creating with samie: understanding color

Experimenting with color is one of my favorite things about art journaling, if not the favorite.  I come from a more technical and word-y background, and while I often played with watercolors as a kid with my mom, I never considered myself capable of being an artist. When I began art journaling, I really had to learn the basics, and recalled the simple lessons from elementary school art class - the color wheel, warm and cold, all mixed together makes mud. These are great to get you started, but all the books in the world won't compare to what you can discover with the spirit of experimentation. 

I really am a 'what if?' kind of person. What if I combined this with this? What if I used this tool differently? All the techniques you love were once ideas in the heads of artists past, and you have that same power of creation.  

Apply this same idea to color. It isn't a mystical force to be feared, but a friend who brightens your day. But you need to learn your own color language first!  



Why is this important? I'll tell you a story. Ages ago, I saw that I was using a lot of the same colors in my journals, and thought that didn't make me a well-rounded artist. I told myself I had to start using the colors I usually shied away from, and proceeded to use the yellows and greens I didn't like. And surprise! I hated those journal pages. There were great parts, but I just didn't like them. I lost my mojo. I thought I was a bad artist.  

But I wasn't. I knew what I liked and what I didn't like, and if I want to do turquoise on all my pages, then I can do that. Your art journal is for YOU and no one else.  

Here's an exercise for you: start a color journal. 
 

I like to find new color combinations through a simple exercise I inadvertently discovered. 

You'll need 6 colors, plus some good white. You want to pick warm or cool as your primary palette. Here's what you're looking for:

White
Black
Neon shade complementary to primary colors  (warm if cool, and vise versa)
Light shade complementary to primary colors (warm if cool, and vise versa)
Light
Medium
Dark

Remember that mixed warm and cool colors will make icky mud, so try not to layer while too wet. Use the primary three colors first, using the neon and light completary shades to add accents (in the example below, the neon pink and yellow are to be used as accents). 

Switch out primary colors - go more blue, or green! Try reds or pinks! But remember your accents and black and white to add contrast and depth to your spread. 

I've done this through an entire journal, which I now can pull out whenever I'm trying to figure out what a page is missing, or what colors I should choose to compliment a new favorite.

Doing these kinds of exercises helps build up your color library and helps you to create awesome journal pages!

You can check out more of Samie-
blog- http://journalgirl.com/
instagram- https://www.instagram.com/samieharding/

lettering with makewells: the art of the ampersand

Hi guys! It's Megan and I am back today to talk all about the ampersand.

I have a love/hate relationship with the ampersand. 

I love it: it's flexible. A super character. You can draw it in virtually infinite ways and people still seem to understand its meaning. I pretty much consider it the 27th letter of the alphabet. it can stand alone or join other characters together. 

I love the ampersand. Yet I avoid it. Because for some reason, this character has been tricky for me to draw. Until now, because I'm here guest posting on Alisa's blog today with the intention of mastering this tricky little fella'. 

To start off, I broke the ampersand character down into 3 basic categories:

I then approached drawing practice, the same way I did the lettering practices. 1 Letter, 100 ways. I mixed in practicing all three styles above. (since my style of lettering is more calligraphic, I am not as drawn to the contemporary style, so you won't see much of this in my examples). 

Remember to keep in mind that even the slightest variation can totally change the feel of each character.

I mentioned before using tracing paper for practice. If you struggle drawing the ampersand (or any letter/character), print out a few different fonts from the computer, and using tracing paper, let them guide you as you draw the basic shapes. 

I played around with flourishes and embellishments, line weight, and any variation I could think of. Below are some favorites from my practice session:

I had so much fun practicing drawing ampersands, that I decided to take it up a notch and create a larger illustration based on this simple, yet complex, shape. 

After very lightly penciling in a line drawing of a traditional ampersand, I created a floral illustration.

I made sure to use a black pen that didn't bleed (such as a micron, sharpie pen, or copic marker). 

Next, I used my favorite watercolors, Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus Fine Art Watercolors, to fill in my doodles. 

And just for fun, if you enjoy Alisa's coloring pages, I created a fun page of my own for you to download and enjoy! Download HERE

Have fun lettering and creating! 

You can check out all of my lettering posts HERE and don't forget to share your progress using #redefinecreativelettering. 

Xo, Megan

@Makewells (instagram)

www.makewells.com

lettering with makewells: dress up your mail

Hello! It's Megan here with another guest post about lettering, and I'm super excited about what I have to share today!

One of my favorite 'simple pleasures' in life is opening up the mail box and finding a hand addressed letter. Tucked away inside the ads, bills, and catalogs, there's a special goodie just for me. Oh the joy! As I open it, I know that I don't owe the sender money, they aren't trying to sign me up for the latest credit card, and, even if what's inside is a simple 'hello', it can be a wonderful moment in my day.

Today I am challenging you to take what you've learned so far in this lettering series, and put it into practice in a very tangible way. Send some snail mail!

Addressing an envelope is the perfect way to practice your lettering skills.  Each name and address is simply a combination of letters, words, and phrases. Addressing creatively can be an extension of your lettering practice. The only rules are that it fits a stamp is is legible! (I sometimes do the "husband test" and if he can read it easily, I trust the post office can too!)

And just think of the smile you will bring someone when they receive your work of art!

If you aren't super confident in your lettering skills yet, painting your envelope first is an easy way to dress it up. Painting simple patterns on your envelope before lettering is easy, but makes a big impression.

But if you don't have time for paint to dry, practicing your lettering techniques with pen and pencils can make just as big an impact. 

In the envelopes below, I used my white uniball signo gel pen to do the lettering, and then a graphite pencil for the drop shadow. 

The drop shadow gives it that extra pop which I love...

Or for an even softer effect, try using a colored pencil. With this navy blue envelope, I drew my letters with a white colored pencil. On the dark paper, it really pops - and almost gives it a chalky effect.  Little doodles and embellishments add a finishing touch.

And if you have the time to make something extra special, try painting the name and address! I love painting on kraft envelopes - the colors pop so nicely against the neutral brown. For this one, I drew the letters very lightly in white pencil before painting on top, adding a drop shadow at the end for dimension.

So practice away AND brighten someone's day with your work. In today's world full of emails and texts, and hand written note says goes a long way. And with an envelope disguised as a work of art, your mail is bound to make someone smile! 

Remember to use #redefinecreativelettering on instagram to share what you've created!

Instagram: https://instagram.com/makewells/
Website: http://www.makewells.com/

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/makewells

Megan Wells

Makewells - an art blog

lettering with makewells: crafting phrases

Hello everyone! I'm back with my guest lettering series, and today I'm talking about some of my tips and tricks for crafting phrases. 

Drawing phrases (or words put together), utilizes the same things we talked about when practicing drawing words, or drawing letters. We are now adding one more realm of possibilities: the infinite ways to combine words. 

Once again, my most trusted exercise when it comes to improving my hand lettering skills is practice and repetition. So just like the previous practice methods (1 letter, 100 ways/ 1 word, many ways), writing out the same phrase in as many varieties as possible is going to open your eyes to so many creative combinations. 

For this exercise, I picked a phrase on the shorter side (4 words): "Enjoy the Small Stuff".

To begin, I challenged myself to sit down for a solid two hours, and "sketch" out the phrase in as many ways as possible. So using a pencil, I sat down and started drawing. 

One thing to think about when drawing out a phrase, is what words you find most important. For this phrase, I decided to treat the words "small stuff" as one, breaking down the phrase into three sections: Enjoy - The - Small Stuff

You may find it helps to practice each section of your phrase on its own before putting them all together. Or even the first letter of your phrase:

I started with my phrase sketches by mixing different styles of lettering together, giving each section a different treatment. And from there, I moved towards using only script lettering (my favorite).

Above are just some of my favorite sketches, but trust me, there were quite a few that didn't make the cut. 

Once I had worked on these for the allotted time, I went back and chose a favorite to develop further. You can do this by using tracing paper, or simply looking at your sketch for guidance. I went back in pen to make a clean black and white drawing.

And then, I painted a final version using the tricks I talked about in my last post.

Enjoy practicing and don't forget to post your work on instagram using #redefinecreativelettering ! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Makewells Instagram: www.instagram.com/makewells

Makewells Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/makewells

Makewells Website: www.makewells.com

introduction to lettering

Hello everyone! I'm Megan of Makewells, and I'm quite thrilled to be contributing to Alisa's blog today. She asked if I'd share some tips on hand lettering, one of my favorite things to do. I don't consider myself to be an "expert letterer"; however, after about three years of truly investing my time in developing the skill, I have some tips and tricks that work for me. So I'm excited to share a few of these things with you.

But, first, I just want to talk briefly about what hand lettering is: put simply, it's the art of drawing letters. That is a key thing to remember no matter where you are in your hand lettering skill set. We aren't talking about typography (the art of arranging type) or technical calligraphy.

One way to think of the difference between calligraphy and lettering is that calligraphy is based on penmanship, or writing letters, while lettering is based on draftsmanship, or drawing them. So to improve your lettering skills, essentially you are looking to improve your drawing skills. 

Getting started with hand lettering is easy (and cheap!). All you need is your basic drawing supplies: pencils, an eraser, paper, tracing paper, and a straight edge. And none of these need to be fancy. Most of my sketches are done with a mechanical pencil in my sketchbook or on basic copy paper. You can invest in lined or gridded paper, though I prefer to draw my own guides using a straight edge. 

As you become more skilled at lettering, you can add to your collection of drawing tools and surfaces. I'll be sharing some of my favorites in my next post. But, for now, that simple set of supplies I mentioned above is all you need.

When getting started lettering, it's important to get to know a few basic types of letters. I've highlighted three of these below:

From the three types of letters above, there are infinite ways to draw the 26 letters in the alphabet (52 if you think upper and lowercase)!

And that is what I love so much about lettering: there are endless possibilities. Not only can each letter be drawn an infinite amount of ways, but the combining of letters to form words, and words to form phrases, opens up a world of creative interpretation that could go on forever. 

Which leads me to my favorite go-to practice exercise. 

I know it sounds like a lot, but I believe so much in this exercise. Not only are you getting valuable practice drawing each letter, but you are also stretching your creativity to find innovative ways to interpret them. 

I have pages and pages in my sketchbooks dedicated to letters - which serve just as much as practice in the moment, as inspiration when I'm creating work in the future. 

I chose the letter A, but you can choose to start with any letter you'd like.

One way to discover the many variations of a single letter is by utilizing tracing paper. Draw the main body of your letter on white paper. Then, using the tracing paper, trace that same letter, varying a small detail each time. 

Below are some simple variations you can try.

Have fun practicing - you will be surprised how easy it is to come up with 100 variations! 

If you do complete the exercise, post your photos on Instagram so we can see. Use #redefinecreativelettering - we can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

Makewells Instagram: www.instagram.com/makewells

Website: www.makewells.com