Deviantart Preview

Hi everyone! I have been working on getting a portfolio and artist's statement ready for my portfolio review in the next few months. It got me to thinking about all the art I have done that I can't show... Things that were created before college and things that were created specifically for IMVU or Deviant art. Thus, I will be sharing three of my favorite manipulations with you! If you want to see more, check out my deciantart page at Smyhls.deviantart.com

This is my favorite one so far. I put a lot of work into the concept and the blending.

I loved the model here. She already had this illustrated look that drew me in to he original picture. 

(By the way, if you go to my page, I have the links to all the pictures, etc. used to create each of my images.)

This lady was one of the first manipulations I did. Still love her.

OctoTangle

You saw in my first 100 Day Challenge post that I had a plush octopus to draw on. Here is how it turned out!

Before

After

Nail Art || Watermelon Nails #1

Polishes used:

Pink - Sally Hansen Hard as Nails "Mighty Mango"

Green - China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover"

Light Green - E.L.F. "Mint Cream"

Black - Revlon Nail Art Chalkboard "Study Date" (black end)

How To

This is a pretty easy look that any beginner can do. It looks awesome on every single nail or as an accent nail. I like to wear this on my ring finger nail and my thumb nail. You will want to have either a pencil, a dotting tool, or a toothpick to draw the watermelon lines and the seeds.

Step 1: Apply your base coat. In this picture, I did two coats.

Step 2: Draw a line with the darkest green. I free-handed it and it turned out fine.

Step 3: Add 3-4 seeds. I feel like 4 seeds keeps the look balanced. 

To do the seeds, put a drop of polish on a plate or plastic surface. Dip your tool (I used a dotting tool) into the polish and make a dot on your nail. Dip it a second time, and dot in the same place, this time pulling towards you. This creates a rounded triangle look.

Step 4: Add the husk lines. Using the same technique as mentioned above, make the husk lines with the light green. Instead of simply pulling up, though, make a squiggly line. You can make them as thick or thin as you want.

Step 5: Finish with a top coat.

Catch Up Time!

Wow, has it been a long time since I last posted! Here is a lot of what I have done since then. Sorry, but a lot of them uploaded sideways.

I liked the idea of seeing things bigger if they are underwater, so I spent some time playing around with the technique. 

A new pattern to try ...

I love this one, but I dont think its finished yet.

Here i started to play with color and weave.

This one isn't finished yet ...

Hete is a tangle on the kid card.

Every so often,  I try to learn new tangles. You can see the names written to the sides.

Tooting my own horn

Tangle time!!!

I decided to think "outside the box" on this one. I was trying to draw it as my house was chaotic ... oi. I loved this tangle a lot. I liked doing the picture frame string, all the lines... I especially loved the cloud corner on the left and that white frog-egg mess in the top middle. The bottom left corner is the prettiest part, I think. 

ANYWAYS.

I loved doing this tangle a lot. Could you tell?

O Tangle, where art thou?

Hi all!

Here is the summary of my first 3 days in april. I learned a new tangle, plus I did something terrifyingly lovely (according to me): I created tangles from watching a movie.

That's right.

My husband and I were watching "O Brother, Where Art Thou". I was tangling as I enjoyed the show, and little tidbits kept popping up to me. Day 3 is where you will find everything. 

Tangles on Day 3:

1) See in the bottom left corner? That's the microphone that the Soggy Bottom Boys sing into. 

2)The top left corner is their suspenders. 

3)The ouline of "3" is the rim of the Dapper Dan cans.

4) The simple line flares around the curve (the one's that look like slices in the crust of an apple pie) are from the megaphone that is floating when the valley is flooded.

I am going to do more of them like this!!!

More March Jelly Fish and New Tangle for April

Yesterday, I showed you a piece I was working on for March 31st ...

Here are the latest additions  to it. I added some semi-weave in the background as well as shading to make the tentacle ribbons stand out more. I am still learning to master the shading techniques, so I will probably be doing more on my next addition.

And, to finish up the night, her is my attempt at "hollibaugh". I like the look of the original tangle, but I am certainly not satisfied with how mine turned out. This is another one I will probably be working on more, also, but for tonight ... oi. I am ready for bed!

A Gift from CZT Jana Pharmer

Hello all my fellow tangle-friendlies! Recently, I have been in contact with a CZT named Jana Pharmer. She lives about 2 hours from me, but she is also the closest CZT to me. Out of the kindness of her heart, she sent me a Zentangle starter kit!

The kit she sent includes 

• several special pens
•  2 pencils
• a paper blender
• a fun mulitcolored pencil
• Zentangle squares (novice and official)
• round and square coasters
• a no-lines note book
• a tangled post card
• a beautiful case to hold my new utensils
• and a "Tangle a Day" calendar.

I am super excited about everything! I have never even attempted the shading before getting this fantastic gift.

If you would like to see my reaction at opening this package, here is the video link:

http://youtu.be/5p0lIUKEXEI

Thank you very much, Jana!

A March Jelly Fish

Since March had so much extra space, I decided to go outside the box! I didn't have a lot of time to work on it tonight, but I wanted to share the progress. I am liking it so far, but I'm a little scared about the ribbon tentacles!!!

Falling behind already?!

HELLOOOOOOO!!!!

Yes, I have fallen behind on uploading daily already. Oi. But! I am only a day behind, and I am still doing a tangle everyday ... even if I run out of time to upload it. Here it is!

This one I played with the tangle "footlights" (bottom right) and I tried to make up the rest on my own, with a few exceptions. I really liked how the circular, oyster-looking ones turned out ... don't be surprised if you see my baby oysters repeatedly in the future!

Here is a recap of my first 3 days ...

I look at this and think to myself, "Wow ... I did that ...". It absolutely blows my mind!

To the author of this book, you made a fantastic choice on paper. Its smooth, easy to blend on, but it isn't glossy or too thick, nor does it feel like "writing" paper. I love it to pieces.

Daily Tangle + My First Tangle! "Lungs" - March 29, 2014

Here is my daily tangle for today!

I decided to work on January - March once in a while so my calendar will still be filled up by the end of the year. Here, I learned "gommi" and drew it for Jan 5.

I was working on a larger piece, and I think I may have created my own tangle. That is ... I made it myself, it is my original work, but I'm not sure if anyone else has claimed it, I guess. I'm not sure how all of that works. Anyways, I made a how-to in case anyone was interested. I am considering submitting it to tanglepatterns.com.


I call it "Lungs", since my husband said that's what they look like.

Here is a portion of the larger drawing I was doing where this tangle originated. This picture turned out a lot better than the other one! I will probably retake the image later, but I thought it might be nice to get it up before I forgot.

Tangle a Day: March 28, 2014

This is the first tangle I have done out of my "tangle a day" calendar (hence the #1 above it). This was also my first time shading. I tried to use most of the tools given to me by Jana (stay tuned for that gift reveal on April 1). The shaded part is by far my favorite!

I don't have the names of these tangles written down (some I just made as I drew, others were from memorized tangles). If you want to know the name of one of them, comment below or send me an email and I will be sure to reply.

More Tangles

Here are some more minis and one of my larger tangles, also. I had a hard time finding tangles that inspired me this time around, but I kept up with it anyways! I also remembered to name each of them this time! Only two of the strings weren't mine in these minis.

In the beginning ...

Hi everyone! So, this is my very first tangle blog. My artwork has been tremendously inspired by Zentangle (even before I knew what it was). Recently, I've gotten it into my head that I want to be a CZT!! That is, a Certified Zentangle Teacher. Of course, that's about $3,500 for the flight, the seminar, the learning classes before all that ... I still have a long way to go. In the mean time, I want to share my tangles with you!!!

My Method

What I like to do is start off with 4 blank squares on my page. Then I will get on tanglepatterns.com and find a string I like (or I will create my own string.) After that, I simply browse the tangle tutorials on that site until I find one I like. When I do, I tangle!!!

When I have a full page of tangles, I get to work on my next step.

My next step is to take two pages and create two LARGE tangles. This way, I have more practice drawing them in detail on a large scale. I only have 2 rules: I can only use the new tangles I learned and drew on my minis (that's what I call my 4-square tangles), UNLESS it is the last section. In that case, I can use a tangle from ANY of my pages of minis as long as I haven't used it in a large tangle before. Why put rules to my tangles? Well, I want to learn lots of different patterns/tangles, and I feel this is the easiest way!


The numbers on the page are the string number from tanglepatterns.com. I didn't put the names of most of the tangles on my work this time, but now that I'm blogging about it, I will remember to do so! That way, its easier for you to look up that tangle's tutorial on the site.

This is how I will try and scan all my work from now on (with the tangle names and string numbers).

I am using a blue sharpie that is a regular tip and fine tip duo. The paper is some type of recycled, textured paper that I prefer over white for right now. According to the Zentangle regulations, they aren't official "Zentangle" but rather Zentangle-inspired art. Which is fine with me!

Anyways, thanks for stopping by, and please leave me a message!!!!