A mermaid in my new Hahnemühle Nostalgie sketchbook

I've wanted to try the Hahnemühle Nostalgie sketchbook for a while now. The Nostalgie paper is very popular and it has been available as sketchbooks for some time now. When you go over the white 190 gsm paper it feels very smooth, but when you draw on it with coloured pencil you can see that it has a fine tooth. I love how the pencils smoothly glide over the paper. It's easy to fill in all the white and you can still put on a few layers. It's also great for ink.

Today I did a whimsical mermaid after a tutorial. She's not quite perfect, but I think you can see that she has attitude. She's a bit reserved, but if you respect her she'll show you her little world. I did the background with a mixture of coloured pencil and oil pastels. And I blended it with Terpin. Worked quite well I would say.

So, say hello to my little mermaid:

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New Sketchbook Syndrome

This is a phenomenon you often hear about when it comes to drawing in sketchbooks. Sketchbooks are not only a tool these days. They often are a piece of art themselves. People want them to look good. And they especially don't want to start a new sketchbook with a bad page. So there is advice out there about how to overcome this fear of ruining a new sketchbook with a bad first page. One tip is to start somewhere in the middle. If you then ruin your drawing it's at least not on the first page. For me this doesn't work, because I date my drawings and want them to be in chronological order. And then, sooner or later you have to tackle that first page and still don't know if it will turn out good or not. Another tip suggests to use the first page to paint your colour palette or the tools you are going to use or something like this. Well, if this is useful to you, why not. I would simply say, chose a subject that is familiar to you, something you know you are good at. ...

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Sylvia‘s Art Journey

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