Between worlds

The field of fabric design made me stuck between the analog and digital worlds.

I love to hold a pencil or a brush, touch the paper and perceive the process of creation with all my senses. However, the desire to show off to friends made it necessary to scan. And when I wanted to create a fabric pattern, much more was needed.

Being happy from the “crazy faces” fabric and jacket, the next path was clear to me. I will continue drawing and painting as before, scan the final images and then assemble them into a pattern on the computer. If I learn how to use graphics tools better, it can’t be that hard, right?

I put effort and time into this method, but I still ran into some limits, mostly because of resolution and file size. Look and judge.

Colored pencils origin:

Watercolor origin:

Because I wasn’t satisfied enough, I tried to create simple things digitally. The first success was the mandala, which I presented in one of the previous posts. Unfortunately, it was also the last success for a long time.

I realized that drawing and painting digitally is a completely different discipline that requires a change in mindset. I seriously doubt I can do it. Despite the fact that digital creation never attracted me.

Look at my early attempts.

Something inside tells me it’s too soon to give up and the desire to create fabric design is still strong. I would like to find a way to combine the best of both worlds and still be myself.

Be sure I will keep you updated on progress. In the meantime, I welcome your comments and recommendations.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

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From doodling to jacket

I’ve never been the mandala type. I can appreciate their precise beauty, but it doesn’t suit my nature. When I tried to draw mandalas and listen to my inner voice, the result was not symmetrical or classically beautiful. I got crazy colorful doodles instead. So, they lay at the bottom of a drawer for years.  

I gave them a second chance to live when I learned how to create tile patterns. Using a very simple method I succeeded, and the “crazy faces” pattern was born. Among many others, this one most reflects who I am.

Crazy faces pattern

For a long time, I wanted to sew clothing from fabric with my own pattern on it. But I don’t like to wear synthetic fibers that most printers print custom patterns on. That’s why I postponed my dream until recently. My “crazy faces” pattern kicked me forward and I decided to order a softshell for a winter jacket.

printed fabric

I should note that I sew everything by hand, so the winter jacket was a big challenge and took a long time.

me in jacket

Eureka, it’s done! I like to wrap myself in an energy that is all my own. I feel safe and happy.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Over challenged

I needed a break because of too many challenges at the same time. I didn’t even finish Inktober, my computer crashed without saying bye. Still not sure if all data can be recovered.

But I did complete my personal artistic challenge!

It was the second year of the challenge, from birthday to birthday. One topic every week regardless of the amount of work or health status. I’m afraid some of the images show a lack of inspiration or mood to paint the subject of the challenge. Or exhaustion due to several other challenges on daily basis – painting forest in March and April, and Inktober recently.

I will try to focus more on quality instead of quantity next year.  

Thanks for watching my gallery!

Hugs and love,

Ivana

window

plant

food

winter

document

butterfly

lantern

temple

chariot

monster

forest

mosaic

suit

spring

night

heart

connection

market man

fragility

wasteland

sportsman

boat

fable

book

summer

hood

independence

collage

ornament

ear

postcard

stairs

insect

fountain

pearl

city

castaway

figure

battle

family

container

harvest

thief

rain

autumn

mask

laziness

mushroom

nymph

vegetables

fear

shield

Inktober 3

I am still trying to keep up with the game, even though it’s a little behind schedule.

Here is a recap of my last week prompts, using liner and Inktense pencils again.

Fowl – I decided for the western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) because I wanted to draw fowl that live wild in the forest and it is a possibility to meet it there on a walk.

Tetrao urogallus

Salty – I was out of creative ideas here.

salty

Scrape – Since I sharpen pencils often, I see this kind of scrape in front of me every day.

scrape

Ponytail – No special idea, just a girl with ponytail.

ponytail

Bluff – My version of the bluff looks more like a cheerful spring cake, doesn’t it?

bluff

Bad dog – or better to say a strange dog. To be honest, it was my first time drawing a dog.

bad dog

Heist – My original idea was a time robbery by mobile phones and other addictions. Unfortunately lost in drawing process with no time to fix.

heist

Booger – I skipped this one.

Yes, I am ready to confirm the truth that it is more important to participate (in anything) that to win. The effort to participate is no less valuable, and similarly exhausting. Great respect to everyone!

With hugs and love,

Ivana

P.S. I am sorry but the size of images has a life of its own. I cannot understand why the images do not follow the instructions in the format box.

Inktober 2

Hi everyone and great respect to the artists, who participate in Inktober. I am trying to keep up for the first time and the pace is really challenging. There is no room for second attempts, although I would appreciate them on some topics.

My Inktense pencils drawings for this week of Inktober:

Nest – More like an Easter composition, no bird could sit in these eggs.

Crabby – I was not sure what crabby meant. I did use a bad quality paper 😦

Eagle

Forget – I loved drawing this one. Forget or better not to forget.

Kind – Different kind of mushrooms I meet in the forest just now.

Empty – Out of several sketches, this one won.

Armadillo – Nightmare to draw it, I finished before finishing.

No more talk today, thank you for reading and watching my Inktober drawing.

Have a nice week! We still have a wonderful Indian summer in my area.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Inktober?

I love the idea of drawing different topic every day. But really every day? By ink? Should I try it? My inner voice said yes! Nothing to lose but experience to gain.

I hesitated for the first two days, struggling with doubts and a little bit with translation and understanding what the first two topics mean. But then I dived in, using liner and Inktense pencils with water.

Bat – no idea except literal. Reference picture from Wikipedia.

Scallop – I like this one as I felt much more relaxed while drawing.

Flame – nothing creative, too sharp shapes. I would like flower like this.

Bouquet – quick hydrangea drawing

Trip – psychedelic drawing on a trip

Match – hopefully they will match despite bad coloring.

And hopefully I will continue together with my weekly personal challenge, the second year of which is slowly coming to the end. I love all of this! When I grabbed the colored pencils in my 40s and decided to draw, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Mushroom season

I love mushrooms. I’m obsessed with them. A walk in the forest usually means looking for mushrooms. Partially because of the conditions in which I grew up. Mushrooms were important addition to diet at a time, when both people and market supply were poor.

For us as children, mushroom hunting was a kind of game, an adventure in the forest. And the mushroom dishes that mom cooked were delicious! I would never call them replacement food.

Most people I know only pick boletus mushrooms. I love them too. But since I live in an area not abundant with mushrooms, I have learned to recognize even less common species. No, I’m not a mycologist. I just like to bring enough for a regular meal.

People often look at me with suspicion if I want to poison someone. The symbol of a mushroom that tastes wonderful, even it looks inedible, is Laccaria amethystina.

I use it for my colored pencils drawing and since I changed the graphics software I’m learning to work in, I used the drawing as a background for one of my lessons.

Seamless pattern from my vectorized drawing.

No, I’m not going to go down this route of making seamless patterns. I just needed to practice the tools of the new software. Although it doesn’t look so bad, what do you say? Of course, I miss my colors!

I hope to bring you some next time.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Drawing tigers

From time to time I like to watch tutorials “how to paint or draw” something. It gives me a base and more confidence to try new options. I also get a lot of inspiration from watching others doing great things.

A few years ago I joined DA community, where a huge number of people from all over the world exhibit their art and share their artistic experiences. Since life on social media is not a daily need for me, I am more or less a passive member there, happy with all the inspiration around.

I recently participated in a crazy crowd drawing of a tiger based on a tutorial posted by one of the DA artists. It was a great experience to see that when a thousand people do the same thing, it definitely doesn’t come out the same. And I believe there were more than a thousand. Digital or traditional, drawing or painting, in vibrant colors or black and white. Tigers of any kind.

It was a time when I was full of color palettes, so I wanted to apply one of them and place my orange tiger on a blue and turquoise background. I am quite satisfied with the result, except that I underestimated quality of the paper.

Since I still have trouble drawing figures, I challenged myself to draw another tiger in full body. I also wanted to give him an expression, an emotion. Most people see the tiger as a symbol of courage. My tarot reading experience says, that its presence often means fear. So I chose fear as the emotion for my tiger sketch. What do you say?

I have enjoyed participating in the tiger drawing craze, but I cannot wait to do my own projects. Where to start? I have so many ideas, lack of skills and time to improve them. But I keep trying.

With love and hugs,

Ivana

Playing with palettes

How do you select colors for your drawing or painting? Do you make a palette first? I would expect YES.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but I started from the opposite site. When I grabbed colored pencils as an adult, I did so with my eyes closed, wondering what it would bring to my drawing. It was surprisingly good and harmonious, which encouraged trust in my own intuition, neglected for many years.

Later I choose colors more consciously, but the old habits continued to work. In each set of colored pencils I first used the yellow – orange – green tones, probably the colors of my soul. Colors that my intuition gravitates to, whatever I’m drawing. All the blues and purples were piling up almost unused.

Exceptional play with blue, pink and violet colored pencils.

Something changed when I bought watercolor paints two and half years ago. I discovered the adventure of mixing colors and fell in love. Conclusion? I need to work with colors consciously, I need vibrant colors on my pictures.

Colorful flowers – watercolor and Inktense pencils, intuitive color selection.

Recently, I took my old colored pencils and tried to create a range of beautiful combinations just for fun. I spent hours creating them and cannot wait to use them all. I’m not sure yet, but it looks I’m currently leaning towards a combination of watercolor in the base, ink or colored pencils in the final layer to get closer to one of the color palletes.

That’s called evolution, right?

Mushroom in earthy tones. Watercolor background, colored pencils above.

I hope that your life brings you pleasure and the joy of change.

With love and hugs,

Ivana

Path to patterns

I’m still a newbie, but I can look back and make a few notes about the path. If you are familiar with digital graphics, don’t read any further or you will burst out laughing.

The first step was to understand how the seamless pattern works. Believe it or not, I did it completely non-digitally, using scissors and masking tape. It was a huge test of patience, but I succeeded! The only weakness was that the borders between the quarters of the paper, which I moved on the masking tape, were visible in the final image. Which led the non-digital method to digital retouching, unfortunately. And I had no idea how to do it in the beginning.

Being immersed in the basic tools of digital graphics, I discovered a simple possibility how to create seamless patterns from existing images. Yes, after such an effort, I needed something simple with a quick result. In principle, the program blurs the edges and blends with the duplicate.

Now, I’m at the stage where I’m learning to work with layers. Selecting segments and grouping them into patterns can be fun for people who know how to do it. I like getting results, but it’s still exhausting for me. Please give me feedback, I need a kick for more attempts.

Thanks all of you for reading and support!

Love and hugs,

Ivana