Tangent № 01: Starburst

“It's this simple:
If I never try anything,
I never learn anything.
If I never take a risk,
I stay where I am.”
Hugh Prather

We open our fresh, shiny new Art Journal Tangents & Tactics Series with a sunburst for your art journal. To learn about how the series works, see the introduction!

You'll find a video showing my method for drawing the starburst, filling in the sections with gouache {watercolor will also work perfectly for this format} doodles patterns.

The sunburst format allows spaces to fill with colors, patterns and words. Elements we all adore in our art journals. I like the flexibility and the ability to use words as actual words or written in a scribbly manner. This allows us to get something off of our mind or analyze a decision yet let it look mostly like texture. Legible, but not easy to read.

I drew the final details a week later when I was in a doodly mood.

The page is painted with gouache in the A4 watercolor moleskine journal. I like the flow of drawing and painting at the same time rather than painting and then later drawing or writing. Yup! I missed a letter in ANOT(H)ER, who cares? This page is not going to the Smithsonian. It's not the last time I'll forget a letter, an entire word, misquote, write the wrong lyrics... it's all about the DOING not the end result. The end result is a happy bonus.

As with all of the "Tangents" in the series, you are welcome to create your own version using the tutorial. The idea is not to duplicate my work, but to search your mind for words, patterns and doodles and fill your own STARBURST.

Materials:

• Black permanent marker or black india ink
• Watercolor paper
• Watercolor or gouache paint {my page is in gouache}
• Watercolor brush, size 6 or 8 pointed round or round
• Water jar with water, paper towel to catch drips

You can watch the video below, or click to pop over to Vimeo to watch.
Video: 8 minutes. There is music playing while you watch, so feel free to mute the volume. The instructions are found below.

So here's what to do!

1. Draw the outline of the starburst with a permanent black marker. In this video, I use a black gellyroll.
   • First, draw a free-form circle in the center of a rectangular piece of watercolor paper. Just keep drawing round and round until it looks somewhat circular. Art journaling is NOT about perfection.
   • Draw free-form lines radiating from the outer edge of the circle. We are not trying to draw perfectly straight lines. Just lines.
2. Doodle like crazy!
   • Draw a different pattern in each "section" of the starburst. Look around the room you are in and you'll find some sort of patterns. Consider chevrons, stripes, waves, etc. In some sections, use designs that are curvy. In others, use designs that are angular or geometric. Variety is the spice of life, right?
   • In some of the sections, write words in block letters. Leave some sections blank. For words, you can use a quote or phrase that inspires you! BrainyQuote is a great resource for quotes.
   • You can add more words, write in tiny or big cursive letters or divide some of the sections into smaller sections in an impromptu fashion.
3. Prep your paints.
   • If you are using pan watercolors, spritz your pans with water using a little spray bottle to prep them. Or put a drop of water in each of your pans.
   • If you are using tubed watercolor or gouache paints, you'll need to squeeze a bit of your paints into the sections of a plastic palette. I let mine dry overnight and then spritz with water the next day {or a month later}. More about organizing tubed paints in this post.
4. Dip your brush in the jar of water and then into one of the paint pans and grab some color.
5. Paint the sections one by one. Each time you switch colors, be sure to dip your brush in the jar of water and swoosh it around to remove the paint.
6. Add details with the brush {stripes... dots... swirls...}
7. Add details and additional words with a black permanent marker.

Options!

Try this technique with watercolor, gouache, fluid acrylics, colored pencils or Faber-Castell brush nib PITT artist pens.

If you would like to learn more about painting with watercolor or gouache, I'm presently teaching two online workshops... Watercolor Playground and Painted Paper Paradise. More info in the Workshops section of the blog.