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Life Updates & Art Plans for 2024
Hey everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and staying creative. It’s been a minute since I last checked in, and I figured it’s about time I filled you in on what’s been happening in my corner of the world. So, let’s rewind to the rollercoaster that was the latter part of 2023. It was a wild ride! Between juggling work, life, and my artistic endeavors, I found myself in a bit of a whirlwind. And as much as I love diving headfirst into my passions, sometimes the intensity can get to be a bit much. That’s when I hit a bit of a wall. I realized I needed to hit pause and give myself some space to breathe. Hence, the radio silence on my end. But, I’m here now, emerging from my cocoon and ready to slowly spread my creative wings once again. During my little hiatus, I’ve had…
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Paletteful Packs – May 2023
Contents I forgot to copy the information from Paletteful Packs’ website, so this month’s supplies’ descriptions will be much shorter… and won’t have any MSRP. I’ll just put a list of contents with their prices in the Polish stores if I find them along with my occasional comments 🙂 Stabilo Woody Pastel Set of Six Pencils with Sharpener Available for 61,50 PLN (14 USD) in Paper Concept LW’s note: This is clearly a children’s art supply, but I believe you can produce fantastic artwork using any art supply – some of the supplies are just more stubborn than others. In the worst case, if these pencils don’t blow my mind, I’ll give them to one of my nieces or a nephew. Faber-Castell Gelato Crayon You can get 4 pcs set for around 30-35 PLN (6,83-7,97 USD) in various Polish online stores. LW’s note: It’s a water-soluble crayon and it’s extremely soft,…
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Paletteful Packs – March 2023
Contents Daler-Rowney FW Acrylic Artist Ink – Black Daler-Rowney FW Ink is an acrylic pigment-based, water-resistant ink with a high degree of lightfastness and intermixability. FW Acrylic Inks can be used straight out of the dropper, or diluted to achieve the most subtle of tones, very similar in character to watercolor. Such washes will dry to a water-resistant film on virtually all surfaces (please prepare your surface and test on a small area in advance) and successive layers of color can be laid over. FW ink can be applied using traditional brushes, but also work well through airbrushes, technical pens, and paint markers making them ideal for producing technical illustrations and finely worked drawings. The expressive fluidity of acrylic inks is suitable for use by fine artists, illustrators, graphic designers, calligraphers, decorative artists and hobbyists. MSRP: $8.95. Available on Tinta for 27,40 PLN (6,71 USD). LW’s note: It’s a good…
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Paletteful Packs – February 2023
Contents Cretacolor Oil Pencil Drawing Set Cretacolor Oil Pencils are excellent for general purpose sketching and drawing when a dense shiny, smudge proof stroke is needed. They are oil-based and water-resistant. This complete pocket tin set of six Artist’s oil pencils includes one each of Nero black soft and extra-soft, white, sanguine, sepia light and dark pencils. MSRP: $17.99. Available on Szał dla Plastyków for 40,70 PLN (9,90 USD… half the MSRP!) Cretacolor Nero Charcoal Oil Drawing Stick and Lead Holder Deep black lines can be produced with this soft stick. The stick is water and smudge-resistant, and more difficult to break than graphite sticks. Nero Sticks work excellently in conjunction with traditional charcoal and all water-based media. Place the stick into the Cretacolor leader holder. A lead holder makes working with 5.6 mm leads much easier. It protects the leads from breaking and keeps hands clean. MSRP: $2.49 (Drawing…
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Paletteful Packs – January 2023
Contents Daler-Rowney System3 Fluid Acrylic Set Pigment Load and Fluidity. The System3 Fluid Acrylic has a highly intense pigment load which equals high tinting strength. Its fluid consistency allows you to load a brush more evenly, allows more uniform brushstrokes, and assists with long painting strokes without reloading the brush. Highly Versatile Fluid. The System3 Fluid Acrylic support a varied range of applications; poured, puddled, dropped & dragged, used for layering & glazing & mixed with texture paste or other mediums & gels. It can be mixed with textile printing medium, airbrush medium & System3 pouring medium for traditional fluid art techniques. Wide Range of Applications System3 Fluid Acrylic is durable and flexible with excellent adhesion to multiple surfaces including stone, wood, textiles, canvas & paper. There is no need to dilute with water for immediate application. This acrylic offers great coverage making it perfect for murals and other large…
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Paletteful Packs – December 2022
Contents Sennelier Aqua Mini Watercolor Set The roots of Sennelier watercolors are to be found in the Impressionist school. At that time, painters drew their inspiration from nature and set out to reproduce natural light. Watercolor technique offered spontaneity, lightness of touch, fluidity and transparency allowing a quick translation of a particular light, vibration or shape. Paul Cézanne, for instance, produced forty or so watercolors of the Mont Sainte Victoire in Provence. Earlier on in England and on the Normandy coast in France, William Turner had turned painting in watercolors as an art form in its own right and had even managed to produce genuine masterpieces. Since then watercolors have become an established part of the history of painting. Artists love them because of their radiance and their spontaneity. It is such a pleasure when the painter plays with the light of the paper and the brightness of fleeting, intense…
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Painting process – Epic horse scene
For those who forgot about me: HI! 😀 For those who were wondering if I’m alive – yes, I’m alive and kicking! Well, barely kicking but very much alive 🙂 My new job takes a lot of my time but it’s incredibly fun and I feel very privileged to be able to work in the AAA gaming industry! I have to organise myself better though to get some time somehow and, what’s more important, ENERGY, to paint more. In the meantime, I’d like to share with you the process of painting my latest acrylic commission – an epic horse scene!
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Paletteful Packs – November 2022
Contents Cretacolor Metallic Pencils (x4) These highly pigmented, brilliant color, artist quality pencils offer a soft, rich, creamy and slightly waxy stroke. The extra-thick 6.4mm core offers ample useable color and the 11mm hexagonal wood casing gives comfort to grip. All colors blend and layer easily. They are opaque and provide great coverage, allowing for both fine and broad lines. The lead has also been glued to the casing to prevent breakage. The pencils feature a transparent lacquer except for the 3/4″ tip that conveniently indicates the true color of the pencil. LW’s note: I used to have similar pencils when I was a kid and they weren’t anything special, I think they were mostly cool-looking gimmicks. For that reason, I wasn’t particularly excited about the Cretacolor pencils but I was curious about what they can actually do when given a fair try. MSRP: $12.32. I didn’t find the separate…
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Paletteful Packs – October 2022
Contents Daler-Rowney FW Acrylic Ink (Lemon Yellow, Process Magenta, Process Cyan, Sepia, and Emerald Green) Daler-Rowney FW Ink is an acrylic pigment-based, water-resistant ink with a high degree of lightfastness and intermixability. FW Acrylic Inks can be used straight out of the dropper, or diluted to achieve the most subtle of tones, very similar in character to watercolor. Such washes will dry to a water-resistant film on virtually all surfaces (please prepare your surface and test on a small area in advance) and successive layers of color can be laid over. FW inks can be applied using traditional brushes, but also work well through airbrushes, technical pens, and paint markers making them ideal for producing technical illustrations and finely worked drawings. The expressive fluidity of acrylic inks is suitable for use by fine artists, illustrators, graphic designers, calligraphers, decorative artists and hobbyists. LW’s note: The ink bottles are surprisingly big,…
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Paletteful Packs – August 2022 | Part 2
This is part 2 of my August 2022 Paletteful Packs blog post (it was getting too long, so I had to split it into two parts). Below you can read about my thoughts on the supplies from the August 2022 pack and you can also check what I drew with them! My thoughts The initial tests Below you can see my first August supplies tests. What I needed to know was not only what the charcoals (and the pastel!) look like when put on paper but also if they are erasable and how easily they blend. According to my tests, all the supplies (of course except the liquid one) blended the best with a paper blender which I happened to have from years ago and never really used it. The chamois which was a part of this Pack’s contents wasn’t my favourite blending tool – it left too much texture…
