Happy Halloween & #Peachtober 2023!

It’s October 31st. So first and foremost, Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a great day. Now onto the bulk of today’s post.

Last year, I did an art challenge on Instagram through the month of October. However, this year I decided to change the way I participated in #Peachtober. I did do most of the 2023 prompt list. The main change was I didn’t post to social media and instead focused on making a single piece of art. So, for today’s Halloween post, I’m going to delve into my process. For the prompt list and the specifics about the materials I used see the notes section at the bottom of the post.

Some sketches (Right and left image)….

When the prompt list was released, I immediately started sketching and thinking about what medium I wanted to use. Last year, I went with colored pencil (Prismacolor Premier); this time I wasn’t as sure and considered acrylic paint—one of my favorite mediums—or a combination of markers and colored pencil. That, like my original idea, changed as I hammered out the details of what I was going to be doing.

Another sketch (Image on the right)….

So, what was I planning? Well my initial idea was a series of bottles for each prompt, but that was when I thought I would post almost every day to social media. Even during the early stages of developing that idea, the more I sketched the more my original train of thought turned toward what would eventually be my main source of inspiration: cabinets of curiosities. Not the Netflix TV show, but the actual concept of the thing. It allowed me to also incorporate (and organize) elements of my initial idea—with the various jars, bottles, and displays. Principally it gave me better direction with how I wanted to arrange everything on the page, especially as I moved farther from separate pieces and toward a single painting.

Here’s what the piece ended up looking like….

Painting process was pretty straight forward and took about four dedicated sessions across as many days. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the result.

So, once again, Happy Halloween and thanks for reading!

—Notes—

List of materials used:

• Canson Watercolor Paper 9in x12in; 140 lb/300g
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint
• Sketchbook
• 0.7mm mechanical pencil

#Peachtober2023 Prompt List created by @furrylittlepeach **(The crossed out prompts are ones I decided to skip, simply because I couldn’t find a way to work them into the painting in a way I liked.)**

1.Bee / 2.Cosmos/  3.Sweet/ 4.Grub/ 5.Sprig/ 6.Eye/ 7.Crater

8.Dream/ 9.Blue/ 10.Citrus/ 11.Pencil/ 12.Nest/ 13.Ship/ 14.Garden 

15.Weather/ 16.Sidekick/ 17.Blush/ 18.Snooze/ 19.Candle/ 20.Bulb/ 21.Slingshot

22.Tunnel/ 23.Message/ 24.Wand/ 25.Coral/ 26.Ladybug/ 27.Pond/ 28.Chomp

29.Float/ 30.Moss/ 31.Spooky

Combined prompts: Float & Spooky; Tunnel and Grub; Garden & Ladybug; Nest & Blue 

Thought Corner: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens

Name: Sakura Pigma Pens

Source: Purchased

Set: 8 count

Walmart     Michaels     Blick Art Materials     Amazon     Joanns

More info...

• Archival quality ink: is waterproof, chemical resistant, fade resistant, bleed free, quick drying, and pH neutral.
• Ideal for sketching, inking, and illustration.
• Includes 6 Pigma Micron, 1 Pigma Brush, and 1 Pigma Graphic

Today, I’m going to be talking about the Sakura Pigma Micron pen set that I bought. This is actually my first set of pens with archival quality ink, which is one of the reasons I’m so excited to talk about them. I’ve just used ballpoint pens, markers, and more recently Papermate Felt Tip Pens. So, I was ready to make the switch to fine liners.

A full list of the supplies I used for the painting will be down at the bottom of the post…

What I’m working on…

• A witch based off of a sketch from my sketchbook

Some things to know…

• The ink is waterproof (more on that later)
• These pens do not have an odor to them.
• Does not bleed when applied to paper
• Dries quickly

This is essentially what these look like. I had the choice of getting a smaller set, but choose to get the eight count since it had all the sizes I was looking for in fine liner pens.

Here's a quick swatch. As you can see, the sizes range from very thin to thicker darker lines. I personally prefer the look of thinner lines, but its nice to have the option to change that up when I want to. I also really like the brush pen.

Starting with the sketch…

The piece I’m talking about today is based off of a sketch of a witch from my sketchbook. I’d always planned to eventually turn it into a painting, and I figured that October was a good time to work on this one because of Halloween. Also, it gave me the perfect opportunity to test out these pens. I love these pens. It was definitely worth the price. They’re easy to use, and when I did a swatch of the pens I didn’t experience any dryness, which has happened to me on occasion with markers.

For this painting in particular, I wanted to keep the lines fairly thin because they weren’t that important to the overall piece. I used the 01 pen to ink the majority of the sketch. And the 1 graphic pen along the hat, eyes, and circle to darken the lines.

Next, I got to test out my favorite feature of these pens: they’re waterproof. I do a lot of watercolor painting, which is the reason why I originally looked into getting a set of these pens. Let me tell you, it’s awesome having these to use whenever I want to add a little more detail to my pieces before I begin painting. I love the fact that the ink dried quickly and it doesn’t smudge or bleed even when a lot of water was applied on top of it.

I pretty much just used some colored pencil to really get the color of the hair where I wanted it. I was pretty happy with how it looked at this point, but I later used some gel pen in order to really define some of the details I lost while adding color. I like the finished  painting more with the gel pen so the colors aren't just dark-on-dark-on dark.

Finished Painting

Overall…

I like these pens. I’m going to be able to get a good amount of use out of these pens, not just for paintings, but also inking sketches. These pens can be a little expensive, but if you get them from somewhere like Michaels, you can use coupons and easily get a good deal on them.

Full list of supplies used…

Sakura Pigma Micron pens

Reeves Watercolor Paint

Canson Watercolor Paper

Sakura Gelly Roll Gel Pen

Artist's Loft Colored pencil