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I like the watercolor crayons. (I was given a small non-SU set w/ only basic colors, but they are so easy & look so nice - better than the pencils IMO, I'm ordering the SU ones). I've tried to make myself love the pastels, & frankly while they are not as bad as I first thought I just don't care too much for them - sad since I have them.
I say, just stop looking & start playing & you'll soon learn which method you just simply love & which you don't...
My favorite is twinkling h2os. I don't have the new watercolor crayons or markers, they are on my wish list, but I prefer h2os to watercolor pencils or pastels.
I just love my aqua painters.. I use the markers, color on the marker case, and then pick up the color with the aqua painter. I use markers sometimes too, but more often then not I am aqua painting! HTH
I like using the watercolor pencils and the blender pens. Everyone is saying how wonderful the crayons are, I'll have to save some money and get those next.
I use almost all of the methods mentioned, but my favorite method, by far, is Magic Colored Pencil using Prismacolor (or Crayola) Pencils and blending them with mineral spirits. I like the rich color and shading you can achieve. I disliked coloring until I got my Prismacolors! I also LOVE watercolor crayons! I only have a small set that I bought just to try out, but now I can't wait to get the set of 48 from SU!
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I love using Prismacolor pencils, watercolor pencils with a blender pen, and a blender pen dipped into Pearl-Ex. I don't care for marker coloring or chalking for some reason.
Try them all !
I got used to using watercolor pencils with the blender pens, but I also use the aquapainter with the ink pads. You can get really intense color that way. I also use twinkling H2O's. I think the pencils are easier to use to get shading. In the resource section there is a tutorial on water coloring. Hope this helps.
sometimes I get "intimidated" by a new stamp, not wanting to mess it up, especially if it's from a set I had been wanting for a while. to force myself to get over it, I stamp it a lot of times all at once (with trimming space left in between if I decide I like it) on plain white CS and then I don't have to worry about using the "wrong" technique on it. one card that I have in my gallery was actually inspired by the random results of this method. I just played with it without a final look in mind, coloring (with aquapainter and markers) and I ended up really liking the way it looked so I redid it on different paper.
like the others who responded, I really love my aquapainter with watercolor pencils, inkpad, markers, twinkling h2os and regular watercolor cakes. regular colored pencils also can look good for coloring. I love the gamsol look but haven't bought any mineral spirits to play with it yet. happy heart has some beautiful examples in her gallery of this technique.
I hope whichever method you decide to try, you have fun with it! jenny
Don't forget markers! So easy and clear bright colors.
I have about a zillion mini's in the Twinkling H2O's, and color with calligraphy inks, radiant pearls, embossing powders, Lumiere, pearl-ex and diamond glaze,
and use my reinker's like mad!
I just bought the watercolor crayons and can't wait to try them.
Believe it or not, I know *exactly* what you mean!!! I used to do the same thing, stare at an image for heaven only knows *how* long before I could figure out *WHAT* to do with it!!! Gradually, I came to know different techniques for coloring in - all of which have been mentioned above. (I'll tell you my current *fave* in a moment....)
So what I did for a while is this: I've *never* been one to stamp just one image. I've *ALWAYS* stamped in multiples - either for a w/s demo, a swap, my stash, for a craft fair, or just to have around for "future needs." So I'd start by stamping 5-6 in either Basic Black (and now and then Basic Brown, depending upon what I want my finished color scheme to be...cools=black, warms=brown.) Then I'll do a different coloring technique on each until I determine exactly the best look for the stamped image. I consider taking a few extra minutes *up front* like this similar to a knitter's guage: Yeah, it takes some time...but if you don't do it, you could end up wasting *MORE* time in the long run and end up with something that's the *WRONG FIT.*
Once I became more familiar with the stamps in my collection and became more proficient with different coloring techniques, it became easier for me to narrow down my techniques to one or two instead of 5-6.
Here are a few little-used coloring techniques *not* mentioned above:
- Poppin' pastels using painted-on craft white and daubed-on chalk.
- Painted on Lumiere dyed with Classic ink
- Painted on Crystal Effects dyed with Classic Ink
My *FAVE* technique right now is with the Watercolor Crayons....*LOVE 'EM!!* I crayon onto the back of the left hand and wet my brush in my rewetting jar (clean water) to liquify it. I will add more water (by shaking from the handle of my brush which is clean) until I'm satisfied with the thinness of the consistency. I want it to go on in a fairly *light* layer - I can intensify with more layers of color if need be, but once watercolor is on, there isn't much I can do to take it off. Adding more water just warps the paper and pretty much send me into a tizzy for rushing.
When I need to re-apply, I wipe my hand off on a cotton baby diaper in my lap and start over. I rinse my brush in my rinsing jar (dirty water) and dab onto a second cotton baby diaper kept on my work surface. By not applying water directly to my crayons, they don't get all "gummy" and I think in the long run may last longer.
Have *FUN* playing with different techniques until you find a few that are right for *YOU*!! ~ K
__________________ Hi...My Name is Kaylyn...I'm An Alphaholic.
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How do you color???
