the paper assylum: Playing with Faber Castell Design Memory Craft

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a fantastic day. It is cloudy and rainy here today. Perfect to stay in and play with my art journal. Usually when I am playing around I don't always have something in mind; I am just playing. However, today I have a plan. You see, I am auditioning for the Faber Castell Design Team. Excitement!!!

So, grab a drink and sit back. There are loads of pictures. It is a picture tutorial after all. Enjoy...

Now, to get my hands messy (my favorite part!). As I said, I will be working in my art journal today. To start, I need to prep a page for what I plan to do.

I added a thin line of masking tape along the spiral edge to protect the pages underneath. Then added a nice coat of gesso using a big brush (make sure to wash it immediately!). Allow it to dry completely.

Next I rough sketched my picture:

A seahorse. Rough sketch. Really just to give me an area to add colors to.

Ready for Gelatos! My absolute favorite! I will be working on the top portion, or the sea portion, first. I want different colors to add dimension. Choose gelatos in turquoise, blue, metallic mint, and white.

The colors I plan to use for the sea background.

Randomly scribble each color around the top of the page. Lightly wet your fingers and "mix" the colors. You won't need a ton of water; just enough to allow the colors to move. Don't stress over this; it is meant to be random. Are your hands messy yet? If you answered yes then you are doing it right!

You can see how the colors have blended after I applied water. Notice that there are areas that are darker and some that are lighter.

And now for the seabed. Choose colors that are sandy! The colors I chose to use:

Repeat the same process you did when making the sea portion.

I also added a bit of the champagne gold gelato (not shown) to give a darker shade to a few areas.

And, now for the focal point....the seahorse. I knew that I wanted a coral color so I decided to just pull out all my pretty corals, pinks, a yellow, and an orange.

You can see in this picture that I have lightly drawn my seahorse in with a dark gray Faber Castell pastel pencil. The darker outline will help me as I load the coral colors onto the seahorse.

Scribble some of each color onto your splatmat (or your work surface). I have chosen to use a small square paintbrush for this. Wet your brush lightly. Pick up some of the medium coral color and "paint" the seahorse completly. Add the darker colors in areas where there should be shadow and the lighter colors in area where there should be more light. I applied 1 coat, let it dry, then applied a second coat for a darker color. Even though you may not be able to see it here, the large double scoop gelato in melon has a sparkle to it and it really adds dimension!

This is what mine looked like after the second coat. I added the orange and yellow in the fin and crown areas. I love how the metallic melon mixed with the orange and yellow. Nice contrast.

Now for the seaweed and the details on the seahorse! I have layed out my pastel pencils and a selection of Pitt pens. One of the best things about using the Faber Castell products is that they are designed to work together. I can use the gelatos, pastels, and Pitt pens on one piece. They play nice together!

To make the seaweed I dug out some paisly stamps that I have had for a while. I thought they resembled the watery movement of seaweed. I stamped a variety of large and small paisley's on my page using a green Pitt pen (just "color" your stamp with the Pitt pen and stamp your image). I have to admit, that is probably what I use my Pitt pens for the most!

Here you can see some of the paisley stamps. They look a bit darker here than they really did on the page. I used my heat gun to thoroughly dry the page before moving on.

I very quickly (and boy do I mean quickly!) added swirls, curls, circles, scallops, and flowing lines to connect all the stamped images. I used a green pastel pencil for this and just followed the stamped lines adding where I needed to fill in.

Once done with the pastel pencil, add dimension using yellow and green Pitt pens. I love using the Pitt pens for accents. The india ink is intense and adds great definition. Just draw it on and smudge it with your finger while it's still wet. I also added a few strokes of the turquoise to define a stalk as well. Using Pitt pens, add accents along the sides of the seahorse and the fins. Brush a small amount of gold pearlex onto the fins and crown (have to have some sparkle!) Also, add the seahorse eye with a dark brown pastel pencil.

At this point, the seahorse needed a little texture. Using a stencil and a white gelato, gently sweep the gelato over the stencil. Before you lift the stencil use a small brush to make sure the gelato is applied evenly through the stencil.

Love it! The white gelato is just enough to look likes scales don't you think? Before the gelatos dry, add a light sprinkling of gold pearlex. Just enough for a sparkle.

Add "by the Sea" at the bottom using pastel pencils in blues and turquoise. Shade the letters for shadows with a dark gray pastel pencil and add highlights with a white pastel pencil. Trace the outlines of the letters with Pitt pens and smudge them a bit using your fingers. This helps blend the colors of the background with the colors in your letters. I had initially printed my letters with gray pastel pencil but ended up tracing them with a turquoise Pitt pen.