Found Object Doodle: Sugar Jump

How I created the image above:

- Did a quickie sketch in my paper sketchpad to get the basic gesture. 

- Used my Artograph Lightbox (a Christmas gift from Jeff!) to draw the figure on Strathmore Watercolor Coldpress (300 series) using a Pentel Pocket Pen Brush. I guess I could have drawn the figure directly on the paper, but I find I waste less watercolor paper if I do at least a basic gesture/shape drawing as a guide:

- Added watercolor. I was too lazy to stretch the paper and just glopped on color, so the paper ended up a bit buckled. 

- Too lazy to flatten the buckled paper, just poured the sugar on top. Because the paper was buckled, the sugar all puddled into the valleys so I had to spread it out a bit with my fingers. Next time I'll be less lazy and take the time to either stretch the paper or flatten the paper before adding my found objects.

- Here's my photo setup:

It was the first time trying out a nice Canon 17-40mm lens that my friend Ray was kind enough to lend me.

The tripod is a Manfrotto Horizontal Tripod I got specifically for photographing my found object and other physical art. 

And of course there's the SUGAR:

I still do a lot of much more casual found object art using index cards and my iPhone camera but I'm also trying to get used to an upgraded process so I can start using my found objects in potential future book projects.

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I love creating found object doodles and post them on Instagram, "Found Object Art" gallery on Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr  and in my Found Object Art portfolio.

Doodle: Dancing Nose-Man

Children's book author Erin Dealey gave me a Nose-shaped pencil sharpener at the SCBWI Summer Conference in LA last month, and challenged me to put it into a doodle.

And some of you have probably guessed, I try to avoid obvious found object doodles whenever possible. Or rather, I find that when I'm trying to think of a doodle for an object, the first thing that comes to mind is usually one I pass over. I love the challenge of coming up with something different.

For the Nose, I found that the solution was simple: just turn it upside down. Nose-Man needed something to dance to, of course, so I added coffee bean music.

Recycling art experiments into found object doodles

Instead of throwing out my art experiment rejects, I'm cutting them up and using them in found object doodles. More excuse to experiment! :-)

Doodle: Lilac Sheep

Lilacs are one of my favourite flowers. I prefer the fragrance of purple lilac, but was still delighted with the hite lilac tree in the front yard of our house when we first moved in. Especially this morning, when I realized I could use it in my sheep doodle. :-) I had tried to bring home a dandelion puff (gone to seed) earlier in the week for a sheep doodle, but it disintegrated when I tried to place it on the paper.

I love creating found object doodles and post them on Instagram, "Found Object Art" gallery on Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr  and in my Found Object Art portfolio.

For those curious, here's the photo set-up for this doodle:

I ran out of blue paper (which I used for the lily-of-the-valley moustache doodle earlier this week) and found that the white of the lilacs faded into the white of the paper, so I added the blue tint to the background via Photoshop before posting. I did this by adding a layer of blue with the Multiply method, then masking out the lilacs.