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Hi Everyone, it's Faye here today :)

This month I thought I'd challenge you to think a little differently about the way you colour skin. Skin doesn't always need to be skin coloured! Of course, you can use your markers to show a newborn babies skin (think peachy), an elderly person's skin (very pale with a tinge of grey to it), or to show someone is ill.

Taking it a bit further, look at the lovely blue skin that's featured in the film Avatar. If that's a little bit far out there for you, take a baby jump and colour a bear pink, blue or purple. Go on, you know you want to!

To help encourage you, I thought I'd colour this lovely fairy (Giselle the Fairy) from Whimsy Stamps. Previously, I have coloured fairies with a very pale pink skin, (E0000, E000, R00, R11) but this time I thought I'd go for green. This is actually my second attempt. On the first sample, the skin was darker and she was starting to look a little Shrek-like, it didn't suit the delicate image. Don't be afraid to start again if things aren't going the way you want.

If this is your first time, stick with it. The image looks terrible when only the skin is coloured. As you start to colour the other areas, the things that look loud and unusual will tone down.

Ok, ready? I'm colouring dark to light and my light source is at the top left...

YG00

Add cast shadow to the areas the light can't get to with E70 and soften with YG00

Blend out with YG0000

Close the remaining white spaces with Y0000

And there she is. I went back and added a little more shading with YG00 and carefully blended it out with YG0000.

Shall we colour the rest of her?

I coloured the hair light to dark, with BG10, BG11, BG53, BG57

I'm switching back to colouring dark to light...
Dress shoes and flowers next with RV91, RV11, RV32 and RV34
Have you noticed the dress underneath her wings is lighter? This is because the wing is over the top of the dress, so the pink won't be showing as boldly
I've used RV000 and RV91 here

Let's deal with the wings... Y0000, YG0000, YG00
Carefully give a wash of Y0000 over the top of the dress to give the pale pink a wash of yellow. This shows the wing is sitting on top of the dress. It's a little detail, but it looks great

Colour the leaves, bell and hair twine with YG01, YG03 and YG63

Next up are the flowers and the spot on the wing... BG10, BG11, BG53

Finish up with YG00, YG01 and RV32 on the flower centers and the final spot on the wing

I've used a white gel pen to add spots to her dress

And I couldn't resist some glitter for her wings

Sorted!

Copics Used...
Skin/ Wings; Y0000, YG0000, YG00, E70
Hair/ Petals; BG10, BG11, BG53, BG57
Leaves; YG01, YG03, YG63
Dress/ Shoes/ Flowers; RV000, RV91, RV11, RV32, RV34

Thanks so much for stopping by... Have a great day.