It's that time of year again :-) The local #library hosted its annual bookmark competition. I LOVE design competitions! I try to use them as a way to test out new ideas, push my creativity, and perhaps work in a different medium that I am not used to. They're fun and challenging at the same time. It's a great way to get more practice in, and you never know. You just might win :-) It's also great exposure too. But you have to be careful not to indulge in too many of these. They can sidetrack you, and there is very little payout for most of them. I enter them strictly for fun and practice.

Here's a great example of me playing with a different medium that I am not used to. First, I colored the entire space in oil pastel. Then, I used a mixture of 2 parts paint and 1 part dish soap to cover the entire area. Using a sharp tool (I used the tip of my compass), I scratched away the design. Because these bookmarks had to be illustrated to the true actual size (a challenge for me), I made a mistake with the lettering. I had to go back in and repaint the section where the text is and scratch the phrase back in. 

I wish I could take credit for magically drawing those bears without a light sketch to guide me, but because the surface of the dark blue paint was so fragile and sensitive to the touch I had to find a new approach. I took my original sketch and outlined the bears in sharpie marker and then used my light table. The image was hazy, but I was able to make out some of the lines. Then I just went for it :-)

Ah, the sloth. Again, due to the small size of the dimensions, I struggled with adding the detail with my acrylic paint. Perhaps if I had some gouache I would be a happy gal, but I did not have any on hand (who am I kidding, I didn't like the colors I had in my box of tricks). And so, to add the fine lines of fur, I used my #PrismaColorPencils . 

Did I mention that I originally misspelled Llama and my kid had to point that out, as we were getting ready to drop them off? Yep. Throw in another "l".

Bugs. I had fun playing around with the Art Deco inspired pattern.