A few weeks ago I decided it was time for me to jumpstart my creativity with a trip back to “bootcamp”. No, I’ve never been in the military, but over the years I’ve had a few opportunities to participate in a learning intensive, lovingly called bootcamp.
This 4-part bootcamp (Paint Bootcamp, Colorful Effects Bootcamp, Stencil Bootcamp and Inka Gold Canvas) focused mostly on background techniques, but the final class we created a 6 x 12 canvas, on which we were encouraged to use what we’d learned during the last day and a half.
Our teacher, Jen Starr, was visiting the PNW from New Jersey. Jen is on the design teams for Art Anthology, Viva, Ranger, and Copic.
- Paint: the dread color theory, including creating our own color wheel and understanding how to avoid ending up with mud when you mix colors.
- Colorful Effects: Using salt, Vaseline, molding paste, and other fun stuff to add dimension and interest to your backgrounds.
- Stencil: Further work focusing on different ways to incorporate stencils into your backgrounds.
I had a great, albeit, exhausting experience and met some neat ladies (Dale my table mate is a very talented artist). Below are some of the things I created at bootcamp.
