When I was a child, I wanted to be the Queen of England. It was the greatest thing I knew. We lived modestly in a small Finnish town near the Russian border. On Sundays, when we got a thick newspaper and bought a women’s magazine from the local kiosk, we talked about royals in Europe. The greatest of all was Queen Elizabeth, of course. I admired her so much that I got a flower bench under my bedroom window and roses called Queen Elizabeth planted on it.
Queen Elizabeth was my queen back then and still has been. She has been our queen for so long that she has seen more than most of us. With her, a time period that a single human can comprehend and remember vividly now goes away.
We, Finnish people, remember the queen’s visit to Finland in 1976. When my parents saw our politicians taking her to a forest in a walking suit, they were upset and ashamed. I remember my mother sitting on the sofa horrified and even a child understood that our love for forests could have been presented in a more sophisticated manner. But we didn’t get any headlines where the queen would complain about her circumstances, and in fact, we haven’t got much of those during all these years.
So here’s to Queen Elizabeth one more time. She inspired me to dream about jewels and kennels, courts and stables, tartans and silk, and because of her, I looked at forests like they were palaces. It made life so much better then, and it still carries me now when I am an artist.
This week, we draw a coloring page and color it creatively.
Fall is Coming!
Inspiration from an Artist Friend Eeva Nikunen
This blog post is inspired by my artist friend Eeva Nikunen. She is a master at drawing coloring pages. She has many self-published books, and just recently, she drew the Alice in Wonderland coloring book for a famous British company Colouring Heaven. I especially love Eeva’s illustrations of men, and her drawing skills are superior, much further than mine. Of the two of us, she is more of an illustrator while I am a painter, but we both alternate with drawing and painting.
Inspiration from Historical Styles
The Victorian era inspires Eeva, and I love it too. In 2020, I illustrated a book called Fairy Experiments for Thinkers and Tinkerers. It had over 60 Victorian-style line drawings and one simple coloring page as well. I have used a similar drawing style in the classes Animal Inkdom and Magical Inkdom.
One of the projects from the class Animal Inkdom, before coloring.
There are great programs for drawing coloring pages like ProCreate and Adobe Illustrator. I like these programs, but I like to keep drawing with pens and pencils too. So let’s look at how to draw a coloring page by hand!
I started with a pencil, and the focus was first on the pose. When I had a rough idea of a woman romantically entering a scenery, I drew over the pencil lines with a black drawing pen. I like to use ink pens because I draw better when I can’t erase the lines. It makes me concentrate more, and my hand becomes steadier.
The sketch for the pose is number 1 in the photo. I think many of you would just throw it in the trash and think that the project is a disaster, but the secret is to keep going by tracing the sketch to another paper.
Many versions of the same coloring page: 1-3) sketches, 4) the final page, and 5) the print of the final page. Click to see a bigger image!
When tracing the old lines, you will get more ideas and new energy for adjusting the drawing. My second sketch had more elements, and I also started thinking about the facial expression of the character. When I ran out of ideas, I just drew hearts. Then I colored the sketch a bit to think about what the general idea of the image could be.
I like to develop ideas by drawing and coloring, not by thinking only. Many say they have images in their head, but mine are often too vague or too traditional. Drawing makes me more inventive and detailed. So, in the third sketch, the hearts were gone, and the lady had a bag, a leaf skirt, and a circle behind her. As you can see from the picture above, I threw the sketch away, but then when I thought about the blog post, I dug it out from the bin for the photo!
Here’s the third sketch without colors and the final version that I drew after coloring the third one for some time.
A sketch and the final version of the coloring page.
The final drawing is about saying goodbye to summer and hello to fall. The bag symbolizes summer and the circle became a giant pumpkin. If you compare my lines between the sketches, they become more delicate and detailed towards the end. The first sketch is a clumsy thing, but by redrawing the lady several times, I was able to make the design more flowing. Straight lines became curvier and curves got more notches, making the shapes more interesting. By leaving some of the elements visible only partly, the image looks more coherent and less floating.
Choosing Paper for Drawing and Coloring
The thin and smooth marker paper makes tracing easy. I got to know it when I was studying as an industrial designer. Art supply stores sell it. For coloring, I prefer thicker paper, so I scanned the image and printed it on a brown drawing paper.
Translucent marker paper for the drawing and thicker paper for the printed page.
Unbleached paper allows me to color a bit more carelessly and playing with pastels and whites is more fun.
Creative Coloring
An inspiring coloring page is not too detailed. I like pages that have some detailed elements, like the bag in mine, but that also have plenty of space for additional ideas. Then the coloring page can be treated as a foundation for creative coloring. For example, my page has pretty empty hem, and I can have fun by coloring freely – creating color changes and motifs that make the design more rich and stylish.
I also like to color over the lines so that coloring extends the original design.
Compare the coloring page and the colored version below to see the additions made with colored pencils only!
With colors, you can also change the style of the drawing. I think mine looks quite Alphonse Mucha without colors, but after coloring, less so. I like coloring shadows and making the design less flat than what Art Nouveau had.
The Intuitive Part of Intentional Art
After finishing a drawing that was born pretty intentionally, I like to ponder what had initiated it. I found this photo on my phone, taken a couple of days ago. The two-colored leaves looked so beautiful and bittersweet to me that I had snapped a picture of them.
I am sad that summer is over but also acknowledge that summers and falls are not separate. One carries the other. It’s not fall’s fault that the summer is gone, and the present that the summer gave is dear to her.
I hope this post inspires you to draw a coloring page through multiple sketches and then creatively color it!
When I was living in Eastern Karelia in the 1970s, the simplest doll we could make was a tassel doll. I painted it in watercolors so that you can check if it’s something that you had too!
The doll was made of wool yarn and so simple that even a 5-year-old could make it. It’s a good example of a thing that is not valued by our adult self, but that brings up our inner child: “Hey, Miss Tassel, where do you want to go?”
Tassels as Extra Decorations
I rediscovered my love for tassels in 2018 when I participated in the Inktober challenge. Back then, I thought of tassels being a fun accessory and I have enjoyed using them as extra decorations in my drawings.
This week, I drew a new tassel for my boxes of joy and had a lot of fun making it.
First I drew some circles and lines with a black drawing pen, then added textures and shadows in the style I each in the classes Animal Inkdom and Magical Inkdom.
After colored pencils, I picked some other hand-drawn pieces from my boxes and admired the luxurious collection.
Who needs shopping when you can have your own personal store and draw all the good stuff for it!
Blowing Life to a Tassel
A tassel drawing can be more than a decoration only. You can have more fun by playing with it so that it will get a personality. Imagine a tassel as a person or an animal – a living thing. Here I see two tassel ladies on a stroll!
Now, the tassel has a mind of its own. An artist can see any simple object as an element of expression.
In the painting “Church of Saturn,” the tassels have a spirit that makes them an integral part of nature.
These tassels are organic, and the style is abstract rather than illustrative.
As artists we need to do this – go beyond what’s expected and commonly seen.
Ornamental Figure with Tassels
In the class Magical Inkdom, I draw a funny bunny with a tassel on her head and now I got the idea of making an ornamental figure so that the tassels form the body.
To make a symmetrical ornament, I traced the tassel three times on the right side marker paper. Marker paper is thin so it’s easy to see through it.
Then I taped the paper to the window and traced the three tassels on the left side of the paper. I added additional elements to the center and some facial features too. My tassel doll!
But when I continued the drawing, I got a crazy idea of a knitting hamster. Tens of years ago, I was a hamster breeder, attending shows and everything. I know those little animals well! Knitting is one of my favorite hobbies and the thought of a hamster collecting all the yarn and trying to knit it made me smile.
Then the word “Knitwork Orange” came to my mind, and I included the orange as well!
Here’s me, in the middle of the night, knitting away!
Tassel Dolls on Mars
Last spring, I had a small canvas that was first just a mess. I like to start my paintings in this intuitive way and without a plan. I had some leftover paint so nothing was wasted.
The first ideas are terribly traditional and mine was to make a vase with flowers.
But after this, I was taken to another planet, to Mars! There, tassel dolls met art deco, and I had a lot of fun finishing the painting with all the decorative details.
I love the Great Gatsby movie from 2013. It has the best party scenes and good music. I had a lot of fun creating a tassel doll party that took place on another planet.
Kultahatut Marsissa – Gatsbies on Mars, 22 x 27 cm, oil on canvas
This small piece ends the Milky Way series – 11 oil paintings from March to May. I have taken a break from creating art, but feel like I am recovering now. Thanks to making the tassel drawings for this post! I hope they work for you too!
The idea for this painting started from the orange storm that the planet Jupiter has. But then I thought about the Finnish saying “myrsky vesilasissa” which is “storm in the water glass” in English and similar to the saying “storm in a teacup.” It felt playful and funny to compare the planet to a small bowl and make a still life that doesn’t look still at all.
The first layers were very different from each other, and it felt like there was still more to come. The final version has brighter colors and juicy fruits that burst everywhere. Here’s a closeup of some:
I love lemons and oranges. I think they are one of the most attractive things in the world. Their smell, taste, and look captivate me. And they are not difficult to paint or draw either!
Decorative Slices in Black and White Drawing
Here’s a line drawing from 2018 when I participated in Inktober for the first time. The slices were fun to draw, especially because I treated them like Faberge eggs: filled with jewelry and other decorative elements.
Back then, I was finding out things that I really like and bringing them together in my drawings.
Intuitive Fruit Painting in Gouache
In 2019, I made a gouache painting (see the video!) that reminds me of Jupiter’s Bowl. It has fruity and fresh colors and some stormy vibe too.
I was a bit clumsier painter back then, but the idea of refreshing fruity burst is evident.
Fantasy Fruits in Colored Pencils
This year started by making a new class called Fun Botanicum. The second lesson of the class is about fruits and berries. Here’s my example from the class, made with colored pencils.
I wanted the spread to look juicy with my own fantasy fruits. Practically, you can draw a circle, add shadows and decorations, and it will look like a fruit!
Juiciness vs. Fruits
When I took pictures of Jupiter’s Bowl, it was late May and grass and tulips were in full bloom. There’s a lot of juiciness in summer colors.
My suggestion is to focus on the juiciness when drawing or painting fruits. If you think about how the fruits look in reality, the result gets stiff more easily. If you let go and focus on the juicy part, creating is much more fun and the result more expressive. Anything can have the spirit of the fruit, and art can be juicy without presenting the actual lemons and oranges.
Tell me, which are your favorite fruits?Do they appear in your art too?
