Trying New Media in Traditional Art? Share your work/progress here!

[toohalloo]

There's such a joy in trying new physical media for the first time, from the baby steps to finally "getting it". I've dabbled in enough forms of traditional 2D art (mostly printmaking) that I know the feeling well. My current "thing" has been oil pastel, which has been a genuine delight to work with. I'll post a pic of my latest work down at the bottom.

Anyone else trying something new in the trad realm? Like DIY printmaking or pastels or gouache, or first-time pen and ink? Fiber arts?

Post your trad works here and show your progress!

First oil pastel work in maybe 6 years:

Makeout ridge, 2022

Annnnd the second, made soon after:

Angel Visitation No. 1, 2022

I feel like I learned something between these two, and I'm excited to keep it going..!

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

Aww, that's great! I haven't done oil pastel in years because it's basically the polar opposite of my preferred working style (Markers, micron pens, lots of clean fine lines), but I love seeing when someone can make cool stuff with them.

I've been doing traditional work my whole life (I did a brief stint with digital, but it just wasn't my thing), so there are very few mediums I haven't tried at some point. But of the things I haven't done, one of these days I should try one of the following:

• Screen printing. (I understand how it works, I've just never DONE it)
• Silverpoint
• Silk painting
• Batik dyeing
• Encaustic painting
• Resin casting
• Book binding

I'm sure there are others, but they're either pretty obscure or just slipping my mind at the moment.

[toohalloo]

Screenprint is fun! I'm pretty bad at it to be honest, but it's fun anyway. I've only done it with stencils, never with photo emulsion. I'm partial to etching as well but I feel it's not very suited to my way of drawing, lol.

I also am a big fan of bookbinding (also kind-of bad at it!). You can do it pretty cheaply too, and without presses and whatnot, like with old sketchbooks for chipboard, and waxed floss and textbooks for book weights. Check this out:

On the left is my first attempt at this project, on the right my second. I want to bind more books too, and I have a huge project coming up that'll need it, but it's not done yet!

(I have done some epoxy resin casting too but it's so genuinely bad for you without proper PPE and ventlation that I avoid it, haha.)

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

Those look great, especially the second one! Is the gold lettering embossed?

And book binding reminds me of another thing I've always thought of trying-- especially as I've done/would like to do more cosplay: leather working. I have some scraps of green leather I've held onto for YEARS, not quite sure what to do with them.

[igneriss]

What a lovely progress! I find oil pastels VERY difficult to work with, and your work looks great!
Also the book binding, so cool : 0

I could show regress pictures instead of progress pictures for my traditional art hahaha : D I used to draw with various different traditional media when I was a teenager (... 10 years ago), but then switched completely to digital art. Now I'm slowly trying to get back to using my crayons, watercolours (... and recently bought markers!) but it's a process of re-learning cx Somehow I lost precision and can't colour details like I used to, so my traditional drawings became much simpler. But I'll get back there with more practise! ( :

But here's a small drawing for my friend, done with markers, which I quite like!

[surenlicious]

Ooooh oil pastels! That's a medium I have never tried, I might wanna look into it more. I can see you've improves a lot more with your blending and colour work. I am mostly into alchohol markers, inks and especially watercolors. Gouache too! If I may share some paintings with you I made last year?

[toohalloo]

Leather work! Wow, haven't done that in a long time! I had a big ol scrap of green leather too, from a couch my dad repaired, that I would work on from time to time. I'd love to revisit it.

And yes, the gold lettering is embossed! Quite a challenge to get the rest of the embossing powder off the fabric LOL but hey, it looks fine.

[toohalloo]

I really love the markers here! Really nice stuff. Relearning can be frustrating but I hope you can find the fun in it, too.

[igneriss]

Thank you so much~! c: it's definitely fun!

[toohalloo]

Yoooooo I dig these! Vibrant and intricate stuff. I've never really used markers, 'cos I've avoided working in colour for the longest time, so I really respect a good use of 'em. Gouache, too. These are really striking.

OK this is where I learn to respond to more than one user in one post, LOL.

[surenlicious]

Thank you so much! Perhaps ink might be something for you too?

[toohalloo]

I actually work almost exclusively in black ink, but I'm really quite interested in trying gouache.

[system]

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