Decorative Book Covers & Creating a Pocket Folder

Hello creative friends and Merry Christmas.  I hope everyone is having a good week and enjoy the Christmas holiday.  My week is going well and I've taken some time off from work this week so really looking forward to the downtime and the break.  This week I have some composition books that I re-covered, covered a couple of books I created using mixed media paper and created a pocket folder to use in my new travel journal I created last week.  I used different pattern papers to cover all the books and to create the pocket folder in patterns that better matches my new travel journal cover.  Here is a picture of the completed covered books and the pocket folder I created.

 And here is a video showing how I created these covers.

I really like the way these all turned out and now have a more cohesive travel journal to work in.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I hope you have a great week.  Until next time, happy creating.

Created a New Travel Journal

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a good week.  My week has been busy.  This week I have a new travel journal cover that I created.  I had a couple of composition books that I wanted to put into a travel journal, so I decided to use canvas to create the cover for a travel journal the size I wanted.  I cut the canvas larger that I needed it and then painted both sides with white gesso to stiffen the fabric and prep it for paint.  I then used modeling paste through stencils to add some texture to the cover.  I cut the canvas to the size I wanted it and then painted both sides with chocolate brown paint and used metallic paint to bring out the texture.  I finished it off by adding the elastic to it.  Here are some pictures of the cover I made.

 

Close up of  the Front

Front

 Back

And here is the video showing how I created this cover.

I really like the way this journal cover turned out and am having fun using it and filling it up.  My plan is to use it for my art for ideas, planning, tracking, projects and I event created a couple of inserts, the same size as the composition books, using mixed media paper so that I could create some art in it as well.  If you have any questions, please leave me a comment.  Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, Happy Creating.

Flamingo's on a Watercolor Background

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a good week.  My week has been going good.  This week I have a drawing of flamingo's on a watercolor background.  I took one of the watercolor backgrounds I did a couple of weeks ago and drew flamingo's on it.  I then used watercolor pens to color them in and a white Signo pen for the white and highlights.  Here is a picture of the flamingo's that I created.

And here is the video showing how I created these flamingo's.



I really like the way these flamingo's turned out.  I hope you like the video.  Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, happy creating.

Zebra Drawing on Watercolor Background

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a good week.  My week is going well.  This week I have a zebra that I drew on one of my watercolor backgrounds that I created last week.  This is the same process I used to draw the tiger. Here is a picture of the zebra that I drew.

And here is a closer picture of the tiger I drew last week. Unfortunately I did not create a video of this drawing, but it was the same process as the zebra and what I used for all of my inktober drawing.  Only difference is these are much larger than my intober sketches and I used color. 



And here is the video showing how I created this zebra.

I used a Uniball pen to draw the zebra and then used a white Signo pen for some highlights.  I really like the way it turned out and I like how the background is showing through the stripes.  When I drew the tiger I used the white Signo pen for the white stripes so there isn't much of the background showing through.  But I love the way they both turned out.  Thank you for stopping by and watching my video.  Until next time, happy creating.

Created Watercolor Backgrounds

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is have a great week.  My week is going well.  As promised, this week I have the video showing how I created several watercolor backgrounds for drawings.  After completing Inktober, I was motivated to continue drawing animals, but on a larger scale and with color.  Here are pictures of the watercolor backgrounds I created and as you can see I already drew a tiger on one of the blue backgrounds.

And here is the video showing how I created these watercolor backgrounds.



I used several techniques for creating these backgrounds and really like the way they turned out.  I can't wait to draw on them.  I was so excited about creating these and unable to wait to use them and see how they looked with a drawing on them, so I grabbed a blue background as soon as it was dry and drew the tiger.  Only after I finished drawing the tiger did I realized I should have recorded it, so I will record the next drawing I do so you can see my process.  Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, happy creating.  

Created a Porfolio, Watercolor Backgrounds, a Tiger and went to an Art Fair Pow Wow

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a great week.  My week has been going well.  This past weekend I was very busy and spend some time in my art room creating.  On Saturday we went to an Art Fair and Pow Wow and had fun watching native dancing.

And on Sunday I created a portfolio for my loose leaf watercolor drawings and some watercolor backgrounds and a drawing of a tiger.  Below is the video showing how I created my portfolio.

Video of how I created the Portfolio for my drawings.

I recorded how I created the watercolor backgrounds as well, but have not yet finished creating and posting the videos for that.  I will have that posted by next week.  I really like the way the portfolio and the backgrounds came out and are excited to get busy creating, as you can see from my tiger drawing.  I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and a great week.  Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, Happy Creating.



Inktober 2018 Video, Cards and a Booklet #inktober #inktober2018

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a great week.  My week has been busy.  This past weekend I create a video flip through of my Inktober drawings.  I also created cards and a booklet and put them in my Etsy shop for sales.  Here are pictures of the cards and the booklet I created.

And here is the video I created.

I really like the way everything turned out and hope other people like them too. 
If you are interested in the cards or the booklet, visit my Etsy shop at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JoysArt360

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you have a great week.  Until next time, Happy Creating

Week 4 Inktober #inktober #inktober2018

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a good week.  My week is going well.  Inktober has come to an end and I am happy that I was able to complete the challenge.  Here are my drawings from the final week, plus 3 days, of inktober.

Most of the drawings I am happy with.  Some I think I could have done a better job if I had spent more time on them.  Surprisingly the pen I was using held out, but you can tell from the last drawing it was fading and not as dark.  I learned a lot from this challenger.  One - I want to spend more time drawing.  Two - I want to do more drawings with color.  It was a real challenge drawing with just a black pen and getting the contrast needed, but I feel that its improved my skills in contrast when drawing and so I'm happy for that.  Three - I want to spend more time on a drawing, rather than trying to whip out a quick drawing to complete a daily challenge.  And four - I have a nice collection of drawings now in my journal.  I recommend this challenge to anyone who wants to improve on their drawing skills.  So if you did not participate this year, there is always next year.  But you don't need to wait a year to challenge yourself to do a similar challenge of a drawing a day for 30 days, so I hope you try it.  Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, Happy creating.

Week 3 Inktober #inktober #inktober2018

Hello creative friends.  I hope you are having a good week.  My week is going well.  Inktober is in its third week and I am still going strong and keeping up with a drawing a day.  Here are my drawings for week three of Inktober.

I'm having fun doing these drawings, but it's a challenge to get the detail and contrast with just one pen.  Not sure why I started drawing these with a pen, but decided to continue the challenge with the one pen.  I did add a little touch of white on a couple of them where I felt it was needed, but for the most part just used the one pen.  And I'm surprised after so many drawings it hasn't run out.  I'm curious to see now how many more drawings I can do with that one pen, LOL.  Have you been doing the inktober challenge?  If so I would love to hear about how you are doing with it.  I hope you have a good week.  Until next time, happy creating.

Week 2 Inktober #inktober #inktober2018

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a good week.  My week is going well. Another week of inktober has gone by and so far I've been able to do a drawing a day.  Here are the drawings I completed for the second week of Inktober.

It's been fun creating these drawings and hopefully I will be able to complete a drawing a day every day of October.  Are you participating in Inktober? If so I would love to hear about your progress. Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, happy creating.

Week 1 Inktober #inktober #inktober2018

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone is having a good week.  My week is going well.  So far I have been able to do an ink drawing a day for inktober.  Here are the drawings I completed this week.

One thing I've learned is it isn't easy doing a drawing with just a pen.  I struggle with the shading.  But I am having fun creating these drawings.  Have you been participating in Inktober too?  If so I would love to see what you are creating.  Thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog.  I hope you have a great week.  Until next time, happy creating.