Trouble with Penguins

[Scrapjanny]

I have the Mimi's Christmas stamp set by Penny Black, and I'm having a lot of trouble coloring those penguins. I'm using a black Bic Mark It marker, and it's so dark that it's completely obliterating the eyes. I'm usually pretty good at coloring in images, but these penguins look like a 5-year-old colored them. Any suggestions? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Here's the stamp set:

[buggainok]

I know what you mean. I don't have that set, but I have one of Mimi with a french poodle. I wanted the poodle to be black, since we have a tiny black poodle, and it just covered all the details.

I finally compromised and colored the main portion a grey, and then just outlined around the inside edges with a darker grey. Kinda, sorta looks like black.

Here is my Christmas card with the same technique:

Christmas Cards 2012 by buggainok - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers

[Scrapjanny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by buggainok

I know what you mean. I don't have that set, but I have one of Mimi with a french poodle. I wanted the poodle to be black, since we have a tiny black poodle, and it just covered all the details.

I finally compromised and colored the main portion a grey, and then just outlined around the inside edges with a darker grey. Kinda, sorta looks like black.

Here is my Christmas card with the same technique:

Christmas Cards 2012 by buggainok - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers

That's really cute, Bugga! Thanks for the idea.

[Jeanne S]

I rarely use a black marker. I do my black coloring with greys.

[RiverIsis]

I would attempt cold greys and blues for penguins.

Though I have just done a google image search and black is used with white eyes etc. You may have to go back in with a white gel pen to highlight?

https://www.google.com/search?q=peng...w=1366&bih=650

[Cook22]

I agree - colouring something black will take out all the detail. If I really want black black and not just greys (which is what I normally go for) I stamp and emboss in white, and then use true black for colouring. In this case - IC361 Birds on a Wire - I actually just stamped on black card because I was cutting them out, but I've also done it by stamping on white and colouring with black. It was the only way I could figure out to get those crows as black as I wanted.

[clairehobby]

no need to color many colours,i think blue and black are enough,if you black is too dark,i think the grey can instead of it,maybe grey matches with blue better.

[Scrapjanny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiverIsis

Though I have just done a google image search and black is used with white eyes etc. You may have to go back in with a white gel pen to highlight?

That's exactly what I did, and it looked like the penguins were some really creepy mimes. I might give the greys and blues a try, though. Thanks!

[Scrapjanny]

Sabrina, that's an interesting idea about the white embossing. It's very striking, and I might give it a try. Claire, I'll give the blues and greys a try too. Thanks everyone!

[scrappy knitter]

I use copics in the toner grey family (T6, T I'll try to upload an example.

[Scrapjanny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrappy knitter

I use copics in the toner grey family (T6, T I'll try to upload an example.

That's adorable! The dark greys look wonderful.

[jukie]

You could make them like real life baby penguins....so cute

[RiverIsis]

If you aren't set on black I found this in the gallery today - IMG_7968_by_Elvira5 by Elvira5 - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers

[cat_woman]

whenever I have a hard time to get my colouring or shading to come out the way I want it, I go to Marianne Walker's blog (I like Markers) and look up her tutorials. She has one that is great for colouring dark/black items here: I Like Markers: Coloring Black Things with Grays

[smriti]

here's an example card with that image: iEmbellish: Penny Black Guest Designer! (it's towards the bottom)

[Crafts]

I usually use cool grays rather than black. In my gallery, this coloring guide for a crow shows the placement: Copic Coloring Guide for Halloween Crow by Crafts - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers

[Scrapjanny]

Wow, ladies! Thank you so much for all your help and links!