One of my resolutions for the new year is to make something, by hand, every week. And, in order to make good on that promise, I decided that I would share with you. This week, I made a super-easy original artwork to fill an empty picture frame on my wall — a happy inital. I chose to do the letter J (for, well, Johanna) but you can do whatever you like. Here’s how.
1. Find a nice, sturdy piece of paper. I used some recycled signage left over from a conference I worked on a long time ago. Get your art supplies out and set up a nice workspace.
2. Use a pencil to lightly draw the contour of the letter (or other shape) you want to use.
3. Start drawing shapes, scribbles, circles, lines, whatever comes to mind inside the lines, until you fill the entire outline. I used old-school pen and ink because I love drawing with it, but a delicate felt-tip pen or something similar would work just as well. Be careful to let your lines and shapes dry before touching them again (we don’t want smears here).
4. Fill in the shapes with colored pencils. (If you want a more monochromatic look, skip this step.)
5. Find a suitable frame — I used an old one from IKEA. Measure and cut the artwork to size. I neglected to leave enough room on the top and left side, but no worries, as long as you make it fit within the mat you’re good — just tape the artwork down and no one will ever know!
6. Hang it up!
