Merrily I Doodle On

Despite contracting a wicked head cold from one of my students, I am working away on illustrations for my Christmas journal so I thought I'd share a couple more shots of my progress.  I am working on 140-lb, hot press Arches watercolor paper.  I've discovered that I prefer Arches over Fabriano for this purpose as the paper feels thicker and smoother.  However, I used Fabriano in the construction of the journal as recommended by Teesha Moore and Fabriano is definitely better than Arches for journal-making since it doesn't crack when folded.

Anyhoo, I am sketching in pencil, outlining with black Micron, painting with watercolors, and then cutting out the little doodles and characters.  I'm going to attach an illustration to each page in my journal and you can see in the photo of the cover how the drawing looks once added to the page.  It really pops!  As a bonus, if I have an "Oops!" moment with a doodle, I can simply make a new one rather than wondering how to cover a mistake that is on the actual page. 

I'm having so much fun thinking up characters to bring to life and really falling in love with watercolors & cartooning all over again!  This is the perfect remedy for the common cold!