Hello Messians, it’s EmK again, and I am thrilled to be here for the season that I’ve been anticipating the most: Fairy Tales! I’ve always fancied myself a writer and a storyteller, and find the world of fairy tales to be a wonderful place of imagination where we can immerse ourselves in magic and wonder. It’s so easy to set your worries aside when you’re mind is busy wandering through the pages of mermaids, and dragons, and fae! So, for this tutorial, I am inviting you to create your very own fantasy creatures; creatures that speak to you, speak for you, and make your inner child smile brightly through the pages of your art journal.

For this tutorial, you will learn how to make soft colorful backgrounds by using watercolors on a gessoed surface. We will also discuss creating make-believe beings by collaging found pictures of people with animal-esque parts that we can associate with fantasy creatures. I’ll be providing you with antlers, aquatic tails, and different wing types so that you can easily create fairies, sirens, horned folk. In this tutorial, I’ll be using wings, but I promise I won’t stop there throughout the course of this season! Perhaps you’ve noticed them popping up already? In the photos found in this post, you can also see examples in which I’ve used many of the fantastic creature pieces found in the PDF below–which I recommend you print off and play with!

Supplies

• Your journal
• White gesso or white acrylic paint
• Watercolors, water, and paint brushes
• Images of men or women with which you will collage
• Scissors and adhesive
• Images of wings, tails, antlers, etc (See PDF below!)

Optional supplies:

• Transparent ink, like Sharpies or Copic markers
• Transparent paint, like Golden fluid acrylics or watered down acrylic paint
• Writing utensil
• Other art supplies that you enjoy using

Note: Feel free to use all of fantasy parts included in the PDF in any way that you’d like to. I’ve personally drawn them just for you, so the use of them will not cause any copyright violations!