Anyone Can Color! - A Prismacolor Tutorial

Anyone CAN color!!!! (said in my best Ratatouille voice!)

Warning: THIS is a long post (If blogger was mad at me before....I am sure they are really loving me today!)

I have been working on this tutorial for awhile and decided to get it together today because I have been getting a lot of coloring emails and questions.
This quick tutorial is designed for those who are not quite comfortable with their Prismacolor Pencils YET or who would like some answers to basic questions. I am not a professional but I get results that I am happy with with little effort. Sometimes it is the little "tricks" that make such a difference.
There are lots of tips and pointers throughout that may or may not help you. These are the things that help ME most and I am happy to share them with you.

****One of my favorite coloring techniques is mixing coloring tools---esp Prismacolor pencils and Copics...but for this tutorial--I only used Prismacolor pencils!

Coloring Supplies:
-Prismacolor Lightfast pencils (they come in a silver tin-My Favorite Things sells a set of 48 on their site.)
-Odorless Mineral Spirits (Gamsol is one name brand (Inky Antics carries this), Gina K also sells odorless mineral spirits at her store.)
-Metal pencil sharpener (I picked mine up at the local Hobby Lobby. It is small, made in Germany and sharpens these pencils perfectly. If you have these pencils already, you know they can be temperamental!)
-blending stumps (my favorite are the ones Made in Taiwan and they are No. 2 size)
-sanding block (Stampin' Up!)
-Brilliance black stamp pad
-Sakura Stardust gellyroll pen (optional)
-Any stamp that is a chunky image (I used this adorable angel from High Hopes)
-White card stock (I use SU's Whisper White)

First, stamp the image on your cardstock. (I prefer Whisper White cardstock from Stampin' Up! because the color moves easily on it!)

Then, start with the lightest color you will be using and outline the section to be colored. I used the flesh tone to outline her face, neck and arms. Just outline the image. I added a bit of pink (just moved the pencil in a circle for this) to her cheeks!

Then, I sharpened the tip of the stump I was going to use to blend the color. (I have a stump for each basic color so that the colors will never blend. But when you sharpen the end, most of the remaining color will be removed.)

Then, dip the point in the odorless mineral spirits. (I am pretty liberal with this step. I make sure the whole tip absorbs the liquid.) Move the stump in clockwise circular movements pulling the color toward the middle of the image. This allows the darkest color to remain on the edge and creates a natural highlight in the center of the image. When the color stops moving, time to re-dip your stump!

I wanted my angel to have an heavenly glow, so I took my yellow pencil and outlined the whole image in yellow. I chose to do this step next because if you are going to do some sort of shading with pencils on the outside, you want to do it before you color the image--esp if the color is lighter than the image!

I used my blending stumps to move the yellow outward in small circles---this makes the color look like a glow!

Next, I used my pink pencil and outlined all the parts of the image that I wanted pink.

I use my blending stump to pull the color toward the inside of the image. You can see on her wings how the color leaves a natural highlight (It is so easy to achieve nice results!)

I colored the green sections and then outlined the jeans with blue. You can see how I added a bit more blue in the center of the legs because this part of the image is thick and I wanted to be sure that there wouldn't be too large of a highlight.

After blending the blue, I colored her hair, the watering can and her shoes. I added two shades of brown to the can to show you how you can even blend two shades to get an even more professional look.

After I have the image as I like it, I chose to use my Sakura gellyroll pen to add some shimmer to the angel's wings and the hearts. I love the look this gives - a little bit of shimmer adds a lot!

Here is a close up of the image with the gellyroll accents. (Sorry about the camera angle on this one---but in real life, this looks beautiful!)

The image is finished. Now I just have to create a card with it. (Tip: If you know what designer paper or cardstock you would like to use...keep them close by so you can color the image to match. For this sample, I just colored the image and then I went back and found some designer paper that would match close enough.)

Here is the finished card!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Believe me, If I can color, SO CAN YOU! I would love to see what you create, so be sure to send me a link if you create a card using this tutorial!

Materials used: Stamps-High Hopes; ink-brilliance black; cardstock-white, blue, celery (SU!); Designer paper by Basic Grey; Prismacolor pencils; odorless mineral spirits; blending stumps; sanding block; tab punch (SU!); sakura stardust gellyroll pen; small circle punch (SU!); silver brads (SU!); flower; button; dimensionals (SU!).

Coming next: another MFTeaser--ohhh..you're gonna love this one! My Favorite Things is releasing two new stamp sets on Wednesday night right after the Cocktail party on Splitcoaststampers from 8-10 p.m central time.

Thanks for stopping by!