Nicole Gormley Art

Two of My Biggest Inspirations

March 3, 2017 By nicole

BananaJamana

Jamie Jo, known as BananaJamana on social media, is in my opinion, one of the best artists alive today. She’s become popular for her Youtube channel where she posts videos of herself creating breathtaking paintings along with other forms of art such as cake making and sculpting. She has painting everything from hyper-realistic portraits, to amazingly detailed Disney characters, and she even has a video of herself painting a lifelike hamburger. What’s amazing is that in a recent video she revealed to her audience that she usually only has a few hours each week to create her amazing works of art. Whenever I watch one of her videos, I’m always inspired to create my own paintings.

Bob Ross
Most people have heard of Bob Ross even though he has been dead for twenty years. His famous television show, The Joy of Painting (1983-1994), is still popular today. During episodes of his show, he paints amazing oil paintings while explaining his technique. Although he encourages his audience to paint along with him, according to a statistic only 10% of his viewers actually did. The other 90% simple watched for his calming voice and uplifting commentary. It’s impossible to be in a bad mood while watching Bob Ross. Although most viewers didn’t paint along with him, I’ve started to take out my own canvas and brushes in my free time and attempt to paint along to an episode or two. His paintings always turn out much better than mine, but his pleasant attitude is so encouraging that I love every painting that he helps me create.

New Official Percy Jackson Art

January 25, 2017 By nicole

I have loved the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series since I was in the fifth grade. The author’s website has official character art for the books, but I always thought that the official drawings were an awkward mixture of realistic and cartoon. They didn’t look like the characters that I imagined. I’m glad that the author of the books thought so too, because he posted on Instagram that there is new official art on his website, and it is drawn by one of my favorite digital artists, Viria. Viktoria Ridzel, known as Viria, creates amazingly vivid and accurate character drawings. Along with Percy Jackson, she also does fan art for other books such as the Harry Potter and Maze Runner series, and they are all fantastic. I’m so excited that one of my favorite artists is creating the official art for my favorite book series.

Viria’s blog

Author’s Website

Picking a Drawing Medium

January 19, 2017 By nicole

Pen or pencil?

Although it seems like a simple question, the medium you use to create your art can be very important. Different styles of art require different tools to create them, and it is crucial that you choose the right one.

Lion painting
Paint is the most common medium used for most famous artworks. Using paint can allow your art to be very vibrant and pleasing to the eye, but fine detail is a struggle. Water color paint is even harder. Practice is required to master the art of painting, but a skilled artist will be able to use it to create beautiful masterpieces.

pastel eyeball
Pastels offer a finished product that greatly resembles paint, but they allow for more control and finer detail. The downside is that you only have a choice of a few colors, while paint lets you mix and match until you get the perfect shade.

Color pencil girl
Colored pencils can be used to create a vibrant and detailed drawing, but often appear to be flatter. Colored pencil drawings also allow for very fine detail, but require a large amount of patience. Rushing through coloring a large section could result in a whole project being ruined.

marker iron man Markers offer a more bold and eye-catching product, but they often don’t apply evenly, and leave wonky splotches of darker color all over your drawing. They are best for a cartoony style rather than a realistic one.

chalk ballerina Chalk is personally my least favorite drawing medium. It applies very lightly, sounds unpleasant while you draw, and it is very easy to smudge. Chalk can allow for a certain wispy style, but I tend to avoid it.

pen and ink girl The ability to use pen and ink comes naturally for some artists, but is almost impossible for others. It leaves little room for error, but if you have a certain bold style then pen and ink is the perfect medium.

scratch board cat Scratch board also leaves little room for error, but it looks incredible with animal fur or very detailed black and white drawings.

Links to Art Featured:
Painting Pastel Color Pencil Marker Chalk Pen and Ink Scratch Board