Atomic Pixies

Art nerdveau ilustrations, comics, enamel pins & more! read/shop/support: beacons.page/atomicpixies

[atomicpixies]

Excite! Excite! Excite!

July Patreon Sticker Club

[slightlyoffcolorstellersjay]

My backpack setup for scout summer camp! Can you tell i am channeling queer nerd without actually saying it ? :D

I have not watched enough life series, but I got the GeminiTay pin from one of my best friends ^v^

[turretangel]

Hey, @atomicpixies, just so you know, your pins are super beloved!

[atomicpixies]

:D

Are you with the camper ground we met in the springs?

[cheaphalloweencostume]

i was kinda hitting with traditional art in high school… am i missing out on something being a purely digital artist in my middle age

[atomicpixies]

Ok so this is my area of specialty- helping people make more art easier!

So yes, you should, and anyone else out there should too and I am gonna share some starters!!

Start with watercolor. It’s cheap, forgiving, and easy once you realize you are herding cats (pigment) with your brush and water.

First, get one of these travel palettes! I recommend 24 or 36 but you can start with 12. Don’t get too many colors while starting out, because blending is everything in water colors.

These guys are dry. That is how watercolors are suppose to be. Tubes are concentrated, which, just like concntrated cleaner means for SOME jobs you want full strength. But for 98% of people pans are better and instead they often have no idea why water color is so stressful and expensive.

It may look a lil pricy unless you have previously bought art supplies but these last forever. And they come with a perfect starter brush, a round water brush. The tank that hold the water unscrews backwards, idk. Lefty tight, right loose. Squeeze to add water to your paint/paper, squeeze to rinse out.

Don’t worry about other brushes for now, you can buy them individually* as you learn how you paint and what you need.

*spend AT LEAST $5 a brush when you do, or you’ll have regrets.

Already bought tubes at some point? No worries! Tubes are concentrated which means you have a good stock! Find yourself a palette or make one out of anything plastic or ceramic and squeeze a nickel sized spot of each color on it, and let it dry for 24-48.

Now all you need is paper. But you DO want special paper. Anything that calls it’s self watercolor paper and is at least 140 lbs should be good enough to get started with, higher weight and better brands are better. You also don’t really need LARGE paper, you wanna start smaller. If you fancy the idea of painting outside, maybe while you travel, look for a watercolor sketch book (I hate my moleskin tho ftr)

And then start painting!

Water in paint x water on brush x water on paper is how you control your paint, and there are infinite (probably) answers to that equation so just play!

More water means your heard of cats pigments will go farther and wilder. Less water means they are easier to control….until you give them too little water and they can’t move anymore. ALL OF WHICH IS FINE but will give you different effects.

(Sorry OP I am gonna guess you know a huge chunk of this but once I got going…)

[atomicpixies]

Some hints I forgot (may add more later!)

-Mr. Clean erasers will eraser your work down to the page if you REALLY fuck up. It is rough on the paper tho so don’t use his powers to flippantly.

-Inks!

Water proof: india ink, sakura pens (I think they are india ink), sharpies, ball point pens (yes really, yes even the cheapy ones)

Not waterproof: Anything that does not say it’s water proof. And no, water resistant is NOT water proof (but can do some cool effects if you’re brave.)

Other media-

Almost anything can go on top of watercolor after it’s dried. It leaves the paper accessible. Markers, acrylics, nail polish, go nuts.

Watercolors, gouache, chalk pastels, and some more specialty media that you should be googling if you’re using them can play with watercolor WHILE you’re painting.

Special mention for colored pencils: they go awesome with watercolors but keep in mind that regular colored pencils are wax and watercolors will not stick to them (but will paint around them) I love making my bottom layer watercolor and then going in on too with pencils.

Watercolor pencils are a special kind that are NOT wax and WILL melt if you apply water. They are also awesome, especially to help bridge the gap between the above, for a lot of cool effects…

Just don’t mix up which is which or you might loose some work.

[cheaphalloweencostume]

i was kinda hitting with traditional art in high school… am i missing out on something being a purely digital artist in my middle age

[atomicpixies]

Ok so this is my area of specialty- helping people make more art easier!

So yes, you should, and anyone else out there should too and I am gonna share some starters!!

Start with watercolor. It’s cheap, forgiving, and easy once you realize you are herding cats (pigment) with your brush and water.

First, get one of these travel palettes! I recommend 24 or 36 but you can start with 12. Don’t get too many colors while starting out, because blending is everything in water colors.

These guys are dry. That is how watercolors are suppose to be. Tubes are concentrated, which, just like concntrated cleaner means for SOME jobs you want full strength. But for 98% of people pans are better and instead they often have no idea why water color is so stressful and expensive.

It may look a lil pricy unless you have previously bought art supplies but these last forever. And they come with a perfect starter brush, a round water brush. The tank that hold the water unscrews backwards, idk. Lefty tight, right loose. Squeeze to add water to your paint/paper, squeeze to rinse out.

Don’t worry about other brushes for now, you can buy them individually* as you learn how you paint and what you need.

*spend AT LEAST $5 a brush when you do, or you’ll have regrets.

Already bought tubes at some point? No worries! Tubes are concentrated which means you have a good stock! Find yourself a palette or make one out of anything plastic or ceramic and squeeze a nickel sized spot of each color on it, and let it dry for 24-48.

Now all you need is paper. But you DO want special paper. Anything that calls it’s self watercolor paper and is at least 140 lbs should be good enough to get started with, higher weight and better brands are better. You also don’t really need LARGE paper, you wanna start smaller. If you fancy the idea of painting outside, maybe while you travel, look for a watercolor sketch book (I hate my moleskin tho ftr)

And then start painting!

Water in paint x water on brush x water on paper is how you control your paint, and there are infinite (probably) answers to that equation so just play!

More water means your heard of cats pigments will go farther and wilder. Less water means they are easier to control….until you give them too little water and they can’t move anymore. ALL OF WHICH IS FINE but will give you different effects.

(Sorry OP I am gonna guess you know a huge chunk of this but once I got going…)

[atomicpixies]

Our June Patreon sticker, which we will (hopefully) also have at Denver Pride next week! Join now, and get this and a venus fly trap sticker for $5!

[atomicpixies]

Check out our June pin design, the Venus Fly trap! Get one of these limited edition pins + sticker for $15 by joining our Patreon Pin Club! You'll also get other goodies like exclusive art, voting for future designs, special and early sales, and of course, supporting your local art pixies!

[atomicpixies]

Our June Patreon sticker, which we will (hopefully) also have at Denver Pride next week! Join now, and get this and a venus fly trap sticker for $5!

[atomicpixies]

Check out our June pin design, the Venus Fly trap! Get one of these limited edition pins + sticker for $15 by joining our Patreon Pin Club! You'll also get other goodies like exclusive art, voting for future designs, special and early sales, and of course, supporting your local art pixies!

[atomicpixies]

More Dark Tower doodles.

This is Be’s first full read through with us. Sarah and I, who both have Jake quotes literally tattooed on our bodies staring at her like “Do you love him?? Do you love the best boy???? No pressure.”

[atomicpixies]

Drawing more Dark Tower characters.

[adorkastock]

Draw Everything June starts in just a couple of days… Are you signed up to participate? https://www.adorkastock.com/draw-everything-june/

[atomicpixies]

Gonna try to do this. We’ll see….

[atomicpixies]

Our Mermay sticker design! You too will be this pink if you don't remember sunscreen!

Also, it would help me out tons if y'all would hit up this patreon poll about what content you would like to see us offer! Even (maybe especially?) if you aren't currently a patron! (But you can get this manatee babe + Goblin shark sticker for $5....)

[atomicpixies]

Using that non-Disney princess animated ladies request post (and you can still request!) to try to loosen and speed up my sketching.

....it did not work with Amalthea I spent TOO much time on her but I am happy with her! Requested by @chaosnebula Also I uploaded the painting timelapse here.

[atomicpixies]

Our Mermay sticker design! You too will be this pink if you don't remember sunscreen!

Also, it would help me out tons if y'all would hit up this patreon poll about what content you would like to see us offer! Even (maybe especially?) if you aren't currently a patron! (But you can get this manatee babe + Goblin shark sticker for $5....)

[atomicpixies]

Who is your favorite non-Disney princess animated lady from childhood?

[atomicpixies]

Me: GOD what if someone call us out in Helion that the material of this star means we didn’t get the details about how planets around it would be for life and they have data about the Oxygen lev-

The normal part of my brain: it’s about sentient stars making magical girls fight via mushrooms, chill.

[atomicpixies]

I watched House of Usher. And I'm just saying, Carla Gugino is the only person whose said she's cast in the Dark Tower.....