Need to get a little "arty" or "crafty" today? Well, I did with a little inspiration and help from the two new books Playing with Sketches: 50 Creative Exercises for Designers and Artists and 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and 44 Other Things with Wings: A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers.
I made an ATC and altered book pages with some frottage, lady bug art and a pocket to keep the ATC in.
You can't see it, but the book I'm working with is a dictionary and this is the page the word "button" appears on.
I first did a little test of the frottage technique from on vellum. I used a Sizzix embossing plate that features a variety of buttons. Frottage by the way if you aren't familiar with it is, "The technique of reproducing a texture or relief design by laying paper over it and rubbing it with some drawing medium, such as pencil or crayon."
I created the frottage on my book page with a green crayon. I had to be a bit gentler as the book pages are thinner.
Next, I drew one of the lady bugs from 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and 44 Other Things with Wings on a piece of vellum.
I cut the piece of vellum down to pocket size and adhered it to the book page with a variety of washi tape.
My ATC is die cut with the Sizzix ATC die from another vintage book page and embellished with a strip of washi tape.
I'm thinking this could turn into a series!
More about the Rockport book:
Playing with Sketches: 50 Creative Exercises for Designers and Artists
by Whitney Sherman
Drawing is the backbone of art and design; with all of the tantalizing wonders of the digital world, the best designers, illustrators and artists know that it’s good to step back occasionally and hit the refresh button on your hand and mind. Playing with Sketches is a hands-on, fun approach to exploring drawing principles. Beginning with an introduction to the philosophy of learning through the process of play, this book brings you through a series of basic warm-up exercises that can be combined with later projects. Then you’ll move quickly on to more challenging and engaging exercises, including word games, dimensional shapes, and inventive sketchbooks and letterforms, eventually creating a “toolkit” of ideas and skills developed through the process of play. This book features creative, adaptable ideas, and numerous examples of designers and artists responses to each exercise, giving you a peek into their way of thinking and seeing.
With over 25 contributors, from high-profile designers, illustrators and artists to talented graduate students, you see work that will walk you step-by-step through a process or inspire by example. The book provides meaningful outcomes for your practice, including building an image archive, being exposed to new ways to use media and tools, inspiring you to break the rules, to collaborate, and much more!
Award-winning illustrator Whitney Sherman was trained as a photographer, held positions as an advertising art director, publications designer.
and
The Quarry book
Let your imagination take flight with 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and 44 Other Things with Wings. Beautifully illustrated, this inspirational sketchbook will help you learn how to draw anything with wings. From fairies, bats, and airplanes, to dragonflies, gargoyles, and angels, 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly is perfect for illustrators, cartoonists, doodlers, and anyone who loves to sketch. This is not a step-by-step technique book--rather, the winged things in this volume are simplified, modernized and reduced to the most basic elements, offering simple abstract shapes and forms that meld together to create the building blocks of any item (man-made or organic) that you want to draw. Each spread features 20 inspiring illustrated examples of 45 themes - bugs, bats, birds, and much, much more - over 900 drawings, with blank space for you to draw your take.This all-in-one sketchbook lets you draw right on the pages making it easy to keep all of your most inspired creations at hand. Your inner artist will fly free with 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and 44 Other Things with Wings.
Trina Dalziel is represented by illustration agency Lilla Rogers Studio. She has worked as a freelance illustrator for over seventeen years. Originally from the North of Scotland, she grew up on a tomato farm. In her teens and twenties she spent time living in the Netherlands, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Paris. She earned a degree in illustration, and at the post-graduate level studied twentieth-century art and design history, which has all fed into her love of art, design, nature, animals, Scandinavia and European cities. She lives in London where she greatly appreciates the access to exhibitions, galleries, and museums which fuel her inspiration and research.
www.trinadalziel.com
Trina Dalziel is represented by illustration agency Lilla Rogers Studio. She has worked as a freelance illustrator for over seventeen years.
Originally from the North of Scotland, she grew up on a tomato farm. In her teens and twenties she spent time living in the Netherlands, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Paris. She earned a degree in illustration, and at the post-graduate level studied twentieth-century art and design history, which has all fed into her love of art, design, nature, animals, and Scandinavian and European cities.
Some of Trina’s favorite things include: British transport documentaries from the ‘40s and ‘50s, Czech animation, surrealist photography, dogs with beards, forests, the Victoria and Albert Museum, printmaking, drawing, walking slowly in nature, and wandering around cities with her camera.
