Art Journal Backgrounds

 

I watched a free online Strathmore workshop called Sketchbook Fury - The Art Ninja’s Handbook taught by Graham   Smith.  Lesson one has  great tips on designing background pages for your art journal.  I created blended backgrounds in my art journal with Graham’s tips in mind. 

For these backgrounds, I choose 2 to 3 translucent paints per page.  I made sure I picked out colors within the same color family.  For example, I used cool colors (blues and greens) per background, or warm colors (reds and oranges).  This strategy ensures you won’t create a muddy brown background.  For a more blended look, I sprayed the pages with water prior to adding paint. 

After I applied paint to one page, I closed my journal so that the paints would bleed and blend onto the adjacent page.   Upon opening my journal, there were a couple of places where the paint didn’t do what I wanted it to.  In these areas I simply used a baby wipe to help spread the paint where I wanted it.

Tutorial: Portrait Art

This portrait is of my son, Colin.  Making this style of portrait is fun and a great gift idea, especially with Father’s Day coming up.  

Supplies Needed: 
paper
pencil 
photo 
Sharpie
eraser



Steps: 

1)  Have the person you are making the portrait of write down words that represent them. These words or phrases can also include things they like to do.  As for my son, his words were Disneyland, Legos, student, etc. 

2)  Very lightly sketch the outline of that person’s head.  If sketching isn’t your thing, lightly trace the outline of their head from a photo.  If you don’t have a large photo, you may want to use software such as PhotoShop to enlarge one.

3)  Use the outlines you made of their hair to create the letters of their name.  Be sure to leave a small space between the letters so you can read the name. 

4)  Remember those descriptive words?  It’s time to use them.  Write these on top of the lines you sketched of the face. 

5)  Use a sharpie to color the lettered hair in.

6)  Trace over the descriptive words with the Sharpie.

7) Erase any pencil lines.