I'm not usually the superstitious type but yesterday, Friday the 13th, I was half way through typing up this article and when I saved it it was lost! No where, nada! Oh the frustration. So here I am again....one more shot, okay.
These little fish may look familiar to those of you who have been with me for a while, I colored them in here Prismacolor_Layers. This time I thought it would be fun to photograph as I colored them in using Prismacolor markers and pencils.
I made this handy dandy very professional looking chart for you to have. As you can see I only used 3 markers and 4 pencils. That's the beauty of coloring, you can mix thing up by just layering.
I received these beautiful fish images from a friend. I'm sure that they were all stamped using Stazon ink. I've never had any problem coloring them in. Alas, I don't own this adorable set.
The first thing to do was to color in 2 sets of identical images. All I did was color block them in. Nothing special. I always color with the fat tip of my markers. When I first got them I found it a bit hard to use that tip, but I was determined to figure it. After all, that's the most versatile end. And really, all it takes is practice and not giving up. I'm able to color even small areas with the fat end now.
Using Marine Green a begin to give the fishes some details. Shading. Do you see my coloring mistake? Yep, I colored over the big fishes large fin with my green marker! Opps! No worries I just took the Goldenrod marker and colored over the green. Looks okay to me!
As you can see I've taken the green pencil on over to the Goldenrod colored areas for it's shading.
Now I take my Periwinkle and deepen the color of the blue on the little fish. (Earlier I had mentioned that I had color blocked 2 sets of images using my markers. I am only adding detail with my pencils to only 1 of the sets of fish. The other set will be the base image of the card.)
You can really see how just adding a bit of colored pencil helps give the fish a more realistic look. Almost 3D.
Lets warm it up a bit! Too many cool colors, with all that green and blue. I use Hot Pink on their cute little cheeks and don't stop there. Adding some to only the fins. Almost as if they were sun kissed. (Okay, I know, they're under the water...lol.)
Using the Goldenrod pencil I start to add a bit to the blue. I don't know why, just didn't like how plain my blue looked and I felt it needed some yellow. Don't you think?
Here are all the images I colored. The top left are the base art. The bottom detail fishes are going to be cut out and placed on top of the base fish. Oh yea! At the last minute I colored in another fish for the inside of my card.
Fish have to sparkle. I reached for Diamond Glaze and coated my fish. They look so shiny. But that just wasn't enough. So I sprinkled some Diamond Dust and Gold Glitter (fine) on them. Tip: I dip the end of a small dry brush into the glitter pots and flick the glitter where I want it. This way I have more control than if I used my fingers. And you waste less this way also.
From the final picture you can see that I cut my fishes out and used dimensional tape to raise them up over the other fishes I had stamped earlier.
Hope you enjoyed following along.
So get out those markers and pencils this weekend and have fun!
Question asked about using Stazon and solvent based markers and smearing.
Yep, it will smear, however I do use Stazon from time to time. (I'll stamp a bunch of images for coloring later, often I'll grab my Stazon or my Archival black. Ha! I forget to label which I used on the image. So I don't know which image has Stazon or Archival when I chose how to color it.)
I'm pretty careful when I color and I color quickly. I also do not apply a lot of pressure on the paper when I color, maybe this prevents the smearing.
On this example I wasn't layering marker on top of marker. Usually, I have found, that this will have a tendency to cause the inked lines to smear the black around. If you aren't comfortable using Stazon please use something like Brilliance Archival Black. Sorry about the confusion.
wow, really beautiful Asela! I hope you are doing well...haven't seen you at all around my blog lately so I hope you will come back and visit again sometime soon. Love, love, love your fishy card, you are so talented!
Hugs,
Amy
Posted by: amy | June 14, 2008 at 07:05 AM
Thank you so much for the step by step coloring guide! LOVE IT.
Posted by: Erin K | June 14, 2008 at 08:28 AM
Beautiful! I totally dig the bits of pink in the fish ;) they do it for me LOL. Do you think the prismacolor markers are a good investment? I've never used them before but if they have the same color range as the pencils its very tempting to get some! Especially for layering, would be less waxy buildup if you mix the colors. the fish look beautiful!
Posted by: Etha | June 14, 2008 at 08:36 AM
This is beautiful and so nicely explained! You rock as usual...
Posted by: Joan B | June 14, 2008 at 09:01 AM
Wow! Gorgeous!
Thank you so much for taking the time to show us the step by step process.
Posted by: Monika in VA | June 14, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Great job of shading, coloring, etc. AND another well explained tutorial. Thanks so much!
Posted by: Peggy Maier | June 14, 2008 at 09:44 AM
Thank you for taking the time to go through step by step!! I always learn so much visiting your blog! What a gorgeous card!
Posted by: pegg | June 14, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Thanks for the tutorial. It was great. I have a question about markers. Which do you find the easiest to color with, Prismacolor markers, Stampin' Up markers, or Copic markers? Just curious as I am always looking for experts advice! :)
Robbie
Posted by: Robbie Rubala | June 14, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Gorgeous coloring--such depth! Thank you for sharing your talent with us--both visually and "tutorially."
Posted by: Loni | June 14, 2008 at 04:13 PM
Just awesome, Asela! I love looking at your cards. I'm so glad you moved your stamping space - you seem to be blogging more of your fabulous creations now!
Posted by: Lynette | June 15, 2008 at 07:41 AM
Awesome coloring! Love the step-by-step pictures! TFS!
Posted by: Monika/buzsy | June 15, 2008 at 09:52 AM
wow, these fish have never looked so good!
Posted by: Melanie Muenchinger | June 15, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Your coloring is always so gorgeous!!! Love this card!
Posted by: Michele | June 15, 2008 at 02:27 PM
LOVE THE FISH!!!!!! WANT THESE FISH!!!!! PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET THESE FISH!!!!! PLEASE!!!!
Posted by: Kerry | June 15, 2008 at 04:35 PM
Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW!!!!!! Your coloring is absolutely amazing on this one. Thanks for showing us the step by step instructions. I really appreciate it!
Posted by: Kathy | June 15, 2008 at 09:00 PM
Asela, I am picking up my jaw--NEVER have I seen such gorgeous coloring of these fish! You ROCK!
Posted by: Debbie Olson | June 15, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Thank you so much for these wonderful tutorials. I love to learn with the photo in front of me. Your fish are beautiful! :)
Posted by: Karen Lindsay | June 16, 2008 at 01:36 PM
This is a cute stamp set..
and your coloring is fantastic!!
The colors and dimension is great.
I love your card...Adorable!!
Dee
Posted by: Dee | June 17, 2008 at 08:29 PM
Loved watching these little guys come to life, neat paper too, like how you have lined the envelope with it too!
Posted by: Conniecrafter | June 17, 2008 at 09:55 PM