Purple Pony Art Blog

My secret shame is an embarrassingly large stash of paper. There's probably someone out there with a larger stash than me, but I feel ashamed that such fine material is not being used. So what better way to use than make some homemade books? Here are five books I have recently perused for ideas -

Bookbinding Basics by Paola Rosati

The Handmade Book by Angela James

Books Unbound by Michael Jacobs

Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Gordon

The Penland Book of Handmade Books

The first one covers traditional techniques while the other four have much more creative examples to inspire. Some of the books are completely non-functional as well.

Last night was my last night of figure drawing at ACAD. I didn't want to buy another roll of newsprint, so I dug out the huge 14x17” sketchbook that my instructor for Drawing 120 required. There were plenty of blank pages left. Looking back on those old sketches and drawings from 2004, it made me a little nostalgic, so…

Five Favourite Art School Exercises

> Find 10 or more different ways to render a subject (Drawing 120)

Naturally I picked a photo of a big white horse as my subject (a figurine, still life or landscape will also do). Here are some of the things I rendered my white horse with: pencil, Prismacolor markers and vellum, newspaper collage and black oil pastel, white acrylic fingerpainting on black Mayfair paper, watercolour and black embroidery floss, chalk pastel and homemade stencil. Anything goes!

> Make a value scale in graphite (Drawing 110)

One thing that often stands out in artwork is the lack of value, or lights and darks. I think it is harder to make the darks "dark", but it is important. One a piece of heavier stock paper (such as Bristol or Mayfair paper) make a line of ten 1"x1" squares. They may be close together or have some space between them. The first square will be the colour of the paper, or completely white. The last one will be as dark as you can make it. Between these two squares will be a range of grays ranging from light to dark. If you are moving from black to white, each square should get progressively lighter by the time you reach the second last one. Use varying soft and hard pencils to make the job easier.

> Render a shiny object in conte crayon (Drawing 110)

My shiny object was an old-fashioned kettle, but alas I could not become one with the kettle at all. This exercise applies observational skills and value. Find any shiny object (a metal pot, a metal spoon...anything shiny that isn't a mirror) and illuminate it with a bright light source. A desk lamp or clamp lamp work great. Look for reflections, lights and darks as you render your shiny object. Try using large sizes of paper, such as 18"x24" too.

> Modernize a famous painting (Drawing 120)

This assignment really brought out the potential in the class. I remember everyone did such a good job, especially one girl who did a giant copy of a portrait of a young boy holding a grenade. For my own, I chose to modernize El Greco's painting of St. Luke. Just changing a small detail can either make a poignant statement or create humour using the historical context with something modern. For example, the Globe and Mail ran a manip of George W. Bush's head on a famous portrait of Napoleon.

> Blind contour drawing (Drawing 110)

My Drawing 110 instructor kicked our class off with this exercise and it was a great ice-breaker. We made several drawings of our shoes and the results were very amusing! Basically, one slowly follows the contours of a model with the eyes while moving the pencil at the same time. It is "drawing without looking". Many nice, abstracted shapes and drawings can be made this way, and anyone can do it!

Five Favourite Art Materials

> Mars Graphic 3000 Duo Layout Markers

I have two big handfuls of these double-ended markers which come in over 80 colours. I might have 30 or so :-D They have two tips, one fine, one brush, and last a long time. I like how the tips don't fray at all. I use them a lot for sketching.

> Golden Acrylic Paint

After using other brands of acrylic paint over the years, I won't buy anything else. I was first introduced to them in Painting 101 and I liked the nice way they blended and dried on various surfaces. I have used other brands like Acrilex, but I find that the finish is too flat for my taste. Worth the extra pennies!

> Prismacolor Nupastels

Nupastels are harder than most chalk pastels, but not as hard as conte. The range of colours is decent and they are affordable, however, their lightfastness rating is somewhat poor (of course, hanging any sort of art in direct sunlight is not recommended). I like to use them to block in colours for pencil crayon drawings.

> Mayfair Paper

Mayfair paper comes in a wide variety of colours and is extremely affordable. It was considered the "good paper" in Drawing 110 and 120 by students :-D It is medium weight cardstock and has a slicker feel than Bristol paper or board. Good for pencil, charcoal and markers. Can't hold wet media very well.

> Tracing Paper

As silly as it sounds, the day I discovered tracing paper came in big rolls was a major coup for me. My Drawing 110 teacher said that few drawings are successful without planning, and I like to draw pictures in layers - background, midground, foreground and characters. It's easier to move the picture elements around instead of drawing the same thing over and over.

Five Favourite Art Blogs

> Drawn!

This is a great blog, I check it every day. They feature illustrators, comics, and the odd pop culture reference. I always find something new and interesting.

> Swapatorium

While not necessarily about art, there is appreciation for styles of the past, particularly the 60s and 70s. The found ephemra are among my favourites, especially old photos and drawings. The main contributor is also a collage artist.

> All Kinds of Stuff

The blog of John K, legendary animator of Ren & Stimpy, which I loved so much as a kid. I even grew to love The Ripping Friends too after not knowing what to make of it.

> Arts Journal Art Blogs

They collect blogs on different sections of the arts. I always like skimming it to see what's new.

> BookLust

The blog of Patricia Storms, a book lover and cartoonist. Now and then I spot her illustrations here and there before noticing them in her blog :-)