Now on video!

Evening all!  Nearly forgot the time then! Been working on some video tutorials yay!  Oh yes Vixykins scribbling on vid :D  I've wanted to do it for ages and have been asked loads of times but I never know how to mount the camera and the video format on my regular camera isnt compatible or something but I've found it really easy to upload vids I take on my android so thought I'd go that route instead.  Nothing fancy, no fancy graphics as I KNOW I'll never get round to the editting and by the time I do the stuff I use would be discontinued lol!
So today I had a brain wave about using my DD's car kit thingy she has for her iphone which is free standing so checked and fiddle faffed a bit and got a decent enough angle so I'm off!

I've uploaded 4 today colouring in Peony Tails Tilda in various stages so one is the skin tones, another is the flower.  A lady who buys a few of my cards and stuff is learning how to colour so I asked her which stamp she'd like to learn and she chose Peony Tails so there it is :))

You can find my tutorials on you tube channel Vixykins or clicky below

Vixykins You Tube!

I have a few other random vids there too like the Lymm May Queen which is random stuff they do in the village with Morris Men and a guy wth a beard dressed as a woman, its a bit like that round 'ere :)

Here's the finished one from the tutorial today, it was a quickie for me so aint perfect but you get the gist. Hopefully I'll be adding lots more in future.



2012 Promarker Tutorials - Monotone

Good Evening all!  I'm back again with another promarker tutorial for you and this time we're looking at colouring in monotone.  It might seem a bit daunting as of course your colours are somewhat restricted but in case you haven't noticed my banner up there you'll see I kinda quite like colouring in monotone and hope to teach you how to do this and *think* in monotone :O)


Firstly I would HIGHLY recommend using an image you're familiar with.  Doesn't necessarily have to be the easiest one just one you personally enjoy and are familiar with.  If you've previously coloured one in photograph it then use your photo editting software and turn it into GREYSCALE.  A lot of the free programs also do this.

This will be your guide whilst you train your brain to think in monotone.  So firstly grab your coloured image, I've used Miss Mirabelle by Hannah Lynn (Crafts & Me)

 Next use a photo edting program and turn your image greyscale (I think photobucket does it).  Print it out or save it on screen.  This will give you a great guide how dark or light colours are in greys and help with shadows and highlights

OK feeling confident?  Grab a full set of greys - I use COOL GREY 1-5 plus the BLENDER.  If you think in terms of skin tones then the blender will be equivalent of ivory, cool grey 1 will be your blush and cool grey 2 your vanilla or colour you use for shadow. 

For the skin tone I started with the darkest colour first in the shadow areas on the skin so use COOL GREY 2 and add some shading.

Next use your COOL GREY 1 which will be the equivalent of your blush and working from the dark into the light blend the colours in

Then to finish the skin off use your blender which is the same as ivory and it should be looking nice and luminous like below :)

Next look at your greyscale image and you'll see the bra bit is darker than the top so I used the darkest greys here COOL GREY 4 & 5 and a lighter mix for the top COOL GREY 3 & 4.  If anything appears to dark just run your blender over it lightly and let it dry.

Then onto the hair, I used COOL GREY 5 for the darkest parts at the roots etc then blend that in with a mid tone COOL GREY 3 then the lightest bits are COOL GREY 1.  You can also leave a bit of white showing or again use the blender to lighten the highlight points.

And here she is completed!  I only did one layer on this one but you can add a bit more depth to it doing a 2nd layer or using coloursoft/prisma pencil too 

Here's the 2 completed side by side.  Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and do have a go at this lovely technique, you'll be hooked!

2012 Promarker Tutorials - Skin tones

Here I am again with another tutorial still using Izzy, if you're follwoing these then please do leave a comment with a link to you blog so I can come over and have a looksie!
I have another skin tone tutorial in the Tutorials tab at top of the page and this first part is using the same colours which I find nice for newbies wanting to get a bit more adventurous than just using blush all over!

The colours I've used here are

IVORY
BLUSH
VANILLA
SANDSTONE
BABY PINK or PALE PINK for cheeks


STEP 1 - Here I've added the IVORY leaving just a bit of white in the centre.

STEP 2 - Add the BLUSH going over most of your ivory (I always use the palest colour as a guide so I can see the image better)

STEP 3 - Add VANILLA leaving part of the BLUSH showing.

STEP 4 - Add PALE PINK or BABY PINK for the cheeks then colour over all the skin with your IVORY.  Next use SANDSTONE around the edges of the image as a shadow and then repeat STEP 1 - 4 to give a greater depth.

Your finished result should look something like this!  This is a good basic combo for getting to grips with using more than 2 skin tones as you cant go much wrong on it.  I used this combo for a long time until getting more adventurous!

INTERMEDIATE

This one is getting more adventourous with the tones, you might panic and think eeeek at first especially when you put the coral on but it all comes together in the end!

The colours I've used are...

IVORY

BLUSH

CORAL

CINNAMON

BABY PINK

ROSE PINK

STEP 1 - Colour in your face as above (Step 1 & 2) using IVORY and BLUSH then add some bold shadows using CORAL.



STEP 2 - Add BABY PINK cheeks and use CINNAMON around the hairline and down the darkest part of the face.

STEP 3 - Use BLUSH to partly blend in towards the white part in the centre then add a small amount of IVORY over the entire skin area.

STEP 4 - Repeat all the above steps to get some depth to your image then add a line of CORAL and smaller line of CINNAMON over the nose then blend them all in again.

STEP 5 - Whilst the ink is still wet add in more BABY PINK then a smaller dot of ROSE PINK in the centre of the cheek and use your IVORY to blend it all in.

This combo works really really well with Magnolias too which I'll show you in a couple of days :)

2012 Promarker Tutorials - Light coloured clothes

Evening all!  Back again with the 3rd part of this tutorial using IZZY from Di's Digi Downloads.  Today we're looking at a tricky one which is colouring light coloured clothes.  Its so tempting to put on more colour, I do it all the time :)

By now you should be more comfortable in identifying light and shadows or if you've landed straight here check out my tutorial page for the 2012 ones using this image.

Okies off we go!

I've used the same promarkers I used for the jeans (to keep colours to a min!) so you will need...

BLENDER PEN
POWDER BLUE
DENIM BLUE


STEP 1 - Again study the image, are there any helpful lines that would indicate a high point or a shadow?  Before I start  like to colour over the area with the BLENDER pen to make the paper wet so do this now.  This image has some helpful little lines at the bottom of her top so add a couple of streaks coming up alongside them with the POWDER BLUE.  Continue this along the left arm and from the right side of her top under her face.

STEP 2 - Add a small amount of DENIM BLUE over the POWDER BLUE, keep it towards a consistent side so in this case I've put it on the left as the light point for the image is coming in from the right.

STEP 3 - Go over your area again with the BLENDER, the colours will merge and lighten slightly.  Add more POWDER BLUE over the areas you coloured in step 1 then add a couple more flicks coming down from the hemline at the top.

STEP 4 - Again add a small amount of DENIM BLUE to give you a 2nd layer but not over your new flicks of powder blue

STEP 5 - Colour over again with the blender.  The blender will only remove so much colour so you can let it dry and colour over again and it will get lighter.  Just try to keep your colour choices light and use the blender lots!

This is a photo of the reverse of your image held up to light.  Wet ink will shine transparent like the top does here, that shows you what areas are wet and will let you blend a lot easier.  If you look you will see the alcohol has seeped past the line.  If you were to put a colour on next to the line the dye will follow where the alcohol is and spread out so more likely to bleed beyond your lines, which most of us do but I'll show you some clever tricks for that soon ;)

Next lesson will be on grounding

Pssssssst..... Look whats coming up next week...

2012 Promarker Tutorials - Jeans

Evening all!  We're looking at Jeans tonight!  If you missed the tutorial on RED HAIR then check it out here!  When colouring images you just need to be able to identify light and shade then as you get more experienced you'll become bolder and more fluent.  You'll still make mistakes, we ALL do but it a case of just understanding the foundations of how light moves.  Look at objects, clothes, peoples hair, look how the light catches it, identify the direction of the light source and try to transfer this to your design.  There are however different styles such as manga which had a much more pronounced shadow with light and dark points meeting in a straight severe line whereas in the kind of images we tend to favour its much more blended.

By the way did you notice there's going to be some NEW PROMARKER COLOURS? *Grabs card, sells kidney....* hehe cant wait!


Onto the jeans now.  I'm again using IZZY by Di's Digi Downloads and again I've done 2 versions as as recomended the other night in my promarker tips post HERE have a play around and keep a note of specific colour combos you favour.  Like red hair, jeans has such a huge range of shades so I favoured this particular combo. 


PROMARKERS USED

1. POWDER BLUE
2. DENIM BLUE
3. COOL GREY 4



STEP 1 - Looking at Izzy's jeans, identify the highlight points, her left leg is in front of the right, there is a bump on the bottom of the jeans on the right leg, her bum, zip and around the pockets are all going to be a little more raised.  Colour in with POWDER BLUE leaving some white coming up from the raised point on the right leg, the bumps on the back of the left leg and the front of the left leg, pockets and zip as shown.



STEP 2 - Same as the hair tutorial, add in your mid colour in this case DENIM BLUE and colour over most of your powder blue 

STEP 3 - Add in your darkest colour, COOL GREY 4 - If you dont have greys you could use a darker shade of blue such as China Blue, make sure they're of a similar shade, e.g. denim is in the blue/greys

Add this in the shadow points so you'll see her top overhangs so that will be a shadow, inside of the pockets, down the stiching of the leg, inside the right leg and bottom of the turn ups.

STEP 4 - Go back to your POWDER BLUE and colour over all of the image leaving a small amount of white to blend in your colours.

STEP 5 - Repeat Step 2 and 3 going a little further into the lighter shade this time

STEP 6 - Blend over it with your POWDER BLUE covering over your white this time (Remember when you get to the bits you left white to just do 1 or 2 strokes over it.  If you feel you put too much colour over you can give it a swipe with a blender pen to take some colour off.

INTERMEDIATE

Right guys and gals you happy with that?  This one will show you how to add a little bit more depth and an extra fold.  You'll start very similar to the previous image but be a bit braver leaving some white space.  Using your POWDER BLUE, leave a lot more white this time and a little extra bit on the bottom of the right leg, more on the back of the jeans, more on the left leg extending up to the top and below the pockets.

STEP 2 - As before adding in your DENIM BLUE covering most of the POWDER BLUE

STEP 3 - Compare the pics of Step 3 from 1st tutorial and you'll see theres lots more lines of shadow, using your COOL GREY 4, go underneath those folds on the back of the leg, inbetween the 2 white patches on the right leg and add a bit more shape to the turn ups.

STEP 4 - As before use your POWDER BLUE to blend the colours and go over most of the white leaving part of the highest points untouched (back of jeans, front of left leg and the 2 on right leg)

STEP 5 - Add in more of your DENIM as before pushing in over the previous layer leaving some of the powder blue showing.

STEP 6 - Give a 2nd layer of your COOL GREY 4 but a little narrower than the 1st layer in some parts.

STEP 7 - Go over the lot with your POWDER BLUE leaving the whitest points until last then youre done!

Have fun and remember to play around with colours, make a note of ones you like or ones that didnt blend well together.  This one below uses turquoise, marine and petrol (coloured in about 3 minutes lol!)



2012 Promarker Tutorials - 1 - Red Hair

Here we are with the first of the new batch of promarker tutorials by request!  This one is going to look at red hair.  There is a basics tutorial followed by a more intermediate one below it.
Please note that to get a clear picture for you the colours appear slightly different than they do in real life ie the red pen looks brown!

For the purpose of this tutorial I have chosen the image IZZY by Di's digi downloads which is $2 (approx £1.28) should you wish to get it yourself but you can practice on any image you like.
*I am not affiliated with Di's digi downloads nor on the design team, Izzy used with permission*

You should be able to get a larger view by clickng directly on the pic.

Red hair is like asking how long is a piece of string, there are so many shades and combinations!  For this I've gone with a mid range red and will give you some extra combinations to try.

Promarkers used

1. GOLD
2. ORANGE
3. CRIMSON
4. HENNA (optional)

NOTE: Picture may display differently on your screen resolution, on mine it appears a bit browner than it actually is!

STEP 1 - Start with the GOLD pen and colour in as below.  Notice how the hair rises up where I've left the whte bits and you can see this by the lines on many stamped images.  This is your highlight point and something to practice looking out for.
Some people start with the darkest colour first but I don't do this for 2 reasons, firstly blending in a dark shade onto dry card takes work and is more likely to put too much ink down and bleed over the lines, this is something for when you feel you've got a better grasp of colouring techniques to switch to should you wish and secondly if you make a mistake its much harder to colour over dark colours.  I use the lightest first so I can see my highlights and how the hair falls.

Leave quite large bits of white as you can always colour further into them later.

STEP 2 - Taking your ORANGE pen colour over most of the yellow leaving a small amount of the gold showing.  Youl should now be able to identify the shadow areas much easier now, look at the parting, its a dip so will be a shadow, around the ends of the plait knots etc.

STEP 3 - Now you've identified the shadow areas colour in a smaller amount of the CRIMSON leaving part of the orange showing.  Don't be neat with this and flick in the direction the hair is running so you dont have perfect straight lines.

STEP 4 - Take your GOLD again and colour over all of the hair going further again into the white you left leaving just a small bit showing.  There's no specific way you should do this, I just scribble in the direction of the hair from the shadow bit towards the light bit.

STEP 5 - Repeat step 2 and use your ORANGE leaving the GOLD showing a bit again.

STEP 6 - Repeat Step 3 and use your CRIMSON again as before

STEP 7 - Lastly colour over the entire hair again with your GOLD leaving the white until the very last then just swipe over that once or twice.  As an added option you can add a little bit of HENNA to the very darkest areas ie the parting and ends of plaits and give this literally a lick with the GOLD!

INTERMEDIATE

Now you're a dab hand at adding a lovely shine to hair you can play around a bit more and look at the various highlights and shadows there are.  If you have a good look at the image you can see there are parts of the hair that are clearly behind others so will appear darker and some much higher so will be lighter highlights.

STEP 1 - Use your GOLD to colour in the areas that are going to be darker, this helps identify where your shadows will lie and are easier to hide if you make a mistake!  Leave your highlights white at this point.

STEP 2 - Add your ORANGE over most of your gold as building up layers of colour help give depth to an image.

STEP 3 - You should be able to see clearly now where your darkest parts are going to be so colour these in CRIMSON.

STEP 4 - Go back to your GOLD and colour over most of the hair leaving just the very highest points white as your highlights.

STEP 5 - Add in more ORANGE covering most of your GOLD and leave the white bits again.

STEP 6 - Using your CRIMSON add this to your darkest points again leaving larger parts of the orange showing so here its is again in the parting, the fringe and along the edges of most of the strands.

STEP 7 - Blend in (colour over the entire hair) with the GOLD.  Remember as the basic lesson leave the white tll the very end and just go over that briefly.

Again you can add just a touch of HENNA if you wish and give a brief flick over with the GOLD again.  Here's the 2 sde by side, they both have a different look but the intermediate one you can see the layers of the hair a lot more.

So remember experiment and play!

Try different combinations and make a note of what you like or keep a book or ndex file with samples in to refer back to.  Have a try with these combos below or make up your own!  Simply replace 1 (gold) 2 (orange) 3 (crimson) 4 (Henna) with combos below

1. Gold, 2. Ginger, 3. Spice (light ginger)

1. Amber, 2. Orange, 3. Burnt Orange (very ginger!)

1. Amber, 2. Orange, 3. Burnt Orange, 4. Henna (very ginger again but more evenly toned)

1. Ginger, 2. Cardinal Red, 3. Walnut, 4. Henna (a deep red brown)

1. Baby pink, 2. Crimson, 3. Henna (A plum red)