M . I . A

In a Creative Funk.

I haven't really posted anything lately and that because I have been in a really creative funk. I have been sketching loads, and been trying to practice however I feel like I am not making any progress style wise. If that makes any sense. I recently feel as though my work is a bit flat and boring. Although I am showing my skills in the drawings that I am making I feel the subject matter isn't really there for me to really enjoy what I am doing. I am taking a break for a while for me to just experiment with different mediums. I really like embossing and I want to include this in my drawings however I havent figured out a way yet. I am also not confident to use them on finished drawings in the fear of ruining them. So I'll call it a period of trial and error. Stay tuned if you want to know what I'll be getting up to on my insagram and snapchat! Insta : cat_illustration and SnapChat : ceritoleman

Many Thanks!

New Medium?

From past experience I know what it is to get stuck in a rut. I have submitted works to Galleries and now its time to create new content while I wait for a reply.

I have tried every medium in the book however I havent used them in conjunction with pencil. I had never used markers with pencil and I believed that turned out very well. Now, I am interested in trying something new.

I was thinking of using either inks or watercolours ... not really sure yet as I like to use Bristol Board for my drawings so I'll have to see how they react.

However until then stay tuned on my insagram cat_illustration and let me know what you think.

Many thanks x

#ThatBunLife

Interested in seeing more of my work and their process? Check out my Instagram : cat_illustration

Many Thanks x

The Spectrum Noir 24 Pastel Set

After I started actually using my pigment markers by Winsor and Newton I found just how versatile markers can actually be. I have sadly bought all the lighter colours from them and I needed more variety and tones. I went on amazon and searched for pastel topics however they are insanely priced, so then I found these. These are by the brand Spectrum Noir and they are the same brand who make my pen holder, and I believe they are made for each other. You get 24 in a set which is a decent amount and I believe the price was around the £23 price mark.

I wanted to see if they go through paper as I normally use them on bristol board and not on marker paper. I tested this in my Kikki K Journal which has very thin paper and no surprise the alcohol markers went strait though however didn't transfer onto the next paper.

So, these are all the shades on slightly grey toned paper. Some of these are obviously pastel however some are bright and I personally wouldn't call these pastel. I am very happy with the set though and I am looking forward to start using them.

One thing I do have to note is that the shape is very bulky and there are rubberized parts not eh pen. This is for stability to make sure you have a firm grip. However for myself I don't struggle with grip and find holding the rubberized part disturbing.

This is my current pen set up. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful.

If you want to see more of my work please check out my instagram : cat_illustration

Many Thanks x

The Orange Circle

A3 Pencil and Pigment Markers

Art Supply Haul

I don't really go supply shopping often but when I do I do go a little over board as I see it as an investment. I always buy more than I need as access to these types of products are hard to come by where I live as I can't just pop out and get a pad of bristol board. Online ordering is the best way to access everything I need.

First thing I got was a pad of Winsor & Newton Bristol Pad A3 as this is my favorite medium to work on. The pads don't some with that many pieces of paper as it only has 20 sheets, so even when I use around 6 sheets of paper I get a bit anxious and buy my next pad, so this is a back up for me.

Another pad I bout which is the Winsor and Newton Medium Surface Cartridge Pad in the size A2. This is also a repurchase as the other pad I had I kept in my studio before it was weather proofed and it started to grow mold on it. Disgusting I know but that was the price I payed for my own little space to work in, and its weather proofed and insulated now don't worry.

Next is a bunch of Micron pens. I have seen these used by a lot of artists in youtube as they have a super fine point. I like to use fine liners when I am reading eyes for the pupils and lashes, plus when I draw and make notes on the side, I will use a fine liner.

I also got some blades for my knife. Pretty boring stuff but I do like to sharpen my pencils with a knife instead of an actual sharpener so this can dull the blade pretty quickly.

The last thing I got was from CassArt.com and it was more of the Winsor and Newton Pigment Marker Pens. Ever since they started stocking them that have a great deal where you buy 5 you get one for free. Although they currently see the set of six for £19.99 you don't get to choose the colours and they all come with a white blender and I already have 3 of them.

I bought 12 more and the colours are. Emerald, Verdigris, Petrol Blue, Red Henna Light, Azure, Lemon Yellow Light, Indian Red Light, Winsor Violet Dioxazine Light, Mauve, Magenta (Blue Shade, Winsor Red and Rose. Click here to buy.

So thats my haul. if you think there's something I should give a try please leave a comment below. I am curious to try out copic markers, let me know what you think.

Want to see my work? Check out my Instagram at cat_illustration .

Many Thanks

Pink Hair Don't Care

A3 Pencil and Pigment Markers

Windsor & Newton Pigment Marker Review.

Windsor and Newton has always been one of my favorite brands ever since i started getting serious into my art. I first dabbled in their watercolours and their inks, the quality of these both have no equal compared to other brands, as I know I can trust them and they stay fresh. 

When I first saw these something in me sparked as I have never seen a marker like these before nor had I ever dabbled in markers.
On their website they claim that the ink in the pens are made up of pigment rather than of dyes which make these fade resistant for up to a 100 years.

Despite being visually appealing there is a reason to why they are shaped the way they are is to make them comfortable to hold. Which they are may I add. However they are only at their full potential when used with the Pigment Marker Paper.

This is where my review comes in. I really like these markers. They have a chisel tip and a pointed tip. The best aspect for myself at least is the colour range. I find it almost infinite and they have every colour that you could ever need, 24 shades of grey even... half way there at least huh? I joke, but still very impressive. They also come with a white blender which I believe is a first but also has a colorless blender as well.

However I don't really like using them with the pigment paper. As you can see below the colour goes on too inky which makes it blotchy and un even. The paper is designed to work with the markers so that they sit onto of the paper allowing you to mix and blend colours together before they finally dry down. I do understand that the concept behind these is to give painters or maybe the effect of painting but using markers, in which the effect of inky pens are useful, however I don't really like painting or paint effect with my drawings. I use these on bristol boards to create colour with my pencil drawings as on that surface they are not blotchy whatsoever and sink into the paper nicely. I then layer over them with pencil and the graphite goes on like there isn't anything underneath.

You are supposed to keep these pens horizontal otherwise more pigment will go to one end of the pen as shown with the pen Sky Blue in the photograph. Also with the colour coral, pigment flowed from the pen creating a pool as it came out. I have since bought a storage system for these so I can store them properly.
Hopefully I will be sharing my works on here soon using these.

Have you tried these yet? How do you like to use them??
Want to see my work? Check out my Instagram at cat_illustration .
This is not a sponsored post.

Many Thanks x

Reached a 100 Followers on Instagram!

For many this might not be a big deal however I was recently featured on Winsor and Newtons Pigment Marker Instagram!! When I saw my work on their page my heart nearly exploded and I was on the brink of tears. I thought to myself "I've made it" which is someways silly but to have that company recognize my work is amazing. With their feature my page had more attention in one hour than it got in one year. I feel truly thankful.

Many Thanks x

Inspiration?

Finding inspiration for me has always been really hard. I always have an image in my head of what I want to create however I always doubt myself in how I translate it onto paper. I know I should always have confidence in my skills, which I do, however the bright white blank page is daunting. But once I get past that I fly. 

Image found on Pinterest.

What do I look for in a reference photo?

For myself, creating my own reference is pretty hard as I don't really know a lot of people, and I don't really want to ask if anyone is interested in having a photography session for me. Plus, for me at least, drawing someone that I know is pretty awkward. So I look on the internet. I do have a specific criteria of what I look for though. The person must always be female, just because there is more you can do with them I think such as the hair and whether they have make up or not. Next is the eyes I need to have both eyes in the photo as the eyes are my favorites to draw. Last but not least is the hair, I like neat hair as it's easier to draw. I have a love hate relationship drawing hair. When its near I think I can capture the likeness pretty well however if its messy, I don't have enough skill or experience to make it look as good as I want it to. This is one of my goals to improve on this year.


This photo caught my eye as it fits my criteria and also because I do like gothic themes. At first I sketched it all out however I wasn't happy with it. I couldn't get the glasses in the exact same position so I got rid of them. In the end I really liked the face as it makes it more open, and I now think the glasses would have closed it off a bit. Next were the earrings and oh how I wish I could have captured the likeness however the reference photo is too blurry when you zoom in, so I got rid of them as well.

In the end this is what I ended up with. This is a simplified version of what I hoped however I do think that it matches with my style and the other works that Ive made in the past. Although I tried to be more adventurous with adding accessories and that I can see now that my skill level isn't quite there yet and its something I need to improve on. Saying that I am really happy with my sketch, and I cannot wait until I add the shading.

All sketches are done on bristol board.

Do you have any advice or questions for me? Please leave me a comment below as I am eager to answer.

Want to see more of my work? Check out my Instagram at cat_illustration .

Many Thanks

My Drawing Essentials

Through all of my years of drawing, even stating when I was a little girl that I wanted to be an artist, I've always enjoyed using pencil. Lead for me was an easy tool to control as although I find painting to be faster I never seem to like the end result and much prefer pencil. The love affair started when I got homework to copy a pair of eyes from a magazine. You had to cut the image out and stick it into your book and copy it. I chose a pair of eyes belonging to an older gentle man as I though if I am going to do this I'll try something thats hard. I got a score of 10/10 and this is when I realized "Hey, I might actually be good at this..." And it was done using a regular 2B pencil.

When I started out to seriously sketch portraits I was using a set of Derwent Pencils however they were too soft and I felt they smudged a lot and basically just made a mess. I then turned to google and it directed me to the Steadtler Mars Lumograph pencils. I was already familiar with the brand as they are the ones who make my favorite eraser that gets rid of anything, and I still use it to this day. Still my number one. However living in a small town you cannot buy this pencil set anywhere to I ordered it online and it became a game changer. They're soft but hard, if that makes sense and they blend out like a dream, even the shade 2H. Even though I still have them I never looked at my Derwent pencils ever again. I still have the original tray that I bought all those years ago and they are still going strong, the price tag isn't bad either.

When I want more detail I turn to my mechanical pencils. I started out using a HB Papermate Roll Up Mechanical Pencil as I liked that you didn't have to sharpen them, and although they say Hb they lean more on the 2B-4B scale. However they only come in 0.9 ,0.7, and 0.5. These simply were not thin enough for me so I bought my first 0.3 mechanical pencil online. Since then I have lost the first one I ever bought but repurchased it immediately, and its the red one in the photograph. The name and model of it has since rubbed off however its from Pentel and it has 2B leads. Also from that brand I have the Pentel P203 which I have HB Lead in, and then my recent favorite is the Pentel Graphgear 1000 which is a bit more expensive. I like it more because its weighted so it gives you more precision with your strokes and this is also in 0.3 size. A neat feature is that you can turn the top half to show which lead you have inside, so if you do have a multiple you can have different leads in each and know which lead you want to use.

My other necessity is to have a craft knife on hand. Although I do shaped my pencils with the faber casted sharpener, which has always been a favorite, I do use the craft knife to sharpen the very tip of the pencil to make it sharper rather than sharpening the wood at the same time. I believe his lengthens the time you can use the pencil for before it becomes a short stub. This also create graphite dust so I can fill a large area with grey if need be.

This ties in with another product that I love and thats a pencil extender. Funnily enough, even though my drawings are light and don't contain a lot of dark shades the pencil that I needed this for initially was my 8B pencil. I got it from a store where I was actually working at the time and that was The Works and I believe it was £1.99. I have two and although its been a while since I bought it its going strong. I now use it for my 2B and 4B pencils.

A rather new discovery to me was blending using cotton buds. I was always a paper tortillion or tissue kind of gal however I was looking on Instagram through some comments of one of the artists that I deeply admire and she said she uses cotton buds to get rid of guide lines and such, and ever since then I have been doing the same and its become a holy grail item for me. I never though I'd say that ha.

Last but not least are two products that I use to create highlights and stray strands of hair. I use the white uniball signo rollerball to create highlights in the eyes to give them more life. I then use the Faber Castell Perfection eraser pencil to create light strands of hair. This is the best that I have found as I use a craft knife to sharpen the end to a pine point and it keeps the post longer than other brands that I have tried.

 
So, those are my drawing essentials that I use for every single drawing that I create. They are my tried and tested holy grail products. If you have any other suggestions please leave a comment I am always looking to expand my kit.

Want to see my more of work? Check out my Instagram at cat_illustration .

Many Thanks x

Introduction

Hi,

My name is Ceri Toleman and I am just starting out as a freelance illustrator. I do have other social media sites that I post my work on however I really want to start a blog talking about my art and about the products that I use in the hope of that someday my opinion will help someone.

My Instagram : cat_illustration

My Wix Site : ceritoleman

Just a few things about me. I am Welsh and from a small town called Caernarfon. I graduated from Chester University last year with a degree in Graphic Design. My most used medium is pencil as I love to sketch and Im pretty bad at everything else. Oh and I love tea!