Hi friends! Today I have a relaxing pen and ink with watercolor tutorial for you!
This botanical style vintage heirloom rose is fun to draw with a waterproof pen and then watercolor over. I painted this on a greeting card but you can work whatever size you like.
Supplies available at sponsor Jerry’s Artarama! Use coupon code: frugal20FS49 for 20% off $49 + Free Shipping (Excludes: Sale, Super Sale, Egift Cards, Buy It Try It’s and Vendor restricted items. Look for the green coupon eligible icon on the product listing.
Supplies:
Turner Watercolors: Rose red, Permanent Lemon, Sap Green, Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre
I hope you try a pen & Ink with watercolor project soon! Just a reminder, today is the last day to save 50% on my Watercolor Landscape Workshop with coupon code FALLCOLOR or Learn to Draw with Lindsay with coupon code INKTOBER. *Links above should contain the discount but use the coupon code if discount does not appear. That reminds me, I need to get my final Inktober drawing done! I’ll post a wrap up in a couple of days. Til then Happy crafting!
Hi Friends! You can use real or fake pumpkins for this cute craft! Great for kids and classrooms too. Put them out for decoration this Halloween! This would make a fun activity at a Halloween party too!
Watch the video to seehow!
Supplies (affiliate links used)
Read or foam pumpkins. I got mine for $1 each at Dollar Tree, they are $8 at the craft store!
If crafting with kids you might want to basecoat the pumpkins and let them dry before inviting the kids to craft.
Ceramic, plaster and paper mache pumpkins can be used for indoor use but you will want to hot glue the accessories on as toothpicks won’t pierce them.
If you are painting real pumpkins be sure to bring them inside a few hours before painting so the pumpkin can dry and warm-up for better paint adhesion. As a bonus painted pumpkins last longer than carved ones.
I hope you enjoyed this Halloween craft! What other pumpkin crafts do you enjoy? Let me know in the comments below!
Hi friends! I have made it to day 27 in the Inktober art challenge and each day I have used the official prompt and stuck to my theme of drawing hands. Here is today’s endeavor…
You can see a time-lapse of this creation and some relaxing swatching here:
Below are the other hand drawings I did this week!
Day 21 “Treasure” watercolor, fineliner and colored pencil sketch.Day 22 “Ghost” (I was inspired by the pottery scene from the movie ghost) Watercolor and Paint pen.Day 23 “Ancient” And I drew an old-timey candlestick phone with india ink and acrylic paint pen. (I figure if an iPhone5 is antique this qualifies as ancient LOL!)Day 24 Dizzy Watercolor and paint penDay 25 “Tasty” I used gessoed matboard and colored pencils with pan pastel blender in this experiment.Day 26 “Dark” this is alcohol marker and colored pencil with hints of paint pen.
Hi friends! Last summer while on vacation I painted a little mushroom in my sketchbook and shared it on Instagram. I had a few requests for a tutorial but I knew I spent quite bit of time on it and I didn’t know how to boil it down into a quick tutorial. Recently though many viewers have told me that they don’t mind the longer videos especially if they are learning so I decided to make a tutorial and take as long as it needed to teach.
This painting is done mainly in watercolor and you can keep it 100% watercolor if you like. I like accents of colored pencils and white pen but if you don’t you can omit them and it will still be lovely. Watch the video and learn how. BTW often what makes a project more advanced isn’t complexity but the time you have to put in to it. This will take time but I have no doubt that you can do this.
You have one week left to save 50% on my class Learn to Draw with Lindsay (use coupon INKTOBER if discount doesn’t apply automatically) or Watercolor Landscape Workshop (Use coupon code FALLCOLOR if discount doesn’t show up) so you can improve your art in a relaxed pace, ad-free environment and get direct feedback from me in the classroom. Offer good on one-time purchase class, ends 10/31/19. I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! I had been asked to review Spectrum Noir Illustrator markers a few times since they came out a couple of years ago. I was hesitant because I have noticed with Spectrum Noir products they tend to come out with a product, get feedback from customers and then improve it on the next version. I basically didn’t want to get their test run LOL! Especially since all of the Spectrum Noir markers are a refillable product if I am going to have it for years and years I want the best version. My instincts were right on these markers because they just released an improved version of the marker with higher quality brush nibs. I heard the older version’s nibs were the kind that frayed and wore out easily but I am happy to report that’s no longer the case. Watch the video to learn more about these markers and read the full review below for additional info.
The new spectrum Noir Illustrator markers feature flexible (foam-rubber like) fray resistant nibs and are available open stock and in sets of 6, 12 and 36 currently. They are part of the Spectrum Noir coloring system and match your other SN markers and can be refilled with the SN refill inks making them a totally reusable marker. If you have the older style Illustrator markers (or even the classics) you can use the new replacement nibs in them if they wear out. The nibs will be available soon and ll 216 colors are ink is now available on the Crafter’s Companion website. BTW Blick has the refill ink on the old glass bottle packaging at a lower price if you wanted to stock up!
As with any marker I recommend swatching them on the paper you typically use so you know what color to expect. Crafter’s Companion offers free color charts you can print and color yourself here. *Or if you want the swatch stamps I use you can find them here.
Pros:
Price- $4 individual or $2-$3 each if bought in sets
The flexible brush end gives wide to fine strokes and the bullet tip is ultra-fine for tiny details.
Cons:
There may still be old stock out there so be sure you are getting the new version. I asked my contact at Crafter’s Companion how to tell new from old stock and she said this: The Illustrators have a darker font on the pen itself, the new is a grey the old is a beige. Old nibs can be swapped out for the new ones tho so if you have the old version no need to upgrade, just replace the nibs as needed.
The color chip at the end is inlaid so it is hard to tell what color is what if the markers are laying on your table. I would want to make a swatch to wrap around the barrel of have them standing in a cup as I worked. It’s a small annoyance and doesn’t affect the performance of the marker but it would keep me from grabbing these over others.
Bottom line…
I like the Spectrum Noir coloring system. I like how you can refill markers and if you were a stamper or a coloring book hobbyist starting from scratch this would be a nice option as you could build your stash as needed and refill your markers when they go dry instead of tossing them. The bullet tip is very small so I see that being the biggest plus to stampers or coloring book artists who want an alcohol marker to make fine lines. If you already have the classic Spectrum Noir markers or the old illustrators I wouldn’t necessarily recommend upgrading them unless you love the look of the new version because the rep I talked to said you can use the new nibs in the old bodies so the only reason to upgrade to the new style would be purely cosmetic. Crafter’s Companion has been around for quite a while and they have invested heavily in coloring tools so I trust they they will be around for a long time to support their materials which is huge. What do you think? Have you used these markers? Let us know what you think in the comments below and til next time happy crafting!
Hi friends! Here we are at day 20 of Inktober 2019. I have enjoyed the additional drawing practice each day but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a struggle some days! Here is today’s drawing for the prompt “tread” and my personal theme of drawing hands.
The real-time tutorial for this painting will be available in Critique Club tomorrow, you can find it in the classroom by tomorrow night. Critique club is a membership group for people who want to grow their artistic abilities. You can upload 2 original paintings you are working on for a custom critique for me per month and you have access to the all of the longer, more advanced real time tutorials in the group plus two new tutorials every month. You can learn more about Critique Club here. In the meantime you can enjoy the time-lapse of today’s artwork now!
Here are the other Inktober drawings I completed this week. I actually was able to finish up a couple of sketchbooks I had been working on for a while, that feels great! I post my drawing daily to my Instagram account if you want to follow along. You can see my projects form week 1 here, and week 2 here on my blog.
Day 14 “Overgrown” 2 of my alcohol markers ran out during this drawing! I was able to custom mix refill ink from alcohol inks and blending solution to get me through the project.
Day 15 “Legend” I though about reading a creepy book and then turning around and seeing a creepy monster peeking over your shoulder LOL!Day 16 “Wild” I was thinking of people wildly parting at a rock concert. Honestly, it was really hard to fit the daily prompts with my hand theme but I really like how this drawing turned out.Day 17 “Ornament” This is pretty obvious but I liked how it turned out. I used inktense pencils on this one.Day 18 “Misfit” This was hard to fit in my theme of hands but I kept thinking of the punk rock band the Misfits and so I drew rock-star hands spelling the word “Misfits” in American Sign Langue and then added music imagery including their iconic guitar and a pic with the Misfits logo on it. I’m not sure it many people got this one:)Day 19 “Sling” This was a lot of fun although I spilled acrylic paint on it halfway through. The original sketch was sloppy and inaccurate so spilling the opaque tan ink on the page was a blessing as it wiped out a lot of my drawing so I could start over. This is a bartender slinging drinks, a Singapore Sling to be exact LOL!
Want to learn to draw better?
Save 50% on my class Learn to Draw with Lindsay with coupon code: INKTOBER through 10/31/19 or by clicking this discount link. *Offer good on full price class regular price $79, after coupon $39.50, use coupon code on the checkout page if the discount doesn’t show up automatically.
Thanks for joining me on my Inktober journey, til next time happy creating!
Want to make a big impact with your tiny peg stamps? Today I’ll show you how! Any flower peg stamps can be used for these techniques so raid your stash. Otherwise I’ll link the stamps (and options) I used below. This technique has many options for creating multi blossom flowers, trees and plants so brainstorm other ways to use this idea!
Watch the video to see how easy it is!
This video is sponsored by Rubber Stamp Tapestry! Use coupon code: LINDSAY and receive 15% off your retail order of $10 or more of peg stamps, peg stamp sets, and unmounted stamps! Coupon expires a week from this video publication. Continue to receive great deals by becoming a PegStamp VIP here. As a PegStamp VIP you’ll get a weekly deal via email plus links to fabulous tutorials by me, Lindsay the Frugal Crafter and other designers.
Cut a sheet of heavy Kraft cardstock to 7”x10” and fold in half to make card. Save scraps to stamp on sentiment later. Cut 4.25”x5.5” white panel for stamping.
Draw stem and flower shapes lightly with pencil on white cardstock.
Fill in drawn shapes with lots of stamped flowers. Stamp a couple of times each time you ink up so you will get a variety of tones in the flower.
Stamp leaves around flowers.
Draw in stems and ink background if desired.
Stamp and emboss Happy Birthday sentiment, trim and assemble card.
Have a look at your small flower stamps and make some big ones! Happy crafting!
Hi friends! Today’s video was inspired by two things: A photo I took when painting outdoors last week and a Critique Club member’s request (Thanks Elizabeth!) that I paint falling leaves.
Here is the photo I took:
And I am glad I got that photo when I did because we had a Nor’easter last night into today and I reckon all of the leaves are probably on the ground now! Luckily it was warm and we just got lots of wind and rain because I can’t deal with snow this early! We also lost power and internet so I am now catching up with the days work. Let’s go to the video!
Supplies available at sponsor Jerry’s Artarama! Use coupon code: frugal20FS49 for 20% off $49 + Free Shipping (Excludes: Sale, Super Sale, Egift Cards, Buy It Try It’s and Vendor restricted items. Look for the green coupon eligible icon on the product listing.
Turner watercolors (Cerulean Blue, Pyrolle Red, Gamboge and black) *the 18 color set is on super sale for $19.99!
Want to learn how to paint landscapes better? Try my Watercolor Landscape Workshop and save 50% now through 10/31/19 with coupon code: fallcolor (or by clicking this discount link) *coupon good on the full course purchase, not on payment plan.
Hi friends! Today we are making some fun alcohol marker colored cards. You can adapt the technique for any theme card you want but I am getting a start on my Christmas Cards.
This tutorial is sponsored by Top Flight Stamps! SAVE 10% off your next order with coupon code: thefrugalcrafter10 *USA orders of $50+ ship free!
If you plan on any time consuming coloring on your holiday cards try and pick away at it early so you can spend your time enjoying the holidays and not stressing over your cards. Happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 