Art House Co-op

Tip Jar

Project of the Day:  Heat Transfer Dyes.

By Fran Ponta.  The Sketchbook Project 2012 & The Sketchbook Project Limited Edition.

You can join me for a virtual cup of coffee and chat @ francesleestudio.blogspot.com.au

What we’ll be making:  We’ll be using a simple method to transfer plant images onto fabric.

Materials:  

• Heat Transfer Inks.  I use ‘Transprint Inks’ available from www.kraftkolour.net.au 
•  Iron or ironing press.
• Litho paper.  Litho is a printmaking paper which is shiny on one side and matt on the other.  Ordinary photocopy paper does work if Litho is not available at your local art supply store.
• Baking paper.  This is a non-stick cooking paper which is used to protect your iron and ironing board.
• Plant material from the garden.
• Synthetic fabric.  This technique doesn’t work so well on natural fibres such as cotton.  The fabric I used for these samples is synthetic dress lining (which is very economical when you want to experiment!)  I also tear my fabric into small workable  pieces instead of cutting, as I love the frayed ‘lace-like’ edges of the torn fabric. 
• Paintbrush.
• Scissors.

Estimated Time:  Approximately 2 to 3 hours.

Let’s do it!

Step 1:  Choosing plant material.

This is the part I enjoy the most!  You will need to choose flowers and plants that are not too thick and fleshy, and that have a shape which appeals to you, such as these frangipani flowers…

…or the fern-like leaves of the Poinciana tree.

If you choose something that is recognisable such as lavender, make sure that it’s not too thick as once pressed, the image will be too ‘squashy’ and not recognisable.  I decided against the lavender for that reason.

Fine, feathery type foliage is great to use as it presses down really quickly without leaving much plant residue, and the images are quite precise.  I particularly like using these garlic chives, (and everyone thinks I’m cooking when I use herbs….little do they know!) 

It’s best to use fresh plants as the images are more realistic and they seem to have a 3D effect on the fabric which can’t quite be seen when the fabric is photographed unfortunately.

Step 2:  Paint the Litho paper with Heat Transfer Inks of choice.

As mentioned earlier, I use Transprint Inks because they’re so easy to use and reliable.  Just purchase whatever your local art supply store has available.  Some heat transfer dyes come in a powder form.  If using these, just mix them with water to the consistency of full cream milk or very runny cream.  They will then need to be kept in a cool place out of direct sunlight.  I keep my inks in a cardboard box on the bookshelf.

Paint the shiny side of the Litho paper with your desired colours.  Once you become familiar with the inks, you can get some beautiful watercolour effects.  Using the shiny side of the Litho enables the release of the ink onto the fabric with less risk of scorching the fabric, although ordinary photocopy paper can be used with care.  It just takes a little longer to release the ink. 

Step 3:  Transferring ink onto the fabric. 

For demonstration purposes (I sound like a professional!) I’ll be doing two samples.  One in warm colours using two sheets each painted a different warm colour…….

…and one in cool colours with several cool shades painted onto the same sheet.

Step 4:  Warm colours first.

Place a sheet of baking paper down first onto either your ironing board or the bed of your ironing press.  This will protect the area from inks and plant material stains.  Place the fabric right side up, then arrange the plants.  I prefer to put the plants right side down (but either way works fine, just go with your instinct here). 

Place the lightest colour of pre-painted Litho paper painted side down over the plants, followed by a second sheet of baking paper.  It is important to let the Litho paper dry naturally as if it’s heat dried to hurry things along, you could activate the inks prematurely.

This is what it looks like side on.

Press on high heat for about 1 ½ to 2 minutes.  This is much easier with an ironing press.  If using a regular iron it’s best to pin through all sheets straight down into the ironing board with metal headed pins to prevent slippage.  You’ll get a ‘feel’ for how long after a few attempts by the heat coming off the paper, the smell of the dyes and the smell of the plant material.

Carefully lift up the dye sheet to see if the dye has ‘taken’.  It’s easy to see if you hold the sheet down with the back of a metal spoon, and just lift the corner.

Rearrange the plants, turning them over so that the previously inked side is now facing down on to the fabric…

…and place the second sheet of pre-painted Litho paper over.  Repeat the pressing for the second colour.

Repeat this procedure as many times as you like for desired depth of colour.  The Litho paper can be used several times, with each printing becoming less intense.  

Step 5:  Now for a quick look at the cool colours.

These images show the effects that can be obtained using a multi coloured Litho sheet, pressed only once each onto two separate pieces of fabric.  The first has some plant material residue, the second is cleaner.  Sometimes I leave my plant material overnight to allow the plants to dry out a little but still retain their 3D effect.

The Wrap Up:

The effect you achieve is dependent on the type of inks you have access to, the quality of the paper, the fibre content and ‘acceptability’ of the fabric and the pressing time.  The whole process can become quite addictive, especially if you love plants.

I use both the fabric and the used Litho papers (which also retain plant images) in my bookbinding, often stitched onto other papers.

I hope this has prompted you to look at the plants around you in a whole new light!

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the Day: How to bind a book with an exposed spine

By Petrina Mina The Sketchbook Project 2012, “Untitled”

http://www.sketchbookproject.com/users/petridesign/artwork

http://petridesign.blogspot.com 

What We’ll Be Making

This tutorial will show how to bind a book with an exposed spine. I chose to bind this book in this way because I like having the option to lay its spreads flat.

Materials

• Self-healing cutting mat
• Bone scorer
• Bone folder
• Pencil
• Bookbinding needles
• Awl
• No. 11 hobby knife
• Scissors
• Bookmaking adhesive
• Bookbinding thread
• Non-skid steel ruler
• 5 qty 1”x7” paper strips
• 2 qty 5.25”x7.25”mat board
• 25 qty 7”x10” sketch paper
• 2 qty 5.125”x7” Bristol paper
• Optional: brush (not pictured), push pin, rounded corner punch, craft foam strip

Estimated Time: 2-3 hours depending on prior bookbinding experience and how thick you want the book to be.

Let’s do it!

Step 1: Creating the front cover & the back cover

Decide how large your book will be. In this demo, I’ve taken The Sketchbook Project’s size 7.25in by 5.25in. Using a hobby blade, ruler and self-healing cutting mat, cut 2 identical pieces from your mat board. You can use any board as long as it is sturdy enough to encase your inner pages (signatures). One will be the front cover. The other will be the back cover. Examples of boards that can be used are: book binders board, illustration board, matte board, chipboard and cardboard.

If you are using the actual Sketchbook Project’s sketchbook, you can take the book apart by removing the staples. Split the front cover and back cover spread in half by cutting on the center of the fold.

Choose a decorative paper or a flexible stock to cover your book. Here, I used Lokta paper, an eco-friendly paper from Nepal. If you choose not to cover the book, that’s okay too! You can paint, collage, draw, ink etc., directly on the covers.

Step 2: Covering the front and back cover

Note: If you are using The Sketchbook Project’s back cover, make sure you cut a window through the decorative paper prior to gluing so the barcode and info label of your sketchbook doesn’t get covered.

Center each mat board cover on your decorative paper. I drew lines and measurements in Fig. A to help me center and glue the front and back covers. Use the long side of the bone folder to smooth out the glue. This prevents air bubbles and glue lumps beneath your paper. It’s okay if the board doesn’t really hide the drawn lines. Trim each corner with scissors, leaving a little bit of space of decorative paper away from each corner.

Quick Tip: Instead of gluing the entire paper onto the board all at once, you can glue them together by brushing on the glue in sections and smoothing down the paper with a bone folder as you go along.

Fig. B: Glue flaps 1 and 2 to the center using bookbinding adhesive. Burnish each flap with the long edge of the bone folder to evenly spread out the glue. Repeat this step with flaps 3 and 4. The finished result should be Fig. C, the front cover. Repeat Step 2 with the other mat board and decorative paper. That will become the back cover.

Step 3: Creating the end pages

Cut 2 pieces of Bristol sheets each measuring 5.125” x 7”.

Optional: You can trim the outer corners of one side with a rounded corner punch to soften up the edge. You will end up with something like this (see Fig. D, above).

Set these panels, and the decorated front and back covers, aside

Step 4: Creating the signatures (the book’s inner pages)

Signatures are groups of papers that are held together by book binding thread. You’ll need several sheets of papers for this, depending on how thick you want your book to be. For this demo, I’m using a 60 lb. sketch paper cut into rectangles measuring 10 inches by 7 inches.

Fold your spreads in half or use a bone scorer and ruler to score the middle line (see Fig E). Use a bone folder to achieve crisper folds (see Fig. F). When folded your sheet will be 5” x 7” portrait size. Create a total of 25 spreads folded in half.

Group them in fifths. You will have 6 sections with 5 folded pages within each other.

Step 5: Holing the signature sections

Create a template from one of your signature pages. Measure and mark the holes using a pencil according to the diagram (see Fig. G). Using an awl, or a pushpin, puncture the holes at the marks (see Fig. H). For safety, you can place a craft foam strip beneath the middle so you don’t end up poking your fingers. The holes should be large enough for the threaded bookbinding needle to pass through.

Repeat Step 5 with each folded sheet. You can stack up to 2 or 3 sheets at once to poke holes through. Too many stacked pages (especially thicker paper stock) can misalign the holes from the center. If this happens, your book will not be bound correctly. 

Quick Tip: Remember not to rush when it comes to this step. I recommend poking holes one page at a time and lightly note with a pencil what is the top of each signature so when they are grouped, the holes and pages line up. The end result when each signature is stacked should be this:

Step 6: Creating the edge covers for each signature

Since I am creating a book with an exposed spine, I want to protect the spine with strips of decorative paper. Take your five 1” x 7” inch paper strips and fold them in half. Using the awl, hole these strips according to the middle measurements from Fig. G. Align each of these strips to each signature. Make sure the holes are aligned as well.

Step 7: Threading the binders needle with bookbinding thread

Cut 6 feet of bookbinder’s thread. Take one end of that thread and insert it through the needle’s eye. Pull about 5 inches through the hole. Stab the needle through the middle of the thread by splitting the binder’s thread apart. Pull the longer length of the thread through. See Fig. K (above) for this step.

Step 8: Stitching the signatures together (binding the book)

Here’s the trickiest part of making a book. Be patient and take your time when it comes to these steps. Starting with the bottom signature, take your needle and thread and insert it from the outside of the signature through the hole 1, then come out of hole 2. Continue to weave through the holes in Fig. L.

You will enter the next signature up by entering the hole above the last hole you just came out of. When you reach the opposite side (see Fig. M) you will tighten the stitches and tie a hole with the extra string from the beginning. Continue to weave in and out of the signatures. When you reach the end of the row, you will insert the needle and thread through the loop below the row you just finished.

Continue this method with all the signatures (see Fig. N). When you reach the end of the last signature, tie a knot (this knot will be inside the middle of the signature). Trim off any excess thread.

Above is a close up of how each end of the spine should look like when it is tightly threaded and tied in a knot.

Step 9: Inserting paper strips, at the spine, for support

Take your two 2” x 4.5” decorative paper strips and slip them through the each of the wider binds (see Fig. O above). Lift each binding with a paper clip to slide the strips through.

Step 10: Paste the outer signature flaps to each end page

Paste the spinal flap and the ribbon support flap to one end page. The rounded corners should be facing outward. Use a brush to help you evenly coat each flap. Repeat the same step with the other end page and its flaps.

Step 11: Attach the end pages to the front and back cover

Glue each end paper to the front and back cover, with the rounded corners facing outward.

Onward to the last step…

The Wrap Up!

All done! Continue to customize your sketchbook with additional materials and mediums. Enjoy your hand bound sketchbook!

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the Day: Fun With Inks

By: Evelin Saul [The Sketchbook Project 2012, The Sketchbook Project 2013]

You can check my photography website at www.flickr.com/audedansdemoi.

What we’ll be making: Here are a few simple tips and tricks for using inks and water-colors in your sketchbook.

Materials:

• Water
• Salt
• Color inks
• A calligraphy pen
• Watercolor paints
• Soft brushes
• Mixing pots or recycled containers
• Heavy stock paper or watercolor paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Your sketchbook
• (additional: color ink pens, oil pastels, scotch tape, stapler)
  
  

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

Let’s do it!

Step 01: First, prepare your colors by mixing them with a bit of water. Feel free to use either inks or watercolors.

Step 02: Wet your paper with some water. Aim to keep it away from the edges, and try not to soak your entire page either. If you wish to use oil pastels, use them before wetting the paper. 

Step 03: Pour your colors carefully over the wet paper, creating the base layer of the image. This will be the beginning of your canvas, so don’t hold back! You can use multiple colors and layers, or just one as a starting point.

Step 04: Be playful, test with different colors, and always trust your inner composition feeling. Keep adding different colors, either with a brush or the calligraphy pen. You can even use other tools if you want, such as the topper to an ink bottle, or straw. 

Step 05: For an interesting effect, you can try adding salt in the wettest areas of the image. Salt absorbs the moisture, sometimes causing lighter spots to appear. You can shake off the loose salt later. Don’t forget to utilize your brushes to push around your colors as well. 

The Wrap Up: After everything has dried, you can use either parts or entire images to fill in the sketchbook; use scissors, tape, and a stapler or glue. Use different pens to add final details if you wish. 

Other Examples: 

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the Day: Making a Video About Your Art

By: Lauren Nash [The Sketchbook Project 2011, The Sketchbook Project 2012, The Sketchbook Project Limited Edition, The 4 x 6 Exchange 2]

I like working with many mediums, but I draw, paint, craft and make videos mainly. If I can get creative with it, then chances are I already have. I can be found at www.TransientArt.com. My videos can be found at www.youtube.com/transientart

What We’ll Be Making: A video documenting your art making and the process behind it. Documenting your art making with video can be extremely fun and a great way to show the hidden world of an artist at work. 

 Materials: 

• A camcorder or a device to record video with (beg and borrow if you don’t own one!)
• Your computer
• Editing software (free included programs include Windows Movie Maker if you’re on PC and iMovie if you’re on a Mac)
• The art tools you plan to use
• Other helpful tools: a Tripod and Natural sunlight vs. Tungsten/Flouresent light
  

Estimated Time: Several days to a couple of weeks, depending on the complexity of your video.

Let’s Do It!

Step 01: Start out by writing what you want your video to be about.

Do you want to do a simple time-lapse of yourself making your art from beginning to finish? Do you want to showcase how you draw in real time and talk about what you’re drawing? Look at examples of other videos. YouTube and Vimeo are great places to look. Studying other people’s videos and figuring out what you like and don’t like and why is always a great idea. Then write out what you want to include in your video on paper or type it out. I tend to use paper because I can move it around and set it in my lap for reference while working and don’t have to get up and check out my text file on the computer. Work in a way that feels best to you, though.

If you plan to have dialogue, then write that out too. It’s easier to know in advance how your words are going to relate to your artwork and pull the video together.

Some ideas for a video about your art can include:

• A time lapse of an art from beginning to end
• Step by step tutorial on how you made your art
• Talking about the art and its meaning to you
• Giving a review on a new paint you used in your art
   

Step 02: Plan out your shots.

You now know what you want to record, so how will it be recorded? Test out your camera by setting up shots. A tripod is beyond helpful in this stage. You don’t need fancy equipment to get that perfect shot, either. Being limited can bring out your creativity. 

Here’s how I get my most used shots in my videos:

Tip 01: Aiming it at your art

Set your tripod up on top of your desk or behind it and have it point directly down at your art. Your shot will be upside down, but this is an easy fix when editing: just flip it with a perspective effect.

Tip 02: Talking to the camera

Set the tripod up to get a good view of your face. You can have someone else sit in your place to set up your shot and make sure your whole face will be included in the shot. Set the camera away several feet at least.

 Tip 03: Extreme close-ups of the art.

Use a tripod and zoom in as much as you’d like, or hold your camera with one hand while drawing with the other. It’s a balancing act, but can be achieved.

 Other ideas:

• Prop your camera up with books and a small towel
• Use a skateboard to achieve a dolly shot.
• Set the camera on a tall object, such as a glass, and slide across the table with the camera pointed down at your art to get a close-up dolly type shot.
• Experiment with mirrors
• Use natural sunlight. Hang a sheet over a window to diffuse the light for an even glow on your skin and for well lit art without the harsh shadows.
    

Step 03: Practice a few test shots, import them onto your computer, and see how they look.

If you’ve never tried to edit before, it’s a good idea to get the technicals out of the way before you go and record the real thing.

I always do test shots regardless, and check them out on the camera before I go ahead and really start to record myself painting or drawing.

Step 04: Prep, prep, prep! Make sure your artwork, area, and camera are ready to go.

Knowing what art you’re going to make will help. A lot of preparation happens before the camera is even rolling. You don’t want to be partway recording and realize you’ve run out of paint, or your natural light source is changing and now it’s night time. A big one is forgetting to hit record then spending two hours on a drawing! ( I have a small problem with forgetting to hit record at times.)

Step 05: Start recording, make art. 

It’s okay to record yourself making art in parts. It doesn’t have to be one long shot. I find it helpful to stand while talking to the camera since I tend to slouch when sitting (which doesn’t look very good or give off a great energy).

Have someone else hold the camera with autofocus enabled to get a nice closeup shot of you while drawing in real time. You can try to hold the camera yourself while drawing, but might find the different perspective to be quite refreshing in your video.

You should have a good idea of what you want to talk about or express in your video already. It’s surprising how much you can start to rant when talking to the camera! 

Step 06: Finish your art, finish those shots, record the randomness.

Be sure to record some of the little or random things that happened on your art journey. Did you make a big mistake in your art? Have to make a sudden trip to the store to get a supply? Take a cupcake break? Recording these moments can bring a different and realistic take to your video. Art’s creative, fun, and time-consuming. Record it.

Step 07: Upload your footage and look over all of it. 

Step 08: Import your footage into your editing project and back it up.

The editing software doesn’t really matter, they all have the basics that you really need. A timeline to view your project, tools that can cut and trim or clip, add a simple transition, speed up and slow down footage, text titles, are a few.

Make it a habit to save your project as you go along. It can be a bummer when you’ve edited for a good 2 hours and forget to hit ‘save’. You also want to make sure you keep your footage and project file is backed up if possible. A common practice is to put all of your imported footage onto an external hard drive and connect to the files within the project. This way you don’t fill up all the space on your computer with video files. If the computer dies on you, all your footage is still there. Be sure to make a copy of your project file onto a removable USB flash drive after every editing session. 

Step 09: Edit and then edit some more. Then tweak.

The long stretch: editing.

I can’t explain how to edit a whole video in a simple step. Everyone has their own editing style in the end and does things in their own way. Some people lay all their clips out onto the time line and edit the whole thing at once. again and again until they get what they want. Some people like editing in parts or even in different projects and then combine the pieces together. 

Give your video love, decide on what you want to trim, and how to piece it together. In the end it’s your video, make it how you want it and what makes you happiest.

At some point you might want to figure out how to use a tool you’ve never tried or how to make a certain effect. I always go to the internet for this. I type out in simple terms what effect I want (i.e. “how to add dissolve transition effect in imovie” ). There’s an insane amount of tutorials that will show you step by step on how to get the exact thing you’re going for. 

Adding a good quality photograph or a slideshow of your finished art at the end will give the viewer a moment to look at your finished piece.

Step 10: Watch your video and have someone else watch it too.

Second opinions always bring something to the table. I always ask my hubby to watch my video during editing and after I’ve finished most of it for opinions. I’ll look at the technicals too; does the color and light look okay? Is everything in focus, or do I maybe need to crop a shot just a touch?

Watch it and pretend you’re someone else watching it for the first time. Ask yourself, does everything make sense in the video? Is that joke really funny? Would it be a good idea to include it or not?

Step 11: Wrap it up and export your video!

Check your settings to make sure they’re what you want. There’s certain formats that are appropriate for DVD’s, for internet browsing, and for watching on your iPod. 

The Wrap Up: Once you’ve decided that yes, you’re all done editing and you like your video, export it and start sharing it. You can post it on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and so on. E-mail the link to friends and family and show them what you’ve been working on. 

Sharing the video is always the best part in my opinion, just like displaying a newly framed painting I’ve just finished.  If you’ve never made a video about your own artwork it can be refreshing or even enlightening to see the different perspective. Video as a medium will always bring out something that a static piece of artwork can’t, and vise versa. I try to embrace the two and showcase them hand in hand.

In the end, it’s your artwork, and your video about your artwork. =) Have fun with it.

Helpful Links: 

http://www.youtube.com/yt/playbook/index.html

http://desktopvideo.about.com/

http://www.lynda.com

http://content.videoblocks.com/

http://www.creativecow.net/

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the Day: Shredded Pages for your Sketchbook

By: Sandhya Prabhat

I am a freelance illustrator and animator from India. You can visit my website here or my blog here. 

What We’ll Be Making: In this segment we’ll be creating textures on your page with masking tape and charcoal sticks. 

Materials: 

• Masking Tape
• Crayons/pastel sticks
• A pair of scissors
• Fixative for charcoal and pastel sticks
• A smudge stick
• Any sketching tools you regularly use (in my case: pens, pencils, and a watercolor brush)

Estimated Time: 1 Hour

Let’s Do It!

Step 01: Roll out masking tape and cut into strips of various lengths and widths.

Step 02: Paste onto empty page to form any pattern.

Step 03: With a crayon or a charcoal stick, fill the page with random strokes, stripes, dots or anything else. I have used a dry orange pastel stick, followed with a red pastel stick. I smudged the strokes to create an uneven texture. 

Step 04: Use the fixative to spray the page and let it dry. 

Step 05: Peel out the masking tape. 

Step 06: Using the texture created, let your imagination run! I filled my page with a lot of ink and wash doodles in between the strips of color.

The Wrap Up: Often, this a great beginning point when I am running out of ideas on what to sketch, or feel intimidated by the empty page. Hopefully this sparks your creativity as well! 

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the Day: 

By Rob Jelinski [The Sketchbook Project 2011-2013, The Self Portrait Project 2012, and The Meal]

4 Essential steps to herald the news of your amazing Sketchbook Project!

Over the next few months you and I will pour hours of time into transforming that ordinary Sketchbook Project into a one-of-a-kind work that will reside in an art library located in the coveted neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn! While many participants may be satisfied with simply expressing themselves or having their art tour the U.S.A. and beyond, I feel that a little extra time invested into marketing my SBP will build a greater momentum for my project and possibly overflow into my career or reputation. This Tip Jar will provide you with both samples and resources that you can use or model to promote your Sketchbook Project in the upcoming months. I hope you enjoy them and dream big for 2013!

Materials:

•  Your Art and Creativity
   
• Facebook, Twitter, InstaGram, and YouTube accounts
   
• Adobe Creative Suite
  
  

Estimated Time: 30 minutes (not including time for marketing campaign or media creation)
 
 

Let’s Do It!

We all will agree that promoting our art on Social Media is highly effective. But promoting an exhibition (especially one that spans many months and locations) should not be promoted with the vain repetition of blasting around the same image or media. Rather, I suggest you use an array of marketing that leaves your viewers intrigued instead of disenchanted. 
 

Step 01: Use the theme written above the barcode on the back of your sketchbook to help you decide what the subject matter of your project will be. Theming your art will help streamline the marketing process. For example, The Chapbook theme grabbed my attention when I realized that many of these printed pamphlets or chapbooks used images combined with literature to speak out against social and religious issues between the 16th and early 20th centuries. I decided that I wanted to speak out against the self-centeredness of our culture by contrasting the heart of a solider who is willing to die to protect the life of another.
 

Now think of a catchy name for your project and write up a short project theme. The goal of this paragraph or sentence is simply to help concentrate your theme and give you strong promotional wording for the future. Your theme can be as complex as the sample above or as simple the project statement below. Maybe even do it both ways.

Here the theme is condensed into a statement or sentence for marketing items with limited space.

Once you have a strong foundation, create some titling* (digitally or traditionally) to use on the front/back covers or centerfold of your SBP in addition to marketing items such as Facebook and Twitter cover photos, YouTube videos, printed materials, merch, and so on. Just as a logo gives an identity or face to a company, so your titling will give identity to your project well before your viewers ever glance over your artwork.

*Please note: if you don’t feel tiling suits you or your project, pick one of your pieces from your project to use as a featured image ;). 
 

Step 02: Download ( link underlined text to http://robjelinski.com/TipJar_Resources.zip ) the zipped folder of resource images and let’s start marketing your Sketchbook Project!

In Photoshop, open the file named Facebook_Cover.jpg. This image is the exact size Facebook crops cover images to. In my design, I included titling, release date, and the brag- made exclusively for The Sketchbook Project. With guides turned on, (view> show> guides) you can design your title or featured image over mine in order to eliminate switching back and forth between Photoshop and your browser. (See the live samples at /RobJelinskiStudios)
 

Now open Facebook_Profile.jpg and design a perfectly sized profile image for your Facebook account. This template is not always essential as Facebook does not require a profile picture to be square, but if you want to design something like my image that needs to be cut flawlessly in the thumbnail instance of Facebook, this file will come in handy. (See the live samples at /RobJelinskiStudios)

Facebook_Profile.jpg is also the exact size for Instagram pictures. Again you may not need to pre-crop the images outside of Instagram, but if you need it, you have it. As you can see from my Instagrams, I like to post lots of Inspiration to promote my work. I just love all the vintage filters InstaGram offers. (See the live samples at @RobJelinski)

Twitter just came out with cover images a few weeks ago, so they have not fine-tuned it yet. They set your profile wording to run over the image which, frankly is kind of weird. I used a featured image of my Revolutionary art for Twitter_Cover.jpg and suggest you do the same. (See the live samples at @RobJelinski)

Step 03: While digital marketing has aggressively taken over the territory of printed collateral, don’t underestimate the power of print especially when it comes to The Sketchbook Project. You are investing large amounts of time into creating a physical book that will be showcased in the palm of viewer’s hands. Use a printed tour card to help convey the tactile aspects of your project. If you open up the Moo Slim Tour Card Front and Back files you will find a sample of my 2013 card printed at Moo.com as a MiniCard. Simply insert or design your art on top of mine and upload to Moo following the steps below.

Launch your favorite browser and land on Moo.com. From the top menu, choose Business Cards> MiniCards> Use Your Own Images.

Click the Pack Layout drop down and choose full image layout> landscape.

Click the upward pointing arrow to upload images from your computer or respective icons to import from social networks then choose the images you want to use. Once the images are uploaded, highlight the proper image for the front of the card and hit the use as full design button.

(Cool fact:Moo will print multiple images on the front side of your cards per pack. So featured images work really great with these steps too!!)

Roll over the image of the front of the card to see the dotted lines (designating the safe zone) and make sure anything important falls inside of it. There is a good chance that anything outside of the safe zone will get cut off if the press goes out of register. You can also click the image to bring up editing tools. These can come in handy, but make sure you are using them properly and do not have any warnings (listed above the preview image) when you are finished. Click the flip card over button to proceed.

Once you see the blank card box again, drag the back minicard image file into the box. If all is well with this design, hit the Next step button. From here on you will run down the final checklist, follow the prompts, and order your wonderful tour cards to promote that your art will soon be traveling the U.S.A. and beyond on the famous Sketchbook Project Tour!

Step 04: The Art House Community really understands that promo videos can be a lot of fun to create and a great tool to intrigue our viewers. In fact, so many of us have created promo videos that Art House launched their own channel last year! Below are 3 different types promo videos that you may want to create for your 2013 project.

Teaser of Trailer Video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaWo-LlFt3g )

The key to a good trailer is that it shows you enough to want to see more, but not enough to satisfy the desire.

Progress video example: ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=KL6q8D1pqiU )

A progress video should give a good overview and should not be exhaustive. 

Project video example: ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qscOZb7B-c4 )

Your project video should be the grand finale of your promotions. 

Here are a few other really awesome videos to inspire you!

Linu Yen’s Teaser ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwcScavhoQk&feature=relmfu )
Carne Griffith’s Progress Video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWaOvYyZ97o
Kasi Kasi’s Project Video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBjbtfetKA )

Wrap Up: Now you should have a good understanding of how to streamline the marketing and promotions of your Sketchbook Project from project titling to your very own tour cards! I hope this Tip Jar will prove helpful and that these techniques will help you expand your project beyond limitations!

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the Day: Populating Your Sketchbook

By Tim Beard

I am a development artist for animation and I have participated in The Sketchbook Project 2011-2013 and The Sketchbook Project Limited Edition. I regularly post new work on my website which can be found at http://timbeard.squarespace.com/

What We’ll Be Making: In this segment we are going to explore some of the basics of character development. Drawing unique characters and experimenting with different designs is one of the most enjoyable parts of working in your sketchbook. I am going to show my process and the stages I go through to complete one of my sketchbook spreads and how I go about putting my characters together.

Materials:

• Your sketchbook
• A clipboard
• A few different sizes of pens. I love my Microns. Sizes 01, 03, 05 (or 08) and Graphic 1. I recommend that you wrap a couple different colors of tape around them so it’s easier to tell them apart faster (as seen in the above photo). Trust me this is a big time saver in the long run.

Estimated Time: Depending on how fast you work this will take from 2 to 4 hours.

Let’s Do It!

Step 01: Get out of the house! Go grab a cup of coffee, claim a park bench, pull up a seat at your favorite restaurant or take a seat at the mall. Find a place that you are going to be around a lot of interesting people to sketch. Observational drawing is a big part of honing your design work and people watching is the most interesting way to go about it. Also, resist the urge to slip on those headphones. At least for a little while until you can sort of absorb your surroundings. The things that you overhear or the noise in the room will really help flavor your drawings. It’s also a great way to get material to store in your brain for later.

Step 02: Now that you’ve settled in you can scan the room. Look for someone that sticks out to you. Try to find shapes that stand out. Maybe it’s the shape of someone’s hair, clothing, hands or face. I chose a woman on the other side of the room. Her hair and glasses were very distinct and looked like they might be fun to draw. 

Once you’ve found a subject just jump in. This is a very direct form of drawing. Don’t worry about doing any kind of preliminary pencil drawings. Starting with your middle gauge pen (I start with my 03) start laying in your initial shapes.

DO NOT stare so long at people that it makes them uncomfortable. You don’t need to be too intrusive when drawing in public. Just give your subject quick glances and go back to your sketch. Sorry to state the obvious here but I felt like it needed to be said. Now back to drawing.

Step 03: Whatever it was that caught your eye about your subject should be the first piece that gets roughed in. This will help you to get a feeling for how the rest of your sketch will go in terms of scale and style.

Step 04: This step is important. Once you have your initial eye-catching shape down you should quickly get the rest of the character drawn in. Keep thinking of your subject in terms of shapes as you go. This will help you to quickly get the rest of your character onto the page. Also, make sure that you work on the figure as a whole. Don’t get hung up in small details yet. Being in a real world situation means that you need to capture that pose or gesture fast before your subject moves too much or gets up and walks out that door.

Step 05: Now that you have your first character laid in you will want to take your thicker pen, in this case my 05, and go back over the outside outline. This can seem like a subtle addition at this point but it will be enough to keep your drawings separate as your page fills up with more sketches. 

Step 06: You are going to want to give your drawing some weight. Figure out where your subject is resting their weight. Are they leaning on the table? Standing more on one foot? If your not quite sure don’t be afraid to strike that same pose yourself. If you can feel the pose it will help you understand it better. Now that you know where the weight should be you can add it to your drawing. This is where your big thick pen (Graphic 1) comes into play. Bulk up your lines in the heavier areas where the weight is. You can also use the same pen to indicate the areas of shadow. All of this helps you achieve a sense of dimension in your line-work.

Step 07: Now it’s time for those details that you’ve been itching to fill in. Using your finest pen (size 01) start laying in some lines. This includes wrinkles, details in the hair, shadows or anything else that might be needed. Just remember this, don’t tickle it to death! Keep it fresh. Since this is your sketchbook there is no need to overwork the details.

Step 08: That’s one figure done so let’s move onto the next. Choose another subject and dive back in. I tend to just pick another spot on the page that feels right to me to start a new drawing. I saw a woman sitting on the other side of the coffee shop from me that had some great elongated features so she ended up being the next sketch.

Step 09: Block in the character the same way you did the first. Keep your eye on proportions and think about how you can distort or exaggerate them. This will help give your sketches some extra character.

Step 10: This is a good place to talk about contrast. As you start filling in your spreads always be thinking about how you are going to make certain characters stand out. Contrast is a great way to do this. If you have one character that is fairly light try making some of your adjacent drawings dark. This seems like a fairly obvious statement but it is something that should always be in the back of your mind while you are working.

Step 11: One more thing that you should be thinking about is how you vary your shapes and sizes of body parts. This can give you limitless options in terms of character design. For example, in the picture above you can see how I elongated this girls neck and and really emphasized the size of her hair when compared to the scale of her head and facial features.

Step 12: If you do decide to overlap your characters on the page they might have a tendency to flatten out and the eye can’t easily separate them. You can start to see this happening in front of the above characters face.

Step 13: The easy work-around for this problem is to add tone with a your smallest pen. This can emphasize the impression of depth in you line-work.

Step 14: As you pile up your characters be conscious of the negative spaces that you are creating. What if someone walks in that you would really like to draw but you know that they aren’t going to stick around long enough to do an in-depth sketch of them? Those little negative spaces are great spaces to stick quick portraits.

Step 15: Working quickly and directly in pen is going to lead to the occasional awful drawing, as you can see above. Sometimes these things just don’t work out the way you want.

Step 16: There area couple of options for that bad sketch. You can let it go and move on. This is usually what I do. Since you are trying to get so many drawings onto one page the terrible drawings just don’t stick out as bad once you have everything filled in. The other option is shown in the photo; to just cover over it with something else.

Step 17: Obviously when you are working in pen your only option is going to be to go darker. So just plan out how to best strategically cover the problem area and fill in.

Step 18: Here is one last thing to consider while you are drawing. I believe that most artists have certain types of shapes that reoccur in their drawings. It’s part of what makes your style uniquely yours. To give your drawings more interest contrast your normal shapes with their opposite. I have a tendency to work in more organic shapes so to give more punch I try to throw in some angular or straight lines.

You should also leave some negative space on the page. This gives your eyes a place to rest and also controls the flow around your sketches.

The Wrap Up: Let me say that I am not an artist who considers “reference” a dirty word. Far from it. There are some things that you are not going to find in your every day life that you want to draw. For those particulars you are going to need find a photo to inform your drawing. There are some problems in using reference however.  A big one is that your drawings start to stiffen up. The more you draw from life the more natural your work will feel and the less you will have to rely on those reference photos. That has major value when you are designing characters from your head.

I think that using this direct drawing method helps build your confidence as an artist. If you can get used to quickly putting permanent lines down in your sketchbook it will make things easier for you when you do work on those long, thought-out pieces that require more prep-work. Pull out your sketchbook and make sure that you draw for yourself for AT LEAST 5-10 minutes everyday. All of the tips and principles that I have mentioned here work for whatever you choose to draw; architecture, animals or even trees! So get out into the world and keep your pens moving!

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the day: Simple Paper Making

By Sarah Grace Harris [The Sketchbook Project 2012, The Sketchbook Project Limited Edition, 6x4 Exchange, Portrait Project]

www.sarahgraceharris.com 

Make your own paper to create your ultimate unique sketchbook, once you learn the basics you are able to play until your hearts content adding colour, using different papers, threads, textures and even become adventurous and use vegetable pulp! But first things first…

Materials: 

• Paper – any will do from out of date office paper, newspaper, yellow pages to napkins whatever you have to hand.
• A range of plastic tubs.
• A Blender/liquidizer
• Old towels
• Newspaper
• Absorbent kitchen cloths
• A range of deckles – a wooden frame tightly covered with fine mesh, or a splatter guard for your frying pan!

Estimated time: Overnight soak & approx. 2 hrs dependent on quantity 

Step One

First choose some paper and tear it into pieces you can be quite random with this as it will all go in the blender later. At this stage, if you are feeling adventurous, prepare a couple of different papers at the same time!

Step Two

• Cover torn paper with water. 
• Leave to soften over night.

Tip – to speed up the soaking time carefully use boiling water leave to cool and by then the paper should be ready to use.

Step Three

Soaking completed, the paper is ready to blend.

Place a small amount at a time of the soaked paper into a blender with a good amount of water and blend up to the texture you require (the smoother the pulp the smoother the paper)

Place back into a tub ready to use.

Step Four

Using a large tub (big enough to easily fit your deckle in) fill a third full with luke warm water. Add to this some of the pulp mixture, it should be much more water than pulp. You will need to experiment, the more pulp the thicker the end paper will be. 

Prepare your working area with a pile of newspaper and some old towels. There will be a great deal of excess water once you begin to make the sheets of paper! You will also need a good space to leave the sheets of paper to dry for around 6 - 24 hours depending how thick each sheet is, and the temperature of your room.

Tip – create an indoor washing line and peg up the paper to dry, or use a clotheshorse. 

Step Five - Lets make paper!

Place a clean absorbent cloth on top of your pile of newspaper and towels as smoothly as you can (the paper will pick up any creases)

Using your hand swirl the watery pulp mixture so the particles are freely floating around in the water. Gently place your deckle under the water with the mesh side facing up towards you.

Hold it horizontally in the water and carefully bring it up out of the water as parallel to the water level as possible to ensure your paper will be even all over. If it tilts one way or another the pulp will collect unevenly.

Step Six

Hold the deckle in a gentle diagonal position to allow any excess water to drain off then carefully turn upside down and place onto the cloth.

With another absorbent cloth begin dabbing the back of the deckle to remove the water. Squeeze out your cloth and repeat until you have removed as much water as possible. Then carefully remove the deckle. If the paper sticks place the deckle carefully back in position and squeeze some more water out.                                           

Well done, your first sheet of paper! Leave in a safe place to dry.

Step Seven

It is best to remove the paper from the cloth when completely dry. Gently begin at one corner and gently tease up the paper once a small amount is free place your flat hand between the paper and the cloth and carefully peel away the paper. This part takes a good amount of patience especially if your paper is very thin.

Now the fun begins

Now you have some hand made paper ready to use. It is a personal choice to make it fine and smooth or thick and bobbly or any thing in between! Its over to you to play and experiment, mix up your paper pulps, trap fragments of things between layers, introduce ink, stitch pieces together the sky’s the limit, enjoy!

Tip Jar Thursdays

Project of the Day: Creating Freehand Paper Cut Designs

By Rachael Ashe, paper artist and participant in Sketchbook Project Limited Edition 2012

rachaelashe.com

What we’ll be making: In the Limited Edition 2012 Sketchbook I created a series of eight different paper cut designs. These were done freehand, without pre-planning or drawing the composition. Today I will show you how this is done.

Materials:

• craft knife or xacto knife
• cutting mat
• neutral paper
• decorative or colourful paper

Estimated Time: 1 to 1.5 hours for a 5” x 7” piece of paper.

Let’s do it!

Step 1: Select a sheet of paper to work with, such as a light cardstock. It should be heavier than regular printer paper, because if the paper is too thin it can easily tear once you begin cutting. Place the paper on top of the cutting mat, and make sure to work with one larger than your piece of paper.

Step 2: Get out your favorite craft knife or xacto knife and make sure it has a fresh blade. Paper cutting works best when the blade is sharp. You may need to change the blade a second time as you work, because it will get dull as you cut. The fresher the blade the more smoothly it will cut through the paper, while a dull one will snag and can tear your paper.

My preferred tool for paper cutting work is the Olfa Art Knife: http://www.olfa.com/ArtKnivesDetail.aspx?C=6&Id=95

Step 3: My method of creating freehand paper cuts is to work with a single shape such as a crescent, a triangle, or a leaf, and repeat it to create the larger form of the design. Once you decide upon the shape you want to work with, it’s time to begin cutting paper.

Step 4: Begin anywhere on the paper that you feel comfortable starting, and just be loose with the knife. A fresh blade doesn’t need much pressure to cut. Pretty soon you will have small bits of paper piling up on your work surface. 

Cut your shapes fairly close together and play with their positioning or size to change the flow of the design. You can also skip around the page rather than continuously working from one area. Be careful not to cut the shapes too close together or overcut.

Note: After you’ve been cutting for awhile it may be time to change to a fresh blade. Notice if the knife isn’t cutting as smoothly or is getting caught in the paper.

The wrap up: When you get to the end of creating your design most of the sheet of paper has been cut away. The results are an intricate and delicate finished piece that can be backed with a contrasting coloured paper to make the pattern stand out.

Tip Jar Thursdays

Making a dos-a-dos double concertina  “Book Art-Art Book”

Created by Kathy Lobo, October 2012 

katherinelobo@hotmail.com

This book can be viewed from ether side.  Each cover can be a beginning or an end.  The dimensions are 4 5/8” x 7 1/8” x 1” when closed.  The book extends to a maximum of 21” when fully stretched open.

First I chose some “reject” monoprints and etchings to use for the “art” part of this book.    

I decide to use the etching for the inside concertina on one side of the book (that will have a book cloth concertina layer obstructing the image).  The image will be visible behind the “BOOK” lettering.  I choose the monoprint for the outside layer for the opposite side of the concertina (the dos-a-dos) that will have the ”ART” lettering.

I also begin to think about what materials to use for the cover.  I will use book cloth  and acid free board-actually spare matt board used for framing.

I use a matt knife, metal ruler, pencil and self healing cutting matt to create the pages.   

When I decide how big to make the book I then make one concertina, accordion fold that is the size of the finished book.  Then I make two (or even more) that are smaller so that they “float” above the first concertina.  For this book the black and white etching layer was my first concertina. Each folded page measures 4.5” x 7”.  Since I have 8 panels plus a one-inch extra flap on each end so I can have a folded edge where the paper is glued to the covers the entire sheet of paper before folding measures about 7” x 44”.  The smaller concertinas, (ART monoprint) and (BOOK buckram), were different sized because one has three letters and one has four.  For ART, each folded page measures 2.5” x 7”, and the six panels plus a one-inch flap on each end equals a piece of paper measuring roughly 7” x 17”.  For the BOOK concertina the panels are also 2.5” x 7”, and the eight panels plus one-inch flap on each end equals a piece of buckram measuring roughly 7” x 22”.

I cut out the lettering for the messages, “ART” and “BOOK”.  For the “BOOK” concertina I use some bright green book cloth (buckram) for this layer.  My choice of materials is a deliberate play on words and materials.  The book is made up of three layers.  The message is different depending on which side you are looking at.  Hidden images will be able to be seen behind the writing from each side.   

(Note: I used some blue and gray book tape to reinforce the back of the etching because the paper was cracking and a bit brittle in some places.)  These are all the pieces laid out to show what the parts will look like from each side.  Is this an ART BOOK or a BOOK ART, or both!  

Next I line everything up, and start to sew the concertinas together starting at one end and taking turns sewing the layers.  I use two needles (because I want to use two colors of waxed linen thread).  This is a view from the top before I start sewing.

I use an awl to make holes for sewing.  I have five sewing stations, and use the pamphlet stitch to sew the parts together.  There are so many colors of waxed linen.  Sometimes I wax embroidery floss too.  Here are some of the tools and materials I use.

I take care to line all the holes up well.  I usually use an odd number of sewing stations (holes for sewing).

Sewing each layer in turn is shown here.  I knot some in the valley folds and some I tie off so that the ends of the threads form a type of tassel.  This photo below shows the needle going into the center sewing station as I begin the pamphlet stitch for these two layers (signatures).  I usually tie 4-6 knots in the thread, to make sure they are secure.

Another view of the various layers and how they are sewn together:

Next I cover two boards (using blue book cloth, making library corners).  The boards are cut to more or less the same size as the pages in the book (the book block) roughly 7’ x 4.25”.

I further embellish the covers with some words, art and book cloth (buckram). 

Finally I glue the covers into place and the book is done!  

I think this is both an ART BOOK and an example of a BOOK ART!