Making a coloring book zine

For the longest time now I have wanted to make a zine. You know, one of those self published little magazines that you can find on the craziest subjects. However I had no idea what my zine should be about.

Then a few months ago I posted a picture on Facebook of some felt tip pen drawings that I had done and colored in and somebody asked me if I got the pictures from a coloring book. Well..um..no..duh..I drew them myself! And then an idea was born: what if I made a coloring book zine? A little booklet with just some black line drawings that people could color in themselves. I might even ad some colored in images as examples. I loved that idea!

So a few weeks ago I started drawing with a black pens on drawing paper. I have six pages so far and I don't even know yet if I will include all of these in the final version, but to give you an idea of what I have in mind, here they are as a little teaser for what's to come.

So far these are loose pages that are A5 size. I don't know yet exactly how I want the zine to look, but I'm thinking the same size and then printed on folded A4's side by side. I don't know either if I will offer it only as a free pdf or also make a printed version. That's all to decide while I work on some more drawings for it.

The important thing is that it's fun to do and a new little challenge for myself to learn some new things, after all I never made a zine before.

Hope you are all challenging yourselves, no matter in how small a way, and that you're having a wonderful artsy Wednesday!

Beautiful lady in a beautiful dress

You may remember how a few months ago I did some drawings and watercolors in my sketchbook after mail order catalogue girls. If not, you can find them here, here and here. The great part about drawing from magazines and catalogues is that the model is always available and never moves. It's great practice.

I started drawing those girls to work my drawing muscle when it came to the female clothed figure. Like I already said back then, I would love to take Jane Davenports classes on this, but the money's just a bit too steep for me. It is on my wishlist though. Still, practice can be done without classes and after the mail order catalogues I have now moved on to my favorite piece of clothing: gorgeous dresses.

It's odd that I, who couldn't care less about fashion in real life, love things like fashion photography and images of very elaborate long dresses. But since I have little knowledge in drawing these things I need models. And models in gorgeous gowns are in short supply in my everyday life. ;-)

So I got to thinking and decided...to buy a bridal magazine! Anybody who knows me will now burst into laughter. If there's anyone on this planet who is not into weddings and anything that goes with it it's me, but aaah....all those dresses are beautiful. And I only need them to practice with, I can change whatever I want.

And so I got me a new (huge) sketchbook to go with the magazine and I intend to fill it with beautiful ladies in beautiful dresses inspired by wedding gowns or party dresses. And here's my first model:

An advertisement from Bruid en Bruidegom, dress by EnzoAni.

Ah yes, dreamy in white. Well, that's gonna change! And so is the background. I did a line drawing first.

I drew the woman first in pencil and then went over the lines with  a pitt brush pen. Then I decided that I would put something different in the background than curtains and leaves: my circles and ribbons! Ha, you never know what your old sketchbook ideas are good for, do you? You can see what I mean by that over here.

When the drawing was completely done and the pencil lines erased. I decided to color her in with gouache, and here's how she turned out.

As you can see I gave a little more life to my ribbons and circles by adding extra lines and swirls. I wanted them to be more festive. The dress turned purple with green/aqua flowers. I don't know if I would want to be caught dead in a dress like that, but in a picture it's pretty nice if you're a colour junkie like myself.

Here's some details of the drawing:

The drawing measures 30x 40 cm (about 12x15 inches). I still have a lot to learn about how fabric moves and how to really make folds come to life, but I do like the result. I hope you do to. Anyway, I still have a whole sketchbook left to fill up with more drawings/paintings like this, so I intend to get plenty of practice. Of course it will take forever before it's full, but one day I hope to have a whole collection of beautiful ladies in beautiful dresses and to have gained the skill of being able to draw them out of my head. I will keep you posted.

Are you practicing anything right now? I would love to know what skills you would like to improve.

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy week!

More from the Moon Journal

Slow but steady, that seems to be the pace of my Moon Journal. I started the journal in March and page wise I still have about a month worth of filling to go. But, as has been the case a lot these past months, days get skipped and sometimes (like last week) entire vacations get skipped. Combine that with the fact that this book is BIG and has a lot of pages and you'll understand why I, who usually fill a journal in three to four months have been at this one for seven already, going on eight. It's not a real problem, but I'm kind of aching for a new book already, since I'm so used to the variety of four or five books a year. Oh well, steady as she goes.

Anyway, here are seven new spreads from the Moon Journal. Enjoy!

Over here in my little corner of the world the weekend has started. I survived my first week back to work and am ....well....pretty exhausted actually. I always have to get used again to work rythm, mostly 'cause I'm so not a morning person, but a day job kind of forces you to live like one. Ah, don't get me started on the unfairness of life, whine whine whine. ;-)

I'm glad it's weekend now though and I hope that wherever you are you will have a wonderful and artsy one. See you next week!

P.S. Several people have asked me to do a tutorial on making a simple journal, like the one in my giveaway. I will be working on it, I promise, but these tutorials always take some time to make, so bear with me okay?

P.P.S. I know some of my above pictures came out a little blurry. The thing is I've been taking pictures with my phone alone over the last months and that has it's limitations, especially inside. Reason: my good camera is literally falling apart and simply past its due date. But good news is on the horizon: I finally ordered myself a new photobaby and as soon as I learn how to handle that one I hope to get some clearer shots for you as well.

Holiday slides

It's no secret I had myself a little vacation last week. I went to the same place I went in June, namely my sisters house in Bronckhorst. But it was a very different vacation. I didn't do as much biking as then, I went on day trips that were further away and the weather was more rainy. I myself was also a lot more lazy than last time and caught up on sleep and doing nothing, which was quite nice actually. ;-)

Anyway, here's a little impression of last week.

Worked on a journal, but very little and it's nowhere near done yet.

Went to Burgers Zoo in Arnhem. Unfortunately didn't bring a good camera with me.

Saw this interesting wall.

And imprints of birds in concrete.

Pelicans!

For those who are lost...

Took many close ups of exotic plants.

Safari in The Netherlands, well....sort of.

Went to The Hague with a friend for several art exhibits. This was part of an installation.

Went on exactly one real bike ride. Watermill at Hackfort. I always need to take a picture of it when I'm there.

Idyllic bridge around the same spot.

Went shopping, needed fuel. Oooh, chocolate cake and a chocolate macchiato.

Bought beautiful fabrics I didn't need but couldn't resist.

Spent the last weekend back home. It was good to be on the beach again.

And now I've been back to work for three days again already. Time goes too fast, but at least I have the pictures to prove it really happened.

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy Wednesday!

We have a winner!

Well hello there, blogsy people! It feels like I've been away for ages, but it really only has been about ten days. Ten wonderful days I might ad. I had a lovely and very relaxed vacation and I enjoyed being away from all of you for a while. Not because I don't like you, but you know how it is: this blogosphere and the online presence takes up a lot of energy even for those of us who enjoy it. It was nice to not check my mail, facebook and other blogs. I'm not one of those people who's online 24/7, but even for me it sometimes can get a little addictive. It's good to step away from that from time to time.

But it's also good to be back and I vaguely remember there was something I had to do when I came back. What was it again?... puts on thinking cap....ah yes, I believe it was this:

A giveaway, you didn't really think I would forget, did you?

I want to thank all of you for your wonderful responses. I didn't expect so  many of you to actually tell me what you intended to do with the journal and the goodies if you won them, so it was great fun reading all your ideas. If ever I have a truckload of time on my hands and nothing better to do (which of course will be next to never) I should make fifty journals and just spread them around to anybody who wants them.

But as is usually the case with giveaways, there can only be one lucky gal who takes home the prize. So let's go and pick her!

First I write all you wannabe winner names on two pieces of paper.

Then I cut you up and stick you in a bowl.

 

And then I close my eyes and pick the winner!

Flora DeMaio, you lucky girl. You won! Congratulations. Please mail me on c.m.j.winkelman[at]home.nl and let me know your snailmail address and I will get the goodies to you as soon as possible.

To the rest of you, all I have to offer is a 'better luck next time' and thank you for participating and saying such nice things about the giveaway and the blog. It's much appreciated.

On a completely different note I just have to show you this: 

That's right, it finally arrived, just before I left for my vacation. The printed issue of Featuring with my article in it. Five whole pages people! I'm ever so proud. (If you don't know what I'm talking about you can read about it here.)

Well, now it's off to the e-mail and the blogs and the groups and all that other online stuff I like being a part of and am way behind on. I will show some vacation slides next time, promise.

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy week!