Practice Makes Perfect Artists

Hello Art Fans!
Today I just wanted to encourage everyone to keep trying. Practice always makes perfect. I started sculpting for my art business in 2006. I hadn't discovered Polymer clay yet and I was using an air drying paper clay. (I do not recommend paper clay for delicate sculptures but this material works alot better for very large pieces.)

Here is one of my 1st little fairies I ever created compared to one of my pieces from 2017.

As you can see I hadn't refined much skill yet, I couldn't sculpt fingers or toes on that small scale yet and put very little detail into my pieces.  
It has taken over a decade, alot of patience, practice, trial and error to make the sculptures I make today so don't give up artists. Try try again. :)

That is my inspirational speech for the day, Thank you

Here is another blog I did for my "Then and Now" steampunk animals.

Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

Giving a Tiger His Stripes

There are two ways I know of to add color to your sculpture. You either paint your sculpture or you use colored clay. I like to use colored clay on my pieces, I just like the look of it better than when paint is used. So I try to paint as little as possible on my pieces. It sometimes adds more time to finishing a sculpture but it also adds quality in my opinion.
So now I am going to walk you through one of my sculptures, using colored polymer clay to add stripes to a White Tiger.
I start by sculpting the body using white clay. I add colored glass beads for eyes and pink and black clay for a tiny nose. Then I mix black, white and a small amount of blue clay together to make a soft gray. I roll the gray clay out into long snakes/rods, trying to get the clay as thin as possible.

The next step is to lay the lengths of clay rods on the Tiger's body. Once you get the pattern the way you want, start flattening out and pressing the clay until it is smooth. 

This part is very time consuming but worth the end result. :)

Keep lining up the rods in the pattern, pressing and smoothing each line out. Make sure to be mindful of the flow of the back so you don't end up with wonky stripes...Yes, wonky is bad. :)

All his stripes are added, he is looking like a fine white tiger and he isn't even baked yet.

 After the sculpture is baked I then add small painted details to give depth and highlights to my sculpture.

The end result is a unique polymer clay piece. By using less paint, the color on this sculpture can not be scratched off or fade.

This little guy has sold but visit my Etsy store for my available pieces.

Check out my Step-by-Step blogs to see other times I used this technique. 

How to make your Forest Dragon

Pheonix always rises from the Ashes

Pretty as a Peacock

Thanks for reading!

~Caralyn 

Then and Now Mystic Reflections style

Practice truly makes perfect, and when you are an artist you never really stop practicing. With each piece you make, you get a little better; your technique is refined and you learn a little more. That is why each year my style changes slightly and my pieces get more detailed.
I was recently going through my photos of past sculptures and found a few of the pieces that I recreated this year. So I thought it would be fun to post some "then and now" collages for you all. :)

Crazy what a few years can do, right?
So for those artists out there that aren't quite satisfied with their skill level, Don't give up, just keep Arting. :)
Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

See you later Steampunk Expo

Steampunk Expo went really well, several of my little steampunk pals found new homes and my husband's books were quite popular. It's a young Con but it was very well organized and successful for us, We will definitely try to be vendors at it again next year :)

So many talented awesome people at the show, I came home with all kinds of treasures. Here is just a small sampling of the sooooo many purchases I made over the weekend :P

Dryad Tea made the awesome tentacle mug and super delicious chai tea that I couldn't wait to get home to try. This lady is the funnest person you will ever meet, if you are a tea lover you HAVE to check out her stuff. http://dryadtea.com/

My super fun candles were courtesy of a sweet young artist I had the pleasure of meeting at this show, such beautiful intricate work.
https://www.patreon.com/jennyfranklinartist?ty=h

And for the heavier drinkers out there make your own special brews with these fun flavors at http://www.leloupgaroualchemy.com/

There were many more talented people at the show, I have high hopes for this little convention, make sure to check it out next year. :) 

Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

Illustrating a Children's Book

  Twenty-four pages, front and back cover, three sketched rough drafts, over a Thousand hours, lots of hair pulled out and several "do-overs", these are just some of the ingredients that go into illustrating a Children's Book...and I thought illustrating my husband's book covers was a challenge, Whew.
How did this all start, you may ask? Well you have to met the authors first, in my case this encounter took place at Sci-Fi Summer Con 2014, where I met Jay and Katie Barber, a fun husband and wife author duo.
They have written several fantasy novels together despite having two kids and a few cats at home.  Their six year old daughter, Maya, wanted to hop on the author band wagon. She had been creating adventures for a unicorn character named Mend. Trying to encourage her daughter's passion, Katie helped Maya compile the stories together. All they needed now was an illustrator and I was delighted to take on the task. But I had never done a children's book before, needless to say, I had alot to learn.
Designing the characters was the most fun, getting to be creative with Maya's ideas and imagination.

After receiving the sketch approvals from the authors, I began the coloring process. I scanned each of the pages into Photoshop, where I do most of my coloring. Here's a link to show a bit of my Coloring process. 

I have just recently started using "layers" in Photoshop, this was a life saver. Editing text and changing colors or character positions happens plenty while working on a picture book, and making edits after the coloring has already started can be difficult, but layering my images made it much easier. Coloring always takes the most time, but all the detail that is put into each pixelated brush stroke is worth it, once you see the finished piece.

FINALLY I was done and able to get the coloring approved...only a few edits to be made after that :)
Adding the text comes next. Katie and Maya typed up the story so I was able to copy and paste most of the text, with some adjusting of the background and the margins, the book was coming together. Final edits and image tweaks have been made all this week and the proofs for our book have been ordered from the printers.
It has been a long, challenging process, where I have learned so much. I don't want to toot my own horn but I may have patted myself on the back for a job well done. :) And I'm super excited to see what started with the imagination of one little girl, end up on children's book selves all over. :)

"The Adventures of mend" should be available October 15th. You can pre-order it here. :D

Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

20% Off should put a Spring in your step :)

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Just use Coupon Code BLOOM20 and SAVE!

Also get FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50, Use Coupon Code SHIP3

http://www.cafepress.com/mysticreflect 

Thanks for reading, Happy Shopping! :D

~Caralyn