Alcohol Ink After Party - Paint a Snowman Scene

1. Introduction: In this class, you will learn how to paint a snowman with alcohol inks. I'll share lessons, demos, and tips to help you create your own special snowman. Hello, Beautiful, My name is Trina Brandon. I have a passion for color and a passion for people, for helping others. That's why I'm excited to be teaching here on skill share with you. I have many identities. Among them, I am a children's book illustrator, a surface designer. I license my artwork. I'm a multifaceted artist. I did traditional and digital creating all the art supplies. I am also a founding contributor to the Alcohol Ink Art Society. I just love coloring. My favorite art supplies is whatever I have in my hand. And in this class I'll have alcohol inks as well as a few other tools. This after party is targeted towards those of you who like vivid colors and who want to create a snowman. If you have never used the alcohol inks before, I recommend you watch the alcohol in Party Intro to Alcohol Inks class here on skill share, but you don't have to go to the party first. You can come straight to the after party. I will cover the basics of alcohol inks. In this class, I will cover safety and supplies, how to use the inks, and what to be aware of a couple of ways to create a background of a beautiful sky. How to paint layers of snow. And of course, how to paint a snowman. I'll also show you how I find references for my illustrations and artwork. Creating vibrant and interesting artwork with alcohol inks is easy and fun. For the class project, you will create a greeting card if you've taken any of my classes, you know I recommend greeting cards as projects because of a few reasons. It's a great size to test out new techniques. Practicing the techniques you learn in class on a smaller scale gives you the opportunity to get to know the technique, which you can then apply to a larger scale. The techniques that I'm showing you can be used on other surfaces that play well with the inks, like metal and glass. You can use your new skills to create lovely artwork to hang in your home, give to others, or sell as art pieces for extra cash. Art is also a way of self care to help you relax your mind and bring you joy. When you participate in class, you'll see how easy it is to create a lovely snowman scene with the inks. You'll get to experience how the inks blend and dance around together. And each snowman will be unique. It will be fun and exciting to see what everyone is making. Let's get started. I'll see you in the alcohol ink after party. Up next, I'll talk about your project. 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 a 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 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. 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 skill share, where I demonstrate how I assemble my greeting cards and add a little details to give a custom touch. As well as I share several tips on assembling a greeting card. You can check out my skill share 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 Gs. 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. 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 video, I will be explaining the supplies used in class and safety practices. The supplies and products that I'll be using in class are listed in the student handout in the class resources. The smell of alcohol can sometimes be strong work in a well ventilated area, open a window, or have a fan in the room. The inks are very pigmented and will stain. You will want to wear old clothes and also gloves. Or cover your hands with a barrier. Cream cover your work surface. I have a reusable craft mat on my table. Never put the inks into a spray bottle. There is resin in the inks that you don't want in your lungs. Do not use the inks with things that come into direct contact with food and beverages. The ink is also flammable. Please be mindful of these safety precautions. When it's warm outside, I set up a table in my garage with the door open. The first supply is alcohol inks. There are many brands of alcohol inks. I'll be using Ranger. You can use whatever brand you have. If you want to know more about the different brands, please check out my alcohol ink Party. Intro class here on skill share. I'll be using blues and pink for the background, for the details, I'll use Copic markers, a Sharpie and a Posca paint pin. You can also use any brand of permanent pin, any brand of paint marker or even gel pins. You can also use a paint brush to add all the details. I'll use both in the demo. And you can use what you have or what you like. The alcohol inks dry pretty quickly. The more ink you use in an area, the longer it takes to dry When you're not using a color for a long period of time, I recommend you close the top. I usually close them after I finish working with a certain color. If they do get clogged, you can poke a pin in the top to clear the nib. Here's a tip that I use Color code your tops so that you don't contaminate your colors. Like putting a black lid on a yellow color. I'll be using a plastic palette to drip inks onto. I'll show you how to reactivate your ink, so none of that color is wasted. You can also use a piece of plastic inks and let them dry. You'll need isopropyl rubbing alcohol. This is commonly found in drug stores and grocery stores. The rubbing alcohol comes in different percentages. I'll be using 99% You can use whatever you have or whatsever available in your area. The rubbing alcohol helps to reactivate ink and helps the colors flow and blend. It can also be used for clean up. I use a lower percentage to do clean up. I pour the alcohol into a smaller bottle with a small tip for ease of use. As well as I have a small container for dipping my paintbrush. I have the container with a tightly fitting top to save the rubbing alcohol. I'll be using a size one paint brush for the details of my snowman in class. I will also be using Upo watercolor paper. It is a popular surface for the inks. It comes in different sizes and weights. I'll be using the white paper. I'll use a four by six inch piece of Upo paper, a common greeting size card in the United States. You can buy the paper in a larger size and cut it down to the size that you need. You'll need paper towels to use for techniques and for cleanup. Here's a tip. Save your paper towels for collage or backgrounds for other work. Other items I'll use for adding details to make snow. If you don't have a paint pin, you can use a small embossing stylus tool, cotton swab tips, or toothpicks. I'll also be using cotton swabs to remove color. It may also be helpful to have a piece of scrap cardboard slightly larger than your art piece. I save the back of my paper pads To seal your artwork, I use a water based sealer. There are different types for I'll use a spray sealer. If you have another type of water based sealer that could work as well, you should always test on a scrap paper before using it on your artwork. I'm including a slide with a complete list of supplies as well as you can download the student handout with links. I've also included a close up photo of the colors I use. You can take a snapshot if you want. I also used a dark brown color that had dried on my palette that's not captured in the photographs. Remember that if you have any questions, please post them in the classroom discussion. I'll check it often. The next video is a lesson. I'll show you how I find and use reference photos. See you in the next video. 4. References and Inspiration: In this lesson, I'll talk about the difference between using references for inspiration and copying. Why I like to use references, how I use a reference, and where I find my references. When I draw or paint something new, I like to use a reference. It helps me to get to know the subject and for color ideas, I will do several drawings to get the flow of the subject. It's okay to copy someone's work for learning purposes only, but never, okay to profit from the work that you copy, that's someone else's work. I encourage you to look at several references of a subject and then note the things that you like about the references, like the lines, the colors. Is it life like, is it stylized? What are the things that really draw you to that reference? It's good practice to look at several references to get inspired. That way you are not too influenced by one artist. I do have a plug for a book that may help you in this area. It's called Feel Like an Artist and it's by Austin Cleon. I put a link in the student handout to the book. This is one of my favorite books. I read it once a year. One of my go to sites to find references is called unsplash. All images can be downloaded and used for personal or commercial projects. I added a link in the student handout to create your snowman. You can use your imagination. You can use the drawings that I provided, or you can research it yourself to find a unique style that you like. In the next video lesson, I'll show you how I paint a sky for your snowy scene. See you in the next video. 5. Paint the Background: Hello, and welcome back. In this lesson, I'll demonstrate two methods for painting a sky background. I have my window open, my gloves on, my clothes and table are protected to start with. I'll clean off the surface with rubbing alcohol to free it from dust, dirt, and fingerprints. Oops, I got a low color off my gloves, but that's okay. It will blend in. I've picked out colors for the background, a light blue, a dark blue, and a pink. I removed all the tops so I could move freely without stopping to take them off. A general tip, When you are working on smaller artwork, if you find it easy to paint from a certain direction, try to move your paper around to make it easier for you. For method one, I'll use a paper towel to move the ink across the paper. First, I add rubbing alcohol to the paper. This will help soften the inks and help them blend on a clean paper towel. I'll add the colors. I put the pink in between the blues for interest. I'm right handed. My plan is to pull the colors starting off the edge, starting from the left side of the paper. I return and do it again. Moving from top to bottom, I find it easier and smoother to pull the ink across the page. I'm also pressing down as I move the paper towel to help the colors blend, I turn the paper towel over to use the ink from the other side and repeat the process. My goal here is to create a colorful and interesting sky. My lines do not have to be perfectly straight. I turn my paper to pull the color towards me. I like the colors in the sky and the fact that they are not straight, it has some movement in it. I'm happy with my sky. So I'll stop here. Don't worry about the bottom color. We'll address that in the next section. For method two, I'm going to drip color directly on the surface and tilt the color around. First drips of rubbing alcohol to clean off the surface. Oops, I got a little color on there. That's okay. It will be filled in. I'll flood the card with rubbing alcohol and drip all three colors at the same time. I tilt my paper around letting the colors blend and mingle. I'll add a little more rubbing alcohol to help the colors move and blend. Okay, I'm adding light blue and rubbing alcohol to make it brighter in one area. I have added a lot of ink and want to take some off. I let it all run to one corner and collect it with my paper towel. Here's a tip. You can also use another piece of to catch all that color and that could be the start of your next art piece. I'll dab some off with my paper towel. Since this ink is very fluid, it will fill in the color will fill in that area. Now I have two lovely skies. I'll set them aside to dry completely. In the next lesson, I will show you how to remove color to create a snow base for your snowman. See you there. 6. Add Snow Layers: Hi, and welcome back. In this lesson, I'll show you how to remove color for the layers of snow. Another benefit of the inks is that they create a natural texture and blend so you don't have to work too hard to create a lovely background. I have chosen the dripped background to work with. I need to decide which area I want for the sky. I turn my paper around to view it from different perspectives. I like it this way. I really dig the blending in the upper right corner and I want to save that, you may, some imperfections in the piece, I choose to leave those in. Personally, I think it adds to the outdoor scene. The technique for moving color for the snow layers works for either background. This step is similar to what I showed you for method one for creating the background fold, a clean paper towel, add a small amount of rubbing alcohol to the fold. Be sure to drip away from your art piece to avoid it splashing on your background. When you look across a snow field, you'll see shadows and highlights. It's a beautiful texture. I'm going to pull the paper towel down at the bottom of the scene to remove color. I turned my paper at the bottom of the scene to remove color. I am pressing to pick up color. You can do this several times to get the lightness you want and add more rubbing alcohol. If you need to pull out more color, be sure to use a clean area of your paper towel. Otherwise, you are adding color back in. The swiping of the paper towel creates natural shadows, like you would see in the snow. To add more layers in the snow, use a paintbrush dipped in rubbing alcohol and dabbed on a paper towel. Just as with the paper towel, the paint brush will move color and remove some color. I am pressing the paint brush down to flatten the bristles, which causes the nice thick look of layers in the snow. You can repeat these steps and play with it until you are happy. Notice that because I use that pink in the original drippings, it comes through in the snow and adds interest. You can see I caused a spot in my scene with my glove. That's because I had a little rubbing alcohol on it. Be mindful of that possibility. I'll just trim that off with my card. You can also dip your paint brush in blue ink and fill that in. In the next lesson, I'll show you how to create the snowman shape. See you there. 7. Remove Color for Snowman: Hello and welcome back. In this lesson, I will be explaining how I remove color to create the snowman shape. I'll refer to my reference photos as a guide. My goal is not to even try the exact. Sometimes I get a little carried away and paint too big. Having a reference photo helps me stay in frame. I will use a control method to remove color to create my shape. I have a size number one paint brush, my little container of rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, and paper towels. Starting with my paint brush, I dip it in rubbing alcohol and blot it off on my paper towel. I have a little color in there and I want to get that off. I'm being mindful not to have my brush too wet. The rubbing alcohol will move farther than I wanted to go using the paint brush. I draw the snowman with a light touch, three circle outlines is what I'm going for next. I want to pull color out from inside the lines. Dipping in my rubbing alcohol with the paint brush, dabbing off on a paper towel and brushing in the shapes of circles, I pull out color. As I repeat these steps, I pull out more color. Next, I'll use cotton swabs to pull out even more color. Dabbing off some rubbing alcohol, following the natural shapes for a snowman note, I am pressing down firmly to help pull the color out. When a cotton swab becomes saturated with color, or I see it's not pulling out color, I will get a clean one. I'm not trying to pull out all the color. This method creates natural shadows and highlights, as you would see in a real snowman. Here's a tip. Make sure your gloves are tight so they don't get in the way. I encourage you to just play with this technique, removing color and creating the shapes that you want. Observe how the rubbing alcohol moves the ink. Don't worry about the bottom of your snowman. We are going to cover that up with a layer of snow in a next step. Once I'm happy with my shapes, I stop. Which is always the most challenging part, right? No win to say when. Let us not fiddle forever. In the next lesson, I'll show you how to add details to your snowman. See you there. 8. Add Details to Your Snowman: Hello and welcome back. In this lesson, I will show you how to add your snowman's hat, scarf, face and buttons, and of course, branch arms. Okay, we are ready to make this little snowman come alive. I took my gloves off because I don't need them for this technique. Paint brush and markers are going to do all the work. I'll refer back to my reference and drawings to see what he wants to wear. He wants to wear a knit hat and pretend he's directing traffic. I'll use a paint brush to paint in his hat. I'm using the controlled method of applying the ink. You put a couple of drops into your palette and let it sit for a few minutes. I have some dried ink of the color I want and add a drop of rubbing alcohol to reactivate it. Dab some color off so it's not too wet. I draw in the outline of his hat with a light touch and then fill it in with color, picking up color as I need it. My ink is starting to dry, so I'll add a tiny bit more rubbing alcohol. I repeat these steps for the scarf, remembering not to add too much at one time as the ink will spread. I encourage you to take your time and enjoy this process of adding details. If you do add too much ink, you can take away the color as you did for the snowman with rubbing alcohol and a paintbrush or cotton swab. Just be mindful not to put too much rubbing alcohol on there, or it will spread beyond that. Next, I will add his cute little face. I start with a Sharpie marker for his eyes and smile. I colored in a little button nose with a Copic marker. I'll use a paint brush for his rosy cheeks, Picking up a tiny bit of color. Oh, that was too tiny, I cannot even see it. So I'll pick up some real color. I want his hat to be a little more smoother so I'm adding some more color. Oops, I added too much rubbing alcohol and removed color. I can easily fix that by adding more color, or if that happens, you could use it as a highlight. Sometimes a boo boo can also be a technique. Actually, that's how I learned a lot of my techniques. I fiddle with coloring a little bit more to create some texture by overlapping breast strokes. My snowman needs some buttons. I refer to my reference, I think he wants some hearts using a Sharpie. I draw in heart buttons. Time for his arms. I will use the brown that's already in my palette, adding a drop of rubbing alcohol. He's going to be directing traffic. So one arm will be up and one arm will be out. Using a paint brush and a light touch. I draw his arms now to add a little snow layer in front of the snowman, so it looks like he's sitting right in the snow, just as I did when I created the snow layers. I'll use a paint brush dipped in rubbing alcohol and dabbed off on the paper towel I pressed down firmly on my brush to flatten those bristles and just paint along the bottom in front of him. This makes him look like he's sitting in the snow. Repeat this until you're happy with the look. 9. Add Falling Snow: If you want some falling snow, you can use a variety of tools. A paint pin, a gel pin, a paintbrush. Or try an embossing tool dipped in rubbing alcohol. An embossing tool or a toothpick. The goal is to be random with your snow flakes, your snow dots. First, I'll try an embossing tool dipped in rubbing alcohol. The dots are not showing up, so I'll use a paint pin. The embossed tool with a rubbing alcohol will work better on a darker background. I put in snowflakes randomly, snow dots. I look at him for a moment to see if he needs anything else. I'm going to use a gel pin to add a highlight in his eyes to bring out his full personality. Okay. There he is. I think he is directing neighborhood bird traffic. Up next, I will show you some other snowman I painted with the inks. See you there. 10. Examples of Other Snowmen: This snowman scene was painted on a five by seven inch piece of U Pop. I used the method of dripping dark colors in the background to create a nighttime scene. I used a clean paper towel to wipe the bottom and a paint brush to create layers of snow. Just like we did in class, I used a Sharpie for his eyes and mouth. His branches are painted with a brush. Just like in class, I decided to put earmuffs on him and put a layer of falling snow on his head and branches with a paint pen. I used an embossing stylus dipped in rubbing alcohol for the snow in the sky. Here you can see it shows up better because the sky is dark. I came back in with a white paint marker to add some more dots in the snow. I also used a paint marker to add a high light to the snowman on the right. For this little cute snowman with attitude, I use a paint brush to paint everything except for the little bird's beak. That was a copic marker, it was a cover up. I created a little blob because I had too much rubbing alcohol on my brush. I use the marker to fill in the shape of the blob. I really like how he turns out it looks like he's having a bad hair day. But he is just living the life, sitting there talking to his little snowman friend. For this one, I use cotton swabs to directly remove color rather than the paint brush. First, I use Copic markers for all the details. The one thing I want to point out about using Copic markers on Pol paper is the strokes and texture. The upo paper allows the look of layering. Whatever your Laugh stroke is shows up on top. You can see the overlap on the scarf. I add a little extra color to show the area where the scarf is tied. I really like working with the markers on Upo. I hope showing you these options for painting your snowman gave you some more ideas. It's easy to get caught up in painting several cards because they are so much fun to make. Please upload all your snowman in the gallery. Up next, I'll show you how I seal my artwork. See you there. 11. Seal your Artwork: Hi and welcome back. In this lesson, I will be showing you how I seal my artwork. To seal ink artwork, you want to use a water based sealer. Spraying 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. The reason you want to spray light coats is to reduce the chance poling. Starting off the piece I spy, 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 seal your artwork. Be sure to let it dry completely before you handle it. Up next is the summary video. 12. Summary: Congratulations, you have finished the class. I hope you learned some new techniques and enjoyed painting your snowman as well as had fun In this class, we covered safety and supplies reference and inspiration. I also recommended the book Steel Like an Artist. This will help in that area. We painted a background sky, then added a snow base. We removed color for the focal point, the snowman, You added details to your snowman, gave them some personality. I showed you how to seal your artwork if you choose to be sure to save the student handout with a summary of steps, list of supplies, links, and additional alcohol ink resources. If there's one thing I hope you take away is how easy and fun it is to paint with the inks. Kindly leave me a review. I appreciate knowing what you thought about the class as well as it lets others know what to expect. Also, please follow me here on skill share, so you'll hear about my upcoming classes. If you post your artwork on social media, please tag me. I'd love to share your artwork with my followers. Thank you for joining me. I'll see you next time. Take care and stay positive.