A tree house – and different colouring techniques for foliage

Hello everyone, it’s Sandra from Portugal.

Today I am bringing you a lovely tree house postcard, and some alternative techniques to colour foliage.

The image is a digistamp from Just Ink lined called “Tree House”.

I am a super messy colourist, jumping from one section to another before completing the first, but I will try to show you how I coloured this image.

I started by drawing and colouring the ground with YG01/03/23 and then colouring the sky with BG000.

I had to go over the sky a few times to make it evenly covered.

Then I had to decide how to colour the foliage. There are several techniques we can use but the most common are stippling, scribbling, and smooth colouring. 

Let me elaborate a little bit on each:

Smooth Colouring

Smooth colouring is a well known technique. It is quick and easy to colour the bush and gives you a perfect finished look. You might want to choose carefully your markers so you can easily achieve a nice blended gradient. Also you’ll get smoother results if you colour quickly between layers, not allowing the ink to dry in between layers.

Stippling

Stippling is a nice and quick way to build dimension just by layering random dots, or tiny tiny flicks, on your image.  In order to avoid a blended result, don’t choose markers too closed together in colour tone. I like to layer the base first (that's completely optional) and then start stippling from light to  dark. But you can try yourself and find out what works best for you. In the picture above I used YG01/03/05/23/17. I just added random tiny flicks, darker and closer together where it's further away from the light, and lighter and more spaced where I wanted the highlight. 

Scribbling

Scribbling is another technique that adds dimension. It is a bit messier, in my opinion, and requires that you control well your copic nib in order to get a very fine line and an harmonious finished work (try grabbing the marker closer to the nib).  As with stippling, don’t choose markers too close together in colour tone, to avoid a blended outcome. You’ll get better results/thinner scribbles if you scribble faster and holding your pen straight vertically, but you may find it harder to control the outcome. In the picture above I used YG01/03/05/23/17. I just scribbled randomly, darker and closer together where it's further away from the light, and lighter and more spaced where I wanted the highlight.

Both stippling and scribbling are very common and useful techniques to colour also curly hair, scales and even fur, please try it! 😊 To get crispier results, allow the ink to dry between layers, otherwise you’ll end up with a blended result, and will lose dimension. If this happens, jut repeat all scribbling or stippling again, only this time, allowing for drying time. Also know that different base layers will get you different results for the same combos (see further bellow).

Eventually, I chose to colour the foliage by stippling because I thought it would better match the loose leaves on the lower branches.

To add some dimension and the illusion of distance I coloured several “tree bushes” in different combos: brighter and lighter for the foliage upfront and duller and darker for the foliage that, in my perspective, would lay a little bit behind or further away from the light source.   

I set the tone with the base layer. So, if we label the bushes 1, 2 , 3 , 4 and 5, the base layers used were YG61 for bushes 1, 2 and 3, YG01 for bush 4 and YG00 for bush 5 (this last one was a huge mistake if you ask me, because it toned the bush too yellow, and I had to spend extra time to disguise it with the remaining combo).

The other markers I used for stippling, (yes, I know, as always I overdo it) were:

Bush 1 and 3:

YG21/23/25/63/67, FGY02, and G46/99 

Bush 2 and 4:

YG21/23/25/17,  FGY02,  and G07/29

Bush 5:

Same  as above but with less YG07 and with no G29

I immediately coloured the tree branches with E53/55/57 and the lower leaves (G46 on the left and YG07 on the right) to  get an idea of the finished “ensemble” and this is what it looked like:

Notice how you can get different results just by changing the base layer colour. Bushes 2 (YG61) and 4 (YG01) are an example of it.  Tweaking the colour combos just a little bit also results differently, see Bushes 1 and 2, for example.

Isn’t this fun? 😁

I then finished colouring the tree with the same combo, and the house foundations with E33/35/37.  I added a cast shadow behind the tree using YG17 (closer to the tree) and YG23, and coloured the ladder steps with E33/35.  

It took me some time to decide on how to colour the house. I took some inspiration from Pinterest – girl tree houses.

After drooling over a bunch of them (and dreaming with some of them just for myself), I finally decided to colour this house in lavender tones, so elegant!

So, I picked BV25 and BV29 for the roof, and V20/22/25 for the walls.  I coloured some details in E33 and E35 to make a connection with all the brown in the remaining drawing.

And finally decided on E40/41 for the door, window frame and shades. I coloured the door knob with BV25/29, the glass with B000, and the plant on the vase with YG03/05.

As a last minute detail, I also tried to add a cast shadow to the ladder, but I missed it so much, that I disguised  it behind some grass I coloured with YG17/23, FGY2 and G19. I also toned down the fence on the left using W0 and then going over with E41 again. I think it looks better now. And, that flower vase was missing some flowers!! So I added some tiny pink dots with a gel pen.
I am pretty happy with how it all turned out! :)

What do you think?

Copics used:

Sky: BG000

Ground: YG01/03/23

Grass: YG17/23, FGY2 and G19

Tree trunk: E51/53/55

Tree foliage: YG00/01/07/17/21/23/25/61/63/67, FGY02, and G07/29/46/99

Ladder: E33/35

House foundations: E33/35/37

House roof and door knob: B25/29

House walls: V20/22/25

Glass windows: B000

Brown details on house: E33/35

Fence and house door: E40/41 and W0

I hope you like it.

Thanks for visiting and bearing with me, in such a long post. 😉

Hugs from warm and sunny Portugal,

Sandra

Drawing Flower Patterns

Hi! It's Sandie here today and I would like to share a quick and simple way to draw flowers on clothing. The image I've used today is Marci with Rose, from La-La Land Crafts. 

First I need to colour my image, so I start with the skin on which I use

E000, E00, E11, E04, R21, R22, R35(lips). I actually meant to use the R22 on the lips but I picked up the wrong colour from my pile. 

 On the hair I use my favourite hair colours

E50, E51, E53, E33

Next I coloured up the dress and hat. As I am going to draw flowers on the clothing I don't want to use colours that are too dark , or too strong so I've chosen yellow -Y00, Y11, Y13, Y15. I made little ruffles in the skirt. 

The boots I've coloured brown, using E42, E43, E44, E29

I coloured the rose in the same colours as I will use for the flowers on her dress, to keep things coordinated - R81, R83, R85, R39. YGO3, YG63 

Once I have my image all coloured up I start the flowers by laying down some of the lighter pink (R83) in 2 circular strokes, Then I take R85 and draw some outline with it. You can add as many or as few flowers as you desire. You can also add more as you go. 

Next I take the YG03 and mark out where my leaves are going to go. I use a light colour because it's easy to cover it over if I'm not happy with the placement. 

Finally I go over the leaves with YG63 to make them pop out more. 

I finish the colouring by going back to the dress with Y17 and adding more colour to the areas I want to make darker. I also coloured the little bows on her boots.

 The image is now ready for a project. 

Thanks so much for dropping by today. I hope you are inspired to try this yourself. 

Sandie

How to colour an image in moonlight

Hello Copic Lovers

   

Nice to see you again on our Copic Blog.

Today I would like to show you how to colour an image in moonlight.

 

After I drew the image, I made the outlines with a black Multiliner.

I started with C2 and coloured almost the whole cape, I just left the part bright where the moonlight is shining on it.

After that I wanted to be more courageous and took C7 to do the shadows.

 Then I took C10 and made really dark shadows,

 make hard lines where the moon is shining on the cape.

With 110 I made the inside of the cape black.

I blended the other parts with C8, C7 and C4 to make it softer.

 

I took the black 100 to make some more darker shadows.

 

The white parts of the cape I coloured with Y000.

With Caran d’ache Supracolor soft white I created some bright accents.

 Then I made the moon also with Y000, the moon craters I did with Y00.

After that I took B32 and made a bright blue part for the sky.

 

With B34 I made some clouds, 

you can also go over the Yellow moon, it doesn’t get green.

 

I did the horizon with B37 and also some more darker clouds.

 

The lights on the water are made with Y000, after that I took B99 to make the water dark.

Just leave some white parts and don’t colour the Y000.

 With B93 I’m going to colour the white parts and also make fine lines into the Y000.

To make the blue more intense I go with B39 over the B99, 

but not the whole part otherwise it’s getting boring.

With Y00 I add some more reflections in the water and after that I took Molotow White to make some highlights in the water and also on the clouds.

To make some brighter parts in the dark clouds,

 I used the Supracolor soft pencil again.

I will not explain the rest of the image,

 I think you know how to colour her clothes and the wood.

If not, we have a lot of tutorials on this blog where you can take a look.

 Of course I will write down the colours that I used.

 

The boat pier I coloured with E41, E44, E49 and E47.

Her dress is made with BG93, BG96, BG99 and W6

For her leather corset I used E49, E59, E57 and E23

Her skin is made with YR00, E11, E01 and the shadow in her face is E71.

The hair is made with E40, E42, E43, E44 and C5 for the darkest parts.

The colour of the sea B99, B93, B39 and Y000

The clouds B32, B34, B37

The moon Y000 and Y00

Her cape 110, 100, C10, C8, C7, C4 and Y000

I hope you like her and you can use my tutorial.

I wish you all a very nice day and hope to see you soon again.

Hugs Juanita

Mia and Onyx

Hi Everyone, it's Saskia here.

Today I have double tutorial for you. The first one you can find on the Colourstock Blog.

There you can find the tutorial how to colour the scales of baby dragon. But here I'm going to show you how to create scales on human skin the easy way. This a technique from Copic Colouring Lesson 3.

This is part of the coloring of animal skins. This technique you can apply to fish, dragons, bears, you can apply it to almost any animal skin.

 Step 1: First colour the skin with E00 and E000

Step 2: Start with setting down little random dots with your B000 along the edge of the skin.

Step 3: Add even more random dots to the previous colour this time with B00

Step 4: Do the same thing with B04

 Step 5: Again the same thing but now wth BV02

Step 6: With B000 you do the same thing again. Because you're paper is getting wet from the ink you will see that the dots are starting to blend.

Step 7: Now you will use a dark colour to indicate some depth. You do this with BV04

Step 8: With E00 and E21 you are going to make the hard colours a little bit softer.

You can continue to repeat steps 3 through 8 until you are satisfied with the result.

  

I used these Copic colours for the dragon;

Blue tones : B000 - B00 - B01 - B02 - B04

Purple tones: BV00 - BV02 - BV04 - BV08

Green tones: G03 - G05

Stripes in the eyes with various shades of Derwent colorpencils.

Skin tones: E0000 - E000 - E00 - E04 - E21

Purple tones: BV00 - BV02 - BV04 - BV08

Green tones: G03 - G05 - G09 - G29
Blue tones : B000 - B00 - B01 - B02 - B04

Black tones: C5 - C7 - C9 - 110 en B37

Grey tones: W1 - W3 - W5

Stripes in the eyes with various shades of Derwent colorpencils.

The background I made with Re-fill RV17 - B29, Activator and Yupo paper.

The white points are set with a white Molotow.

On the blog post of Miranda van den Bosch on 22 May, you can see how I made that background.

The drawing I coloured this time is from Tanja Bond and comes from her coloringbook "Inklings"

I hope you have read this post with pleasure.

Until next time!

Dreaming of a blue green sea!

Hi all,

Well summer is coming..

the weather is getting warmer 

and that made me dream about a nice refreshing blue green sea!

 So I have made this special blue green special fold card, 

when I will look at it I can dream away.

For the background I have used some glossy paper 

(I have used Chromolux paper)

 two colours of Sketch pens and the Activator Spray. 

I have made several photos during the process,

are you ready?? 

I have started to add some Copic colours on a craft sheet

(G14 and BG07)

Afterwards I have sprayed some Activator on the ink

Now I have pressed some Chromolux paper onto the 

Copic ink with the glossy side down

This is the result..

Now I have put the paper onto my stamptool with the magnets

and have used my "goutelettes/drops" stamp from Katzelkraft.

I have used olive green Stazon ink .

These are some of the products I have used.

Here you can see the result after the stamping..

I have added some highlights on the drops with some Copic Opaque White

As for the shells , 

I have used my new Marianne Design die and used some white foam.

I have heated the foam shells with my heat gun

and when they were warm I have shaped them,

once they are cold again the shape will remain.

They've got a touch of colour too, using my G12 and BG0000 Sketch pens.

A sentiment from Joy Crafts stamped with olive green Stazon ink ,

 afterwards when the text was dry I have added some BG01 on the text sea.

I had found some pearls from HeroArts in matching colours too .

Some dots with Copic Opaque White were added with a tooth pick.

I have stamped a shells background stamp from Impression Obsession

onto the aqua coloured design paper from Marianne Design.

 Later I  have torn the edges of the design paper and also of the plain green paper. 

This is the photo of the whole card.

All dies I have used are from Marianne Design.

This is a close up of the panel made with the Copic pens and the Activator Spray.

As you can see I am ready for summer , I can dive into my blue green sea .

Copic:

BG0000, BG01, BG07

G12

Copic Opaque White

Copic Activator