100 days of Ditsy doodles

What's this? A post...an actual post not involving desktop calendars? Well heck!

That's right, today I thought I'd share a creative challenge that I set myself. I'm drawing 100 days of Ditsy doodles, and sharing them on my Instagram account with the hashtag #100daysofditsydoodles.

I've seen a lot of these on Instagram where, for a set number of days, you commit to creating/doing something every day, and sharing it on your feed with your followers.

I've a track record of being horrendous at sticking with challenges (through self sabotage, usually) but thought, what the hey, I've nothing to lose, and only good things to gain.

Good things? Why yes :)
- regular material to post (sometimes finding something to share is like walking into a brick wall)
- the satisfying feeling of sticking with something for a set period of time (I have never given anything up for Lent/dry January etc)
- seeing how I fare when faced with self inflicted deadlines and guidelines
- improving my motivation to create, post, share and inspire
- seeing whether my style develops over the 100 days; whether themes appear (the first 15 days have been firmly based in the realm of botanicals and florals!)
- finding out what gives me joy to draw, and what leaves me flat and a smidge curmudgeonly (the flower for 14/100...ugh! A lesson in not over working and over thinking, and relaxing into the flow of mindless - ooh a little controversial perhaps - drawing and mark making)
- playing with different tools/materials/pens - using colour rather than purely black ink on white*
* read, 'Sarah's happy safe comfort zone and favourite place to play'

So here's a little round up of 1 - 10 and I'll share 11- 20 once I've passed that point.

If you'd like to see the doodles as they are posted, you can find me on Instagram as @ditsybird...do say hi if you pop over!

If you've got any questions about the doodles/sketches - eg pens/sketchbook etc, do please ask.

Cheerio for now,

Sarah
♡

Scrapbooks as sketchbooks

Morning!

I bought a new scrap book at the weekend, which I wanted to try out as a sketchbook - the paper inside is so beautifully smooth, that I find it perfect for pencil sketches, dip pen and fountain pen drawing.

There is no texture to the paper - which is something I would normally actively seek when creating products - but I love the smoothness of this thick paper/thin card for when I'm doing carefree doodling, in order to wind down of an evening, or to warm up my hands before working on a commission.

The other joy of this particular book, is that it is so very beautiful!
Just look at the cut out detail on the cover! And birds! I do love a bird or two.

The pencil sketches were drawn with my Pentel 120 A3DX propelling pencil, using 0.3mm lead. I love how delicate the lines look, and how much detail you can get with such a fine line.

The fabulous turquoise pencil is just there to look pretty ;)

I also wanted to test how well the paper would stand up to ink, so I got out all my pink inks (acrylic and bombay) and had a play - not one came through the back of the paper - and I also tested liquid watercolours as well as high flow acrylics. Same result.

Now I'm not suggesting we all ditch our traditional sketchbooks, I'm just saying that it's worth keeping an eye out for scrap books and photo albums in the sales, as often they have really good quality paper/card in them, which is perfect for doodling on.

This bird design was purchased from a Paperchase outlet shop for £5 - half it's original price of £10 -but it is available HERE on the Paperchase site for £7.50 in the sale.
The hard back cover is very sturdy (and gorgeous) and made up of the deep turquoise hard back inner, sandwiched between two layers of kraft card.
Spiral bound, so I can work on it with the spirals at the top, which stops them getting in the way whilst I draw.

It also has a beautiful ribbon to tie it up, which protects the inner sheets from getting marked or damaged.
There are 40 sheets to work on, and honestly, the paper is of such good quality that I could work on both sides if I so wished - I tend not to do this though, as you can get pencil and pen marks rubbing off on to the page below if you do that.

I've been using scrapbooks as sketchbooks for a while now - my first one had black paper pages inside it, and is fantastic for practicing with all sorts of different pens to get new, fun results. But that's a post for another day!

Materials used:
Vintage dip pen - these can be found quite easily on eBay
Birds scrapbook
Pentel pencil
FW ink pearlescent pink
FW ink fluorescent pink
Liquitex acrylic ink magenta
Dr.PH Martins Hydrus watercolours magenta
Golden High Flow Acrylics magenta
Dr PH Martin's Bombay inks
Caran D'ache Grafik HB pencil
The links are just for reference, so that you can have a look at the materials online...they will be available from other shops, so it's always worth looking around to find a price that suits!


Sarah
♡

Daily(ish) Drawing

Hello!

Here are a few photos of recent daily(ish) drawings, that have been posted to my Instagram feed - I say (ish) because daily really isn't happening.

Life got in the way before the Easter holidays, and since then I've got out of the habit of sofa doodling on an evening...just way too tired..and my mojo is still on it's jollies I think!

I'll get going again once other jobs are out of the way, and there's a little more time in my head and life.

I do miss it, as I enjoyed the constant and consistent creativity, so I will be working hard to get back into the rhythm of daily drawing.

Spot the button themed drawings? They were fun! I may go back to this at some point, and create some mini original art on the same theme.

☞ To see all my daily(ish) drawings in one place, simply search under the #dbd2016dailydrawing hashtag, on Instagram.

Have you taken on a challenge for 2016, creative or otherwise? Are you managing to stick to it, or do find that there are times where you simply have to roll with it, and take a break?

Cheers for now
Sarah
x

Create consistently

Hello!

Back in December, I think it was, my friend Helen and I, set challenges for ourselves - mine was to draw daily. Now anyone who follows me on Instagram, will know that my mum sadly lost her fight with cancer earlier this year...so there were a number of days where there was no drawing. Having said that, there were other days that were entirely spent drawing...it is very much my therapy, solace and sanctuary - a place where I can be entirely in the moment.

To sum up, after that waffly preamble, I have been endeavouring to draw daily, and to create consistently.

This has been challenging some days, but also incredibly rewarding - I find that when I'm on top of the challenge, a few wonderful things happen together:

• ideas flow more freely, making it easier to think of something to draw and waking up my creativity
• I'm becoming more and more confident with my tools, through regular use and practice
• I'm getting the chance to play with more mediums - watercolour, ink, gouache, mixed media
• my personal creative style is becoming more and more apparent
• I'm quickly finding out which ideas work and which don't - you know that gut feeling you get, about whether a certain style / design or medium 'fits'? I'm finding it much easier to spot what is and isn't me...Sarah and Ditsy Bird
• I'm getting quicker - much quicker - at knocking a quick sketch out - much less pondering and worrying, and a lot more of the 'just going with it'. This is a very good thing. Trusting my intuition.
• I'm happy when I draw, and as I'm drawing a lot at the moment, I am feeling generally happy most days - even bearing in mind recent events, this is still true. And I'm very grateful for it.
• I'm managing to maintain a creative momentum that I haven't achieved in the past. Because I am drawing daily, I'm already in the creative mindset, which is making it easier for me to stay on track with current projects, and actually complete some! Boom!
• my Instagram feed is looking good too, thanks to regular process shots and finished doodle photos...always a good thing, as I have a terrible habit of simply retreating from social media (and social life) when life gets tough

All in all, I'm mighty glad to have taken up the challenge, and aim to stick with it for the rest of the year, and hopefully catch up with the days I've missed so that I have the full 366 posts by the end of it!

Have you set yourself any personal challenges this year, and how have you benefitted from them?

Sarah
♡

PS if you fancy a looksee at all the drawings, head to my Instagram feed, or in Instagram search for the following three hashtags #dbd2016dailydrawing #draweveryday2016 #2016creativechallenge xxx