Hey guys! Welcome back to Art Lab! We all know that distressed clothing items are in right now, but what about distressed art? I got the idea of “distressed art” from an old pair of jeans while cleaning out my closet the other day. (who knew that old jeans could be art inspiration? XD) After a few attempts I finally got it right – and I’m super excited to share it!
Howdy, y’all. My name is Amie, and I’m a new artist here on Art Lab. Before I get started, I’ll give a few facts about myself.
–I’m a blogger at my blog, Crazy A
–I’m a bunny lover.
–I drink coffee. ☕️
— I’m a writer, not a “real” artist. XD
— I will admit I love music, and playing my instruments more than my art.
I’m a homeschooled gal, and would enjoy seeing y’all over at my blog!
Okay, before we get started, I need to make a confession. I’m a terrible artist. I love art, and I love painting, sketching, or painting with pastels, but I’m not good at it. So, bear with me, and hopefully we’ll learn together.
Today, I got my inspiration from this on Pinterest.
So, these are the things you’ll need.
— Yellow Oxide Acrylic paint
— Hooker’s Green Acrylic paint
— Cadmium Red medium hue acrylic
— Neutral grey acrylic
–Settler’s Blue acrylic
— Mars Black acrylic
— Titanium white acrylic.
(I purchase most my paint from Dick Blick. All of the above are purchased from there with the exception of Settler’s Blue, which is Folkart, and the tube of gold, which I ended up not using.)
— A pencil
— A glass of water
— A mixing knife
— Palate
— a wide flat brush
— A small, pointed brush
— A medium flat brush
— A medium round brush
— Canvas paper.
All right! Once you have all that, or stuff similar to that, you can get started! I took one sheet of canvas paper and my pencil.
I started by sketching my pumpkins. My little sister told me to make them like this, and so, I did. I find it easy to think of them as different sections as I draw, so that might help you. Just remember to do the one farthest back first, and to draw lightly.
So, next draw the little berries and cotton. (I found this one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole art project. 😂)
Continue drawing all over the page. I decided to put a leaf at the very bottom. I will admit, I now wish I didn’t…But I guess it’s too late now, isn’t it? I stuck with little leaves, berries, and cotton, but this is where you can make the picture your very own. What if you did Indian corn? Or gum balls? Or lavender sprigs?
Now, you can take your Hooker’s Green, and start filling in the leaves with your smallest brush. Make sure you put a liberal amount in each leaf so that you can mix in some other colors later on.
Now, take the brown, and make a stem, but make sure it’s not a continued line. Also, mix some of the brown with half of the green on the leaves, making the colors blend slightly.
Now, do that to all of the leaves you’ve drawn.
Lastly, mix some yellow in those leaves, making the yellow more distinct than the brown.
Now, move on to the berries. With the same brush, grab a generous amount of red, and fill in those little circles.
Now, grab some more yellow, and put a little line on the undersides of the berries. Don’t mix it in very much.
Now, I think I forgot to take a picture of the next thing. 😐 But, I will tell you! Make the stems of the berries the same way as you did the leaves. Then, mix a good amount of the red with the yellow to make a very strange orange. DO NOT do the leaf first. That was my mistake. (Hehe.)
Next, add some white in a few places, a dab of black in the middle, and lots and lots of brown. Once you’re happy with the results, add more paint and give the pumpkin a textured look.
Now, work a bit on the stem. Make a big blob of brown, and mix white with it at the top. Then, traced a bit of black around it, and voila! The orange pumpkin is done.
Now, ignore what I did with the leaf, and pay attention to the small pumpkin. Grab a bunch of settler’s blue, and slather it on there.
Now, grab some white, and accentuate what you want to accentuate. I had fun doing that. And then grab some brown to make the ridges.
Now, mess around with the yellow, brown, white, and grey coloring for a LONG time. XD At least, it took me a long time to get it where I was sorta happy with it.
Now, grab the white and make it nice a FLUFFY. And grab the grey, and give it a swirl, but only on one half of the cotton.
Now, for the stem make the little three point flower of brown, and mix in some white.
And then add little white dots, and the cotton is done!
Now, just grab some of the yellow, and paint the leave before doing brown for the stem. Don’t do too much, because the eye isn’t supposed to be attracted to the leaf.
Now, sign you’re name, and you are done!
~~Amie~~
Hello friends! Today I’m excited to be back with another Art Lab post! Since fall has officially begun, I thought it would be fun to celebrate with a neat watercolor leaf tutorial. It’s super easy, yet super cute!
I’d recommend practicing a little first, as if you’re not an expert watercolor painter (like me) then the leaves shape can be a little tricky at first. But then again, if you’re an expert……
Basically just paint some random leaf shapes, if you want you could also lightly pencil them out.
But of course all of this is just your personal preference.
Next, paint some leaves on your actually canvas, ATC, sketchbook page, or whatever material you’re using. You can make them as simple as you want, or as complex as you want. I’d recommend trying a few colors and sticking to them, rather than just using whatever colors you want at the moment. Although that could and couldn’t turn out neat. Remember, there is no wrong way to do art.
After the paint is dry and you are happy with it, then you can start adding details with a fine tip pen, such as stems, veins, etc.
Once you are happy with the pen details, then you’re finished! Congratulations!
Also, if you did try this technique, I’d love to see it, just email me at theartlabblog@gmail.com to share a picture! 😀
-Hannah
Hello fellow artists! Have you ever wondered how people get those super amazing watercolor backgrounds for their art? Well look no further, today I’m going to be showing you a super easy and fun tutorial for how to get a unique watercolor background. Continue reading
Bonjour les amis!
How are you all doing? With school in sight, let’s focus on enjoying the rest of summer.
Our project today is DIY paint markers.
You will need:
Step 1. Gather Materials
I’m using a rather worn Niji water brush and Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic paint in Blue, Black, and Titanium White.
Step 2. Squeeze about 1 teaspoon worth of paint into your lid-able container.
Step 3. Mix the paint up with a toothpick or chopstick.
Step 4. Pour about 3-5 drops of Liquitex Flow-Aid. It helps to dilute the acrylic paint without having the paint separate. Add about 1 tablespoon + of water until the solution is rather runny.
Step 5. Pour into your waterbrush.
It takes trial and error to make a solution that will work with a water brush. I would lean more on the watery side.
Live creatively!
The Art Lab 