Hello!
The Marvel Bunnies always have a soft spot in my heart, both because of my love for Marvel and because of the reception the Bunnies have gotten!
I've decided that I will be keeping a few of the crowd favourites in my shop more-or-less on an on going basis (Steve, Wanda, Loki, and Peter), but some of the characters I've decided to retire.
]]>The Marvel Bunnies always have a soft spot in my heart, both because of my love for Marvel and because of the reception the Bunnies have gotten!
I've decided that I will be keeping a few of the crowd favourites in my shop more-or-less on an on going basis (Steve, Wanda, Loki, and Peter), but some of the characters I've decided to retire. This is mostly because I've got some changes coming in the new year and want to free up some space, but also gives me the chance to possibly bring out new characters! So after these guys are gone from my shop, they won't be returning (or at least, not anytime soon):
Bunnies that are being retired:
Vision
Natasha
Yelena
Tony
Bruce
Steven
Gamora
Nebula
Some of the other bunnies like Sam, Bucky, and Thor, won't be retired but may not be in my shop on a regular basis.
I will still have the stickers in my shop too, and plan to have Thor and (a version) of Peter available in the new year! Thank you!
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And here we are, pretty much at the end of the build. With the exception of the fridge and the end of the cabinet around that, I've finished the van. In this post I take you through the walls, cabinet/bed, painting, sink/toilet, and the sewing projects. Pulling these things together was so hard, but really rewarding because at the end of each step things became closer and closer to the finish line.
Walls
These were pretty straight forward as well. Basically following the same concept as the ceiling with tongue and groove panelling. Except I did want a little cubby in the one wall, just to make it a bit more interesting then solid panels going across and because I want a space to fit books and charge devices. This was my first really tricky component to build. And it took me a couple attempts and still didn't turn out perfectly. But rather then redoing it once I got a bit more competent with cabinets and fiddly bits, I decided to keep it as is. I feel like the wrestling that I did to get it to work and fit, needed to be preserved haha. The opposite was was basically going to be entirely shelving and cabinets. So after I was done the wall behind my bed, I was ready to move on to the furniture.
Cabinets/bed
I've lumped these together because I started, undid, and restarted both of them about 3 times each. So I figured I'd gloss over the struggle in the same paragraph. I'm not even sure if I'm really done the bed at this point that I'm writing from the future, but its functional and stable so I'm going to leave it as is until one of those things changes. One of my biggest obstacles was that I wanted to be able to remove the whole bed frame from the van for when I used it to transport stuff for big art shows. Because of that I wasn't able to fix the frame in place and use the same methods as so many other builds that I had seen. I wanted to keep it relatively light so it could be lifted out and I wanted it to be a bit of a sectional for more sitting options and so I could convert my bed while being inside with all the doors closed (learned that one from Eamon and Bec and their van Trinity). In the end I figured it out, but it really was redoing the converting component about 3 or 4 times that did it. As for the cabinets, I made them a bit too narrow, then widened them, but then realized I actually could make then narrower. Luckily this was only the bottom from that I was do again and again, so I wasn't fully dissembling all the drawers, doors etc. After having some issues with my fridge, I just decided to continue on and leave a space from my future fridge.
Sewing
There were a few sewing projects that I tackled in this. The cushions, the curtains for the front and the back window, and some sheets for the bed. Everything had to be taken in and out of the van, pinned in place and small changes made while comparing it to the shape of the wall or the curve of the window, or the width of the bed. So these all ended up taking quite while. But it was a such a nice change from all the wood working that I had been doing that I didn't mind the time it was taking. Pretty stupidly I chose a lot of while for the fabrics, but I got almost everything from a thrift store so even if things to get a bit dirty, at least they didn't break the bank. I also lined all the curtains with blackout fabric and I have to say that I can sleep longer in the van then I can in my own bedroom! So that was a great decision.
Painting
Again I chose to use quite a bit fo white, on, well, everything. The cabinets, walls, even the floor is a very light pink. Again it's going to get dirty fairly quickly, but I'm so happy with the result that I don't even really care.
Door Panels
I had umm'd and uhh'd over what to do with the door panels for ages. Finally I was watching a tiktok about someone's home office reno and I saw that they used peel and stick wallpaper and I thought "that would solve both the aesthetic and functional aspects of the door panels. I wanted something that looked nicer then just white painted particle board, but would be able to stand up to moisture if the doors were caught open in the rain. So I ordered a few samples online and decided on a black floral one. I thought it would balance the amount of white that I had going on in the van and hold up well since the doors are really high traffic areas.
Sink/Toilet
I knew from before I got the van that I needed to have a toilet in it. If I was ever going to attempt to sleep in a parking lot then I needed to know that I could safely go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. So I ended up constructing the cabinets around a Dometic cassette toilet that has worked pretty well. I have it on drawer sliders so it can be tucked out of sight ( you can see the end of the drawer in the first photo below), but in easy reach for the night. I wasn't always sure if I wanted a sink or not, but once everything else was coming into place I decided having a little hand pump sink would be a nice addition. I found an enamel bowl at a thrift store and with quite a bit of effort, drilled a hole and converted it into a sink. Underneath the cupboards is quite a simple set up with fresh and grey water in 10 litre jugs that I found at a grocery store. They happened to fit perfectly and the water tubing just sits in each opening without to much trouble. It's not a ton of water, but it gets me through about 3-4 days depending on how careful I am. I might buy another fresh water jug so I have a reserve on hand, but I haven't quite needed to yet.
And I think that is where I will leave it for today. All the last little bits are small improvements or elements that are really about personal preference or convenience like using bungie cords, drawers on the bed, or using a leather belt for all my cabinet handles and knobs. I plan to do a full van tour over on my YouTube at some point as well so I'll make sure to link to that in the next blog post that shows the full interior.
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Wiring/Electrical
This was something that I can decided to go pretty minimal on when I was considering how to do my van. I was a bit nervous about working with the electrical component and every video I watched was a bit confusing. So my plan was to put some battery operated lights in and maybe run my fan with my portable battery bank. But then I was chatting to my dad about it and he said that if I was going to do this I needed to do it right. He also offered to do the wiring and hook everything up for me, so really that was what made me decide to do it 😆. We watched a few videos on the best ways methods and decided to use some extension cords we had at my parents house. After the project was done, my dad did mention that we should have just used some auto wiring, so maybe don't do the same thing we did. But it did actually work out well, because everything is extra protected in the walls of the van and so I do feel good about it. In the end I have 3 overhead LED lights connected to a dimmer dial, the fan, 2 usb spots that have 2 outlets each, a battery gauge for charge levels, and a fridge (well almost a fridge). I also have a 120v outlet but it's actually only active when I have shore power, which hasn't been too often. The leisure or house battery is hooked up to the car battery via a cable so it can be charged while I drive. So far, it's been more then enough for my small amount of requirements and I'm quite happy I listened to my dad and did a more elaborate electrical set up.
Carpeting
I wasn't sure how I wanted to finished up all the little curved bits in the van. I've seen some people manage it quite well and other people do a less then great job. So I decided that auto carpet was a good way to cover some of the tricky bits and make things finished looking. I'm really happy with the results I got. I watched a few videos on how to install and after a couple attempts I managed to get the hang out it. Auto carpet is really forgiving and I was able to save minor mistakes if I was quick enough. I also used up most of the carpet I bought which I completely guessed about how much the project would need, so I'm thrilled that it wasn't too much but also that I didn't run out in the middle of the important parts. I would definitely recommend this to someone who doesn't want to worry about fitting wood panelling around tricky curves or small corners.
(I used carpet around the back doors, and also around the perimeter of the wall paneling, of course I did this before I installed the panelling).
Ceiling
I was so focused on making the ceiling as high as possible that I decided to attach the paneling to the centre support beam at the sides instead of doing the panels the whole length of the ceiling. Doing the whole length would have been easier and much faster then what I did, but I would have lost about half an inch of height and it really does make a difference in such a small space. So my dad and I attached some wood strips along the sides of the beam and at each end of the ceiling so that I would have something to nail the paneling into (see the pictures because that description was horrible!). It ended up being sort of a tricky process, but we got there in the end and it was such a fun day when it was completed! When I lay down on the floor and looked up, I could almost imagine my van was done!
The Floor
I think we redid the floor 3 or 4 times? We started out taking out the rubber mat that the van came with and trying to use it as a template on the plywood like I had seen other people do with their vans. But the ford transit connect floor is really padded with foam and didn't lay flat on the wood so it was such a wonky outline. We got it in and realized that it just wasn't right. I also was really focused on keeping the wood as thin as possible (for that valuable height I wanted to keep in the van). I'm not going to bore you with all the trial and error we had with this floor, mostly because I don't want to relive how agonizing it was. But in the end we used a thicker plywood, that was a bit wider then the normal 4x8 foot pieces.
My dad also cut into the floor of the van to make use of the large space where passengers' feet would go in a passenger van version. So I have two cubbies under the floor that I use for my battery and electrical components and the other for shoe storage. I decided to just paint the plywood instead of adding more flooring on top like most people do. This was to stop more height disappearing, but also because using outdoor paint seemed like a pretty durable solution and then I could have some fun painting it with a design. I might actually do a full post on my floor painting because I really enjoyed both the idea process, the application, and the end result!
So this brings us into the more design elements of the build. Up until this point it was just getting things into place. I had a semi idea of how I wanted the bed, cabinets, and decor to look, but actually building it all out was definitely a challenge. And I'll cover that in the next post.
Thanks for reading! - Rachel
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Alright! I guess now is the time to get into the meat of the van build project! Even though I bought my van in August of 2021, I really didn't start the serious conversion process until January 2022. There was a couple factors to this. But the main one was that I planned to get help with the ceiling fan (I'm willing to try my hand at most anything, but cutting a hole in my van ceiling was a bit daunting). Once everyone found a time that would fit our schedules, I could really start to plan my process. I laid out a basic order of events that I thought would be a good:
This was more or less my basic order of events that I had in my head. Most of it, like the walls, insulation, carpeting, cabinets, I planned to do myself. But the parts that I either needed help with (window, ceiling, electrical) or discovered I needed help with (floor), I needed to schedule it around other people's availability and so things took a bit longer because of that. I also had the absolute hardest time finding roof rails for my van. For whatever reason anytime I called someone they didn't understand what I was asking for or it just wasn't possible to order it (if you can't tell I could do a whole blog post ranting about my roof rail/rack trial).
Ceiling Fan
I'm so so grateful for the help that I got with this. I was really nervous about it, but I was also really nervous about someone else doing it too. I had done all the research of watching other van builds and fan installations. So I was a bit worried that the person who did this wouldn't know the tried and true ways of "van builds". I'm sure this was an entirely irrational thought as the majority of the videos I watched were people who had about the same level of build experience as me. But either way, I sent him a few videos of the process and got all the materials that I had seen in the videos for him to use. What a saint! So patient to deal with all that haha! But in the end the fan came out great, and I'm super pleased with it. Actually, later on, I realized I had accidentally bought the Maxxair fan that only exhausts, taking air out of the van and not one that could rotate the other way as well and bring air in. When I realized that, I was a bit worried that I would be too hot in my van without fresh air from the fan (and I may at some point find that to be the case) but while writing this from the future with a few trips under my belt, I can say its been mostly ok.
Back Window
After staying in the van a few times in the fall, and seeing how dark inside could get if I had to keep the door closed or it was raining, I knew that I wanted to install a window somewhere. Originally I thought I'd do both, but its pretty expensive and the shop that did it had only the one in stock and would have had to order the other, which would delay my build a bit more. I opted to just get the one window, luckily it was on the side of my van that would have my bed/couch!
Roof Rack
Like I said this was a very frustrating process. Apparently the Ford Transit Connects can't have the roof rails installed after the factory (according to the Ford dealership I called anyways). After lots of research and finding obscure ford community forums, I found the rails that I ended up with which are actually for the Touro I believe. But since they have the same exterior body as both the passenger and cargo Transit Connects, it worked. I think this whole process was the thing that honestly held up my build the most. I thought that I needed to have these installed before putting the ceiling insulation and ceiling panels on, which didn't really turn out to be the case I don't think. But either way this was the next thing that was completed on the list. And wow was I glad to get that off the list!
Before & After
Soundproofing/Insulation
Every person who builds out a van seems to have a completely different view on what insulation to use, whether sound proofing is actually a necessary step, how best to install the insulation etc. The whole van process is just 100 different possible solutions with no agreement on best practices haha. But I found this especially to be the case with this step. All the other ones I had had a clear idea of what would work best for me based on my van and how I wanted to use it. But this one seemed so vague! I ended up using the 3M Thinsulate SM600L Acoustic Thermal Automotive Insulation for Van & Car. I think there are other options that have a better R value (how well it insulates) but I knew that I wouldn't be staying in this in the middle of the winter, and probably not very often in very hot conditions. So my biggest concerns was a moderate amount of insulation and added sound proofing (I also used 10mm sound deadening material I got off of Amazon, sort of a putty type material in sheets). I saw someone talking about the thinsulate which was fire resistant and mold resistant because it's a synthetic material. As much as I would have liked to use an organic wool or something that was super environmentally friendly, I wasn't convinced that the humidity wouldn't get in there and make it smelly, heavy, and create a mold problem. But I'm not an expert, this was just what finally helped me make a decision. So far I've been pretty happy with my choice. Especially when I had a bit of a leak! For the floor I decided to go with a material that seemed to be sort of a midway point between this putty material and a foam insulation. Here is a link to the auto insulation on amazon because I really have no idea how to describe it.
So there you have it! The first four steps of my van build process and hardly making a dent in the whole thing! Next time I'll talk about the next four steps in my order of van build events. Until then, take care!
]]>I wasn't sure exactly how to start this portion of the retelling of my van build. Do I do it by time or by category (electric, ceiling, floor, etc) or by some other way? I decided to just start the retelling and however it unfolds will be the way I intended it to go :D.
Maybe we should start with inspiration. The inspiring examples of van builds online are endless! And I mean endless.
]]>Maybe we should start with inspiration. The inspiring examples of van builds online are endless! And I mean endless. Something I learned about myself this past 2 years is that I have ADHD and (something that I knew about myself already, but didn't have the words for) one of the characteristics of ADHD is the desire and ability to research a topic of interest until you feel you have learned everything you can or your hyper focus runs its course. So when I tell you I have spent about 4+ years researching and studying other people's van builds like my very existence depended on the knowledge, then hopefully you'll understand what I mean. As an artist, a lot of this focus was on the aesthetic of a van build. Yes I was interested in functionality and the internal workings, but I wanted something that worked but, most importantly, was cute. The cute factor is key. I'm going to insert a few inspiration pictures in here (most of these are from Pinterest and had no links for credit, but I will try to put links where I can) so you get an idea of where my head floated during this whole thing.
I really loved the functionality and style of this one. Having open shelving is nice so I don't forget about things, but things would just fly around the van. The bungees keep things in place and are visually really interesting.
I didn't love some of the clutter in this picture, but the mix of textures I find really interesting. Rattan, linen, jute, wood, bungee, all with a similar colour palate that keeps it cohesive even in its variety.
Mostly about the structure, this one was appealing because of how efficient it was while still being cute. I also really like the slots for handles, which is nice in a tight space so you don't constantly hit the drawer handles.
Another example of bungees working in a practical and aesthetic way. I also really loved the colour combo of the soft mint/sea foam green with the neutrals.
Ok so you can't see much of the actual van set up, but this one is all about the colours, patterns, and textures. I have loved that stripped mattress ticking for a while so I'm definitely trying to include that in my build. Curtains are also an interesting challenge. Do I have fixed ones or ones I put up and take down? Not sure.
Definitely not achievable in my small van space. But the colour palate is what I've been drawn to and I love the idea of macrame tie backs for curtains.
This one (link here) really drew me in because of the layout, the panelling, and how clean and efficient everything seems.
Ok so this one (link here) is basically just everything I've been liking. Bungee storage, clean lines and efficient, the fridge is the one I ended up getting, and just an overall beautiful set up.
Not a van, but this one (link here) has the texture, colour, and mix of styles that I am usually drawn to. I've been finding myself seduced by the clean modern lines of a lot of van builds, so it's good to be reminded of a style that I have proven time and again that I love.
I love quilting when I move into a new house (my van is sort of a mini house) so this (link here) is some inspiration for a colour palette and patch pattern that could be nice. It might be a bit before I do a quilt specifically for the van as I'm not feeling the sewing motivation, but I do have all the material so it will happen!
And finally another soft and multi textured example. This one (link here) has a really nice balance of the wood, white, linen, and green colours.
After I looked at all the pictures I had compiled over the years, either on a Pinterest board or saved on instagram, I had a bit of an idea of the main things I liked. Wood panels, a mix of unpainted and painted wood, some open shelving with bungees, simple lines without too much clutter. These really helped me to also figure out how I wanted to put my build together. And then I also thought about the essentials that I wanted apart from the aesthetic. I wanted things to be tucked into their own spots (dedicated storage and shelving), toilet & fridge (a space for each that were big enough to accommodate, meaning probably a larger cabinet on one side), a bed/couch conversion that could be removed (fixed points to secure the frame while it was in the van), and the ability to stay mostly self contained (sink or water source and electrical source).
Once I knew the general aesthetic I wanted and my essential elements I was able to start planning. I'm going to insert some of my early plans so you can see how much my concept evolved over time.
The very first one is my Jeep camping layout and then these next few were when I was still considering a larger van.
And the rest are when I settled on a Ford Transit Connect, so there is a bit more of a realistic size and proportion layout, sorta lol.
This last one I did after I stayed in my van a few times I believe. so a bit more realistic in terms of where things would be situated. And how the height or width would allow things to fit.
You can sort of see in the whole evolution of the drawings when things became a bit less fantastical and started making actual sense in terms of measurements and placement. It's fun to see them all laid out next to each other!
So there you have it! I had my van, an idea of how I wanted it to look, and the beginning process of planning the layout. But as anyone who's built out a van will tell you (or at least the unorganized ones will) things change along the way so you have to adapt while you go. I had a really rough idea, but measurements for my van were hard to find online, so I wasn't sure how wide things would be once I removed the factory side panels or the height of the ceiling once I removed the flooring and installed my own. So all I could do was start and make decisions as I went! All will be revealed in the next blog post :)
Thanks for reading! XX
]]>Thanks for all your support and patience!
]]>In spring 2021 I started making fun fanart bunnies inspired by Harry Potter, Star Wars, and of course Marvel :D
After having a couple of my Marvel Bunny videos go viral on Tiktok I started to get more and more orders. Which was both so amazing and a little overwhelming! So I made the decision last year to only have the bunnies available for limited periods of time so I can enjoy them, but not let it overwhelm other art projects and events that I needed to also focus on.
Thank you for being so supportive and patient!
Here are a couple pics of the buns to come. You may notice that Steve is looking a bit different. I decided to have a redo on him and I’m so happy with the new result :)
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I'm not sure where my desire to convert a van started. Was it the commercial I saw in University with a VW bus in California or a documentary on Netflix about a couple who converted a bus to travel the length of North to South America, I'm not sure. Wherever it started, I have been rolling this idea around in my head for a while.
My idea was always to have a place where I could create on the road. Maybe a mobile studio that I could also use as my shop base so I could travel, fulfill online orders, and create new art. As usual, the first concepts that I had were, uh, a bit overwhelming, lol. I can have the tendency to want to do the biggest, best, most perfect thing and that became a bit of a road block. SO I decided to start a bit smaller.
My biggest goal was a comfortable place for me and my dog Kiwi to sleep and travel. But I had never really travelled with my dog before. Beyond driving from my old condo in Toronto back to my family's place in Peterborough, she hadn't done much else. I didn't want to make plans, spend money, and then realize that it just wasn't a compatible lifestyle for us. So I started from the very basics:
Renting an Airbnb in Kingston Ontario
Before anything else I needed to see if this would work for my lifestyle. Me and my dog Kiwi hadn't really done any travelling together so I wanted to make sure she was a happy little traveller. I booked a place in Kingston in spring 2019 to see if she would be comfortable staying in an unfamiliar place and exploring an unfamiliar city. It was a hit! She loved it :) You can watch a bit of that experience here on my YouTube channel. After that I needed to take it to the next step:
Staying in a Cabin at a Campground
In the summer of 2019 I decided to travel a bit further from home and drive up to the town Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. I found a private campground that had a little cabin so we could experience the campground environment but in a way that would make Kiwi feel secure. You can see my trip here: Bruce Peninsula Vlog. Another success! Kiwi loved sitting out at the campfire and was pretty much unbothered by people in neighbouring campsites. She also loved exploring, hiking, and finding new places. I felt like we could try the next step:
Converting My Jeep
Later in the summer, after seeing a few small temporary Subaru and Jeep set ups on Youtube, I asked my dad to help me make a little removable platform for camping. After a bit of experimenting we figured out a way to do it and then I went on a camping trip with my parents who stayed in their rv. That way we had a bit of a safety net in case it wasn't a good fit for us. But now the summer was basically over, work was busy and I was preparing for some art shows in the fall and holiday season, so I needed to table the process. But there was something on the horizon:
Art Residency in New Mexico USA
I applied for an art residency in New Mexico for January 2020. When I was accepted I decided to take Kiwi and my Jeep camper set up so that I could camp on the way down and give my jeep set up more of a test. I was also really curious about how Kiwi would do on an extended trip and if I would enjoy a solo long distance road trip (having a camper van would mean lots of future road trips). In the end I actually only camped on night in my Jeep (a very cold and rainy Missouri night) but we survived and it's become a good story about sleeping in -2 degree weather haha! The driving and exploring was a big success though! Stopping, sketching, hiking, finding new places, amazing! You can watch some of my experience here. I felt like both Kiwi and I had handled the experience so well, it was onto the next step:
Ontario Parks Camping
When the pandemic hit, it seemed like even a better reason to keep trying to figure out how to be self contained while travelling. In the summer of 2020, Kiwi and I spent a very uncomfortable couple nights, sweating it out in the July heat at Sandbanks Provincial Park watch here and then a much more comfortable August trip to Silent Lake Provincial Park watch here. With these trips, we found out just how much we enjoyed staying in campgrounds, hiking new trails, and sitting and watching chipmunks (mostly Kiwi with that one). Buuut we also found out just how uncomfortable the Jeep was. I couldn't sit up or move around easily, it was very hot, and if the weather wasn't nice then it was arguably worse then hanging out in a tent. So if we wanted to keep doing this, I was determined to upgrade to a van.
Finding the Right Van
I had been trolling Kijiji, Autosales, and my local Ford dealership for the last couple years to try and figure out which van would be the right one for me. The practical side of me really wanted something reliable, safe, and had modern perks like bluetooth. But the aesthetic side of me wanted a cute vintage van that would look great in pictures! Until I saw a video of a VW Vanagon hitting a wall and just how much damage was done. Soooo a modern cargo van became the focus. I liked the idea of having a lot of space and being able to stay in my van like a little home, but I also wanted to be able to park wherever I wanted, drive easily around big cities, and have something I could use as my daily driver. So a city cargo van was what I narrowed down to. Looking at all things being equal, having the most cargo space was important and the Ford Transit Connect looked like it fit that requirement the best. After deciding which one I wanted it took about a month to find one that I wanted to test out and I ended up liking how it drove and bought it! Just in time too because I had a couple camping trips lined up for August and September 2021.
Testing Out My Van
Blossom came home and right away I started making some temporary changes because a week later I went to Algonquin Park, watch the trip here. Wow! What an improvement over the Jeep. So much more space, able to stop on the side of the road and comfortably eat out of the side of my van. So good! But even with my temporary set up I decided I could improve it a bit in time for my next trip to Killbear Provincial Park and Killarney Provincial Park; see how my van was set up and some of my trip here. I'm really happy that I had these trips before I built out my van because it gave me really good insight into how Kiwi and I interacted with the space and with each other inside. One trip was beautiful weather and the other was pretty rainy and cold, so it also gave me an idea of how the van felt in these scenarios. After my second trip I hadn't done much work in the van besides removing the bulkhead partition and adding a bit of sound proofing, so I essentially I had a blank slate! The next step was planning and executing the build, but that's a story for the next blog post.
Thanks for reading! Bye :)
]]>I recently started learning Procreate & the following is one step of my learning process:
Today I followed a tutorial by The Lazy Illustrator called Step by Step Procreate Tutorial | Pastel Dreamy Landscape Drawing on iPad Pro which gave the steps for a soft & graphic illustration. In this tutorial there was a lot of focus on clean lines & smooth edges so Lynn shows us early on how to make perfect shapes & lines. This tutorial also used different brushes then previous ones I’ve done, mostly having us use airbrushes with some texture. We also learn how to use the select tool to draw shapes that are contained within the layers beneath (confusing to summarize, but it makes sense in the video). This is the most complicated tutorial I’ve done so far & the one that is furthest from my usual style of illustration. But I found the new techniques to be very helpful. Make sure if you do this tutorial that you are prepared to pause & rewind the video because Lynn goes at a good pace & covers a lot of ground.
Below is the image I created using Lynn’s step-by-step tutorial & beside that is my own illustration using the techniques that she showed.
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I recently started learning Procreate & the following is one step of my learning process:
Today I followed a tutorial by Calvin at Drifter Studio called Watercolor Procreate Tutorial // Sleeping Cat Watercolor Illustration. In this tutorial Calvin shows his process for digital watercolour illustrations. I found this tutorial to be helpful for multiple reasons. The brushes & paper texture that he used (which can be purchased in his Etsy shop) are a great set of watercolour brushes. They acted very similar to how traditional watercolour acts on a page. We also learn about the selection tool & how it (with the Hue, Saturation & Brightness setting) can be used for shadows, contrast & giving an object volume. Again working with layers and being able to select areas of those layers with the selection tool made things very organized and uncomplicated.
Below I have the illustration I did based on Calvin’s tutorial & then beside it is another one I did based on those skills I learned.
]]>Now that I feel a bit more confident with the general feel of Procreate I am going to be trying out some tutorials from Youtube, TikTok, & any others that I might find.
This week I found a tutorial by Art By Melody on YouTube called Procreate Tutorial Step by Step for Beginners - Minimal Landscape Illustration. In this tutorial you are shown how to use Alpha Lock, clipping masks, brush texture shading & erasing textured shading. To do this tutorial I also needed to learn how to create a colour palette & use custom Hex codes, so I found the tutorial called Adding Custom Colors to Procreate & GoodNotes.
Below you’ll see two illustrations. The first is a minimalist landscape using Melody’s step-by-step instruction to create. Beside that is my design using Melody’s steps.
I find that doing the tutorial isn’t enough, you then need to apply what you just learned into a new illustration to make sure you understand the process & the benefits of the Procreate functions you learned.
]]>I have been wanting to learn Procreate for quite some time but there were two obstacles:
1. I didn’t have an apple pencil & an iPad that was compatible
2. The prospect of learning Procreate seemed very daunting.
]]>I have been wanting to learn Procreate for quite some time but there were two obstacles:
1. I didn’t have an apple pencil & an iPad that was compatible
2. The prospect of learning Procreate seemed very daunting.
Since I have fixed the first problem (apple pencil & iPad) the next step is to break down the learning process into less overwhelming parts. So this is my journey of how to learn Procreate from the perspective of someone learning Procreate. For reference my art background is: University Art Degree, College Graphic Design Diploma & 7 years of self taught illustration experience.
Starting off I decided to play around a bit, try some of the brushes and generally just test it out. I did this with a casual ice cream cone doodle & then by tracing some of my previous watercolour illustrations & some historical pieces. Take a look through some of the other pieces that I did. My next step is going to be trying some YouTube tutorials & than using the skills I learn in those to create my own work. If you have any suggestions of tutorials that helped you please comment! Thank you for joining me in this journey & if you’re also learning Procreate I hope this can help you too.
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