sketching Archives - Studio Katie

My Top 5 Tips for Sketching in Your Planner

Hello everyone, My latest post for Tombow USA is live and I wanted to direct you over to it.

In the post I am sharing my top 5 tips for sketching in your planner!

I doodle on everything (I always drew on my schoolwork as a kid. Thankfully I was homeschooled and my Mom didn’t mind), so obviously my planner is going to be filled with random sketches too, right. I know you would expect nothing less. 😉

Tombow partnered with Bloom Planners to supply those of us on the design team some new planners, and I love they planner and address book I received!

Grab the full post on Tombow’s blog here.

DIY

5 Tips for Using Colored Pencils on Wood

*This post is sponsored by Walnut Hollow and Tombow USA and includes affiliate links. By purchasing through these links, I may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. With that in mind, I only ever promote products I love and use.*

Hey y’all, today’s blog post combines two of my favorite brands: Tombow and Walnut Hollow!

I’m no colored pencil expert, but I’ve been trying to learn them more, and lately I’ve been liking the look of colored pencils on wood, so for this project, I’m using Tombow’s Irojiten colored pencils on a Framed Sign by Walnut Hollow and I’ll be sharing with you 5 of my best tips for working with colored pencils on wood:

Supplies:

Wood surface. I’m using a Framed Sign by Walnut Hollow.
Colored Pencils. I’m using Vol 9, & Vol 1. of Irojiten Colored Pencils.
MONO Sand Eraser
Colorless Blending Pen.

Tips for using Colored Pencils on Wood:

Tip #1: Start sharp. I prefer to work with a sharp pencil, I find it gets into the woodgrain easier, so I sharpen mine vigorously and don’t let them get dull. The good news? Tombow’s Irojiten Colored Pencils are specially made to allow them to obtain a super sharp point that lasts a long time, so you won’t have to sharpen very often during the project!

Tip #2: Sketch it out. I do a practice sketch onto paper, and then sketch it lightly onto the wood before going over it darker with a black Irojiten Colored Pencil (from Vol 2). If you don’t like freehanding, you can also use transfer paper to draw a design on.

Tip #3 Make a mistake? Use the MONO Sand Eraser. This eraser acts like sand paper on the wood, so you can quickly sand off the mistake!

Tip #4: For an easy abstract background, Go with the woodgrain. Just follow the lines in the wood and color them in different colors, like I did on this project. I love that every wood piece is different, so your backgrounds will never end up the same with this technique.

Tip #5: Blend the colors by using the Colorless Blending Pen over top of the colored pencil. This marker will burnish the lead and make the colors shine a little bit more. The Irojiten’s are artist quality pencils and have such a lovely creamy texture.

A post shared by Tombow USA (@tombowusa) on Jun 26, 2018 at 2:09pm PDT

If you have any questions about this technique, leave them below!

Tutorials

Sketching Faces Online Class

I am an affiliate for Get Messy Art Journal. This post includes some affiliate links. If you purchase using them, I might get a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Hey everyone! I’m so thrilled to be able to announce the launch of my newest online class for Get Messy Art Journal today: Sketching Faces!

I’m always getting told I should teach how to draw my signature style of faces, so I’ve been working on this course for the past few months and it’s finally out! Here’s the official class information:

Sketching Faces is an online, video based course that will teach you how to sketch and paint girls faces, taught by illustrator Katie Smith.

The ability to draw life like faces will help take your artwork to a new a level allowing you to dive into the world of portraiture. Experienced illustrator, Katie Smith, will teach you her very simple method for drawing beautiful faces no matter your skill level. This course starts at the very beginning and will walk you through, step by step, in clear easy to follow videos helping you learn to draw a variety of facial features, different profile views, experiment with different hairstyles, and you will learn Katie’s secrets to coloring in your sketched faces with watercolor paint.

The course includes multiple printable templates to help you practice and grow your skills and step by step guides, video tutorials and ideas and challenges to help you use your new artwork into other art forms you love. Join today if you want to take your drawing skills to the next level and begin sketching lifelike faces in your art.

There is also a free lesson! In the free lesson I include 4 face templates that you can print out and use. Get the free lesson here. You have access to this even if you don’t sign up for the full class.

Sign up for Sketching Faces here.

I love working with Get Messy Art Journal. They’re a fantastic group of ladies and I’m honored to teach classes with them. You can find my first class Painting Galaxies here.