I only have a few pages left in my old bullet journal.
So I thought I'd get ahead of the game and start drawing on the cover of my new one.
Just like last time I'm going to try and draw on the front and the back cover, the inside and the back pocket.
All right. Sounds good. Let's do it.
♪
I really enjoy drawing on my bullet journal
and putting time and effort into making the cover look good
because I don't put a lot of effort into my spreads.
It's kind of just a bunch of to-do lists in different colors.
It works for me
but to like satisfy my creative side. [Laughs]
I like to put time and effort into the cover.
So I can be effortless and productive...
on the inside.
My drawing on my last bullet journal is like one of my all-time favorite drawings that I created last year.
So, in order to try and live up to that and maybe create a drawing that was at least half as good. [Laughs]
I made sure that I put a lot of time into thumbnailing the idea
and coming up with an idea that I really liked,
before I started throwing it on top of the journal.
I decided I wanted to further the idea from last year,
So kind of like build upon it
and draw maybe the same character but like in a different pose!
I also redesigned her outfit
and settled on a pose that I thought was kind of interesting
and also referenced her studious side.
(If you remember)
So I put her on top of a ton of books
and I thought, yeah.
She looks pretty clever.
Smart people use literature as furniture, right?
I wouldn't know.
Now with a pretty firm grasp of what I want the final illustration to look like,
I start drawing directly on the cover of the bullet journal,
but this first one was just a little too small,
So, I tried again.
My next attempt was just a little too not right.
yeah, so, tried again.
This time things were going pretty well right off the bat,
except the head was just...
Oh.
Massive, okay, it was massive,
but I was really, really happy with the body.
So I decided to make the executive decision to just erase the head
and leave the body and try to draw the head again.
Which I think was a pretty good plan.
I think one of my biggest problems
when I was drawing the face specifically,
is that I was trying to draw the character looking down
at the book that she's holding,
but I couldn't quite get the proportions to look right.
Like, I don't know.
Something was a little off, definitely need to practice,
and as many times as I erased this,
it does continue to be a problem until the end.
(I don't want to spoil anything though.)
Let's just say sometimes the eighth time is the charm.
Anyway, after your first quick sketch is done
and everything's laid out on the page pretty well,
then you have to go in and start adding in detail,
because you can't add line art directly to a very quick sketch,
because there's just not enough information there,
and when you try to add in the line art,
it's gonna look a little messy
because you won't really know where you're putting lines.
So I went in and tried to add detail to the books.
I don't draw a lot of books,
So this was definitely a new experience,
but I had a lot of fun with it and I think I got it pretty good!
I probably say this in every single video,
but sketching is my favorite part,
so I like to take my time with it,
add a little tone here and there,
a little extra sketchy bits here and there...
Even though I changed a little bit of her design,
I think there's enough references to her old drawing
and the way she looked in that,
that it looks like the same character.
But I also made sure I included her studious glasses
and a little pencil behind her ear,
and I was pretty happy with it
I think it looked like her.
She doesn't have a name. She's just bullet journal girl,
but still want to show her enough dignity,
so that she looks like the same person!
So this is what she looked like after I had finished sketching with my pencil.
Don't you just love the way pencil looks on toned paper?
Something about it, It, like, looks ancient
and it looks like someone, like, actually important drew it.
I don't know what it is.
It's like, I don't know. It's just that discoloration.
[Mmm-mm-mm]
Anyway, yes. I'm very happy with this. It looks beautiful.
But now that it's done, it means it's time -
TO DESTROY IT!
So I'm gonna take my kneaded eraser,
and I'm just going to rub it back and forth on the sketch.
This lightens it up,
and allows me to add mediums on top of it,
without it smudging around the graphite.
You could probably use Copic markers
directly on top of it without ruining your markers,
but you would see the sketch
and would never be able to erase it
I opted to just use fine-liners
and start adding line art to our illustration.
As always starting with the face...
and the mouth and everything.
If you're someone who likes to add line art to your illustrations,
you know...
how terrifying and crucial it is to your drawing process.
Like, on one hand,
you can easily destroy it, just with a flick of the wrist.
(You're like a wizard.)
but on the other hand,
If you don't do it at all,
your arts missing that very special little something!
I love the way line art looks.
I just have yet to find a deep passion for it.
I think I say this every time, but I just trace over my art. [Laughs]
Maybe that's what I don't like about it.
There's not a whole lot of creativity.
Like you can add tone and width here and there,
where you think it'll look good.
but other than that, it's really just...
Trying to not to mess up what you already drew.
Like there's a high chance of error
and a low chance of fun.
Yeah, that's about right. [Laughs]
I know some people, line art is like their favorite part,
and man I envy you because
nah.
That ain't for me.
Line art is just like a necessary step to my end result.
For my characters shoes,
I didn't think they were quite refined enough for me to be able to add line art with a clear conscience.
[Laughs]
Like I knew I was gonna mess it up.
So I erased what I had there, grabbed my pencil again
and started drawing over top of it
and made sure it was exactly the way I wanted it to look,
before I went in and added line art,
and I'm very happy that I did,
because I think the feet actually don't look too bad.
They're not supposed to be actually ballet shoes.
They're shoes with like a ballet...
Tie-wrap element.
The last step
of the line art before I could move on to the color,
was adding in her glasses.
Now, she's wearing very round circular glasses,
and I was kind of terrified to do the line art,
because it's obviously not erasable, right?
So I went in, drew it again.
I was like, yes, I'm happy with these circles.
Okay, let's add in the li -
Oh! it's not that bad!
and then I did the next one and I did it!
They're not that bad!
And now she's got her (posh accent:) studious glasses.
I'm never gonna not say that word that way.
(So don't ask)
So now that the line art is done.
I just make sure I erase the final sketch,
and then, eh...
[Copics crash]
For colors, I did want to change up the colors a little bit
from my last cover because it just felt kind of muddy.
Every time I looked at it,
It just looked a little gross,
but I did want to make sure it looked like the same character,
so I used the exact same skin tone.
I used E13, which is Light Suntan for the skin.
It worked very well just colored in her skin with that
and colored in other elements that I wanted to just copy the color from last time.
Like her backpack. Now it kind of occurs to me that...
Sometimes backpacks don't last more than a year.
Especially if you're going to school,
but I figured she's maintained it well enough,
and again I wanted to it to look like the same character.
So I thought, hey, giving her the same backpack would probably be helpful.
I also used my Rose Mist Copic marker to color in little blushy bits,
like the ends of her fingers.
I like to add a little reddish tone,
and around her eyes and her nose and her mouth,
and like, maybe the kneecaps or something like that.
I think it just adds a little bit of color to the skin,
and I really like it.
I do it every time, not always with this color,
but you know,
with something a little redder than the skin tone.
I also used that same Copic marker to color in her blouse.
As soon as I did it I knew, oh,
that's a little too dark for what I was looking for.
But...
I fix it later.
I also went in and colored in her hair
the same way I did last year.
I think I used like an olive green for the dark shadows,
and then used light and dark Suntan Copic markers for the brown bits. [Laughs]
Then I threw some paint markers at the illustration.
Literally.
I used the pink Posca pen to add stripes to her blouse
and I think it just made the biggest, whirlwind of a difference.
I was a little on the fence about the blouse before,
but now that it's like stripy and pink,
I just love it!
It's got like the most subtle Tim Burton vibe.
I also use that pink Posca pen to color in her shoes.
I really wanted to bring more of that color into this.
I just love the way it pops next to that toned paper.
Oh, it's just so bright!
Next I used my Sunflower Ohuhu brush marker,
and I colored in a few of the books,
like the one on her lap and the one she is sitting on.
I think this is a really nice color to use
on this toned paper,
because it's just like - it darkens it up,
without it being too saturated.
So it adds elements that kind of like blend in,
but are also visible.
Now. I just have to color in some of the other books,
So I use some of the colors that I had already used in the rest of the illustration.
Like Rose Mist.
and I also tried using Rose Mist as a little bit of like, a shadow on the books.
Which I thought was kind of interesting,
and added a bit of a 3D element.
I tried to use a Sakura Decorese white gel pen to add contrast between some of the pages in the books,
but it wasn't quite popping as much as I wanted,
So I moved over to a white Posca pen,
and this gave me the exact look I was looking for.
So, I basically just drew a line for each page,
and I did this for each of the books,
and I loved the way it stands out against the toned backdrop.
and I feel like it just gives the illusion that there's a bunch of pages there
and it's just - I don't know.
I think it just looks so much better than it did before.
I also use this Posca pen to add a little bit of a shimmer and a shine to the glasses.
So it looks like that, Yes,
there are indeed lenses in there.
Next, I grab some pink acrylic paint
and I threw that at the illustration
so I took my little paint brush and I just started filling in a circle behind her.
I wasn't entirely sure how many coats it would take.
So I tried to be thin with it,
and made sure there wasn't like too much texture,
because I didn't want it to distract from like the character at all.
I didn't use any acrylic paint last time
and I thought it would work really, really well,
for adding brightness to my cover,
because right now, if you only use alcohol-based markers
on a dark toned paper,
It's gonna add a dark tone to your Copic markers,
and I wanted the background to pop a little bit more.
So I thought by using some acrylic paint,
I could add just a brightness that I couldn't with the markers
and then this is what it looked like.
I thought I added a little bit too much brightness on the top
because she already had that pink stripes on her blouse
and then I added the pink circle behind it.
So, I decided to add a little bit more brightness to the bottom
I used a white Posca pen and added some details to the skirt.
My plan was to leave the skirt the same color as the paper
because I feel like, what's the point in drawing on toned paper,
If you're not gonna like incorporated it into the illustration, right?
So I was like trying my darndest... [Laughs]
Not to just color in the whole skirt white.
Then I tried experimenting things with the background.
I really wish I had tested this out first
because I just don't like it.
For some reason, I pictured it was gonna look like...
Neurons or something. I don't know something sciency,
I'm not sciency.
I think that's obvious.
So I'm just really not happy with the way this little circley thing turned out
I tried some other things, didn't like that either.
I liked that worse. I don't know,
you're just -
You're throwing things, seeing what sticks.
Turns out, when you're using art supplies almost all of it sticks
and it's not always gonna look better.
So my plan was to try and cover up as much as I could,
but like only so much was cover up-able,
because I didn't want to like make the circle bigger.
because then it would touch the top of the book
and that would just look silly, right?
Eventually, I just decided I needed to move on
and maybe I could fix it later.
So I started moving on to the rest of the background.
Using a pink Posca pen, I kind of
sketched out how I wanted the background to be.
Because last time I used stripes
and I love stripes
and let me tell you,
it took all of my willpower not to draw stripes,
and instead, draw circles. [Laughs]
Which are kind of, in a way, stripes.
Just not my favorite kind of stripes,
but I wanted to change it up.
So what I did was just draw ripples of the circle, so,
If like the circle behind her is where you drop the rock in the water,
then there'd be ripples extending from it, right?
Just radiating outwards.
So, I drew stripes radiating out.
The one really big one being in the acrylic paint
that I used to color in the circle behind her.
and then I also used Copic markers and then
that's the same color that I used to draw the stripes
in my bullet journal last year.
So it was kind of like referencing it but being different and new.
(It's like a Marvel movie.)
I just drew a bunch of stripes.
I tried to make them vary.
I didn't want them to look too robotic.
I just wanted them to be a little bit more organic.
So, I varied the widths, varied the distance between them,
and also drew a couple green ones on top of the pink stripe
that was already there.
Circles aren't the easiest thing to draw, like,
circles are easy to draw.
Circles that look like perfect circles are hard to draw.
I kind of just tried to do my best
then a flippin fly landed right on my marker cap!
Frickin' Fredrik over here, right?
What are you doing in my house? [Laughs]
I also added another green stripe on top of my pink stripe.
This time doing my best to measure it,
so that it would look good.
As Fredrik can attest.
("Fly" voice) Yeah, it's not that bad.
Thank you.
I signed it.
I decided to sign it in a curve,
kind of like following along the stripes,
which I thought was kind of cute.
I added a big white border behind the character.
This is something I did last year too.
I don't know, I just love it.
I just love the way it takes the character
and like, separates them from that backdrop.
It just looks so cool, especially since it's not white paper.
So adding that white line, really really pops,
and I used a light purple Copic marker,
and added a little bit of shading.
This again, adds a little bit of a 3D effect to the character,
and gives them a little bit more body,
and at this point -
[Ergh]
Frederick had overstayed his welcome.
So I said goodbye and he said hello again.
Seriously. go - oh yeah, bye Fredrick.
Sans Frederick,
I used R7 in my Ohuhu brush markers,
and I use this to add a little extra color to her lips,
and around her eyes,
because I think last year,
I mentioned that I wanted her to be a little bit more into like beauty and fashion.
So I figured she would like a nice bold lip.
So, I did that again,
and then I kept playing around with her glasses.
I just wasn't happy with them.
Something about them just didn't look right to me.
So, naturally,
I ruined them completely in an attempt to fix it.
[Sighs]
Irritated (just a little bit)
but not done yet.
I moved on to the inside cover and started drawing on that. [Laughs]
Then I used this this little container,
that I've re-purposed to hold my pencil sharpeners,
and I used different things to create circle shapes
to kind of further the theme of the front cover with the circles radiating from the center circle.
and then I just colored those in
so that they match the same colors that I used on the cover,
with that acrylic pink paint,
and then that GY95 Copic marker
and then it looked like this!
Then I added a little "this belongs to" section.
I completely messed this up.
Some things just aren't erasable,
some things you just can't fix.
At this point, I thought Frederick had justgiven me bad luck and ditched me.
So I moved on to the back pocket.
Following that same theme.
Kind of with a little bit more experience now,
knowing what I like, knowing what I don't like.
Adding in that acrylic paint
and then again going over with that green Copic marker.
Creating those stripes.
To kind of move forward from the circles
and to redraw, one of my favorite parts of the front cover,
which were those stacked books.
I added some stacked books inside the pocket.
I don't know. I thought it was cute.
It's like they're coming out of the pockets.
Like she's keeping them in this pocket.
I don't know. I just thought that was kind of cute.
I thought it was a cute idea!
So I drew a bunch of books back there,
added line art, then I colored them in.
I used a bunch of different colors just like I did on the front cover,
so that they all don't look like the same book
and then this is what that looked like.
I don't know. I think this is cute.
It's kind of one of my favorite little elements on the back there.
The little books sticking out of the pocket.
It's a little bummer that when you like stick something in the pocket,
you can't see the books,
which are my favorite part.
But I don't know.
I know they're they're so like still means something.
So it's time for the grand reveal!
Does something look a little funny?
Let me just remove that.
Here's what the face looks like now, it's not my favorite.
So I created a little sticky note,
that could stick right on there. Isn't it cute?
This is what last year's bullet journal looked like,
so you can kind of see how next to each other they have a very similar color scheme,
but I made the newer one a little bit brighter,
So I used like more pinks that were opaque
and I like that it looks a little bit less muddy.
So I'm just gonna quickly color that in
and then maybe add some line art,
choose all the same colors and see if they look...
Like they're the same colors. [Laughs]
'Cause obviously,
I'm drawing this on a different colored sheet of paper.
Maybe try not mess up with the Posca pen this time.
Got it. [Laughs]
Okay, here's what it looks like now.
I like it a lot better.
I don't know what you think.
It's almost...
unnoticeable, like if you weren't looking for it,
I don't think.
Also gonna...
Try and add some like acrylic paint
and color in that whole circle
and maybe it'll make it disappear.
Yeah, it's kind of cute.
It looks like the same character now at least.
Like before, her face was kind of a different shape,
but now with this new one,
I think it looks a lot more like her,
especially side by side there.
So yeah,
here's my finished Bullet journal for 2018 - 2019.
No, it's 2019 - 2020.
Holy moly.
Anyway, I want to thank you guys for watching.
I hope you enjoyed coming along with me on this journey,
where I decorated the cover of my bullet journal.
Do you draw on your bullet journals,
or do you prefer to put time into like each spread?
I don't got the time for that. [Laughs]
But yeah, thank you guys for watching.
I'll see you guys all next week
and I hope you have a delicious evening full of waffles.
Bye!
♪