What's in my art journal? - The life of a sketch

Hey you!

I thought I'd share with you one of the processes I go through with a sketch that may or may not end up in one of my art journals.  I still consider myself to be a beginner when it comes to drawing.  Especially when it comes to full bodies and poses.  I always need reference material to help me get the body portions somewhat correct.

Here's my original sketch.   I have an idea for this sexy strange thing that's still brewing and I really like the pose. So to recreate the sketch without the gas mask I really really should have just sketched it again.  This would have been great practice.  But no, laziness always wins with me and I traced it.  I am a huge fan of tracing my own art work.  Let me tell you why:

1. I can rework some parts of the body to create a slightly different pose
2. It's a way of keeping my own reference material
3. It's a way of smoothing out sketch lines especially if I"m trying to turn the sketch into a stamp.
4. The sketch may have taken an hour, tracing is a few minutes

Moving on, I then scanned my sketch and re-sized it from 6 inches to 4 1/2.  Scanning your art is another wonderful way to manipulate it.  From there  I used the print out to carve her into a stamp.  The top left is the print out and the two images on the right are the results from the stamp.  

I also printed her out on watercolor paper, then colored her with distress stains and cut her out.  She was then placed on a art journal page that had been previously made.  Giving that page some attitude.  

And that my friend, is how one of my sketches goes on to live a life in many many other art projects.

Thanks for your visit.  Until the next blog...enjoy!

Carol