Shading With Colored Pencils

 During the weeks between teaching classes and cutting paper for the next set of classes, I get to experiment with techniques, layouts and any kinds of stamps I'd like.  Today I went back to coloring to get highlights on these images from a retired set called, Beautiful Moments.

I really love coloring line drawings like these. I haven't colored with colored pencils in a long, long time.  What I tried today was to color each image with a light, medium and dark colored pencil.   I colored lightly the blue dress with my lightest blue color. Next I colored the darkest areas where creases would be and places farther away from the sun.  Then I colored with my medium color of blue to blend the blues but not cover up the lightest areas of blue.

I cut the image out with an oval die. Then I used a small circle mask for the sun and used blender brushes and a cloud cut out to make the sky.  I tried to use a handmade waves stencil, but didn't have much luck with that for water.

I used my blender brush with daffodil delight ink for the sand. I stamped randomly on the sand to make it look a bit grainy.

I liked the idea of making a window to look through at the images. I took my designer series paper and cut an oval out. I used a hybrid embossing folder to add to the scene a bit.  Lastly, I added the sentiment.

This image reminded me of my twin sister who lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We were so close when she lived in Ohio.

I used Prismacolor Colored Pencils to color the images.  Seaside Wishes hybrid embossing folder was used for the first card. The designer series paper used was, Beautiful Bokeh from the Spring Mini Catalog.

 

The second card used the same designer series paper but I used the Seashells Hybrid embossing folder for the background.  I found it was more difficult to see differences with lighter colors like yellow. In this second card I didn't want to add the sun so I just used my blending brushes to add the balmy blue and daffodil delight inks to the paper.

Check out this video from Splitcoaststampers to see Dina, a coloring expert, show this technique. I know I have a long way to go, but little by little I try to improve my skills.  I love to learn, I hope you do too.

Blessings,

Sue