Saturday 28 January 2012

The colouring process and being true

Evening all!  Wow some great comments on last nights thread, thank you for your input and stay true to yourself :)
Im not dissing anyone that does like to use lots of embellishments and sometimes I will myself if I have them but my individual style is more focussed on the image so Im not towing the party line just to get a top 3 or whatever.
I'll tell you a little story...
Once upon a time in blogland there was a lady who loved the new style cards with all the bits and pieces and the lady tried hard to emulate. She applied for so many design teams and was rejected endlessly (12 times to be precise!). The lady one day had a realisation that knickers to it she's her own person and if you don't like what I make then so what at least I've enjoyed myself!
So this lady started doing things HER way using things that SHE wanted to use.
Then one day an email dropped in her box from the design team she cherished the most, it was like the holy grail and the email invited her to join the team and not only that to have her designs feature on create and craft. Having recovered from the shock she duly accepted and has been with the stampman ever since doing demos and all kinds.
If she'd followed the crowd she'd never have caught their eye you see. Jill picked me up when I went back to true form.
Again with crafts and me, Teresa noticed me because my love of the stamps showed through. She doesn't pick DT because they're the top of the tree, she chooses people who clearly love the product.
One thing I promised on here a while back and is on my disclaimer here is that I will NOT use anything on my blog I haven't personally bought or would buy (as I do get quite a bit for my efforts from stampman, crafts and me and Letraset)
This started when I was on a DT with a sponsor and we were obliged to use the sponsor image. I was nearly in tears as I HATED it and felt so fake :/
Its not that they were awful its just something I would never have bought so I am pedantic about that. Every DT boss will confirm that coz I can get stroppy lol!
So you see the moral is if you're true to yourself you'll shine through and people respect that.
Anyway I thought Id show you the colouring process. I'll have to finish off that teddy bo from the tutorial too as sometimes when you just show part of an image it doesn't look quite right until you tie it all together so that's on my agenda next week. BTW sometimes things don't go to plan as I also have fibromyalgia so can get very tired and sore so don't manage to finish stuff on time but i usually get there in the end :)
Im using the blogger app on me fone at the mo so hopefully will upload in order!
Normally I start with skin tones and blend then move onto another part so Im showing you what the image looks like raw before I start blending. If you saw the skin tones tutorial you'll see I use coral and cinnamon which can be a bit scary so you can see here that it all turns out alreet :)
Next should be the pic of the image after blending. Image is Saturated Canary digi BTW and if you follow her blog and sub to mailing list this week you'll get a freebie ;)
See how it all comes together?  Next is a little trick you can use for a pretty look or if you've bled over the lines this can be used to mask that. I saw this on Lilian Tan's blog a while back and she uses 3 colours and it looked lovely.
Now that's on I've used a pink distress ink around the edge.  Lots of inks work well as I also use brilliance and chalk ink but I wanted pink to pick out the pink on the design and my pink ink is distress.
So there she is ready to go. I often just pop them in a pot to use when needed as the colouring takes the time not the card itself.
And lastly this is my first canvas which hangs in my hallway. It says 'Be True' and the nick nacks were things that are personal to me. If you look in the bottom right corner you'll see a piece of shrink plastic swirls which I completely screwed up but you know Im rubbish at shrink plastic and this is the likely outcome so its there because its me :)
Night all x






8 comments:

Teresa - My Crafty Heart said...

Hi Vix,Your post rang so many bells with me and never a truer word was said...and I have been exactly where you were and decided to just do what I wanted to do and always will...your colouring is awesome as always I love Kristas images and am colouring some now, I love the colours you have chosen for this little lady and your canvas is stunning too - love that:) Hugs, Teresa x

theboelemas@aol.com said...

I soooo hear what you're saying! Fab image and great canvas. x

Sally said...

Hi Vix, I love the colouring on the little girl stamp, it's soooo pretty & I also like the look of the inked edges. After reading all the comments on yesterday's post, I can see that you won a lot of admiration for speaking the truth. Well done you!
Sally x

Grenouille Greetings said...

Lovely colouring! Great tips!
I think your canvas is fab too!
Keep being true to yourself! Hugs, Lesley

Feebsy said...

Yay for you Vix this is a very inspiring post. I've applied for a few DT's too and the only group who've accepted me is Crafty Cardmakers and I couldn't be happier as the challenges give me an opportunity to be creative. So thanks again for your inspirational words and I shall stay true to myself.

Beautiful canvas by the way and your colouring tips are great. I'll have to give coral and cinnamon a go instead of my usual pale creations!

Feebsy
xx

Sue said...

Hi hun
another great post and very true, no good being a sheep & following others if your not happy doing what you do.I struggle with loads of embelies like some do so gave up trying, lol, awesome colouring hun. sue,x

Kim x said...

Good for You Vix. I know exactly what you mean about only using things that you would buy yourself.
Like you I have always found it very difficult, if not impossible, to use something if I don't like it.
I was once asked if I would demo stencil embossing for a company who told me that I was 'refreshingly honest' for telling them that they would be able to find someone who would be able to do it far better than me.
Stick to your guns girl you rock xx

Unknown said...

love that true story and wow that blending really does work i really need to practice much more xxx