Just wanted to share some tid bits of what I have been working on. I recently took a watercolor course locally and was able to obtain some really good quality watercolors and brushes (who knew brushes could be so expensive, geesh). But I learned some really great techniques and styles which you have probably already noticed in a few of my products. What I really enjoyed from the watercolor course was learning to blend colors and enrich the edges of my sketches or doodles. Kinda like you would using the burn tool in photoshop. I also learned to creating bleeding and feathering effect with the watercolors.... ohhhh I really enjoyed that. It is a little wild though and not sure if I am going to incorporate it into my products, well see, lol! Another good thing I learned was choosing the right paper for the right project. I love the texture of some of the papers, just beautiful, but for creating smooth doodles I fell in love with the "Hot Press" papers. Also I have been doing lots of sketches and working on improving my doodling.
Recognize those little chicks, lol. Hand made with love.
One tool I discovered at the watercolor retreat was "Art 
Masking Fluid". This stuff is AWESOME. What you do is sketch out or doodle your lines, then paint with Masking Fluid the parts you want to keep white, wait to dry then paint the rest of your sketch, right over top of the masking fluid. It works sooooo great. After you are finished painting, you put a bit of masking fluid in your hand to create a rubber ball, then use the little rubber ball to lift the masking fluid off the paper. It stretches like a rubber band and peels up with no mark, just beautiful white paper. Ahhhhh.... I already have millions of ideas for background papers in my head. So much to do and so little time to do it.
Last but not least here is a sneak peek at a new alpha doodle collection I am creating. I know, I know... more alphas? LOL, I am actually working on a layout for my eldest about his iPod and favorite things and needed some kinda of "freestyle" lettering. So I figured while I was at it, might as well create an alpha set. This one will be a little bit different from my last as I am including the white doodle set along with the water colored set and I made a brush set from the doodle outlines themselves. I figured they could be used to create your own custom alphas as well by masking to the letters and applying the doodle outline with a brush over top. Lots of possibilities there. I love brushes, so versatile and can be use soooo many different ways. They really are a designers best tool.
Well, that is about all I have to share for now. Have a super great weekend everyone!
