Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Pretty Little Flower Girl

Been working on this cute little digi.  It's a Robert Jackson image called "Flower Girl".  Isn't she just the cutest!
Her skin coloring is not what I was aiming for, but it's okay.  I learned from my new copic coloring guide that I've over blended and lost my shadowing and shading.  That's true.  I kept adding color, changing color...you name it.   So not real happy about that.
The skirt of her dress is okay, but how about her curls and bows?  Pretty good, huh?  I aced those curls.  Trust me, it wasn't as easy as I'm making it sound.  It was hard work, but I'm so happy with them.   I'm not bragging; just happy with the way those curls came out.  You've got to learn to appreciate your own work.  If you don't, maybe nobody else will. 
I added glitter to her bouquet to give it a little bling since I made her beads blue.  Had to.  Got too much of the skin color on the beads.  Removed as much with blender pen, and then use the blue of the dress. 

Thanks to Robert Jackson for adding more images to his collection so soon after losing two of his close family members.  Our thoughts and prayers are still with you, Robert.  You might just want to go over and take a look at his new images and leave him some love.

I hope you like her, and as always --
Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

You've Got To Get This Book!

I got a new book today, "Copic Coloring Guide, Level 3: People", by Colleen Schaan and Michelle Walker, and I'm loving it.  This book will get lots of use from me.   If you love to color, not just with copics, but coloring with anything, this book is definitely one you should have in your library.   It's an amazing guide. 

The book is usually priced at $14.95 and comes with a CD.  The CD alone is worth the price.  This is the third in a series of copic coloring guides by Colleen and Michelle, and they just get better and better.  I'm already anticipating what a fourth would cover.

There are lots of tutorial goodies on the CD, including hair chart and a skin chart to keep coloring combinations on, images you can practice on.  You can print out as many as you need to compile a sketch book for your personal use with your favorite color combos.  The book covers faces, hair, clothing, and textures, shading and shadowing.  There are also instructions for projects using images from some favorite artists.

If you don't want to wait for the book you can purchase an online copy from Annie's Attic for the same price.  Don't miss with this one.  You'll kick yourself if you do. 

As always --
Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Freebies, Oopsies, and Colorless Blenders

Okay, so today my freebies comes from Cleah Valero.  Cleah doesn't post often, but she has some real cuties.

For those of you who have been here from the start, you know how hard it is for me to stay in the lines.   I've gotten some better staying in the lines, but learning how to use my colorless blender properly has been the key to fixing what may look like a mess.

This image was colored using Copics.



You can clean this up with your blender with just the slightest touch to the paper.  I'd always wonder how can I clean this up without saturating the paper with the blender?  Now I know that you can barely touch the blender to the paper to push the color back into place.


I went over this one three or four times to keep from saturating the paper with the blender.  Patience.  Patience.  Patience.


Once upon a time I would have trashed this with so many oopsies. Or colored over that buckle with a dark color.  Now I know that if I keep a light hand with the blender and throw in some patience, my coloring will be usable, sometimes without a hint there ever was an oopsie.


Looks clean as a whistle.

And here's the final product.   So cute!


Thanks so much to all of you who have been helping me with your tips and suggestions.  I do hope those who are hesitant to try coloring will try it.  Most of what I learn about Copic coloring has been on the MB and YouTube.  So I'm trying to pay it forward and encourage those who want to color to color.  You just have to do it.  Practice, practice, practice, then practice some more. 

You don't have to start with expensive Copics.   You can start with Bic Mark-It markers, Promarkers, any alcohol based markers will work to get you started.  Using Promarkers have actually helped me work with my Copics better.  I really like the Promarkers.  If you start with Promarkers, you can get some good coloring, and that may be all you need.  Not everybody needs or wants Copics.  Promarkers will work just fine. 

The biggest difference between Promarkers and Copics are the variety of colors.  After using Copic markers, you kind of feel Promarker has some colors missing.  If you start with Promarkers, you probably won't notice the difference.  You can mix the two together.  I suggest you use the colorless blender that come with each set of  markers, though.  I don't like the Promarker blender for Copics and vice versa.  You have to work with them and get the feel of your own style and what works for you.

Had another Cleah Valero to share, but this post has gone long enough.  So that one will have to wait until next time.

As always --

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Following Directions - A Sympathy Card

Okay, so I've been saying my cards suck.   I've also said several times that I know how to follow directions.

I've been receiving Cardmaker magazine since 2005, and I've been receiving Cardmaker card kits from Paper Wishes for most of that time as well.  I've been using the papers and embellisments for other projects.   Since I've finally admitted to myself that after trying really hard the last three years my cards still suck, I decided to stick with the kits.  My creative side tells me that eventually I'll be able to combine the two and use my colorings with cards from the kits. We'll see what that breeds in the future.

In the meantime I'm posting pics of my latest kit card.  It is a sympathy card.  Now that I have my ATG and Xyrons these cards come out sooooooooo much better.  I can put them together without any liquid glue, which always seem to make a mess of some kind on my cards.  If I see glue shine on a finished card, it gets scrapped and becomes a swatch. 

I also played around with the white balance and macro settings on my camera, and these cards are more real to color than my previous cards, and they are much lighter.   I'll probably make a post on what I did since it may help somebody else that may be frustrated with their pics.  Mine have always been too dark, even in daylight.  So what's up with that!

Here's my Sympathy Card.  I hope you like it.

 
















And as always -

Thanks for stopping by!


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Freebies @ ANJI'S ANTICS

Anji's Antics is one of my favorite blogs for line art freebies.  My favorite ones are of women and flowers.  I like to watch them "come alive" as I color them.   I've often wondered if she's drawn them from photos or of folks she knows or if she just imagines them.  Anji is a true artist and often features some of her fantastic artwork, from painting to papier mache to altered art to renovating furnishings.  

Like the postman, you can count on Anji to post an image just about every day, whether it be rain, heat or snow, whether she's feeling sick or well; and if she can't do it, her loving husband will do it for her and keep us posted on Anji.  She's a real trooper.   

Here are some of Anji's images I've colored using Promarkers.

                                                

These were Apple Blossoms

This one turned into this beautiful Black Lady

And this one a beautiful Redhead

If you stopped by to see what Anji inspires you to color and leave her a comment or two, you'll enjoy it and she'd really appreciate it.    
http://anjisantics.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Anji.

And as always -
Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff I've been coloring ...

This image was colored with copics.  It turned out really well.  This is Tilda as a fairy stamp.   Now I just need to find a project to use her on.


I've been trying to color something every day so I'll have something to share here. I'm still going to post oppsies as well as the ones that turn out well.  I hope to encourage you to just keep practicing, and you will soon be able to learn what your markers can and cannot do well.

I'll be posting again tomorrow.  I'm going to do a feature on one of my favorite freebie blogs person tomorrow.  

Thanks for Stopping By!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Cardstock or paper?

Heyyyyy!

If someone were to ask me "Where do you get your paper?", I would normally say wherever I find a sale or have a coupon.   But I can remember when my answer would have been not just wrong, but confusing.   I would have answered with all my wisdom that you had to be careful to buy the thicker paper if you were making cards.  You may not be as dense as me, but here goes.  If this is an aha moment for you, know that you're not alone.

Thicker paper is usually called cardstock!   Papers are used to decorate or cover cardstock, for scrapbooking...pretty much everything but cards and boxes.  To make a card, you need cardstock.  To test this theory, you need only fold a sheet of paper and fold a sheet of cardstock to see which would hold up better as a card.  :)  Cardstock also works best for cutting with your die cutters.  Very few, if any, papers are thick enough for cards.  So make sure when you're looking for cardstock, you're not buying paper and vice versa.  

I have lots of paper that I ordered back in 2006 when I got my first Cricut to make cards only to find out it didn't work too well.  What a newbie!   Way back then you couldn't find cardstock like we have today and colors were limited.  Cardmaking had not quite caught on.

So hopefully knowing the difference between cardstock and paper will save you some time or money, or both.  If you're among those who are saying "duh" at this whole post, you know, "like who wouldn't know that", pray for those of us who are not as sharp as you that we soon will be and that our capabilities will not continue to diminish only to cause you to suffer yet another "duh" moment.  :)
Thanks for stopping by!