I was stuck on coastlines for weeks until I tried a coffee stain

For my new pirate map, I just could not get the coastlines to look natural. Every time I drew them, they looked too smooth and fake, like someone cut them with scissors. I tried different pens, I tried shaking my hand, nothing worked. Then I saw a post here about using random shapes as a base. I spilled some coffee on a scrap paper last Tuesday, and the brown blob gave me an idea. I traced the outside edge of that stain with a light pencil, and it made the perfect jagged, uneven coast. I went over it with ink, added some bays and inlets, and it looked real for the first time. Now I keep a jar of water and a brush to make random wet spots on paper just to get those organic shapes. Does anyone else use a weird trick like this to break out of a drawing rut?

3 comments

3 Comments

hart.ryan2mo ago

Ever try using a sponge for islands?

sethmitchell2mo ago

My buddy tried that once, right? He got a huge sponge for his reef tank. It worked for a bit but then it just fell apart and made a huge mess. He was picking little sponge bits out of the filter for a week.

seth_wells492mo ago

Wait, he used a sponge from his actual fish tank? That’s the part that gets me. Those things are full of tank gunk and who knows what else. I can’t imagine drawing on paper that touched fish water. The smell alone would be awful, forget the little bits falling off.

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