Monoline Travel Coasters 1

 in Creator Crew / Design Team / DIY Decor / Tutorials, Tips & Tricks  tagged monoline / monoline art / monolinedrawing / MONOTwin / permanent / permanent marker / Tombow MONOTWIN Permanent Marker by

Do you love the monoline badge trend? I’m Amy from Amy Latta Creations, and everywhere I look, I’ve been seeing these really cool, minimalist drawings of nature scenes in the shape of a circle. They’re typically not colored in, just shaded in some areas using lines. Here’s how you can try your hand at this trend and create your own set of Monoline Travel Coasters with your favorite Tombow supplies.

Image is a collage of photos of the finished projects, along with the words, “Monoline Travel Coasters” intended for Pinterest.

How to Make Monoline Travel Coasters

These coasters are so much fun to make, because each one is unique, and you can play around with creating all kinds of fun travel scenes. From the ocean to the desert to outer space, anything goes! Grab the supplies listed below, and let’s start crafting some one-of-a-kind decor.

Image contains a wooden desktop with a colorful marker organizer and a faux plant, as well as a white coffee cup on a wood slice coaster. Two other monoline travel coasters sit by the plant, as does a MONOTwin bold marker.

Materials

Instructions

Step 1: Paint the center of each wood slice using chalk paint.

I like using chalk paint because of its matte finish. It works really well for creating a surface to draw on, unlike glossy paints. Let the paint dry completely before moving to the next step.

Image contains four small wood slices painted with a light gray chalk paint.

Step 2: Plan your travel scene.

You can draw the same thing on all four coasters, or you can create a unique scene for each one. Here are a few basic elements drawn in the popular monoline badge style to get you started.

CLOUDS – Draw a series of bumps in varying sizes.

TREES – Sketch a vertical line, then make a series of upside-down “v” shapes starting at the top and going down the line.

MOUNTAINS – Doodle a few irregular pointed shapes and divide off a section on the side of each one. Fill in that section with horizontal lines to create dimension.

Image illustrates monoline drawings of clouds, trees, and mountains.

SUN – Draw a circle for the sun, then give it lines for the rays. Break some of the lines into smaller pieces.

MOON – Sketch a “c” shape, then draw another “c” inside to form a crescent.

STARS – Fill the night sky with a combination of dots, open circles, closed circles, and/or plus signs.

Image contains monoline drawings of the sun, moon, and stars.

There are lots of other things you can include, like rivers, palm trees, waves, cacti, etc. depending on what kind of scene you’d like to create. For inspiration, you can search “monoline badge” on Pinterest or a search engine and find tons of examples.

Step 3: Lightly sketch your design onto the coaster with a MONO Drawing Pencil.

You’ll want to erase this later, so try to keep the lines as light as possible by applying very little pressure as you draw.

Image contains Amy’s hand holding a Tombow drawing pencil and sketching a scene on a painted wood slice.

Step 4: Trace your lines with the fine tip end of the MONOTwin Bold Permanent Marker.

This 2 mm tip gives a consistent line thickness to the drawing that’s fine enough for detail but bold enough to create a striking image. (The other end of this marker is a chisel tip that’s fun to use for other project types, so it’s a great multi-purpose tool to have on hand.) The oil-based, permanent ink works on all kind of surfaces including paper, metal, plastic, glass, vinyl, porcelain, leather, and wood, so it’s the perfect choice for craft projects like this one.

Image contains Amy’s hand holding a black MONOTwin marker and drawing on a painted wood slice.

Step 5: Erase your pencil lines.

Once the ink is dry, it’s smear proof, so you can easily use a MONO Eraser to get rid of any marks from your pencil sketch that are still visible.

Image contains Amy’s hand holding a MONO Eraser and erasing pencil lines from a finished coaster.

Step 6: Seal your coaster.

Although the ink itself is water-resistant, we still need to seal the coasters so that the chalk paint won’t scratch or chip off. Did you know that in addition to being an adhesive, Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue works like a decoupage medium and a sealer? Apply a small puddle of glue to the surface and spread it out with a paintbrush to get a thin, even layer of coverage over the entire surface of the coaster.

Image contains Amy’s hand holding a paintbrush and spreading MONO Aqua Liquid Glue on the surface of the wood slice coaster. The tube of glue sits nearby.

Once the glue is completely dry, your coasters are ready to use. Here are the four specific scenes I created: beach, mountain, desert, and space. Feel free to recreate these same images, or to come up with something entirely new for your coasters.

Image contains four monoline travel coasters: one is beach themed, one mountain themed, one desert themed, and one space themed, on a white background.

In addition to creating and keeping these for your own home, you can also make a set to give as a gift. You can personalize them based on specific places you’ve traveled by adding special landmarks. Another idea is to add the name of a location either on the back or as part of the illustration.

Image contains four monoline travel coasters: one is beach themed, one mountain themed, one desert themed, and one space themed, on a wooden desk. Surrounding them are a faux plant, an organizer filled with multicolored markers, and a MONOTwin bold marker.

No matter what scenes you choose to draw, these are sure to be a hit! This project is so much fun, and it can easily be completed in an afternoon. If you give it a try, be sure to tag @tombowusa and @amylattacreations on social so we can see your project photos and inspire each other. We can’t wait to see what you create!

Image contains four monoline travel coasters: one is beach themed, one mountain themed, one desert themed, and one space themed, on a white background. A MONOTwin marker sits nearby on a wooden desktop.

More Inspiration

If you liked this project, here are a few other tutorials you might enjoy:

Drawing 101 – Continuous Line Drawing

Whimsical Flower Doodles with MONO Drawing Pens

Inking Sketches with MONO Drawing Pens

Happy creating!

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