Adding Colour

 

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In this tutorial we're going to look at adding colour to your stamped images. There may well have to be a second one on this subject because there are so many ways to do this but we'll see how it goes. Many people feel (often wrongly) that it's their colouring in of the images that lets them down, but in reality, everyone can do it and it really comes down to practice, confidence and finding media that you feel comfortable with.

Before we go any further, I want to make it clear that I'm not trained in any way and what I'm passing on are methods that work for me that I have developed (and continue to develop) from tips from other people and experimentation. I will be talking a lot about the Derwent range, this is because I personally like this range and therefore most of my media is Derwent - however, there are other very good ranges out there too.

Some of the various media for adding colour are:

• pens
• water colour pencils/paints
• pastels
• dry chalks (also known as decorating or blending chalks)
• Inktense
• Coloursoft
• Prismacolor
• dye ink pads
• specialist media such as Twinkling H2Os, cosmic shimmer, glimmer mists etc.

Useful tools are:

• paint brushes in various sizes
• water brushes
• paper stumps
• cotton buds/cosmetic buds
• gamsol
• sansador
• baby oil (yes, really!)
• tile or piece of acetate/plastic to use as a mixing palette

We'll have a look at some basic methods of adding the colour first because whichever media you use a lot of the initial steps will be the same.

• Start with your lightest colour then add your shading colours going as dark as you wish to in stages
• Use very light strokes - you can build up the depth of colour much more accurately and are more likely to avoid harsh lines
• As you go along, use your judgement and be prepared to experiment with more than one type of media in a project to get the look you want to achieve
• Don't forget about light and shading. Decide where your light source is coming from and keep that in mind as you apply the colour. The stamp will often give you a guide with this anyway. Don't be afraid to leave some areas white for highlights - especially for 'cute' characters. If you do forget, all is not lost, a white gel pen is very handy!

 

This has to be one of the simplest ways of adding depth to a stamped image and is stunning for monotone or sepia cards. All I've done with this one is stamp the image with a dye ink (in this case it was Distress Aged Mahogany) then stroked some of the lines with a damp brush to take some colour into some of the white space - don't have the brush too wet, you can add more water if you need it but it's very easy to spoil the image if your brush is too wet. Keep an old towel or paper towel handy to dab the brush onto. This particular stamp is good for illustrating another point - people, animals, trees, plants and even buildings etc need to be 'grounded' so that they don't look like they're floating in mid air! If there isn't shadow like this as part of the stamp, have a look and see if you think you need to add it.

 

This next way is another easy one when you are just starting to gain confidence. I've done this using watercolour but it could be done with any water soluable media. (N.B. You will need to have stamped your image using a permanent ink such as Stazon or Versafine.)

Using light strokes, add colour to the edges of the image. Keep your strokes light to avoid harsh lines. In this instance, I've just added the yellow to one side of the petals on the sunflower because they are small and it makes shading easier. Then I used a damp brush to draw the colour from the edges - don't be afraid to leave pale or even white areas to give depth. I was aiming for a colour wash effect here, but if you look at it when you've done it and feel that you want more depth of colour, you can take colour directly from the pencil onto your brush to add where you feel it's needed.

 

These pictures bring me to one of my favourite mediums - Derwent inktense. I don't know of an equivalent from another company but am prepare to edit this if someone can tell me differently!
This is fabulous media to work with. The pencils can be used dry to colour an image or water can be added to activate the ink. Just like water colours, you can use a lot of water to create an ink wash or less water for more vibrant colours. I use these a lot on my stampscape scenes. Once again keep your pencil stokes very light - in fact, if you look at picture #1, you could be forgiven for thinking that I haven't added any colour at all but picture #2 is the same one after I went over it with a damp brush. When it is dry, inktense is permanent which means that you can then add more colour on top for shading etc without muddying the colours. You can also add colour from other media without disturbing the colours you have already laid down. The tulips in picture #3 had Twinkling H 2Os added over the top of the inktense. Picture #4 shows the vibrancy of the colours more clearly.

 

The images above bring us to pastel pencils. There are several types of pastel media. The dry pencils have a chalk like texture and there are also soft and hard oil pastel sticks. I'm just dealing with the pencils today, purely because I haven't used the others yet. It is very easy to smudge this media so bear that in mind as you're working so that you can avoid your hand rubbing what you've already done. It's lovely media to work with though and can give some lovely effects. I used it to colour in the Tilda image on this card and if you click on the image to enlarge it, you'll be able to see how effective it was for creating the effect of textile on her clothes. As it smudges so easily, I'd suggest that you seal it either with one of the acrylic sprays that's been manufactured for the purpose or hairspray if your piece of work is likely to be handled. These pencils blend very well and the pictures of the pears show the same image in various stages. #1 shows the palest colour over most of the image, the second palest where I wanted some shading and the darkest at the very edge only. Only one of the leaves had some of the shading colours so that you can see the difference. Picture # 2 shows some blending of the colours with a cotton bud. Picture # 3 shows the completed blending. Picture #4 shows a technique that we haven't mentioned yet. After I got it to the stage in picture three, I completed the blending using a cosmetic bud dipped in baby oil. This helps to blend out the pencil marks and also seals the pastel media which means that it doesn't need to be sealed in any other way. It also means that you can get two different effects from one lot of pencils!

 

The picture above are illustrations of the pastel pencil techniques already described (2 without baby oil & 3 - with) a close look at #2 will show that I smudged the sleeve of the paw holding the holly - I'd like to say that I did it for the purposes of this tutorial but sadly I didn't! #1 shows another way of adding colour - that of dry chalks. You can apply these with special applicators, eye shadow applicators or cosmetic buds and use them in the same way we've already mentioned - start with the lightest colour and add darker colours for depth and shading. These are a very good way of helping your confidence when you haven't got much experience because they are very easy to use.

 

 

Last but by no means least today, we come to my new best friend. Derwent coloursoft pencils. There are similar pencils from other companies (such as prismacolour for example) but these are the ones I'm familiar with and you'd have to fight me for them!! These are colouring in for grown ups and are so satisfying and theraputic. You could get similar results from any good quality artists pencil with a soft pigment. It is really easy to get good results with these. To talk you through how I used them, picture A shows how I start by laying down a very light colour everywhere I want it. I'm not worrying about shading at this stage, just getting an even coverage. Picture B is where it starts to get more interesting (and also where it looks like it's gone wrong!) For the leaves, I used a darker shade to add colour where I want shading and for the rose I used the same red but used heavier strokes. Picture C is where I bring the two things together. I went back to the paler green for the leaves and the same red for the rose and added more colour to the paler areas to blend the colours together. Use lighter strokes again and just keep adding the colour until you're happy with the result. In picture #1 of the finished roses, I went back to it the following day and did some more because I'd done the original under artificial light and wanted to do more when I saw it in daylight. Picture # 2 shows a rose done in exactly the same way but then blended using baby oil on cosmetic buds - again two effects from one set of pencils. The baby oil has replaced gamsol.

It is worth mentioning at this stage that if you will be blending colours using sansador, gamsol or baby oil, you are safer using stazon - this is because versafine is oil based and you may disturb the lines of your stamped image.

I'm going to leave this tutorial here but I hope you will gain confidence and realise that yes, you can do this.

 

 

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