Dragon Egg Ornament

This one may end up as a plain dragon egg in my office, but I’m sure I’ll be making it with my almost four-year-old granddaughter. It looks easy and fun.

What you’ll need:

• string, yarn, or ribbon to make it an ornament
• foil
• air dry clay or cornstarch and white glue
• straw or other object to make indents
• paint
• glitter or gem stickers (I have both from my dragon outfit for Realm Makers this year!)

Instructions:

Make a loop with the string, yarn, or ribbon and tie it off. Then using your foil, shape an egg around the end of the string. Mold your air dry clay around the foil, make indents or designs with a straw or paperclip. Let it dry. Paint and then add your glitter or stickers.

Dragon Ornaments

This is a salt dough recipe that you use to create dragons. Unfortunately, to do so, you’ll need a template or be able to draw dragons on dough really well. However, I can link to some templates to use.

You’ll need:

• paper template
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 cup cinnamon or cocoa powder
• 1 cup salt
• 1 -1 1/2 cups hot water

Instructions:

Mix it all together and then roll it out. Some websites said to use parchment paper. I like that idea because I don’t like messes! To help with not burning make sure that it’s all one thickness. Once it’s rolled out, cut out your dragons and use a pencil or some other round object to poke a hole for the string to hang it up with. Then bake. Wait until it’s cooled and paint and string to hang up.

Baking:

There were various instructions. If you like them to puff up, then bake at 325 F for about an hour–keeping watch that it doesn’t get too dark. If you want them flat, then poke the bottom of them with a fork and bake at 250 F for about two hours. You want them hard but not burnt.

Let me know if you create something fun. I’d love to see your art.

Dragon’s Posterity which just released in Decmeber sat half finished on my computer for five years. That’s what I call writer’s block! I tried to unblock the story for the sake of a young man who wanted book five to read. I read the other books in the series and I drew trying to get a path for the story, but the voices in my head had shut up. In the process though, my art improved.

1. Drawing dragons

Wymar drawn April, 2010

I started with dragons and some of them are down right ugly! They’re fat and even look dinosaurish. The more I worked, though, the better I became. I searched through deviantart for dragons and found help and inspiration. The beautiful drawings of artists further advanced than me kept me trying. In the meantime, I learned about dragons for my stories.

2. Drawing people

Early rendition of Brogran, August, 2010

Somewhere along the line, I decided to draw the riders of Dragon Courage and their friends. However, my first try at drawing Brogran and Ben’hyamene looked more like neanderthal men. With a deep sigh, I went back to the drawing board, quite literally. I began following artists like Paul Stowe and Ambro Jordi. I watched their gifs and videos and gained inspiration, and yet still, the story didn’t come.

3. Drawing with color

July, 2011

Colored pencils made their way into my pencil bag. I found they didn’t sing to me like graphite did. I struggled with them but still worked with dragons. Then one day, a dragon’s eye clicked! My artistic ability didn’t change overnight, but I found other artists who were willing to share their knowledge. Eventually, I was able to make the transition to color. I then discovered pastels. These moved faster much like my lifestyle had changed. Without time to draw, I needed something to work with in short spurts and to finish quickly.

4. Drawing Portraits

As I kept working and trying to unblock the story, I found my hobby becoming drawing. I didn’t worry as much about the story and just enjoyed the feel of paper under my hand and the weight of the pencil in my fingers. I’d spend between ten minutes to a half hour at a time with the theraputic feel of shading, erasing, and drawing. This is when people caught my eye.

Graphite portrait March, 2014

My family loves cameras. My husband has gone from landscape to portrait photographer, while my daughter is pursuing a photography career, and each of my sons has a unique view from the lens. Their photos inspired me to try to draw them. My neanderthal people slowly transformed to become living, breathing humans whose eyes followed us as we moved across the room.

It still amazes me the progress I’ve made, from those beginning cartoonish drawings to photorealistic portraits. The beauty of it all is that somewhere along the line, the voices began to talk again. At first they were whispers, but whispers became normal voices, which moved to almost yelling. Now, I have stories waiting to be told, and I don’t have time for the drawings I love. What inspires your heart? Let me know.

Step 1: Scribble over the back of your image

You’ll notice the tape. I’ve marked out where I want my portrait to go on my paper using artist’s tape. I also taped my paper to the drawing board.

This works best if your image is on regular copy machine paper. I use the softest pencil I have to scribble. This time around, it was a 6B graphite pencil. I scribble every area I want to transfer. In essence we are making our own graphite paper. For my portrait, I made sure the face, eyes, hair, chin, ear, and lips were covered as well as the jacket since that’s an important part of the picture. I left out the necklace since it was too small of a section of the picture.

Step 2: Tape your image down

Now you’ll want to tape your picture to your paper. This will hold it in place while you trace around the items you want in your drawing.

Step 3: Trace your outline

Using a mechanical pencil without the graphite, trace everywhere you want an outline. You’ll want to keep your pressure even and yet light. If you press too hard, you’ll have inscribed lines that will mess with your drawing. This can be any difference in shades, distinguishing features, outline, or anywhere you need extra help. As I’m looking at the photo, I’m wondering if I should have defined the jaw better on my outline. Instead, I made sure the main outline, the jacket, hair, ear, mouth, nose with nostrils, eyes, and eyebrows were defined on my drawing.

Step 4: Check your work

Now all that’s left is to lift up your drawing to make sure you have a mark where you need it. If you missed something, just drop the picture back down and trace. When you are finished, you should have a nice outline of your drawing and be ready to shade the rest in.

Pencils

Pencils are a major component to drawing. Their quality will affect your outcome. I have seen simple mechanical pencils do amazing work. However, much like a camera, it depends on the artist using them. Where a good photographer can take a wonderful photo with a crummy camera; so it’s true that a good artist can make wonderful art with crummy tools. Imagine how much better the work could be with the correct supplies.

So what pencils should you use?

Top to bottom: Reeves 2B, Tombow Mono 4B, Staedtler 6B, Prismacolor 9H, FaberCastel 8B

Graphite pencils come in many different forms, from simple student sets to individual pencils. I started out with Prismacolor graphite pencils. Then someone gave me a set of Pentalic pencils. Now, I have Tombow Mono and Staedtler pencils. Over the years, I have occasionally found a Reeves pencil or two laying around the classroom. I would scoop it up and keep it in my desk if I didn’t know whose it was. For my birthday, I was given a set of Reese pencils. I can’t wait to try them out.

What grades of pencils should you use?

If you purchase a set, it will come with a variety, but if you are purchasing individual pencils, you’ll want to know which ones to get. Isn’t a pencil a pencil? Not really.

Mid-grade pencils

Let’s start with what every student knows–the #2 pencil. Required for those standardized tests, the #2 pencil is what is called HB in art terms. It is the middle ground of pencils. From there, pencils are divided into H (hard) and B (soft) grades. There’s also a F, but I don’t know what it is. It seems to be similar to the HB. The larger the numbers, 2-9, the harder or softer the graphite.

Hard pencils

The H series has a very hard graphite. It takes more pressure to lay down a mark. My favorite H pencil is the 8H or 9H. At first, you may not even realize it has left a mark. It is excellent for those very light values necessary in clouds or snow or a moon.

Soft pencils

The B series is a very soft graphite. It takes hardly any pressure to have a very bold and dark mark. I was impressed with how dark I could get my drawings when I first used the B pencils. Now, I tend to start with the HB, move on to the B, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 8B to create dark values.

Which to purchase

The basic pencils would be 9H, HB (although you could get away with a normal pencil for this), B, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 8B. These will give you a wide range of values in your graphite pencils.

Erasers

Yes, you read that correctly. I often draw as much with an eraser as I do my pencils. Erasers create negative space. They also help keep your work area clean. I have three kinds I use, two are standard and inexpensive, but the third I had to save up money to purchase.

My absolute go to no matter what is the kneaded eraser. I’m sure there are other brands out there, but I have the Prismacolor brand and it’s very inexpensive and lasts forever! The kneaded eraser is like playing with playdough. You can mold it to whatever shape you want to clean up an area. I use the big blob to keep my edges clean. Whereas, catch light in an eye requires a thin point to just dab to remove any excess graphite.

My next go to eraser is a Tombow Mono Zero mechanical eraser. It is a very small eraser that comes in a pen style case. I love it for adding highlights to hair, whiskers on animals, or other small areas that need a lighter touch. It also lasts forever! No really. I purchased a set of refills for it over three years ago, thinking I needed to have it on hand because my eraser was getting low. I have yet to open the refill packet!

My third eraser I use is an electric eraser. Yes, you read that right, electric. It takes two AAA batteries. At first it took a bit to get use to. A small button on the side vibrates the round rubber eraser back and forth. I found it helped to create a point on the eraser first and then I could create very fine lines, even finer than the Tombow Mono Zero. It works excellently for hair and for colored pencil artwork which is harder to erase.

Paper

Paper is another important factor in your work. A regular copy machine paper will do in a pinch, but if you want art that will last, you’ll want to make the expenditure for archival quality paper. There are several options–sketchbooks or paper.

Sketchbooks

My first sketchbook was an inexpensive 9″x6″ book from Pacon. I loved the thickness of the paper and didn’t think anything about it until I filled all seventy sheets. Then I purchased another inexpensive sketchbook and realized that not all books are the same. With sketchbooks you can’t tell a book by its cover but by its paper! You want paper that is nice and thick and has a good tooth or weave so the graphite can sink into it. Experiment with different tooth. Another good sketchbook is made by the Bee Paper Company. They have them for different purposes. I have one that is a 9″x9″ and one that’s narrower. The square has thicker tooth and has more of a texture to it. The narrow one has less tooth and is designed for pen.

Art Paper

Art paper comes in a couple of different forms. You can purchase pads of paper or you can purchase single sheets. The single sheets vary in size but are larger than 18″ on one side and are rectangular. I have not purchased single sheets. Instead I purchase the pad of paper and have it on hand at all times. My favorite for working with pencils is Arches Watercolor. I love the feel of the paper. It’s nice and thick and the tooth is such that you can layer lots of graphite and build up deep values. My personal favorite is the hot press; however, I received a cold press pad for Christmas and can’t wait to try it out.

Now, you should have all the information you need to get started. Have fun, experiment, and relax while drawing. Let me see what you do. Don’t be intimidated. My first works were very basic as shown in the Spanish condensed version of the prologue to Dragon’s Future. The more you practice the better you become.

People talk about sleep deprivation, caffeine deprivation, and grandchild deprivation. They mean that there is something normally in their life, or that should be in their life, and it is not there. Their body reacts to the loss in different ways. For me, art is a part of my life. I’m married to a photographer. We go out and take pictures of people creating art. As a writer, I create art in written form. I actually had a member of an art gallery think that my books should be in the gallery as art. With writing, I’m now doing digital art for marketing. Most of my graphics are done by me. I’m learning how much work goes into digital art. I also draw.

My sister introduced art to me when I was a senior in high school. She brought home some school art room charcoal pencils and a paper, and we sat down and began to draw. I soon picked up a mini art pad at a local craft store and a few pencils of my own. I drew whatever I could see–mainly landscapes though. Then along came college, marriage, five kids, and a job. No time for drawing. I picked up other forms (crocheting, cross-stitch, quilting, and eventually writing). When I began writing, I began drawing again. As writer’s block set in, I’d pick up the pencils and draw. It helped me form the words and see the world. With practice, my art became better and better.

The last time I picked up a pencil was in December over Christmas break. It was just to do a quick sketch while the family played a game. The last project I finished was back in September! To put this in perspective, in 2010 when I first started drawing again, I had drawn twenty projects. Last year I completed six projects to be proud of. I didn’t think it was a big deal because I’ve produced a number of graphic art for advertising the books. I was wrong.

In January, a student turned in an assignment on a piece of paper that stood out from all the rest. My fingers caressed the soft tooth. The thickness and weight of the creamy whiteness called to me. It begged to have more than some Spanish words hastily scribbled on it. It wanted to be used for art! I sighed and placed the paper on my desk in the pile of other assignments.

Yesterday, I came home from work and marveled at the clouds. Stacked layers filled the sky with grayed lavender, dusty rose, cream, 10% warm gray, and white. Small strokes of the lighter colors smeared across the darker ones. Every so often a hint of blues shown through but not many. My fingers longed to grab my pastels and sweep the strokes of cream and white over the grays. However, other work called to me.

Art is embedded into nature. A love for art calls to all of us. Some can create it; others enjoy seeing it. When we go without art, our lives become dull and lifeless. What art are you working on or enjoying? Let me know in the comments.