#etchr

[shelandsorcery]

chipping away at a little crystal island in my etchr watercolour sketchbook

the colour palette (separated out onto the left side of the metal palette) is earth tones, cobalts, and then perylene green, mayan yellow, lunar violet, and kyanite genuine for some flair

[doodlewash]

REVIEW: Etchr Watercolour Postcards

Etchr Lab has watercolour postcards with three different textures to meet your artwork needs. Two are 100% cotton, made with the same paper as used in their fabulous sketchbooks, and one is made with 25% cotton. There’s nothing more welcome than a hand-written piece of mail from a friend or family, especially when it’s decorated with hand-drawn art. Or you might find a postcard handy for quick…

[udurghsigil]

synovia checkin out the only remnant of her mortal life

[corey-makes-art]

Starting my B5 etchr sketchbook by painting the cover

[measureformeasure]

i don’t think i’ve posted much art here but my reorganized watercolour palette makes me so happy :)

(l-r: winsor and newton quinacridone opera gouache, holbein pyrrole red, beam paints fall poplar yellow (hansa), etchr just yellow (cadmium), etchr green that is gross (seriously etchr paints are not worth it I got these for free), beam paints gold, etchr cobalt blue, holbein phthalo blue red shade, etchr burnt ochre, holbein peach black, holbein titanium white, beam paints shell (i bought it when it was called pearl), stoneground hudson’s bay blue, and a little quarter pan I got as a gift from an Etsy store i can’t remember the name of for the life of me but the paint is called scheherazade, + koi water tank brush)

[bethharriman]

Something a little looser to practice, and my first experience sketching with a fountain pan. Loved it!

[ssavaart]

Lesbians

This was page 17 of my Hair Journal series from 2022

Watercolor and ink in the Etchr Labs "Perfect Sketchbook"

[ailelie]

Installing Linux (Mint) as a Non-Techy Person

I've wanted Linux for various reasons since college. I tried it once when I no longer had to worry about having specific programs for school, but it did not go well. It was a dedicated PC that was, I believe, poorly made. Anyway.

In the process of deGoogling and deWindows365'ing, I started to think about Linux again. Here is my experience.

Pre-Work: Take Stock

List out the programs you use regularly and those you need. Look up whether or not they work on Linux. For those that don't, look up alternatives.

If the alternative works on Windows/Mac, try it out first.

Make sure you have your files backed up somewhere.

Also, pick up a 5GB minimum USB drive.

Oh and make a system restore point (look it up in your Start menu) and back-up your files.

Step One: Choose a Distro

Dear god do Linux people like to talk about distros. Basically, from what all I've read, if you don't want to fuss a lot with your OS, you've got two options: Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Ubuntu is better known and run by a company called Canonical. Linux Mint is run by a small team and paid for via donations.

I chose Linux Mint. Some of the stuff I read about Ubuntu reminded me too much of my reasons for wanting to leave Windows, basically. Did I second-guess this a half-dozen times? Yes, yes I did.

The rest of this is true for Linux Mint Cinnamon only.

Step Two: Make your Flash Drive

Linux Mint has great instructions. For the most part they work.

Start here:

The trickiest part of creating the flash drive is verifying and authenticating it.

On the same page that you download the Linux .iso file there are two links. Right click+save as both of those files to your computer. I saved them and the .iso file all to my Downloads folder.

Then, once you get to the 'Verify your ISO image' page in their guide and you're on Windows like me, skip down to this link about verifying on Windows.

Once it is verified, you can go back to the Linux Mint guide. They'll direct you to download Etchr and use that to create your flash drive.

If this step is too tricky, then please reconsider Linux. Subsequent steps are both easier and trickier.

Step Three: Restart from your Flash Drive

This is the step where I nearly gave up. The guide is still great, except it doesn't mention certain security features that make installing Linux Mint impossible without extra steps.

(1) Look up your Bitlocker recovery key and have it handy.

I don't know if you'll need it like I did (I did not turn off Bitlocker at first), but better to be safe.

(2) Turn off Bitlocker.

(3) Restart. When on the title screen, press your Bios key. There might be more than one. On a Lenovo, pressing F1 several times gets you to the relevant menu. This is not the menu you'll need to install, though. Turn off "Secure Boot."

(4) Restart. This time press F12 (on a Lenovo). The HDD option, iirc, is your USB. Look it up on your phone to be sure.

Now you can return to the Linux Mint instructions.

Figuring this out via trial-and-error was not fun.

Step Four: Install Mint

Just follow the prompts. I chose to do the dual boot.

You will have to click through some scary messages about irrevocable changes. This is your last chance to change your mind.

I chose the dual boot because I may not have anticipated everything I'll need from Windows. My goal is to work primarily in Linux. Then, in a few months, if it is working, I'll look up the steps for making my machine Linux only.

Some Notes on Linux Mint

Some of the minor things I looked up ahead of time and other miscellany:

(1) HP Printers supposedly play nice with Linux. I have not tested this yet.

(2) Linux Mint can easily access your Windows files. I've read that this does not go both ways. I've not tested it yet.

(3) You can move the taskbar (panel in LM) to the left side of your screen.

(4) You are going to have to download your key programs again.

(5) The LM software manager has most programs, but not all. Some you'll have to download from websites. Follow instructions. If a file leads to a scary wall of strange text, close it and just do the Terminal instructions instead.

(6) The software manager also has fonts. I was able to get Fanwood (my favorite serif) and JetBrains (my favorite mono) easily.

In the end, be prepared for something to go wrong. Just trust that you are not the first person to ever experience the issue and look it up. If that doesn't help, you can always ask. The forums and reddit community both look active.

[t0mboi]

Made myself a goal for 2025 to try different medias (art)

I revisited an old passion of mine after learning about colour theory. I’m still learning, but I think I’m doing pretty well so far (just the patience I’m kinda lacking of lol)

I also did use a metallic palette (by Etchr); it looks beautiful in real life, but the camera doesn’t do it justice :,)

[bunsakashitaamericapaintings]

Today's Paint-out with @petemorrisart 's group. Beautiful day to sketch outdoor! Lunch at Chichen Itza in Mercado Paloma next door! St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church South Los Angeles section of Los Angeles, California Acrylic A4x2 Etchr Sketchbook Sketched live on location 10:42 AM - 11:52 AM Tuesday April 29 2025

[shelandsorcery]

I got this set of Kuretake Gansai Tambi in the fall and day down to play with them in my etchr sketchbook this week. The 100% cotton paper that usually is my best friend, however, felt less useful with these than with my usual watercolours.

which isn't to say i didn't have fun! the colour range of the set is great and the vibrancy is *amazing*.

but i realized i really don't know much about these paints besides the fact that they're at least a little different from Western style watercolours; so i did some googling, and i thought I'd share some highlights:

a great breakdown of the actual chemical differences:

a great demo of how they can be pushed far beyond what you think in terms of layering and vibrancy:

They sound like a product related to traditional paint prep methods for nihonga, which is painted on washi paper :

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonga

this playlist is a very clear overview of nihonga materials:

these days they seem very strongly associated with etagami, which I'm just starting to research:

In summary, no, they definitely don't work like my Daniel Smith or Mijello or Holbein watercolours, but that's because they're very definitely not the same thing. I'm excited to play around with the paints in combo with different materials and see what they unlock for me!

Also, god, I'm already tempted to get more; they really do have a jewel-like quality, shining in those big flat pans....

(i did rearrange them into this colour wheel order to help me learn the palette, if you noticed the labels in the box no longer line up with the colours)

[tashgoose]

A little watercolour landscape study

Cold press a6 etchr sketchbook and winsor and newton watercolours.

[joliec]

For my watercolor sketchbook, I am now 4 pages from the end. Yay. The girl, wearing the headphones, is in that sketchbook. She is a gouache and water soluble graphite pencil painting. The other two pieces are in my new Etchr mixed media sketchbook, which I am really enjoying. The paper is great. The first piece, a gouache painting, is Sailor V/Sailor Venus from the Sailor Moon anime/manga series. The second picture is a drawing of Minerva, the goddess of Wisdom. I used a dark blue watercolor pencil for it, but decided to keep it as a drawing, instead of activating it with water to change it into a painting. Enjoy.

[corey-makes-art]

Changed the lead to 2B and suddenly my artstyle just evaporated and turned into this haha

[bunsakashitaportraitpaintings]

Today's Event with @urbansketchersla Rubel Castle Glendora, CA @sallyscallop sketching Fountain Pen and Gouache Etchr A4 sketchbook Sketched live from 12:15 PM - 12:29 PM June 16 2024

[ssavaart]

Happy Monday All!

The fine folks at Etchr labs sent me a couple of their "Perfect Sketchbooks" to try out and I was doodling in their Hot Press sketchbook with some gouache and... well... this is what I got.

It's always hard to walk away from something in a sketchbook because you want it to stay "loose" and "sketchy" but sometimes you just go crazy and then you're caught in this inbetween place where you see all the things wrong you could fix... if it wasn't in a sketchbook.

That's kind of where I am. I want to go in and fix things... but... it's a sketch. It's in a sketchbook. Why waste time on it?

Ah... the dilemma of art.

Sending Big Hugs from the Hobbit Hole. ♥♥♥

Scott