Monsters by numbers.

Ever wanted to paint a monster? well this is for you!

i get asked now and then about how i do my paintings,how long the take, what materials i use etc hopefully this should cover all those.

Ok lets get started!

1. I’m using a stretched canvas here,but this should also work on thick paper or board or any other surface that takes to paint.

I have my monster sketched out, i started very rough, erased the bits i didn’t think looked right and refined the bits i did. I’m going for a big cute simple look.

2. Alright,lets get painting! i start with the background with quite a watery base coat working from the inside out, I’m using acrylics here which dry fairly quickly so I’m going to do the background in one go.

3. we’re going to finish the background now, i like to make the outside of the background alot darker than the inside, this makes for more focus on our monster. I also use a bit of matt medium and a bit fat brush to help blend the shades of blue,although this is not essential. thats out background done! woo!

3. Right, lets get started on our monster. it’s best to start with a base coat that is not too dark and not too light, this will help make room for shadows and highlights etc.

4. He’s lookin good! ok wer’re almost there, now we’re going to add in the shadows and highlights,i start with the shadows, adding a little blue to my yellow to get a nice dull green shade,I’m going to have the light coming in from the left so all my shadows will be on the right. knowing where to put your shadows really helps the shapes pop and come to life a bit. next i add the highlights,mixing a tiny bit of white into the yellow and painting sparingly with a dry-ish brush where i see aplicible.

5. ok! here’s the last and probably the most tricky bit,the outline. you can use black acrylic for this (some people use marker pens) although i find it a bit easier to use indian or acrylic ink as it flows a alot better and is a lot easier to control when working with lines. I go over all the lines (carefully) and block in his eyes.

And that’s that! we have created a monster!

Hes a hottie! im going to call him Herbert, Also, using the same process i made him a friend, meet gary!

Both of these chaps are now available in my etsy shop! i Hope you enjoyed our little painting lesson, remember its not a mistake its a happy accident!

if you have any questions or anything let me know :)

take care

nx

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Sundays art stall

Hello!

Today i had a little art stall,its something i do quite regularly(about every month or so) with the Glasgow craft mafia usually around town in restaurants, student unions and libraries.

Not only is this a great way of getting my work about its also great for meeting other creatives more than happy to help each other out,share crafty tips and tricks and generally just have a good natter.

Todays stall was in a mono,a nice vegan restaurant not to far from the city centre, i took a picture of my little set up.

As i had a swatch round the other stalls, chatting to all the venders, i met a nice cake-maker who offered me a marshmallow,but there was something different about these marshmallows.

They were square! who’s ever heard of square marshmallows? apparently their the norm in american but i was amazed and the tasted osm!

I ended up buying one of her cupcakes later on in the day, i think you’ll agree it looked too good to eat.

yummy! what a lovely day! right im going to stop going on about food now.

for more about the craft mafia please visit glasgowcraftmafia.com

Take care!

nx