Alcohol Ink After Party - Paint a Pumpkin

1. Introduction: In this class you will learn an easy way to create a pumpkin with borders using alcohol inks. Having some control over where your inks flow. Hello, beautiful. My name is Trina Brandon. I have a passion for color and a passion for helping others. That's why I'm excited to be teaching here on Skillshare with you. I have many identities, including illustrators, service designer, and a mixed media artist. I am also a founding contributor of the alcohol ink society. I just love coloring. My favorite supplies is whatever I have in my hand. And in my hand for this class are alcoholic drinks. Alcohol inks are fun, bright medium and have become popular worldwide. If you've used the inks before, you know how fluid they are, the after party is targeted to those of you who want a more controlled way of creating with the inks, you'll find this class valuable. If you have never used alcohol inks before, I recommend you watch the alcohol ink party intro to alcohol inks class here on Skillshare. But you don't have to you don't have to go to the party first. You can just come straight to the after party. I will cover the basics of alcohol inks. In this class, I will cover how to safely use the inks and what to be aware of how to create a border for your inks. How to fill color without going over the border. A controlled way to add links to your artwork exactly where you want them. Also included is a pumpkin image to trace and a student handout with a summary of techniques as well as a link to additional resources. Creating vibrant and interesting artwork with the ink is fun and easy. For the class project, you will create a greeting card. And the reason I suggest greeting cards is they are a great size to test out new techniques before applying to a larger surface. Greeting card can be a nice GIF or you can keep it and add joy to your own creative space. When you participate in class, you'll see how easy it is to get control on this beautiful fluid medium. Each piece will be unique and it will be fun to see what everyone is making. So let's get started. I'll see you in the after party. 2. Your Project: Hello, I'm glad you're here. In this project video, I'll tell you the steps to making a greeting card for your project and also why I chose this for our project. I chose a greeting card for this project because it is something that is functional and beautiful. A greeting card is a way to let someone know that you care or display it as a piece of artwork in your own space to create joy. If this is the first time you are trying to use this technique, the benefit of trying out on the size of a piece of paper, the size of a greeting card is that you can practice the technique on a smaller scale, which can easily then be applied to a larger scale. So let's talk about what you'll need to make a greeting card. You'll need acid free glue or tape, scissors or a paper trimmer and a piece of card stock cut to the size of your base card. Your art piece will fit on top of your base card. I used a five by seven inch size for my art piece, which is a common size for greeting cards in the USA. If you want to layer your card, you'll need a complimentary color card stock. Once you finish your art piece, you'll trim it to fit your base card and adhere it with the glue or the double-sided tape. If you are giving it away, you can write a message inside. I do have a bonus video included in the alcohol ink art party class here on Skillshare, where I demonstrate how I assemble my greeting cards and add a little details to give accustomed touch. As well as I share several tips on assembling a greeting card. You can check out my Skillshare profile for the link. And there's also a direct link in the student handout. Also in that bonus lesson, I share how I organize my alcohol eggs. Please take photos or scans of your creations and share them in the class project gallery. If you have any questions, please post them in the discussion area. I'll be checking it often, as well as one of your classmates may have the answer. So let's get started with our lessons. Safety and supplies is up next. See you there. 3. Safety and Supplies: Hello and welcome back. In this lesson, I will be explaining that supplies used in class and safety practices. The supplies and products that I'll be using in class are listed in the student handout, which is located in the class resources. The smell of alcohol can sometimes be strong. You'll want to work in a well ventilated area. You can open a window or have a fan in the room. The inks are very pigmented and will stain. You'll want to wear old clothes and definitely gloves or cover your hands with a barrier cream. Cover your work surface. I use a reusable craft mat for large projects. I also place an inexpensive plastic tablecloth underneath which I can reuse. Never put the inks into a spray bottle. There's resin in the inks that you don't want in your lungs. They should not be airborne. Do not use them with things that come into direct contact with food and beverages. The ink is flammable. Be mindful of these safety precautions, so you'll be safe when using the inks. Here's a tip. When it's warm enough, I set up a table in the garage with a garage door open to allow for lots of fresh air. So to get started, you'll need alcohol inks. There are many brands of the inks. I'll be using ranger and Kenyatta. You can use whatever you have. Banks also come in a variety of metallic and fixative choices, which I love to use in my artwork. They are quite thick. Depending on the technique, I will use them straight from the bottle or use a diluted mixture for more subtle look, here's my recipe. I start with a ratio of five drops of ink to two-thirds rubbing alcohol in a bottle. The size bottle that I use is 0.5 fluid ounces or 14 ml. Test to see what ratio you like, you can easily add more drops of ink or more drops of alcohol. If you want to know more about the different brands, please check out my alcohol ink party intro class here on Skillshare. Here's some tips when using your inks. Since the nibs are so small, you can leave them open while you're working. But if you're not going to use them for a long period of time, I recommend that you close the taps. If they do get clogged, use a stick pin to poke in the top of the nib to clear it. I also like to color code my tabs so that I don't put my black ink top on my yellow ink bottle. I put a little Jess our white acrylic paint on the top and then just drip some color on that after it dries. Next, you'll need some isopropyl alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohol. The alcohol makes the inks more transparent and helps them to flow. The alcohol comes in different percentages. For the techniques I'm showing you. They will work best with rubbing alcohol over 90%, I'll be using 99%. If you're not able to find that percentage, you can use whatever you have. Just be aware that the ink effects may result in a different outcome. A few tips for working with alcohol to have more control of the alcohol when I'm using it, I pour it into a small battle with a small tip. I also pour some in little cup. Both have airtight tab so the alcohol will not dry out. I also use alcohol for cleanup. You'll also need some UCO watercolor paper. It is a popular surface for the inks. You can use the front and the back. It's in the papers section at the art store, but it's actually a plastic. This is one of my favorite services because it's very forgiving with the inks and the blending is lovely. You put comes in different types. I will be using white paper and I'll also show an example on translucent paper. Whichever paper you use will produce very similar results with the blending of the inks. You'll need paper towels or a rag for cleanup. To draw your border. You'll need color pencils or markers. They come in a variety, such as waxed base or oil-based. I'll show you how to create a sample reference with whatever supplies you have for my project, I'll be using a Sharpie oil-based marker and a Posca pencil. You'll also need a small paintbrush when we get into controlling the ink flow. You also may want a little plastic stick to help move your ink around. You have the option seal your art work. This is a personal preference To steal your artwork. You'll want to use a water-based sealer. I will use a varnish, Graciela. Some optional supplies you may want to use. It may be helpful to have a piece of scrap cardboard slightly larger than your art piece. The reason I recommend cardboard is it's heavier than you pulp paper. And we'll hold your art piece so you can move it around. That way you can pick up your art piece without touching the paper. This is helpful when you want to move color or see your artwork from a different angle. A stencil for shapes. This will be helpful when you are creating a reference card or want to create shapes and make sure that you're closing your border. Another tool I like to use is the color wheel. The inks blend per the color wheel, so it's great to have it handy when you choose your colors. If you're not familiar with the color wheel, there are many great intro classes here on Skillshare. If you find you like the control technique that you're learning in class, you may want to have a pallet with wells. Here's a complete list of supplies. I'll say which colors I'm using during the lessons. Or I'll add a photo of the links are used. If you have any questions, please post them in the class discussion. We have a very sharing community and someone may be able to answer. I'll be jumping in quite often to check the discussion. In the next video, I'll show you a technique for creating a border for your ink. See you in the next video. 4. Technique for Creating a Border: Hello and welcome back. In this lesson, I will be explaining how to create a border to constrain the ink within a shape. I have a piece of five by seven inch tuple paper. Here is where you can practice that technique and create a reference for your supplies. As I mentioned in the safety and supplies video, you Paul paper produces nice blending results with the ink. If you have just one pencil, you can draw many circles and practice with different colors and size circles or whatever shape you decide to draw. In order for the ink to adhere well to the pupil paper, it needs to be free from dirt, dust, and fingerprints. I will give a little cleaning with a paper towel and alcohol. We are basically creating an outline resist for the inks. You can use a stencil to know where you begin and end. For my reference sheet, I'm going to use this tensile so I know where I begin and end. When drawing the design, you want to be sure to close the shape. Press hard with the pencil. Or if you're using a marker, be sure to allow it to dry. Draw on a hard surface so the lines will be solid. Press firmly. I have a few different brands I have here in my supplies. I'm starting with a white Prisma pencil. I pick a circle size and draw firmly and make sure to close the shape. I will make a note of which console this is. Next. I'll use a white fabric Estelle polychrome OS to draw my circle and note the brand. Next is a white posca pencil. And note that I also have this fat pencil from by Tombow. It's called the mark making pencil. So I want to try that. Next. I'm drawing with a Sharpie oil-based markers. These markers come in different sizes. Be sure to shake, pump and test it before using. Here's a tip. Take the top off away from your artwork. Otherwise you'll get some splatters which you may not want to be part of your art work. I tend to draw slower with the marker to get smooth lines. This is a medium tip and I can see it well on the paper. It is thicker than the pencil lines. The Sharpie marker also needs to dry. In the next lesson, we'll add color inside of each shape. See you there. 5. Technique for Filling in Color: Hello and welcome back. In this lesson, I will be explaining how to add color inside your shapes. I have my gloves on, I have protected my surface, and I have a window open. I'm going to open all the battles at the same time. So once I get started, I can keep going and will not have to break to open an ink color. As we do this technique, the main things to keep in mind to get close to the paper and drop a very small amount of ink, not too close to the border. Depending on the color of the ink will spread more. The lighter colors have more alcohol or binder along with the pigment and they will spread further. I will wait to see how much that color spreads before adding more ink. Then I can add another color and see how fire spreads. This is the hardest part of the technique. Patients. When I first learned this technique, it took me quite a bit of practice, only trip a small amount and then wait. You'll see the ink is going right up to the edge. The lines, which we also called the border, will act as a resist to keep the ink inside. Once it stopped spreading, I can add a little drop of alcohol to help spread the color all the way to the border. I'll start with one drop. I can see I need to add another drop to encourage the ink to continue. Here's a tip. If it's not spreading in the direction that you want. Tilt the paper slightly or use a plastics music to help the ink moves. You are building color within the border. That is the basic technique. Small drops close to the paper and wait to see how it spreads. Add more ink or alcohol. Remember in small amounts and be patient. It takes a bit of practice, especially if you are used to dropping a lot of ink at one time. The inks do drive fast so you won't have to wait long. If you find that the ink is coming out too fast or it's a challenge for you to get into a smaller space, drip some ink into a small container. Here I'm using a plastic cap from a bottle. You can use the paintbrush to drip the ink into the area that you want. You can see where the color is spreading when you get close to the edge, you may want to try this option. Later I'll show you a technique for really controlling where the ink codes. I'm using a light color. As you can see, it spreads much further because it has more alcohol or binder, which makes it more fluid. Since I have just a little space left, I'll add a darker color because I know it will not go too far. I'll continue adding color and other circles to practice and see how the colors move. Small drips not too close to the edge and a little alcohol. Filling in. I'll use the plastic stick to encourage mingling. Since I know the yellow is very fluid, I'm going to drip right in the center of the next circle. I'll use the paintbrush to help get to the edge. The clean your paintbrush between colors, use alcohol. I just pour some onto the brush and wipe it on a paper towel. At the brush is really saturated with the color. I'll use my little cup to rinse out the brush. Then encouraged that ink to the edge, as well as add some drops of alcohol with the brush, like I mentioned earlier, with the ink. When you don't want to add too much. The last circle is the one with the Sharpie marker. Continuing with the same step, stripping small amounts of ink, allowing it to spread and adding a drop of alcohol. And now I have a reference card of the different supplies that I have in my stash and I've been able to practice with the different colors. I created card earlier and I want to show you what can happen with the inks. Here's an example of where I tried to use a glaze pin, but it was dry and create a little valley instead of a border, so the ink spilled in the Valley and beyond the edge. In this next example, I use too much alcohol close to the edge and it pushed the color over the border. Here I dripped too much ink and it spread beyond the border. In this corner, I did not close my shape when I dripped ink. It did not have a border to stop it and just spread beyond the shape that I wanted. This one is to show you that you can use colored pencils other than white for your border. I use a black pencil here. And it held the ink perfectly so you don't have to limit yourself to just the white pencil or a white marker. I really encourage you to try whatever supplies you have in your stash and create that reference card so you'll know what inks work well with what markers and pencils that you have. I also wanted to show you how forgiving you Paul paper can be. If you get spots on your paper, you can clean it off with alcohol. Just put some alcohol on a cotton swab or a paper towel and clean it off. Do note some colors stain like a deep red or a deep purple. You will be able to lighten it, but may not be able to remove that pigment is just too strong. A benefit of using the Sharpie oil-based markers on the pupil paper is that you can draw your design with a light colored pencil. Sharpie marker will cover the line. That's something to keep in mind later when we get ready to work on our projects. Up next, I'll show you how to draw the pumpkin borders. See you there. 6. Create a Pumpkin Border: Hi, welcome back. In this lesson, I'll show you two ways that I drew the pumpkin border. I chose a pumpkin, but of course you can choose whatever you want to for your design. For this technique, the idea is to capture the shape. Take your time. In the case of the pumpkin, it does not need to be perfect. Pumpkins are nature. No two are alike and each is unique. Like you. I've cleaned up my youth wallpaper. And here I'm using a reference, as well as the image I drew from the reference. Both are included in the class resource section. Feel free to draw in your own style. For drawing the pumpkin on the white tupled paper, I'm using a Sharpie oil based marker, which will create thicker lines than the pencil. It's a medium point. As I showed in the previous video, with an oil marker, you can use a light colored pencil to draw first if you want to. I'm going straight in with the marker. It will not look exactly like the image and that's okay for my style. I use a reference as an idea not to be exactly like it. I realize you may not be able to see it on camera. However, when you are drawing, you will be able to look at your paper and from an angle you can see where it's drawing. Remember to shake it up and pump it. Take the top off away from your art. Using my drawing or a reference, I draw slowly and make sure I'm closing each border, each shape. And picking up the paper to make sure I closed each shape so the ink will flow inside the borders. I will allow the marker to dry before moving to the next step or the stem, I'm switching to a passcode pencil to create thinner lines. You don't have to use the same tool for or your borders. You can mix it up. I like to use different tools to give a bit of an interest to my art. I'm adding some detail to the stem. Of course, use your artistic license for how much you want to add. Using the image for inspiration, I'll draw my stem and add inside lines and also draw the leaf. Tilting the paper to make sure I close each shake. As another option. If you don't want to draw a free hand, you can trace the design using translucent you Paul paper. Make sure you press hard on a hard surface and close the shapes. All the steps for adding color are the same, whether it's the white paper, the translucent paper, and the results will be beautiful. In the next video, we'll add color, the most funniest part for you there. 7. Fill in Pumpkin Color: Hi and welcome back. In this lesson, I'll show you how to add color inside the borders of your pumpkin. My favorite part, I have protected my surface, put my gloves on, and my window is open. I have my art piece on a piece of cardboard so that I can pick it up without touching my artwork. I'll be using Ranger crimson and lemonade and pin yada tangerine for the pumpkin. I have a plastic stick, a paintbrush, a little bottle of alcohol, a little cup of alcohol. I'm ready. Thinking back to our technique lesson, we want to make sure that we drip small amounts of color. I'm going to start on the left side of my paper because I'm right-handed. This way. I don't risk dripping ink in areas that I've already painted. I'll start in a large part of the first area, not too close to the border and see how it spreads. I'm being mindful of how much ink I'm dripping within my border. Next I'll add a little pin yada tangerine, and let it spread. For any parts that do not spread by one, I have my paintbrush ready to fill in. I'll continue to the next section, dripping and waiting. As I need to, I tilt my board slightly to help the colors mingle. The hardest part is being patient. As you can see, they eventually come together and blend nicely on the road. Moving to the next section, it's a larger area so I can add a little bit more ink, giving them encouragement to mingle. This center section is very large, so I could add more ink. I'm still being conservative, being mindful of my borders. Since this area is very large. In the center is where I'll add a drip alcohol to lighten this section and also add more color virions. The advantage of being patient is that you do not add too much liquid and then you go over the border. This may take some practice as you learn how much alcohol to drip in different colors and see how they spread. Hang in there. It took me awhile also overtime, I have collected several alcohol ink pieces that I can use for collage. I love the effect that's happening. The red is still spreading, but not enough to fill in. So I'll add a tiny bit more red. I'll use my paintbrush to help the ink fill in completely. It's still blending inside the border. The next section is much smaller. So I go back to tiny drops of ink and watch them move. I'll help with the blending a bit. It's such a small space left. Add a tiny bit of it. I'll continue into the next section. Oops, I tip the red ink a bit too quickly causing splatters over the whole piece. I've decided to ignore it for now and focus on the pumpkin. Once I finish, I'll decide if I wanted to clean up those splatters or incorporate them into the final design. One of the many things I love about creating with inks is the surprises you get from the features and blends. Sometimes you come up with a whole new technique or design you never could have envisioned. Now, onto my last section, feeling more comfortable with the colors and how they each spread. I'm going to finish the top of the pumpkin and men decide what to do about the splatters. I'm going to let this part dry a few minutes. In the next lesson, we'll add color to the smaller areas with a more controlled method. 8. Controlled Coloring: Hi and welcome back. In this lesson, I'll show you how to add color in specific areas and how to have more control with painting your inks. While the ink was drying. I put the top on the ink bottles are used for the bottom of the pumpkin and pulled in the colors for the stem and leaf, which are ranger sepia and letters. Here's a tip. Turn your papers so that you are working on the part closest to you and not coloring over that area you've already covered. This reduces the chance of dripping ink onto your beautiful finished piece. Moving from left to right, I'll start with this Tim. To paint the stem, I'm going to use a paintbrush. I've put a few drops of rangers CPI in a plastic bottle top and let it dry out a bit. I also have my little cup of alcohol. If you find you like this technique and you'll use it often, you can use a plastic palette to put your inks and since they are reactive with alcohol, you can use them over and over, just add more drops of ink when needed. When I tilt my paper, I can see my design. I've already added a drop of alcohol in the dried sepia and then tested it. I can see it's still a bit dry. So I dipped in the alcohol to dampen my brush and then pick up some ink and start to paint my stem. I want to paint streaks in the stem on purpose. I love the texture and wanted to show the different sections of the pumpkin stem. I dip directly into the ink and create some lines in the stem. Since the ink is mostly dry, I can control where it's going with the brush. It doesn't remain fluid and flow in areas that I don't want it to go in. Fill in the stem completely, then pick up ink to create some darker lines. The leaf, I added a drop on the bottom of the leaf and let it spread. One of the cool features of the lettuce color is how it naturally lightens as it spreads thinner. So pretty. I wipe the paint brush off on a paper towel and dipped in alcohol to clean off the previous brown. Next I painted the top leaf. I'm just playing in the area to blend the ink into the alcohol and creates lights and darks. I get a bit carried away with creating texture on the leaf and went over my little border. I can clean that up with alcohol or just leave it. Since I have a light background, it's really not noticeable. I wanted to add a bit more green, but I did not want to drip it in as the area is pretty wet. I added a tiny bit to my palette and smooth this out with my brush. I took a moment to look over my piece and decided that I wanted the leaf to be a little more blended on the bottom. I just can't help myself. I'm having such fun play with the color and texture. It's good to know when to say when. I love the contrast between the text her top in the blended bottom. After some thought, I decided to embrace the splatters and add more splatters. I put a drop of Kenyatta tangerine onto my palette, dip my paintbrush and alcohol to make it even more fluid, and tap the brush around the pumpkin. In the next video, I'll show you how to seal your beautiful artwork. 9. Seal Your Artwork: Hi and welcome back. In this lesson, I will be showing you how I feel my artwork. Please note, you do not have to sell your artwork. It's up to you. I find if I'm making something that will be handled often than I want to seal it. To seal ink artwork, you want to use a water-based sealer. Spring varnish is a great way to produce even results. Be sure to spray outside. You want to read the directions on the can and follow them. You can set your painting upright or flat and spray three light coats. And the reason you want to spray light coats is to reduce the chance of pooling. Starting off the piece, I spray, let it dry, spray, let it dry. And one more time spray and let it dry. I also included a link to a video in the student handout for how to sell your art work. Be sure to let it dry completely before you handle it. Up. Next is the summary video. 10. Summary: Congratulations, you have finished the class. I hope you enjoyed the techniques and had fun. We covered safety using alcohol inks and supplies. Preparing the tuple paper by cleaning it with alcohol to receive the inks, drawing a border, making sure to press the pencil firmly and close the shape. When adding color, add ink in small drafts allowing color to spread before adding more patients, patients, patients, we covered using a paintbrush to move color into small spaces. Adding alcohol in small drops to help color spread and blend. How to add the inks, controlled manner with dried inks and a paintbrush. And finally, how to seal your artwork. If you haven't already be sure to download the student handout, you can use that at anytime in the future to help remind you about the all the techniques that you learned. It has a summary of the steps, the list of supplies with links and additional alcohol. If there's one thing I hope you take away from the class is seeing how easy it is to work with the inks and a controlled manner. If you like the class, kindly leave a review and follow me here on Skillshare so you can hear about my upcoming class opportunities. Thank you so much for joining me. See you next time. Take care and stay positive.