Summertime

Hey Folks, thank you for visiting my blog!

We had a gorgeous hot ( sometimes too hot!) summer here in the South Coast of the Uk

and I have spent as much time as possible outdoors.

I have taken again the habit to draw outside, from time to time, and it's something that I love, because is very meditative.. and it makes me discover even more nature's treasures. I miss sketching people and children, and I didn't find yet the right solution for this.

As every summer, naturally I feel the desire to learn and experiment with new mediums, and this time I discovered PHOTO TRANSFER, a method that allows to transfer an image on different materials.

here the background has been done with a photo transfer on thick paper

People use different methods, and I tried a few... for now, the most relevant has been using InkAID alchool solvent (called Transferiez) with INKaid films, following a Skillshare class with Cathy Anne White.

But I didn't have very good results so far, as I didn't have the time to experiment a lot and this is just one of those things you have to do to understand, also given that every physical environment has got a different degree of humidity, heat, and these details make the difference. It reminded me about Icons making, when we had to do the gold leaf foiling, which is very volatile... that was so tricky! 

some of my first photo transfer experiments, where I learnt that dye based inkjet printers

easily bleed ink ... good to know! I compare two different test and one look more set but more faded too..

As I mentioned in my previous post, I upgraded my technology, buying a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro. So far what I can say, is that using a drawing software with a stylus pen is a fantastic experience.
 I come from a Mac so I still find it a bit hard to switch to the Windows interface,
but I'm sure it is justmatter of time.
I recommend this tool for pattern making, for avoiding the frozen shoulder that I had trying to use the mouse to draw, and for illustration, because it makes everything easier.
But I noticed that sometimes, having to many tweeking choices is not always good, as I find myself so undecided about layout after a while ! Problems we don't have so much in the analogic process.

here I managed to do my first pattern repeat using one of my paintings

I' m now creating new artworks, 

updating my website and portfolio, working on my new greeting card designs 

(out soon in my Etsy Shop!) 

and studying, always studying to improve my skills!

Lately I have enjoyed the book "The Noble Approach", which is the testimony of the work of one of the most eminent designer in the animation world, Maurice Noble. I'm not an animator, but this book tells so much about visual storytelling, color schemes, layout, that I recommend it to anyone that wants to understand more about this matter.

I have 2 favourite podcasts at the moment: 

3 point perspective and

 your creative push, check them out!

In this summer I discovered the work of

Jessica Love

Sonia Maria Luce Possentini and

Sonja Wimmer

and I have loved studying their approach to images.

I feel the autumn would like to be born soon and I still didn't start my new knitted hat, so I can't say I'm ready, so I'd better go and make a start before the wind starts to blow all the leaves of my head!