hi guys i'm Torryn and thanks for coming to check out this video
today i'm going to be filling an entire spread in my sketchbook
and using the inspiration that i've got at the moment for the country of Oman
so i started this sketch off with mapping out exactly where i wanted my drawing to go i've
i've also taped out the edges of my sketchbook because i'm going to be using watercolor
and i'm using this all in my moleskin watercolor sketchbook so the paper is really nice and thick
and it handles the watercolor really well mind you i do find it still buckles a little bit
but i think it's just because you don't have that tautness where it's being stretched
or stuck down to something so i always like to just clip the edges of my pages down
and that kind of limits the buckling a little bit so what kind of theme i'm going for this time is
the marine and underwater life from oman yeah i never would have guessed it but oman is huge
with marine conservation and the amount of beaches it's actually famous
for the diving there and seeing these beautiful creatures and coral all underwater and i thought
i'm feeling pretty inspired by that so let's get a nice marine feel happening in the sketchbook
so in terms of composition for this piece i mapped out a really long panoramic shot of the underwater
scene that i wanted to do and the reason for this was that i wanted to create an art piece that went
across the entire spread of my sketchbook i have the goal of completing this entire sketchbook with
something on every single page that is the goal and i find by setting yourself a little challenge
like this in your sketchbook because sometimes it can feel awkward when you're going across
double pages i personally think but it also gives you a real great sense of achievement
when you do finish that overall picture and yeah you've got this whole double spread
filled on your sketchbook so really great feeling so that's why i've chosen to do it like that
now if you're unsure what the little ticking numbers are at the top left of your screen
right now that is actually me counting the votes for the next bullet journal
month so if you're new to the channel every month i offer three countries to choose from
for my next bullet journal month that is starting with the same letter of the month that we're in so
we're heading into november so i've asked people to vote for the netherlands norway or new zealand
which country they would like to see in my bullet journal and have all these inspirations from
so i'm just showing you there of all the votes and seeing which one is going to be a winner and
if you hang around until the end we will reveal the winner by the end i'm very excited because i can't
wait to do any one of these countries they are all on my bucket list so i can't wait to learn more
about whichever one wins so talking a bit more about the elements that i chose for this piece
i was basically looking into the underwater life that you find in oman they've got over 2000
kilometers of coastline to dive and it's a lot less popular than the red sea so it's not as busy
if you were into diving but they've got a as much diversity in the marine life so you've got i
think there was 22 different species of whales and dolphins you've got amazing soft corals everywhere
if i was a diver i would love to go to this spot but unfortunately i am petrified of the deep ocean
love sharks love in fact i love all animals as you may have known i probably already have
spoken about that i love animals and i love marine life especially sharks
but i am terrified of them so although i would love to think that i have the had the courage to
actually swim with them one day like maybe in one of those cages or something
something where they definitely can't eat me preferably um yeah i would just love to do it
but yeah currently i will just stick to drawing it for for now so we've got a deep sea diver down the
bottom and he's looking up or she you can't tell which it is it could be either but let's call it
a he for argument's sake and he is looking up at this beautiful turtle that is driving
turtles don't drive they swim they this turtle is swimming
and it's swimming through a little i've got the giggles now
this turtle is swimming it's a loggerhead turtle and it is swimming through a little archway or a
little rainbow of orange fish because like i did mention in my bullet journal setup
where i spoke about the turtles oman has a huge array of different species of turtles that come
to their beaches to lay their eggs so it's a massive nesting site for the loggerhead turtle
in particular which is the one i've drawn here and then i've also included the lionfish which
is a highly venomous fish the mobula ray which looks just like a stingray to me but i've actually
seen footage of these things that they've got like there are fish but they've got wings and they well
wing like fins and they actually jump out of the water like a bird amazingly scary to me but
they're very cool so i've popped one of them in here and then i've also done the honeycomb moray
eel which is like like leopard spots on this eel as well so i tried to add as much as i could fit
onto this spread and be keeping the composition quite you know tight but not too tight i've
left some breathing breathing space in the water areas and then i've added just a lot of different
corals i tried to be accurate with the kind of corals that you would find in oman like the purple
the purple stringy one and the pink stringy one not the technical terms for them they were
in some imagery that i found of underwater dives in oman as well now normally when i'm
doing my own watercolors i tend to start with a waterproof fine liner as the basis for the
drawing but as you might have noticed on this one i didn't start with that i actually used a
dark blue color raise pencil which is basically a pencil a colored pencil that you can erase a bit
so i wanted to have more of a soft appearance to the watercolor so i've still got an area that i'm
working with but it's not as harsh as a line as i get when i use the pigma microns now i do go in
with the pigment microns later just on the core elements like just on the animals and the diver
itself and then i always love to add my white gel pen to give some highlights in the areas that
need them once i've added the white gel pen i let it dry completely and then i go over the top with
a highlighter so i discovered this a little bit in the south korea bullet journal where i was trying
to get that neon look happening and i thought the coral in this could use some neon as well
so after the white gel pen has dried on those coral like little finger bits i decide to go
in and i just paint on using a paint brush onto the tip of my highlighter and then rub
that across just gently across the white and it's really cool because it's like you're putting on a
you know pink gel pen when you don't have one so if you're ever looking for something a bit
different and something to make your highlights pop you can always add a texture or like a
highlighter marker on top of the white and it just yeah it gives it that vibrance that you long for
but often can't find in a particular gel pen as i always seem to mention in these i did want the
turtle to be a little bit more stylized and not so detailed but i could not help i couldn't hold back
i really struggle with it so i added a lot of detail to the turtle um but i really like him and
i love how he turned out i just wish i could hold back sometimes i really held back on these orange
fish though i kept them very simple and basic um and it's kind of cool having that contrast
of something that's not fully like not fully formed and the other thing that is very detailed
the reason i worked on one half at a time is partly because of filming trying to fit it all
into the right frame but also because i really wanted each element to have a strength to it
i wanted to make sure the colors all work together so i've kind of kept the choices
of colors like they're quite deliberate choices i wanted to focus more on like blues and purples a
little bit of pink and then just a touch of green um and then so that way that all the
subjects all the animals are actually you know a lot more in focus than the rest of the picture
so now i'm moving on to the second half where i do the eel the lionfish and the
mobular ray also added a starfish in there too because i feel that no underwater scene
is finished until you add the gorgeous starfish i found working on the coral just so much fun
it was so effortless the way you can just throw in a few shapes and it sort of builds this texture
like yeah i didn't look at any imagery for a lot of the coral you just sort of have this feeling
that it's working i love the wavy ones that are created by the blue and the pink but
yeah there's something about this relaxed kind of just chuck in a few bits of watercolor and
see what it creates that's really fun and i definitely used the wet on wet technique
with the mobile array i wanted to have all of its skin is it skin i don't know what that
would be anyway all the top of the mobile array to be quite almost like waves of light hitting
him and so i thought it would be cool to see what the watercolor did if i start with the wet canvas
and sorry the wet paper and then and then throw in the watercolor on top of that and then just make
sure it's always darker at the edges where those wings are sort of folding up i think it turned
out quite nice and i really love how you see where the watercolor dries i like it when you can tell
something is a watercolor painting yeah so that's why i try and hold back on the blending
as much as i can because i like seeing that it is a watercolor picture so let's check in and
see how the voting is going at the moment oh we've got norway in the lead at the moment netherlands
close behind and new zealand behind that one oh it's such a it's such a shame i can't do all three
all the time i always feel so so heartbroken when something you know falls out of the running
because i would love to investigate all the countries but there's just not enough there's just
not enough time we need more time and i do always feel bad that i'm letting people down if they
voted for one that isn't the winner i am sorry i feel your pain i wish i could do them all
just know that they're all going to come eventually we will get there but yeah
if i if netherlands wins i would love to do the windmills and the clogs and you know the tulips i
think that would be beautiful norway i immediately think of the aurora borealis i would love to see
that in real life and then new zealand my mind goes straight to lord of the rings and all the
beautiful countryside really really three amazing places right now but we have approached the end
and i think the winner is coming the winner is norway so thank you to everyone who voted and
i hope all the people who voted for norway are jumping for joy right now um i'll see what i come
up with and i can't wait to investigate more i hope you enjoyed watching this spread and hearing
a little bit more about the amazing oman it's been really enjoyable and eye-opening learning
about this amazing place and i look forward to my next part of my bullet journey in norway
don't forget to subscribe if you enjoyed this and you want to see more of my content
i'd really appreciate that and i'll leave you with this final piece in my sketchbook
and i will catch you guys next week. Bye x