Craftside

How to Draw Banners and Pennants with a Patriotic Quote

Today, I have a peek into a page from the new book by Rachael Taylor, 20 Ways to Draw a Doodle and 44 Other Zigzags, Hearts, Spirals, and Teardrops: A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers.  It has 20 marvelous ways to draw pennants and banners and I'm sharing it with you, along with a quote that I embellished using the page of banners as my guide.

The quote is, "Energy and persistence conquer all things." - Benjamin Franklin

My goal when I write my quotes, is to really play with the letterforms and experiment. I'm not really going for perfection more like doodling with my letters.

To embellish the doodle quote, I grabbed my red, blue, and black BIC markers, and quite simply drew some of the banners and pennants on the page. Again, not trying to think very hard, simply enjoying the experiment.

These 20 ways books are the best cure for "doodle-block."

What are you going to create using this exclusive page of 20 ways to draw banners and pennants? Create some art and post it using the hashtage #20waysdoodle. Rachael Taylor and I are waiting to see and share!

More about the Quarry book:

20 Ways to Draw a Doodle and 44 Other Zigzags, Hearts, Spirals, and Teardrops
A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers

by Rachael Taylor

Swirls, spirals, and symbols come alive with 20 Ways to Draw a Doodle. Beautifully illustrated, this inspirational sketchbook lets you draw outside the trapezoid and create beautiful designs and patterns.

Explore playful polygons, zany zigzags, tweaked twizzles and twirls! Let your pencil roam freely across the page and create your own designs! 20 Ways to Draw a Doodle is perfect for illustrators, cartoonists, doodlers, and anyone who loves to sketch.

This is not a step-by-step technique book--rather, the abstract shapes, lines, and patterns in this volume are simplified, modernized and reduced to the most basic elements, offering simple forms that meld together to create the building blocks of any item (man-made or organic) that you want to draw.

This all-in-one sketchbook let's you draw right on the pages making it easy to keep all of your most inspired creations at hand. Whether it's for a project or just to pass the time and relax, learn how to doodle and create cool patterns and designs. 20 Ways to Draw a Doodle is the perfect muse for any level of doodler. Best of all, you can use your doodles as a starting point for bigger projects like wallpaper, stationery, cards, wrapping paper, and more!

Rachael Taylor is a fun & energetic surface pattern designer & illustrator that creates 'patterns to make you happy'! All of her products are unique creations. Her aim is to help you fill your life with fabulous colour, patterns & designs that will put a great big smile on your face!

5 steps to writing graffiti letters from the book How to Draw Graffiti Style

First up today, if you have 3 minutes to take a survey about your e-media habits, you can get yourself in the running for a Starbucks gift card!

http://fluidsurveys.com/s/digitalsurvey/

Besides that, I have a fun 5 step tutorial on writing graffiti letters from the book How to Draw Graffiti Style. Click on the image to enhance. 

More about the Chartwell book:

How to Draw Graffiti Style by Kevin Fitzpatrick

The books in the How to Draw series are especially designed for artists of all levels, beginner to advanced, who are looking to hone their skills in a specific style of artwork. The books are 6.5in x 8in, hardcover with an internal spiral binding so they lay open flat as readers follow the steps on their own canvas or paper. The books are beautifully illustrated and contain hundreds of colorful pieces of artwork, photographs, and helpful diagrams. Step-by-step instructions help guide artists through the learning process.

How to Draw Graffiti Style will not only teach you about how graffiti art is made, but will also take you through how the whole culture of graffiti art evolved, and how it remains vibrant and changing today. The graffiti scene has many codes, rules, and classic styles, passed down through generations of graffiti artists. Discover how letters have evolved from the early tag through to the bubble letter, and what we see today. Explore the possibilities with 3D graffiti, using shadow and depth to bring your work off the page, wall, or even the canvas. All aspects of modern-day graffiti art (including the popular stencil art) are explained in depth.

Everyone loves to draw, and graffiti is gaining momentum as a recognizable genre of art. Whether you want to graffiti on paper, on canvas, or on permitted walls, this is the book for you. Complete with easy to follow step by step instructions and expert hints and tips, you’ll be an urban art aficionado in no time.

Voted the best graffiti artist in London, Kevin "Astek" Fitzpatrick is known the world over and has a huge following of fans.  Being involved in graffiti for 20 years, Astek has carved his style into British graffiti and beyond, as well as painting at events all over the world.  Astek has exhibited his work in many galleries in Edgeware and Covent garden, to name a few, along side artists like Will Barras and the infamous Banksy.  Astek has worked with companies like Ecko Unlimited and Nike, as well as doing commission work - private and commercial.  Astek is rated as one of the best in the world.

How to Hand-Render Type from the Book, Drawing Type: An Introduction to Illustrating Letterforms

Are you as fascinated with hand-lettering as I am? I just love letters and I am finding this new book Drawing Type: An Introduction to Illustrating Letterforms so inspiring. I have shared that I try to write a quote every day. Now, what I do since I got a copy of this book, is to randomly open it to a page and use the letter-forms and layout as my inspiration for how I am going to write my quote. Here is just one example of one of the exercises in Drawing Type.

Click on this page from Drawing Type to read the full exercise on how to hand-render type.

More about the Rockport book:

Drawing Type: An Introduction to Illustrating Letterforms

by Alex Fowkes

Part inspiration and part workbook, the images of hand-drawn type will inspire and excite any designer to draw and explore type. Drawing Type features real-world projects and sketchbooks of well-known type designers, including interviews about their processes.

Playful, hand-drawn type can easily be used in a range of disciplines within design and illustration such as packaging, editorial, posters, advertising, online graphics, and signage, and the hand-made aesthetic is more prevalent now than ever. 

Alex Fowkes will help you to create custom lettering that clients seek for their projects. Alex walks you through the steps to drawing serifs, san serifs, scripts, etc. With ample space on the pages for designers to mimic and draw their own typefaces, this book is perfect for learning at home or in a classroom that you can refer to again and again!

Alex Fowkes is a freelance designer based in London, UK. While working full time Alex completed lots of typography based briefs in his spare time, from personal pieces to commissions and album covers. His work varies from hand drawn type to digital typography but always tries to retain a human element to his work. The Sony Timeline is the biggest typographical piece he has undertaken taking almost 150 square meteres, taking over 2 months just to design.

How to make a home-made drawing board from the book The Calligraphy Handbook

Today's tutorial on how to make a drawing board, from the book The Calligraphy Handbook, would be useful for all sorts of creatives, not just calligraphers.

Click on this page from The Calligraphy Handbook to enlarge and read all about how to build your own drawing board.

More about the Chartwell Book:

The Calligraphy Handbook

by EMMA CALLERY

This hardcover book with internal wire-o binding is 6.5in x 8in, a perfect size for readers to keep handy and reference often. The stylish design of this book, along with the interior photographs, illustrations and diagrams, make the learning process simple and fun for beginners and provides useful tips for more advanced readers.

 

This is a complete guide to the art of calligraphy, from selecting pens and mastering different alphabets through to designing and laying out your work. Step-by-step mini projects demonstrate a wide range of techniques, from brush lettering and gliding to design principles and practice. Beautifully illustrated examples provide a wealth of inspiration and include scripts such as Roman, Italic, Gothic, and Copperplate calligraphy.

 

The book describes the equipment needed to be an excellent calligrapher, including the paper, measuring tools, pens, brushes, and inks. 

     

Giveaway: Bodleian Libraries Desk Diary 2014 and a whole bunch of Craftside goodies

Today, I have a super fun and special Craftside Giveaway filled with all sorts of goodies along with a fun crafting tip/idea.

This prize pack includes:

1. Bodleian Libraries Desk Diary 2014
2. A Card Album
3. A Christi Friesen kit that includes all the goodies and directions to make a mixed-media heart.
4. A new Brave Intuitive Painting MakeReady Blank Journal.
5. A pack of Makeready wrapping paper
6. A randomly selected bulking dummy (a blank book the publishing industry uses to decide the size, shape and paper a book will be printed in.
7. And will include but not limited to stuff from my personal stash! Like yarn, quilt fabric, rubber stamps, glue,tape measures and who knows what else! It will be like Chistmas!

Enter here and answer the questions: "Have you ever belonged to a "something" of the month club?" What was that something and did you like it?

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 Now onto a crafty tip:

I love the fact the Facebook and Pinterest are a wealth of quotes. This one popped up and it seemed perfect to write on one of the new Brave Intuitive Painting MakeReady Blank Journals.

I love writing my letters backward and changing the sizes and letterforms. Try it!

The quote is, "The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind."

-Caroline Myss

Oh, and I also keep a box of little things like cool graphics from packaging etc. That's where I went to find the little scissors, iron and spool images.

More about the Frances Lincoln desk diary:

Bodleian Libraries Desk Diary 2014

by Bodleian Libraries

This Bodleian Libraries Desk Diary 2014 is illustrated with images from the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera. This year's fashion theme includes images from advertisements and catalogues from between c.1900 to the late 1950s.

The diary is a week to view, has a ribbon marker and is illustrated in colour throughout.

Check out all of the

2014 Quayside Calendars

Perfect for Holiday Gift giving!

More about the Quarry book:

Brave Intuitive Painting-Let Go, Be Bold, Unfold! Techniques for Uncovering Your Own Unique Painting Style

by Flora S. Bowley

Adopt a spontaneous, bold, and fearless approach to painting as a process of discovery—one that results in lush and colorful finished works that will beg to be displayed. This inspiring and encouraging book for both novice and experienced painters shows how to create colorful, exciting, and expressive paintings through a variety of techniques, combining basic, practical painting principles with innovative personal self-expression.

Flora S. Bowley takes a fun and forgiving approach to painting, based on the notion that “You don't begin with a preconceived painting in mind; you allow the painting to unfold.” Illustrating how to work in layers, Flora gives you the freedom to cover up, re-start, wipe away, and change courses many times along the way. Unexpected and unique compositions, color combinations, and subject matter appear as you allow your paintings to emerge in an organic, unplanned way while working from a place of curiosity and letting go of fear. She lives and works full-time as a painter in Portland, Oregon, where she is inspired by magical forests, abundant gardens and a vibrant community of fellow artists. Visit her online at www.florasbowley.com.