Delinlea - My little fantasy world

♥ Team Spark Animation

18 juli 2019 by Delinlea Leave a Comment

Hey Lovelies! I have been pretty busy lately, so I wasn’t able to make something crafty for you today. I was working on a dance animation for my favorite group, Team Spark a Chinese group. They announced a Dance Cover Contest about a month ago, and because of reasons, I can’t dance. I tried to think outside the box, as I usually do and decided to draw an animation of the dance. But never realized how much work that actually is. I thought I could do the whole MV before the deadline, turned out, I could only do half of it. xD. I’ll gonna explane how I made it and show you what my end result is in this blog. So, if you feel like doing it as well one day, you know how to do it!

Team Spark Animation, Pile of Paper — The Pile of Paper that I used, with my cute panda Art Doll

Rotoscoping

First, I downloaded the Joker dance MV by Team Spark. I needed it for the technique I wanna use, called Rotoscoping. That basicly means you are gonna trace every frame of the movie/clip you wanna use. Usually this is done digitally, but there’s always going something wrong if I work digital, (I’ve some fun stories about me and electronics tho, but not now!) so better not for me. That’s why I chose to do it on paper, what’s actually more work, I’ll explane later.

Then I opened Photoshop and opened the ‘Animation’ option (You can find that under the tab window). Then I dragged and dropped the MV in there. I set the frame rate to 11FPS, normally it was 25.. gosh I can’t imagine if I had to draw 25 frames per second. I would have never finished even 30 seconds xD. I probably could have set the frame rate to 10, but yeah, not sure what I was thinking xD.

Tracing

Now everything was ready to go, I had to cut my paper from A4 to A6. I didn’t wanna use big sheets for this, just big enough to make it work. So yeah, that’s another extra step I had to take. I am used to cutting paper sheet and survived them all without getting injured haha!

From here I made sure that I positioned my paper at the same spot every time. This is very important to make it work at all. So I got the rulers out in photoshop and dragged some guides for the size of my paper, those lines need to stay there all the time, so I locked them. When that was done, it was time to start.

I taped my paper to my screen and made sure I could see though it, I made my room dark and my screen as light as possible. This way I could see the image through my paper and start tracing.

Make decisions

While tracing I was in control who I wanted to draw and who should dissapear etc. I had fun playing around with people coming in and out of screen. This way it was also faster to finish it. If I had drawn everyone on screen all the time, it would have taken me even more time. And this way you also could get a creative aspect in there.
I sometimes had to make up things as well, when it got covered by something or someone, but I guess it’s not noticeable in the video, yay!

No clue if it would work out

I wasn’t sure if it all was working out, I only could flip all pages in my hand to check a bit. But I would know for sure if I scanned/edited/animated everything together. Most of the time it was just praying it was going to work.

Scanning

After I had drawn all the frames I wanted (I wanted to go up to after the chorus, so around 1min 35sec). I realized how many papers I had to scan and edit. I had drawn 1035 individual images, my pile was huge. These all had to be scanned. I did it per 2 at the same time. To give my scanner a break as well. Those scans needed to be cutted out to the right, same size and saved as the right number of frame. I couldn’t mess up, if I did, my animation was ruined. This process took me a few days >_<.

Animating

I did this in photoshop, used the same thing as I used in the beginning, only a bit different. First is was a timeline animation, but now I was using frame animation. Every image got it’s own frame and I set the time that the frame was shown to 0,09sec. While the first frame of every sec was shown for 0,1sec.

This was pretty time consuming to do, but not as much as the other things I had to do before this. It went pretty smootly up till the moment I got to the end and photoshop refused to save my work. so I tried to render the video without it all being saved, and guess what. Photoshop crashed.
I had to redo about 300 frames, so not that much, but by that time I was pretty frustrated and running out of time. I actually wanted to have it up that day. That did not happen, it was already 9pm when photoshop crashed. I decided it was better to stop, calm down and continue the next day.

Make the Video

So the next day I got the animating process done pretty fast, it went smoothly this time. But I knew I wasn’t done yet. I still had to add music and I wanted to film a small part where I show the pile of paper I used.

I switched to the program Magix to finish it all up. What I noticed was when I added my animation with the music, it didn’t line up. So I actually set the frame rate in my video to I believe 12,20FPS. Now it sorta lined up properly with the dance moves. I added my video of the pile of paper and some text and exported the whole thing. Now it was finally almost over. Just uploading on youtube and other social media and I got it all done before the deadline.

Here’s my animation!

I’m pretty statified with hou my video turned out!even tho it took forever to finish, over 80 hours >_<. I’m happy everything worked out. Now the waiting game starts and I am not even sure if my entry gets accepted. Let’s find out. At least I’ve shown my boys some love! That’s what counts, right?! ^^

Now I need a massage (any volunteers?! xD) and plenty of time to relax/sleep xD

Love
Danielle

♥ Drawing Lesson 3; Graphite

11 juli 2019 by Delinlea Leave a Comment

Hey Lovelies! It’s time for a new drawing lesson. Today I wanted to talk about Graphite. Since there’s more to it as you think when you are just starting out. It’s one of the easiest mediums to start with, but when you get used to it, you kinda want more, and that’s where this post is about.

Background

Graphite is a very soft material that can be found in nature. But to make a pencil of it that’s usuable, they mix clay into it. To adjust the softness of the pencil, they adjust the clay/graphite ratio.

H to B

You might have seen HB stated on your pencil. This is the most common used pencil out there. This states the hardness of your pencil. HB is kinda the middle, I know there’s F as well but I have never used this one.

Besides HB theres also H’s and B’s, and often combined with a numer ranging from 1 to 9. If you find those with H, it means the higher the number, the harder the lead is. Usually those are used for sketches, since you get very light lines. I am not a big fan of them tho, to hard for me.

When you find pencils with a B on it, the higher the number, the softer the lead is. It’s easier to apply to the paper and you get darker shades, the higher the number. This is because there’s more Graphite in them. It’s great for blending.

Drawing with them

To play around with all those different types of hard leads you can create a lot of depth in your drawings. I have no complete set of those. I always made sure to have a HB, B, 3B, 6B and a 9B. With this range I could archive what I wanted.

Make sure you’d buy pencils from a good brand. I often see people use those very cheap ones you can buy a a toy store or something, but those are nothing compared to the real deal. You can struggle a lot more when using cheap stuff. I won’t tell you that you need to use the most expensive ones out there! There’s also no magic in the more expensive ones that makes you a pro in no time. But with a bit a quality it can make a huge difference, you can use steadler for example, affordable, but decent quality!

You have also woodless graphite pencils and mechnical pencils. The way you can use them are not very different, it all depends on what you are comfortable with. Back in the days I only used the normal pencils to draw with, but these days I often draw completely with mechanical pencils. yeah, preference change over time xD.

Messy

Graphite can be very messy when you draw with them. I always had a lot of graphite on my hands because I rest my hand on the paper, and graphite smudges XD. To prevent that, put a piece of paper under the hand you are drawing with, your hand stays clean and your drawing won’t have smudges anymore.

Fixtative

Because of the smudging part, you can use Spray fixtative. This fixes the graphite to the paper. you can use it in between layers or only at the end, when you are finished. You drawing stays nice way longer. As for fixtative as well, make sure you use decent stuff. You don’t wanna ruin your work you spend hours on working. Try new fixtative always on a try out piece with some scribbles,this way you know what it does with your work.

I hope this information is helpfull! I’ll be back with a new lesson next month!

Love
Danielle

♥ Free Pattern; Dopey Ufufy Amigurumi

4 juli 2019 by Delinlea Leave a Comment

Hey Lovelies! I first wanna apologize that I didn’t upload a blog last week. Personal things, it just all got to much for me and with the heat kicking in…Yeah. I hate hot weather, I’ll be waiting for winter already haha. What is your favorite season?
Anyway, I hope you are doing fine!? Are you ready for a new Amigurumi pattern?! Do you have your hook and yarn ready?! Because today we are gonna make a Dopey Ufufy! Who doesn’t love the 7 dwarfs of Snow White. Let’s do this.

For this DIY you’ll need:
♥ Yarn in the colors; Beige, Light Green, Brown, Light Purple and a tiny bit of Yellow. (I used Budgetyarn.com)
♥ Crochet Hook (I used a 2,5mm hook).
♥ Stuffing.
♥ Scissors.
♥ Sewing Pins.
♥ Yarn Needle.
♥ Felt in Black.
♥ (Fabric) Glue.

Stitches used (US Terms):
Magic Ring.
BL = Back Loops.
FL = Front Loops.
CH = Chain.
SLST = Slip Stitch.
SC = Single Crochet.
ST = Stitch.
Inc = Increase.
Dec = Decrease.
(…) = Repeat the space in brackets the given number of times.
[…] = Total number of stitches.

Pattern

Work in continues rounds, use a stitch marker to mark your first stitch of every row. This is for every part, unless stated otherwise.

Body
Start with the color Beige.

1: 6SC in magic ring. [6]
2: 2SC in each ST around. [12]
3: (1SC, inc) 6 times. [18]
4: (2SC, inc) 6 times. [24]
5: 24SC. [24]
6: 24SC. [24]
7: (3SC, inc) 6 times. [30]
8: 30SC. [30]
|
10: 30SC. [30]
Change to the color Light Green.
11: 30SC. [30]
12: Work in BL, 30SC. [30]
13: 30SC. [30]
|
17: 30SC. [30]
18: (3SC, dec) 6 times. [24]
19: (2SC, dec) 6 times. [18] Stuff the body here.
20: (1SC, dec) 6 times. [12]
21: Dec all around. [6]
Fasten off and weave in tail.

Arms/Legs and Ears (Make 6)
Use the color Beige for 2 Arms & 2 Ears. Use the color Brown for the Legs.

1: 4SC in Magic Ring.
2: (1SC, inc) 2 times. [6]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing.
At row 12 you worked in back loops, work now in the front loops, SLST around the body to make an extra dimension in his clothes. This is optional.

Belt
Use the color Brown.

Make a chain of 32CH. You can adjust the size by crocheting more or less CH. Make round and sew together.

Hat
Use the color Light Purple. (I used a darker shade of this color as should been, since I didn’t had a lighter version. It still does look cute I guess, maybe I’ll change it in the future.

1: 6SC in Magic Ring. [6]
2: 2SC in each St around. [12]
3: 12SC. [12]
|
5: 12SC. [12]
6: (1SC, inc) 6 times. [18]
7: 18SC. [18]
|
9: 18SC. [18]
10: (2SC, inc) 6 times. [24]
11: 24SC. [24]
12: (3SC, inc) 6 times. [30]
13: 30SC. [30]
14: (4SC, inc) 6 times. [36]
15: 36SC. [36]
|
17: 36SC. [36]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing. You can stuff the hat lightly to hold shape a bit. To keep the tip of the hat folded over, I have sewn it to the base of the hat. Just with one stitch to hold it in place.

Assembling

For amigurumi, I always use sewing pins to position all of my parts. This way you can easily move everything around until you are happy with the result. I recommend you do so as well.

Start with sewing on his legs, this way you know where the arms have to be placed, just under the rim of his green clothes. Above the green rim, you will position his ears, on both sides of his head.
Put on his belt, I recommend to secure it with a few stitches in the back so it won’t slide down. And in front, you will secure the piece of yellow yarn, make a small rectangle with the yarn so it looks like a belt.
Make a nose with some beige yarn, going back and forth on the same spot. And put his hat on, you can sew this on, it really depends on how it sit on itself.
From some black felt, cut out eyes and eyebrows, and glue those on.

I hope you love this new addition to our Ufufy family! It’s getting bigger and bigger. Which ones have you made so far?! So me on twitter or instagram!

Love
Danielle

♥ Free Pattern; Rolly Tsum Tsum

20 juni 2019 by Delinlea Leave a Comment

Hey Lovelies! What are you doing these days?! I am mainly drawing, whenever I can. But at the same time I wanna do a bazillion things. I’m annoyed by myself haha. I wish there was more time in the world, or a way to freeze time, or grow more arms when needed xD. Let’s just keep going, one step at the time. This week we are gonna expand our Tsum Tsum collection with a Dalmatian, from ofcourse the 101 Dalmatians. I made Rolly for you, but I will try to make the others (and Cruella) as well, since they are slightly different. Enjoy!

So for this DIY you will need:
♥ Yarn: in the colors White, Red and Black. (I used zeeman supersoft)
♥ Crochet hook. (I used a 2mm hook)
♥ Stitch marker.
♥ Stuffing
♥ Yarn needle.
♥ Sewing Pins.
♥ Felt in Black.
♥ Scissors.
♥ (Fabric) Glue.

Stitches used (US Terms):
Magic Ring.
Color Changing.
CH = Chain.
SLST = Slip Stitch.
SC = Single Crochet.
ST = Stitch.
FSC = Foundation Single Crochet. (Optional)
Inc = Increase.
Dec = Decrease.
Slst = Slip Stitch.
(…) = Repeat the space in brackets the given number of times.
[…] = Total number of stitches.

Pattern

This pattern will be worked in continues rounds, unless stated otherwise.

Body
Start with the color White.

1: 6SC in magic ring. [6]
2: Inc in each st around. [12]
3: (1SC, inc) 6 times. [18]
4: (2SC, inc) 6 times. [24]
5: (3SC, inc) 6 times. [30]
6: (4SC, inc) 6 times. [36]
7: (5SC, inc) 6 times. [42]
8: SC in each st around. [42]
|
12: SC in each st around. [42]
From here on the colors will change every several stitches to create his dots, I will state the number of stitches for each color. (W = White, B = Black
13: W 6SC, B 2SC, W 4SC, B 2SC, W 7SC, B 2SC, W 5SC, B 2SC, W 12SC. [42]
14: W 5SC, B 3SC, W 12SC, B 3SC, W 4SC, B 4SC, W 11SC. [42]
15: W 6SC, B 2SC, W 8SC, B 1SC, W 4SC, B 3SC, W 4SC, B 3SC, W 11SC. [42]
16: W 15SC, B 3SC, W 11SC, B 2SC, W 5SC, B 2SC, W 4SC. [42]
17: W 10SC, B 2SC, W 4SC, B 2SC, W 7SC, B 2SC, W 8SC, B 3SC, W 4SC. [42]
18: W 9SC, B 4SC, W 11SC, B 3SC, W 9SC, B 3SC, W 3SC. [42]
19: W 11SC, B 2SC, W 19SC, B 2SC, W 3SC, B 1SC, W 4SC. [42]
20: All White, SC in each st around. [42]
21: All White, SC in each st around. [42]
22 – 28: Repeat row 13 to 19
29: All White, SC in each st around. [42]
30: All White, (5SC, dec), 6 times. [36]
31: (W 4SC, dec, 1SC, B 2SC, W 1SC, dec) 3 times. [30]
32: (W 3SC, dec, 2SC, B 1SC, W dec) 6 times. [24]
Continue with White.
33: (2SC, dec), 6 times. [18] Stuff the body here.
34: (1SC, dec), 6 times. [12]
35: Dec around. [6]
Fasten off and weave in tail.

Ears (Make 2)
Use the color White.

1: 6SC in Magic Ring. [6]
2: (1SC, inc) 3 times. [9]
3: 9SC. [9]
4: (2SC, inc) 3 times. [12]
5: 12SC. [12]
6: (3SC, inc) 3 times. [15]
7: (4SC, inc) 3 times. [18]
8: (5SC, inc) 3 times. [21]
9: 21SC. [21]
|
11: 21SC. [21]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing.

Snout
Use the color White, you won’t work in continues rounds, close every round with a slst in the first st.

1: Ch7, insert in 2nd chain from hook, 5SC, 3SC in the next st, 4SC, inc. [14]
2: Ch1, inc, 4SC, inc 3 times, 4SC, inc 2 times. [20]
3: Ch1, 20SC [20]
4: Ch1, 20SC [20]
Fasten off, leave long tail for sewing. Stuff the snout lightly.

Legs (Make 4)
Use the color White

1: 4SC in magic ring. [4]
2: Inc in each st around. [8]
3: SC in each st around. [8]
|
5: SC in each st around. [8]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing. You don’t have to stuff the legs.

Tail
Use the color White

Chain 9, insert in second chain from hook and make 8 slst. Fasten off and leave long tail for sewing.

Collar
Use the color Red

Make a chain of either FSC or CH, measure around the body to know how many stitches you want. If you used FSC you are done, if you used CH, insert in 2nd chain from hook, and crochet SC all the way back.
Fasten off and make a round collar.

Assembling

I always try to use sewing pins to position all of my parts first, before sewing on, this way I am able to move parts around until I am happy.

At one part of the body there’s less dots, this will be the belly, so keep that in mind. Start with positioning the snout first, place it just under the middle of the face. Sew it on. Now position the legs and sew them on. Same for the tail. Last you will place the ears, keep in mind that you will fold those over. and sew those on.
Put on his collar just behind his ears and front legs.
Last, cut eyes, a nose and eyebrows from felt and glue those to the face. And Rolly is already done!

I hope you enjoyed this pattern! I am looking forward for the next one, I hope you too!? See you next week!

Love
Danielle

♥ Drawing Lesson 2; Shading

13 juni 2019 by Delinlea Leave a Comment

Hey Lovelies! It’s the 2nd Thursday of the month and I decided to keep that day for our drawing lessons. I hope you are fine with that. Today I wanted to talk a bit about shading, because last time I talked how you can start drawing, as in the outlines for any subject. Shading is important to get a 3D effect in your drawing.

Shading you can do in many ways, I’ll try to cover most of them. A lot of techniques are avaible, you should just try them all and then figure out with what technique you are comfortable with and, maybe most important, what the outcome must look like. Sometimes it takes a while to get comfortable with a certain technique. Practice will pay off in the end. Don’t give up after one try. Drawing takes time to learn.

Hatching

By drawing short or longer lines you can create depth. You usually draw them in one direction/parallel with this technic. The more lines you draw in one area, the dark the shade will be.

Cross hatching

Is almost the same as hatching, only here, you will draw the lines in different directions. They cross each other in many ways. The same here, more lines in one place is a darker shade.

Circular motion

You basicly draw in small cicles to create depth. By drawing in small circles you won’t have a stop and ending point of your pencil while drawing, so no extra pressure on your pencil. The pressure with circles is usually continues, this will create a smoother outcome. Add more layers to create darker areas.

Stippling/Pointlism

By adding a lot of dots to your drawing, you can also create shades. This is often done with markers. but you can do it with pencil as well, just becareful not to damage either your paper or your pencils. The more dots you add to one spot, the darker the area. This will take a lot of time to do tho, but sometimes the outcome can be very interresting. For example if you need to draw something sparkly.

Smudging/blending

Most of the times this will be used in combination of blending stumps/tissues/qtips/etc. You apply some graphite (or else) lightly to an area you wanna shade, with, for example a blending stump you blend it out for a smooth finish. Repeat until you have the darkness you want.
(Just a side note, don’t use your fingers. On your fingers are always oils from your skin, this will affect the blending, it won’t be smooth and after some years in can affect your drawing.)

Burnishing

Usually used with colored pencil, not really with graphite. You basicly apply a lot of pressure to your pencil, this way you can get a smooth/darker result. But, there’s a but in this, you damage the tooth of your paper. When there is no tooth left, you can’t apply more layers. If you use thin paper, you can even rip it. Please be careful if you use this technique.

For me, personally, I love to use the circular motion technique. I have never been a fan of anything else. I did smudging with my fingers in the beginning, when I just started out. I just didn’t had the knowledge. Since I am a self-taught artist, I always had to learn things the hard way haha. I wouldn’t have liked to learn it another way tho. Just let me play around with the things around me and I’ll be happy.

I hope you will play around as well, remember, there’s no right or wrong in art. Whatever people will say. All ‘Rules’ are made by humans, why follow them all the time?

Have a wonderful day!

Love
Danielle