Coloristabella: Matilda on Her Swing Step by Step
 

Hi all! Got to say, I'm pretty happy that it's Friday evening here in the UK. It has been a loooong week. Still, it's a new month, and time for something new and fun here in the Stamping Bella forum.

This will be the first of (hopefully) many colouring threads. I'm going to leave it open as to when they pop up - so just keep your eyes peeled. ;-)

Today I'm sharing a little step by step on how I coloured Matilda on her Swing for my Bellariffic Friday card this week.


Note: I coloured Matilda with ShinHan Touch Twin brush tip markers. For those of you who are not familiar with them, they are alcohol based markers with a brush tip, fairly similar to Copics. So, the colours listed are for the Touch Twin markers, but the way I colour is the same as the way I would colour with Copics.

Bear with me, there are a number of photos to share here!

First, I coloured the sky background. You don't have to colour the background first, and often I don't do it this way, but it is something you may want to consider if you know you will be using darker, richly pigmented colours on your main image. If you colour the image first, and use say, red tones, you may find yourself pulling some of the red from your image into your background by accident. By colouring the background first, you can avoid this.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_002.jpg

Touch Twin Marker used: B182.

I layered a couple of times, to get a nice and fairly even coverage. I didn't apply the colour with a great deal of care. Where I would usually move the pen in flicks or strokes to lay down colour, I actually blended in relatively loose circles to ensure a soft look.


When satisfied with the background, I moved on to colouring Matilda. I started with her skin, again mostly because that eliminates the risk of pulling darker colours from her hair and clothing into the skintones.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_003.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_004.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_005.jpg

I only used two markers to colour Matilda's skin, because she has a fairly small area of skin to colour on her face and hand. On images with larger visible areas of skin, I would usually use more colours.

Touch Twin Markers Used: YR133, BR107

When happy with the skintones, I moved on to Matilda's hair. I usually work in this order, and often find that the skintones can look a little weird until the hair is coloured.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_006.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_007.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_008.jpg

As with the skin, I use my lightest colour first to map out where I want my darkest areas to be. This allows me to work out what I'm doing and also lays down a base for the darker colours to sit on, which helps with blending. I then lay down my next shade on top, blend that out with the lightest colour, add more of the darker shade, and then use my darkest shade in the areas I wish to be darkest.

I'm not actually thrilled with how Matilda's hair turned out, but this at least gives you an idea of the process!

Touch Twin Markers Used: BR107, BR97, BR94



I then moved on to Matilda's outfit. Starting with the hat, I again laid down my lightest shade first to map it out, leaving plenty of white space to work in to as I continued to layer.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_009.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_010.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_011.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_012.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_013.jpg

Touch Twin Markers Used: R8, R5, R3

I coloured the rest of her outfit in much the same way, working from light to dark and laying down colour in light strokes to layer and blend easily.

Touch Twin Markers Used (trousers): BG179, B68. B65 CG2, CG4

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_016.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_017.jpg

I then created a basic wood effect on the swing seat. This is really simple to do and looks effective. I mapped out the lines with my lightest marker first, then added the darker shade more finely over the top, let that dry and then laid the lighter colour over the top.

Touch Twin Markers Used: BR104, BR100


I coloured the rope in quickly using the lighter brown shade, and then started on the grass. The cartoony grass in this image is really simple to colour - as before, I worked from light to dark in light strokes, layering and blending.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_018.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_019.jpg

Touch Twin Markers Used: GY47, G46, G43

Apart from quickly colouring the flowers, you could easily leave it at that! I prefer to add a little more depth, so here is the finished image, after I used browns and greys to add extra shading detail.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...tillda_020.jpg

I find that reddish brown tones are nice to add shading to red, along with warm grey tones.

Touch Twin Markers Used: WG2, WG4, WG6, BR97

My main tip - start off light, layer and don't be afraid to go dark and add depth!

I hope you've enjoyed checking out this little step by step! If you have any questions, ask away and I will try my best to answer. :)

Elaine you make it look so easy, it's really nice to see the step by step photos.
I love the strong bold vibrant colours, I'm quite often afraid to use the deeper shades.
Thanks for sharing
Hugs Susie x

Thank you Susie! Glad you enjoyed it. :)

Don't be afraid! Embrace the dark side. ;-)

Fabulouso, Elaine! I love the step by step!

That's beautiful, Elaine!

Thanks Elaine, this is great. I always start dark and go light but might trying adding the light first as a base. Good tip about not being afraid to go dark! I always feel its too much of a contrast and blend too much, but dark is good sometimes!! Have a good weekend. P x

Occasionally I do colour from dark to light, but that very much depends on the colours I'm using. I tend to do this with a few Copic shades that have a tendency to misbehave when you layer.

Definitely don't be afraid! Adding some deeper shadows can really make the image "pop". :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Love your coloring! I have the worst time with my markers when going from light to dark. After I put the dark down and try to go over it to blend the dark color pulls away. I use Copics. Just trashed yet another project. Any suggestions?

Judy

Beautiful, just beautiful. I want to color like YOU when I grow up :). lol

sweet! I just bought this stamp the other day!! :p

Which shades are you using? You do have to be more careful with some than others, but in general you don't really want to use your lightest shade to blend over the darkest areas, because as you have seen, you can start to pull the colour out from those areas.

I usually build layers with three markers in varying shades and I use light strokes to lay down colour. If you lay down a lot of colour in one go, it can be harder to blend.

The tip to tip blending technique can also be useful to help blend when you don't have an intermediate shade to put between your lightest and darkest colours.

Elaine, this tutorial is amazing!! Sistah, boy did you REPRESENT! Love love love it.. will you do more? pretty please with a mwah on top?

Super fab tutorial! Thanks so much for taking the time - I really loved it!

Thank you for posting! Love the step by step pics.

Elaine, thank you so much for this great step-by-step! I'm so afraid! One day I just *may* be as articulate with the markers as you are. Light source is one of my biggest challenges :( Any suggestions on wrapping my head around that? Thanks!

Cindy in Boise

You know, sometimes I don't worry/think too much about the light source, when I'm colouring a cartoony image. I often just do what I think looks good. Don't get too hung up on it - colour the way that makes you happy.

Of course, it can be a lot of fun to sit and think about how to tackle an image and how to shade etc. Let me have a think about an image to use, and I'll try and incorporate a basic look at this into the next colouring thread. :)