I’ve used a 4″ square Strathmore Artist Tile in grey for my background, adding my pattern and embellishing with black and white coloured pencil. The tile is mounted on a 6×6″ hammered card. Turned out ok, I think 🙂

Original Designs
More experiments in colour: mandalas and Promarkers

Posted on 16th November 2018 by Neil

I’ve drawn a few more mandalas and, during breaks from doing my accounts, I have done some colouring in. This time I seem to have played with tints and shades of the same colour with some grey and an accent colour thrown in here and there.

Stained glass window? Feels like the middle is draining away…
Simple and blue. I’m not sure of this one, I think the light pink is too dusky.

I’ve used Promarkers to colour these mandalas – alcohol-based ink pens allow blending and layering and smooth gradients.

Altered Art
Experiments in Colour: Chameleon pens and mandalas

Posted on 7th November 2018 by Neil

A while ago, I created several line drawn mandalas. I always intended to colour them in, and did so digitally for some. My favourites were saved for real hand colouring and I had the opportunity last night to do so. I used [amazon_textlink asin=’B01N5PLCQ3′ text=’Chameleon alcohol pens’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’themanicstamp-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’526e71dd-e29e-11e8-99e3-31a942bc75e3′] to do my colouring and played about with a couple of ideas, some of which worked and some that didn’t. Here are the four…

Mandala 4
I’m not sure I like this one, though it’s better than Mandala 3. I started with a bisque colour that I hoped was lighter than it turned out to be… a salutary reminder to test before you apply.

Mandala 3
Ever started something, pleased with the way it was going, and then made a duff choice and spoilt the whole thing? That’s what I think of this one. The purple border is too heavy and lacking contrast. Conversely, the yellow is too harsh a contrast against the pink and the gradients too lined. Apart from that……

Mandala 2
This Aztec style mandala directed the colour choices, and I rather like the bold image that resulted.

Mandala 1

Continue reading →

Art Journal
Bible Journaling: Old & New

Posted on 4th November 2018 by Neil

I’ve been busy Bible journaling, trying to get back into the habit of reading and reflecting on what it is I am drawing. I’ve found my own style now, and my process still begins with choosing the words or phrases I’d like the emphasis to rest on in my illustration. Next is playing with typography, something I now prefer to do on screen – the undo function creases the page less than trying to rub out pencil lines! Then follows adding illustrations where appropriate, before tracing and colouring into my Bible.

One benefit of working in this way is that there is a FREE downloadable version containing all five outlines for you to print out and do your own thing with… just click the button:

Continue reading →

Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Whizz Bang Pop Fireworks

Posted on 3rd November 2018 by Neil

It’s time for my monthly art journal session on Monday evening, and it coincidently happens on 5th November – fireworks night. It seemed fitting, therefore, to have a suitably explosive theme ‘whizz, bang, pop’. There are spaces available, just let me know if you’d like to come.

Here’s my take on the theme:

Used in this layout

[amazon_textlink asin=’B0027IPO9K’ text=’Daler Rowney A5 Graduate Sketchbook’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’themanicstamp-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’7a4aab6a-deb9-11e8-a7db-5beea6900017′]
[amazon_textlink asin=’B005IW0V5E’ text=’Pebeo India Ink’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’themanicstamp-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’53a18e8d-deba-11e8-b0cb-df05dd28237d’]
Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Stains: Picket Fence/Candied Apple/Mermaid Lagoon/Mowed Grass/Mustard Seed
Ranger Stickles: Xmas Red/Tickled Pink, Yellow/Gold, Blue Bayou/True Blue, Green/Firefly