Hey all! Now that the semester has ended, I’ve switched blogging roles once again, and now I am the illustration blogger! Illustration is my major, so I’m really excited about this!

So this past week, and the weeks coming, I have been asked by a few people to create some art for them as Christmas gifts! A few months ago I had a mini show at a local coffee shop you see, and I had art up for a full month. To go with the theme of a coffee house I decided to create some illustrations made with coffee! People seemed to really enjoy them, and I some people asked to purchase them once the show was over!

Since December started, I’ve been getting requests from the same customers for more! While obviously I can’t show them due to possibly spoiling the surprise for their loved ones, I do still have a pic from my last run!

If you’re ever interested in coffee drawings, here are a few tips for using the medium!

1. Start with a light pencil sketch, and line it with water soluble pens. If you try to paint on top of the pencil, it’ll smudge and make the coffee look gray and dirty on the paper. I use a sepia pen because it goes well with the colors of the coffee.
2. Start with a light set of coffee, then work to a deeper color, letting each layer dry completely before moving onto the next. This gives you time to fix any of the bleeding the coffee may do as it sets.
3. Coffee WILL stain your pages, so be gentle with it and keep some white gouache or acrylic to cover it up once its dry.
4. Coffee, like gouache, can be reworked to some extent, so if you are correcting you may need a few layers!
5. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to experiment with it. It’s an unusual medium, and a test on patience, so go into it slowly and knowing you will absolutely make mistakes. But that’s ok because you can always go get more!

That’s it for now, have a great holiday guys, and enjoy your coffee explorations! Till next time, keep on creating!