ATC – Desk chair
The next ATC (artist’s trading card) in my pen-and-ink art experiments features my husband’s desk chair.
I drew it with a Size 0 (zero) point technical drawing pen. I’ve been using this kind of pen for art since I was introduced to them by a college friend, Darcy Grimm.
The ink is called Ultradraw, and it’s Koh-i-Noor’s India ink for artists, illustrators and draftsmen.
Once that ink is dry, it’s usually waterproof and I can paint over the ink with watercolor paint or use watercolor pencils with water.
It’s ideal for sketchcrawls and other sketches that might become more formal artwork.
This ATC shows a comfy chair upholstered in a grey tweed, and our cat loves to sit in the chair when my husband isn’t in it. (Otherwise, the cat likes to sit in HT’s lap.)
To protect the chair from our cat’s long hair, we have a (now somewhat ragged) piece of flannel that’s laundered regularly. The fabric was on the chair when I drew this ATC.
To print this ATC, right-click on the picture and save the higher resolution copy on your computer. Then, print the artwork at 150 dpi; it’ll be a 2.5″ x 3.5″ ATC after you trim it to size.
ATC – Pen and ink, fan
My second ATC in this series of six shows our living room fan. It’s one of those huge grey fans that, on the high setting, blasts you like you’re in a wind tunnel.
Drawing it was sort of a challenge. I mean, there’s a lot of detail and shading in the actual fan. Deciding what to include and what to leave out… that was the challenge.
Scaling it down to ATC size was even more interesting.
There are things I might do differently if I were to draw it all over again, but — of course — this was just an ATC… a one-time sketch. I’m generally pleased with it.
This ATC was drawing with a Size 0 (zero) Koh-i-Noor rapido technical drawing pen on regular paper in my sketchbook.
I started by drawing (in pencil) the 2.5″ x 3.5″ dimensions of a standard ATC. Then, I began drawing with my pen. There was no rough sketch to start with, just the outline of the card so I’d get the size right.
About five minutes later (maybe less), it was an ATC.
Pretty simple, huh?
These are super easy. A good pen makes all the difference. Sure, you could use any drawing pen, including a felt-tip (like a Sharpie) or a rollerball pen.
However, I think there’s a different quality to more traditional pens, and I think it shows up in the finished artwork.
ATCs are like miniature works of art. That makes the materials and workmanship more important, in a way.
(Don’t let that scare you off; if the ATC doesn’t look good, you can always put new/different art over it, or throw it out altogether.)
So, for this ATC and the others in this six-card series, I used a rapidograph with Koh-i-Noor’s Ultradraw black India ink. (The ink comes with the pen.)
Right-click on the image to download a printable copy (at 150 dpi) of this ATC.
ATCs in Pen and Ink
ATCs have always been dear to my heart. From the 1990s when many ATCs were created on 3″ x 5″ cards, to the 2.5″ x 3.5″ size that became more standard, to the smaller variations that have emerged: ATCs are fun, fast art.
Recently, I purchased a new rapidograph, also called a “rapido sketch pen.” It’s an easier way to create the kind of drawings I did as a teenager, when I used a crow quill pen and an ink well.
My new pen has a Size 0 (zero) point, and it’s a vast improvement over rapidographs from even 10 years ago.
Anyway, to get used to my new pen, I decided to sketch a few ATCs. My first is shown at right. (Right-click on the image to download your own copy.) It’s a contour drawing of my silvery umbrella… the one I take with me when I go outside to paint landscapes in nature.
Like all of my recent ATCs, the original of this card is 2.5″ x 3.5″ and — by right-clicking on the image, above, and saving it to your hard drive — you can print a full-sized copy (at 150 dpi).
This is the first of six ATCs I’ll be posting over the next few days, showing my progress with my new drawing pen.
The signature (ais/em 2010) on these ATCs is sort of a segue between my online name of Aisling and the (real) name I paint under.
ATC Tutorial 4 – Memories – Finishing the ATC
Continued from ATC Tutorial 3 – Memories – Giving it meaning
The card was very nearly finished. I liked the colors and the general design of the image, but it needed just a little… something else. I didn’t know what, yet.
This is the part of the process that can take forever, since it’s trial and error. There’s a feeling that you’re almost there, and it’s only working with a set time limit that prevents the card from becoming a two-week continuing project.
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I remembered an ATC that I made earlier, with a photo of a little girl and her teddy bear.
Suddenly, the new card was about a frail and elderly woman, remembering her days as a “flapper”. She was remembering her childhood near San Francisco when she and her father would go to the pond by the Palace of Fine Arts, to feed the birds. |
| I still had the layers from my earlier card, so it was easy to copy the layer with the little girl and position her on this new ATC.
I liked the effect immediately. |
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Before flattening the layers, I selected that band of natural color where the water meets the land, and I increased the saturation.
Then, I chose the inverse selection and lightened it, reducing contrast as well.
Finally, I flattened the layers and reduced the image size to fit on a 3″ x 5″ ATC.
I added the border and text, using the P22-Monet font. I deliberately overlapped the text and the image a little, because I wanted it to look like the lady had written this on the card herself.
Here is the completed card:
right-click on the card to save it to your hard drive
You can print this card at 150 dpi to create you own copy of this 3″ x 5″ ATC. (It’s okay to adjust the size to fit the more popular 2.5″ x 3.5″ format.)
ATC Tutorial 3 – Memories – Giving it meaning
Continued from ATC Tutorial 2 – Memories – Adding More Layers
At this point, the card was pretty… but it had no real theme or meaning to it. And, while “pretty” art can stand on its own merits, I rarely choose to make art without another layer of meaning. So, I started examining the card for clues.
I increased the contrast and lightened the background layer. I knew that something needed to go in front of it, and by reducing the “obviousness” of the background, it helped me to focus.
I was still drawing a blank.
So, I went to my copy of Photoshop Secrets of the Pros: 20 Top Artists and Designers Face Off
I was inspired by the work of John Henry Donovan, of 5pieces.com.
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I tried inverting color (Image–>Adjust) in strips with five-pixel feathering. However, once the stripes were dark, I needed to duplicate the layer with the Paris-Draped figure, to make it more opaque. |
I wasn’t too sure that I liked the effect. In fact, it was pretty much ick. And, having set a three-hour deadline–trying to mimic my one-hour ATCs but allow for this documentation–I needed to finish the card quickly.
| I deleted the extra layer of Paris-Draped so that the figures were transparent again. And, I desaturated the layer. But, as I was using the Hue/Saturation screen for this, I accidentally altered the background hues… and liked the effect. |  |
I started selecting rectangular areas of the background, and changing the hue of each of them and then switched them back again.
Finally, I worked with the area nearest the middle and altered it back to its original, natural colors.
Then, I chose Select–>Inverse and tweaked the remaining background image and adjusted it until I was happy with it.
Finally, the Paris-Draped layer had to be adjusted as well, both contrast and hue.
Now, I was getting a theme. The Paris-Draped figure was clearly from the past, and the single band of natural/real coloring in the image was like a faded memory… only part of it was accurate and the rest was a little surreal.
Conclusion: ATC Tutorial 4 – Memories – Finishing the ATC
