Bubble-wrap Sheep – Pencil to Paint

Done as a Postcard for the Lunchbag and for the Doodlewash Prompt ‘Bubbles’.

The bubble-wrap sheep was bred in an effort to produce a cheaper, lighter wool. The project failed because animals would attack the sheep so they could listen to the popping sound the wool made when it was bitten. Believe it or not!

This drawing had simple shapes, so I free-handed all the way. I used a photo by manfredrichter at Pixabay as a reference for the overall shape.

I had to punch up the scan so you could see the pencil. I’m not sure why it looks like it has yellow all over it. It doesn’t, and in real life the pencil lines are very light. You can really see the Hahnemühle Rough Postcard texture here. It isn’t quite so in your face in real life.

I used my trusty Zebra Zensations Technical Pen .5 nib size. I planned to color with a medium I had never used before. I made the lines heavy, in case the color was very dark and didn’t do any shading so that I could experiment more with the medium.

The new medium I used were Brea Reese ink-filled watercolor brushes. They came in a set of three: Violet, Medium Magenta, Lake Blue. You just pull off the cap and brush the color on, just like you were using a waterbrush.

For the grass, I used Brea Reese Kelly Green and Glitter Gold from the bottle.

I don’t think they were the best match for this paper. I love the colors, but it was a bit difficult to cover an area without getting too dark, because of the texture of the postcard.

To tone the color down, I grabbed a Uniball Signo Broad White gel pen and added some white. These pens are excellent for adding white, but on these intense ink colors, some of the color bled into the white. I was able to get much lighter magenta, lighter blue and lighter violet, but not true white.

I wasn’t able to get the face the way I wanted it, but that’s what happens when you try something new. The best way to learn how something works though is to jump in and use it. Now I know how to get what I want the next time.

You can buy Hahnemühle Rough Watercolor Postcards at these places:

• Rochester Art Supply FineArtStore
• Jerrys Artarama
• Wet Paint Artist Materials & Framing
• Hyatt’s All Things Creative

You can buy Zebra Zensation Technical Pens here.

You can buy a Uniball Signo Broad White gel pen here.

You can buy Brea Reese Inks here:

• Bottled Inks
• Watercolor Brush inks