Sketchbook Chapter 22: Aloe

Hello, dear creative community!♥️
As i'm nearing the end of my little art book, i'd like to share chapter 22 with you, the penultimate page of this mini gallery. It may seem silly, but being just one step away from finishing this little challenge has delighted me, because i didn't normally use sketchbooks. I was fascinated to see others fill hundreds of art books, to see how each one could be labeled with a category. There are artists i admire who have a whole library of sketchbooks full of stories and sketches...

I thought about it many times, but that desire always remained there, floating in my most remote thoughts. But suddenly, when i began to explore the world of bookbinding on my own, daring to seriously make my own sketchbook, i told myself that i had to fill at least one. This mini sketchbook was actually supposed to be an impromptu gift to share in yoga class... It wasn't even meant to be used as an art book, which is why i made it very small, like a keychain or something you could carry in your pocket. In the end, i couldn't attend the activity, so it stayed with me. I admit that before using it, i thought about it many times, it would be very difficult to draw in such a small space, but the truth is that so far it has been a very pleasant little journey, to my surprise.

For this page, i wasn't sure what i was going to do either... I started to lose myself in the emptiness of the page until the magical strokes emerged, and that's how i began to shape another creature, this time from the floral kingdom. Sometimes i get the feeling that i've repeated a drawing, so i go back and explore the previous chapters to see what my new creation is missing. I focus on the colors so that it's a new page with something different to say. I don't know why, but as i was drawing this floral creature, i thought of the aloe vera plant. So i went with that inspiration.

Since it was already clear that it would be a floral, garden theme... I immediately imagined everything to be very green. As always, i would use the same techniques i have used in my previous drawings: alcohol markers, colored pencils, and, if necessary, acrylic markers.

I started with my creature's skin. At that moment, i transported myself to Wonderland and remembered that beautiful garden where the flowers had a life of their own and faces. So, her entire head and face would be the same color. Since part of my inspiration was the aloe vera plant, i decided to continue with that idea and used light green alcohol markers to paint the rest of the “body.” I wanted it to have a watercolor effect.

For the background, i used a deep green alcohol marker with blue tones. I wanted a somewhat dark background to overlay other elements using other techniques. I wanted to create a dark base to make a layered design, as is often done with wet techniques. I had wanted to do a drawing like this for a long time.

I didn't want to saturate my creature's head with so many colors, as it was already striking enough, so i just wanted to add some highlights with an orange pencil so as not to lose the harmony and delicacy that this garden already had.

It is usually done with wet techniques such as gouache, acrylic paints, watercolors... Depending on the technique used, you start with light or dark tones, so you have to think carefully before choosing the colors.

Since i didn't plan to use alcohol markers throughout the drawing, i started with that somewhat dark green background. But then i changed my mind and wanted to continue using the markers because i liked how all the textures were turning out. Fortunately, the green i used for the background wasn't too dark, so i could continue playing with my markers and figure out how to create that layered depth effect. You can see that this magical, floral creature lies in the middle of a beautiful, dense garden.

And that's how this new green and floral creature came to be... In that garden full of aloe vera plants, i added other small red flowers with an acrylic marker for a delicate touch in the foreground. Exploring the symbolism of this ancient plant, i discovered that it was considered by the Egyptians to be the plant of immortality, beauty, and wisdom. Very appropriate and fitting for the energy of my creatures 💚.