I recently got my hands on some kids’ tempera art sticks, after watching some artists I love show off their use of them to add abstraction and texture to their sketchbook work.1

These are not professional tools – they aren’t opaque, they are likely not lightfast, they are slippery and goopy and inconsistent across colours – but they ARE fun. Extremely fun. Good silly fun.

I’ve been using them solo and combining them with neocolor iis; it’s forced me into a slightly less tight style that I think has been very good for my brain.

I’ve made a lot of stuff I wouldn’t give the time of day with this technique, but that’s part of learning a new technique! That’s also just part of sketchbooks. Gotta put the stinkers somewhere, right?

In the interest of transparency and showing the whole spectrum of the experience, I have included drawings I am not personally at all interested in/happy with/attached to as well here. It’s your guess which are which tho!

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4i8qqRg-V8 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MDdeDIUSpk | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3veF177OCY ↩︎

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2 responses to “Doodling with Chunky Supplies”

  1. sweetfish Avatar
    1. Shel Kahn Avatar