You Can Draw Patterned Papers!
This week, I answer the question: “I want to draw, but don’t know how or what! How to start?” My suggestion is to start with patterns. So, draw repeated shapes and make a collection of patterned papers that you can use for collage art, for example.
The No-Pencil Approach
I usually start my line drawings with a black thin-tipped drawing pen or a blue ball-point pen.
If you say you can’t draw, say goodbye to the pencil era. Don’t be one of those who sketch many parallel lines and erase all the time! A pencil is a crutch that might feel helpful, but trust that you can walk and pick up a pen. The first steps may be scary, but when you risk more, you draw better. Your line is not just a vague and neutral curve, but one that expresses your existence.
Let’s draw four patterned papers!
Paper #1 – Small Flowery Shapes
Pick a tiny piece of paper and a pen, not a pencil. When you can’t erase, you focus more and draw better. Small paper doesn’t need anything grand, so clusters of tiny flowery circles are enough, and if not, you can add some leaves.
I colored my pattern with colored pencils. The fun thing with colored pencils is that you can use an eraser to add more patterning. I have a precision eraser pen that is handy for small dots. If you use a bigger eraser, color the dots smaller after erasing.
I love colored pencils because it’s easy to layer the colors to get a variety of tones.
People may say: “It’s just a pattern, not a picture.” Or: “Tiny scraps mean nothing.” But I think it’s a packet of seeds, ready to grow and expand. The first paper may be a secret thing, something you glue on your notebook or planner, to freshen up all the mundane words like “To do” or “Meeting at 9 AM.”
Paper #2 – Big Nested Shapes
Let’s get bolder and pick a bigger paper! The shapes should now be so big that most of them are only partly visible.
Draw nested shapes. The first lines define the inner shapes, and the second lines are the outer shapes that group them. These are fun to color! I used felt-tipped pens and strong contrasts.
Then I added circles, stripes, and some color variation with colored pencils.
When the motifs are big and the colors bold, the shapes can be quite simple. The Finnish design company Marimekko has produced great patterns over the years. See inspiring examples here at Marimekko’s site!
Paper #3 – Dynamic Strokes
Pick a pen with a brush tip. You can also use ink or watercolors with a paintbrush. Draw clusters of three intersecting strokes. Then draw curvy lines that travel around the strokes. The result is dynamic and looks like flying trees or the sight when looking up at the trees. You can add small, flowery shapes and circles too.
I also played with the background and added a free-form low-contrast grid that is like a city map or a tiled wall. The more you draw patterns, the more you will cluster and layer. This way, you will gradually move towards making expressive art rather than staying in the area of surface design.
Paper #4 Traveling Line
Now let your line travel more freely. Repeat what you have learned in the previous exercises, but do it in a more relaxing way, without too much care about what comes on paper. Think about the line being just a foundation for coloring.
When the first lines are just a foundation, you can add decorations like swirls and small dots, which are often seen in surface patterns. Some motifs might be more decorative than others, and the result becomes more like scenery than a design.
I used a regular ball-point pen for the first lines, then colored the paper with watercolors, and finally added decorative details with colored pencils.
To Draw Freely? – What It Is
Drawing means letting your pen take the lead. It means guiding it forward, meandering, and turning. It means traveling your own paths, daring to go back, and driving over and past them. When drawing freely, you don’t really care about the destination, but you want to enjoy the ride.
Your pencil should be firmly on the road, but not so heavily that it’s hard to move. A person who travels with their pencil and focuses on the line knows how to draw, unlike those whose line merely flits across the paper before fleeing. Drawing isn’t about the line representing something, but about the line having someone who treasures it.
Extra – From Hand-drawn Paper to Digital Kaleidoscope Pattern
If you can use image processing software like Adobe Photoshop, scan or photograph your design and duplicate it several times. Flip some copies vertically and some horizontally to build a continuous kaleidoscope pattern.
Draw and Use Patterned Papers -More Inspiration
Use your papers! See this project: Painterly Collage in Rut Bryk’s style
Create more paper and make collages: See the class Collageland
Draw freely: See the classes Intuitive Coloring, Joyful Coloring, and Mystical Minis
Filling an Art Journal
One of my projects this summer is to fill one of my art journals – Dylusions Creative Journal Square. I hope that these pics from my current in-progress journal, inspire you to start filling your art journal!
Reaching Saturation Point in Filling Art Journal
I think art journals have a saturation point. When most of the pages are full, you have to give the book a little more attention than usual. This journal was started in 2020, and I have filled it here and there over the years.
One spread can have things done in many different years. So the book is full of temporal layers, and I think they make the best art journal.
and finally added a zebra made in the style of Animal Inkdom.
Magical Inkdom also has fun projects for these kind of small drawings.
Practicing in an Art Journal
My courses appear a lot in my art journal, because I often practice on the pages or later glue pictures I made for the courses into it. I hope my course participants do the same!
and then added some more painted petals in acrylic.
Journaled “Sweet” with watercolors.
Part of being an artist is to be happy with your own development, and also to be interested in what you have done before.
This and That Will Magically Come Together
When my art journal is full, I will make a video of it, where I go through it and talk about each spread. I also know that when the journal is finished, the flow of the spreads feels much more coherent than when I was filling them.
In the style of Freely Grown.
One thing that applies to all art journals, sketchbooks, and notebooks is that they are most beautiful when full. When you purchase one, it looks too beautiful to fill, but once you hold a full one, it feels much more valuable. I am looking forward to that!
Inspirational Drawing Changed My Life
This week, I share a story about how drawing changed my life – how art can start from discovering your living line and then drawing it over and over again.
Now is also the last chance to buy my course Inspirational Drawing!
The course will go away on April 21st at midnight PDT. >> Buy Now!
Are You Waiting for Your Moment in Art?
10 years ago, I definitely was waiting for my moment. I had dreamed about art all my life. I wanted to find what kind of artist I am and wanted to do it in practice, by creating. So, not be the one who only dreams about art or who only buys art supplies and says: “one day”.
I didn’t want to be remembered as a creative stamper or any other kind of crafter. I wanted to find my way in art-making and art world – not by questioning if I could do it, but simply by drawing and painting so much that I would get my moment.
And I did find my way, and many moments have come. But when things happen for the first time, you don’t quite know it right away. You will recognize the moment that changed your life later. For me, it was when I got the idea of the course Inspirational Drawing.
Over time, the course has had three versions:
- A pilot in Finnish (2015)
- The first version in English (2015)
- The second and the current version in English (2017)
Inspirational Drawing has been my most popular course when counting all the versions together. You could say that my story as an artist started with this course. Now when it’s time to expire the last version, I want to celebrate it by telling its story, which also is a big part of how I found my artistic style and became a professional visual artist.
From Art Journaling To Drawing Freely
Before the deep dive into drawing, art journaling had been my hobby for many years. Here’s a spread from 2013 where I reflect on who I am. The title says: “Kehitä ja sä saat sen” – “Develop and you will get it!
Since my background was in design and IT, I didn’t think I would ever be accepted into art circles. But because I had previous experience in teaching adults, I knew that there are always people who are on your path, but little further behind. And I had many who read my blog. So I started creating online courses in 2014.
I had left my day job, and practiced drawing full-time. The more I drew, the more I noticed how I mostly created circles only.
After making a couple of short courses, I knew I wanted to teach myself to draw and others too. But how to break that habit of drawing closed lines?
I got the idea of long lines that wandered freely on the paper. Some call this method contour drawing, I learned later. But I don’t think contour drawing is quite the same thing, because my method breaks many of its principles. And most importantly, in my method you explore the inner world instead of the outer.
Glimpse into the Past – Watch the 2-minute Video!
In 2015, I held a pilot course on drawing for Finns. It was called “Inspiroidu piirtämisestä” – get inspired of drawing. Here’s some samples from that course in a 2-minute video. This was me 10 years ago – A glimpse into the past!
The Finnish pilot went well and there were also enthusiasm on my blog, so it was clear that I should make the next course in English and make available for art journalers around the world.
Develop and You Will Get It!
I started calling my method “inspirational drawing” because once you get started the drawing itself offers inspiration to draw more.
Even before the first English course was born, an American publishing company offered me a deal to write a book about my method with the title “Drawing Freely.” I declined. I don’t know if it was a wise decision, but I was extremely excited to teach courses and see how the method worked with the course participants.
The first Inspirational Drawing course was published at the end of 2015. Many people got excited about drawing – especially those who wanted to draw freely without models.
>> See this blog post of student work from 2015!
In the first version, I included decorative drawing, but in the second version, I wanted to go even more in an expressive direction. So, in 2017 the first version was archived and the second version, Inspirational Drawing 2.0, was introduced. The core idea of the free-flowing line remains the same, but all the projects were new.
The method of Inspirational Drawing also includes how to collect inspiration from pictures. Choosing images and being inspired by them is part of loving art, and I wanted to build a connection from drawing to it. In Inspirational Drawing, photos and other images are not used as direct references, but as a source of individual ideas such as colors, details, and concepts.
Drawing Changed My Life
You could say that although my current style is best visible in my paintings, it’s largely based on what I have found in the Inspirational Drawing method: the ornamentation of lines, dynamic expression, the freedom to break reality and build a new one.
And today I have been accepted into art circles. I belong to professional artist organizations, collaborate with galleries, and make a part of my living by selling my paintings. I have received grants and don’t feel like an outsider anymore. Drawing truly changed my life.
This change started with the urge to free my pen from drawing just closed circles. When my line opened up, so did my inner world, and finally, the outer world as well. The idea of Inspirational Drawing is summed up in the phrase “You can draw!” With this mindset and enthusiasm for drawing, you can break your mental boundaries. You can question the old answers about how and what to draw.
You Can Draw!
Since 2017, technology has developed, and I have grown as a teacher and artist. Every now and then I remove old courses, and now it’s time to archive Inspirational Drawing.
Inspirational Drawing will go away on April 21st at midnight PDT, but before that, you can purchase it at a sale price. The original price was 109 EUR, but now you can buy the course for only 49 EUR! >> Buy Now!
Black Art Journal Pages as Banners
I want my Black Friday campaigns to be inspiring for art-making, and this year my theme is “Black Berry Friday.” It means juicy art journal pages on black paper. I am pretty sure you have one like my black and square Dylusions Creative Journal (affiliate link).
I use my black art journal for using up old supplies that don’t inspire me anymore. And if I have leftover paint on a palette, I make a few brush strokes on a page rather than toss the paint away. This floral page was born from those kinds of careless strokes and now, much later, I finished it with paint markers.
Edges and Banners
Usually, the center of the page is the most important area, but for banners, the edges need to draw attention. Here, the circular floral design, enhances the center text area beautifully.
I made the banner in Photoshop, and boosted the colors a bit.
I also drew a long rectangle of cherries that not only makes a great banner but also looks great on the journal. I think we treat art journal pages too often as one unit when a page could be divided in sections and thus bring more variation to the journal.
My banner wasn’t long enough for all the purposes, so I made it longer by duplicating the design in Photoshop.
Colored Pencils on Black Art Journal Pages
I like to use colored pencils with paint markers. Marker pens produce thick and opaque shapes but colored pencils are softer and more translucent. Colored pencils are great for backgrounds. Look at these stripes!
I also used gel pens to add thin lines.
Again, I became more interested in the background than the center. The center is not very elegant, but here, in the banner you mostly see the edges.
Doodling on Black Art Journal Pages
My Black Friday offer is simple: All classes are 20% OFF. So I wanted the banners have some simplicity too. Doodling circles is easy and doesn’t require much thinking.
I got a bit carried away though!
I was talking on the phone and watching a movie while doodling, and once I stopped, I thought that I doodled too much. But the banner looks great and of course, there can’t be too much of anything in art!
Designs for Fabric
I got so inspired making these pages, that I had to play with Photoshop a bit more than necessary. I combined many pages into one design and I think something like this would make a great fabric.
Black Over Painted Background
I have been contemplating whether I should use both sides of the pages on my black art journal. Using only one side would give a blank page to protect the art on the opposite page. But the journal looks much more inspiring when both pages are covered!
Here’s one more idea for an art journal page, and this works on any journal. When you have painted backgrounds, use dark marker or paint on top to make shapes from the background.
I wanted to make one banner that has fall and thanksgiving themes with berries. The page became a bit busy, but again, the banner is ok, I think!
And now: it’s time to shop the sale!
The Black Berry Friday sale ends on Dec 2, 2024, at midnight PST.