Category: Practice

Blueberry Branch – Illustrator Project

Blueberry Branch in Illustrator | mamasbrush #practice #learning #sharing #artwork #graphicdesign #blueberries #branch #art

This is my first official completed project in Adobe Illustrator.

In my journey as a budding artist, one of the walls I keep running up against in sharing my work digitally is Adobe Illustrator. I learned how to use Photoshop years ago (though numerous new editions leave me still figuring things out), but I’ve never had any training in Illustrator. I just sort of fake it to do what I need. Watch a YouTube video for this or that and make it work well enough. But it is a frustration when I want to do something and don’t know how.

I’d like to be able to use it to further my artistic endeavors, not be hindered by it. So I’ve decided to learn. As there is nothing in the budget for this sort of thing, I’ve turned to the internet as my teacher. This is hit or miss as I’m sure you know, but I’ve already learned several things I didn’t know before and, therefore, can now do several things I could never have done before. I’ve been working through other peoples project tutorials, but I keep getting stuck before finishing anything all the way. So I took what I’ve learned so far and I made my own project.

  • Blueberry Branch Sketch | mamasbrush #imperfect #quicksketch #practice #learning #sharing #artwork #graphicdesign #blueberries #branch #art
  • Blueberry Branch in Illustrator | mamasbrush #practice #learning #sharing #artwork #graphicdesign #blueberries #branch #art

I started with this quick sketch on regular paper. It isn’t perfect and I didn’t bother fixing the mistakes. I took a picture of it with my phone, uploaded it and brought it into Illustrator. The main skill I was trying to work on was using the pen tool, so I created a new layer over top the one with the photo and began using the pen tool to trace over my lines and leaves. It’s going to take some further practice, but already I can see a difference over the last couple days. Mostly it’s just fun to see something I created in Illustrator.

It’s not perfect, but the project served it’s purpose. I’ve gotten some practice and I’ve learned where I need some further instruction.

Gathering here.

No Sketch Challenge: Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

This collection of summer themed watercolor illustrations was a spur of the moment adventure.

The big kids were at summer camp, leaving me with the little three, ages 3-7. It’s been a long time since my oldest was 7. It was quite the adventure, and to be honest, while I had more chores to do without them here, it was like a mini vacation.

The kids wanted to paint, so instead of my usual “no”, I actually said yes. (Point for mom!) I grabbed their paint sets and got them some water and brushes and paper towels. Then I grabbed some for me.

But what would I paint. I don’t paint as much during the summer due to more demands on my energy, less time, and less inspiration. I just get more excited about painting the other seasons I guess.

I started with the little blue crab in the corner. It reminded me of our weekend in St. Michael’s, MD this past fall (you should totally go, by the way, super fun little harbor town!) From there it just sorta turned into a summer theme. I laid down some paint for a handful of illustrations and when one was dry, I added the next color or layer. (I like having more than one painting going at a time for this very reason!)

Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

The catch? Whatever I wanted to paint, I had to start with the watercolors. No pencil sketch first. My reasoning was lazy enough. I didn’t want to take a bunch of extra time getting things laid out. Who knows how long the kid’s attention span would last this time anyway.

Way back in the beginning, when I was just learning to paint, I painted like this all the time. I hadn’t fine tuned (ummm… still haven’t) my drawing skills and I didn’t know any better. I don’t paint like this as much anymore, mostly because I usually have a purpose to my painting and I want to sketch it out first to get the look and layout just right. But it is so fun to just paint. It frees me from the need for perfection (ahem) and lets me experiment. I have to remember two things when I paint this way.

Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

2 things to remember:

  1. It does have to be perfect. Things won’t be laid out just right or centered or anything. (Note the position of the palm tree to the cloud. If I was going to be all crazy, I might wish it was a smidge to the left, but who’s going to be like that?) And the end result doesn’t have to look exactly like the real thing… it’s my creative interpretation. (aka I can do what I want.)
  2. I don’t have to love every illustration in the end. There are a couple little illustrations on here that I really love and will probably scan for use later, or at least try to paint again sometime. (I think that tiny firefly is just adorable!) Others, I wasn’t happy with at all, and if I do them again, it will be to improve upon them. (The bee needs a lot of work people!)

So now it’s your turn! Grab a set of watercolor paints (your kid’s are fine!) some water and paper (I began my painting adventures with card stock if that’s all you have) and just start painting. It helps to have an idea or theme in mind to get you started, but paint anything you want. No sketching! And have fun!

Leave me a link to the pic in the comments if you upload it somewhere! I’d love to see it!

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Challenge: No Sketch Watercolor Painting with a Summer Theme

Gathering here.