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i just can't seem to get the hang of coloring on my cards
And frankly I feel like it looks like a kid made the card when I do. I have a variety of coloring materials, some copics, some distress inks and markers, and some Zig clean color markers. It doesn't matter which I use ...I'm pretty awful with all if them . I think I'm especially awful with any of the water coloring techniques. I have the special water color paper and it still pills and looks awful. I either use too much water or can't get it to blend. The copic coloring I do is okay...it just isn't anything special and I feel like a kid could do as well. It never looks like any of the many you tube videos I've watched that's for sure. Maybe I'm trying to many techniques at once or maybe I am just not very artistic. So have any of you struggled with particular techniques and what did you do? Did you just move onto other things, or did you stick with it and improve? Also do you ever feel that your cards look too amateurish (not the exact right word but hopefully you know what I mean). I understand that they are special because they are homemade but I still want them to have good quality.
I find colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits (Gamsol is one brand name, but you can get generic, too) easier to get good results with than any of the markers. There is definitely a learning curve, practice-makes-perfect deal with alcohol markers, and I've NEVER been happy with water-based markers. The colored pencils are much easier (in my opinion) to get shading - especially because you can layer color on and move it around. There's a tutorial in the resources section here: Splitcoaststampers - Gamsol Magic Technique Tutorial by Cecilia Ross
As far as tips for using the markers: there are a lot of YouTube videos and other help for using markers. Have you tried looking at any of those? I found a couple (long time ago, now) that gave me some basics to build on, and I've been relatively happy with my results. It does take time to learn what they do and how to best use them and all of that, so don't get too discouraged...
I can only speak for myself, and I know when I try anything "artistic", it has taken practice to perfect the technique.
I have overworked many a watercolor piece and had even good paper pill because of too much water, paint, movement, removal, you name it!!! Practice has made it a joy to now do, and hard to believe I'm creating these works, compared to my first pieces! The same is true with my Copics, colored pencils, and other markers.
I have taken classes at my LSS, bought books, especially the ones from Marianne Walker and Colleen Schaan on Copics, shading, and that helped tremendously, as well as watercolor ones too. I've looked on Pinterest and YouTube at tutorials and watched videos from some of my favorite stamp lines. Sometimes I feel like perhaps through osmosis from watching so many videos on the internet, that I will be magically transformed into the artist I want to become - but that has not happened!!! It seems actually doing it is the best way to perfect your ability, and it really does just take practice! I also found I tried some things a little differently along the way, and liked the results I got, so who knows where this "coloring" journey will take you!
I would suggest, as long as you enjoy what you're doing, don't give up, you will get better, we all have, and that's why we're still out here doing what we love!!!
I would agree with the previous posters - it comes down to practice.When I look back at my early uploads, I can see how I have improved over the years. I don't put in serious practice the way some people do, taking an image and colouring it without intending to use it. I'm not patient enough/don't have enough time to watch videos, but I am sure that they help! I think if you just chose one of your colouring mediums to start with and focussed on that for a few weeks, you'd feel a really noticeable improvement.
I think too that we can be our own worst critics - I am sure that those to whom you give your cards love receiving them.
I most definitely struggled. I think as stampers, we want something to work the first time we try it or we are frustrated. What helped me break through with both Copics but especially watercolor was something I call "creating for the trash". One spring, every day I would have "coloring happy hour" on my back porch - I'd stamp ten of the same image, take my watercolors and just go practice. I did this for several months, and by the end I really knew the medium well and was starting to experiment and put my own spin on the method.
Try creating for the trash - and eventually you'll find the medium you love. And you'll find what you don't love too. My love is watercolor. I can get good results with alcohol markers now but I just don't enjoy the process like I do with watercolor - so it's helpful to know what isn't my thing too - but both take practice to find.
Well said above. Coloring is a skill, which is why we compliment it so much here, whatever medium you are using. EVERYONE has to practice it. This is why Copics has those mastery levels, etc. You are not "defective" in this-just the opposite. You are very normal. Some people decide they either dont want to put in the time or it just isnt their thing and never color.
Give yourself a break.
I agree. Pick one to start with. Accept you are going to practice for awhile...we didnt learn to walk in a day. We fall on our bums quite a bit first. It can take months but we are not in this for only this year. You will enjoy the skill for the rest of your life!
Shading is hard for me. One good trick I learned: Get a piece of plastic sheet like that comes with a stamp. Make a circle on it and then draw lines radiating out to one side.
You now have a "light source"...like a sun. The lines will tell you where the light would hit your object or person so you know where it should be lighter and darker. You can flip it over to be from left or right or turn it sideways to be from straight above. Over time you get so used to it you wont need it anymore.
You also dont have to do 10 colors to shade. You can do simple shading..just a little bit of a darker color along the edges.
I have not mastered skin yet.
Videos are misleading. They make it look simple, but you have to remember that the people making them are not doing it for the first time themselves. Vids are also generally designed to be "simple" looking or people run away. People who make vids practice what they are doing so they can get it done in 15 min or less. I never expect to just be able to do from a vid, and certainly not in the same time frame.
There is also no rule that says you have to shade, etc. You can have solid colored images. Lots of us do. I do at times. I am not a manga artist and I have no goals to be.
Relax and pick a thing and work with that for awhile. Try drying your WC color paper between color layers. It might help with pilling.
I tend to be a one thing at a time person. when I started I stamped line drawings ( very artsy detailed ones and left them neekid) because, the coloring mediums I owned at that time I had not bothered to play with them to learn it plus using chalks on those detailed vintage people images really didn't look like I wanted them to.
I had never been able to get non streak looking usage from my waterbased markers until recently when I stopped applying them direct to the paper and started scribbling them onto clear blocks and picking up the ink with a water brush. ta da no streaks cool.
lots of images have gone into the trash by the way.
eventually I bought Prisma pencils ( all of the colors ) and I spent a long time learning those (years). I don't do the chemical blending because, I am klutzy and at that time I was mostly coloring on a lapboard in the living room under an floor ott light while hubs watched the news on tv or whatever. ( I don't watch much tv at all) so, the limited amount of colors pushed me along to trying copics mainly for the skin tones. I am mostly happy enough with what I can do with those and have this last year spent some time collecting water coloring supplies. ( pencils, powders, liquids tubes, little cake trays) I bought a bunch of different kinds.
and lately when I am not in the middle of doing something else I am just making very simple backgrounds with the watercolors that are like bases of colors I am anticipating using them to build on later. maybe add more colors or another medium over the top. but, the thing is I do these just to "play" and it helps me remember that those reds really turn out mostly pink which is a hard thing for me to remember evidently.
for me its almost always the colors that pull me into anything I look at and so, someday I think I will be "there" with that has played enough in the past to pull off what I want to do and in the mean time I just keep playing.
If you hang in there with playing with your tools you will "get it" eventually.
I am totally with you here. I hate my colouring, like you feeling it's not good enough. So I rarely do it. I know 100% that it takes a lot of practice to make anything difficult look easy, and beautiful, but I just cannot enjoy a process when I know I'm going to hate the end result. I can't just sit and enjoy the practice. I've got all the DI markers, a whole load of Promarkers, watercolour pencils- you name it. What I am finally hoping may help, is all the adult colouring books now available. It's just patterns, or images, that I am not expecting to use in a card, so maybe this will take the pressure off. Who knows, it may be worth a try.
And frankly I feel like it looks like a kid made the card when I do. I have a variety of coloring materials, some copics, some distress inks and markers, and some Zig clean color markers. It doesn't matter which I use ...I'm pretty awful with all if them.
I feel your pain! I've tried watercolor pencils, Marvy markers, crayons and more.
I absolutely hated EVERYTHING I colored with waterbased markers and swore I'd never buy another marker again ... then I watched a bunch of Copic videos and got sucked into the craze.
I have to admit that I LOVE my Copic markers. I am glad that I invested in them. So far, they are the ONLY color medium that I can actually color with and not hate it. But there is a trick to using Copics ... and it's expensive.
First, you need to use blending groups (that means 3-4 blues, 3-4 reds, 3-4 yellows, etc, $etc$)
Second, they need to be good blending groups (not all Copic "blending" shades look good together, and some colors are so similar that you can waste a good bit of money trying to put together a collection that works for you.)
Next, you need plenty of room between the lines since those brush markers don't color well in tight spots (so this could mean buying additional stamps).
Finally, you'll need to practice a bit (or in my case, a lot) using paper that plays well with Copic markers.
Shhh ... Don't tell! (Looking both ways furtively).... It's okay to not colour! There are lots of methods of making a card and colouring really doesn' have to be part of it to be a beautiful card! I rarely colour and when I do, it is a blender pen with ink... Not very professional. BUT IT'S OKAY
Seriously, play around with different techniques but don't stress about it
Shhh ... Don't tell! (Looking both ways furtively).... It's okay to not colour! There are lots of methods of making a card and colouring really doesn' have to be part of it to be a beautiful card! I rarely colour and when I do, it is a blender pen with ink... Not very professional. BUT IT'S OKAY
Seriously, play around with different techniques but don't stress about it
I rarely color also. I learned a long time ago that I'm not good at coloring - so I purchase stamp sets that don't need coloring.
Thanks for the Words of encouragement. I certainly know that it takes practice but I guess I wondered if it also takes a bit of an artist ( which I am not!). I hate to admit it but I've already watched tons of videos and like someone said, they just make it seem simple and when I try and recreate I get frustrated. I wondered about the colored pencils and if they might be easier also bug hated to invest more money. I have lots of stamps to practice on and have done so but I guess I need to keep trying. I've invested too much in my copics to quit .
I recommend finding a LSS and taking a Copic class or any type of coloring class. I bet you would get a lot more out of watching and practicing in front of a teacher.
__________________ Creativity is intelligence having fun. - Albert Einstein
Videos are misleading. They make it look simple, but you have to remember that the people making them are not doing it for the first time themselves. Vids are also generally designed to be "simple" looking or people run away. People who make vids practice what they are doing so they can get it done in 15 min or less. I never expect to just be able to do from a vid, and certainly not in the same time frame.
This. Keep on mind that this goes for cards too. Especially card projects that you see on the websites of professional and semi-professional card makers. They are usually showing their perfected card AFTER they have made it a few times and made mistakes along the way. They are not showing you their practice cards or versions of the card that did not turn out so well!
I went several years not coloring my stamped images much. I do think that sponging color and then fussy cutting is an easy way to color. Also, chalks are very forgiving, blend easily and look nice. Another great option is paper piecing. Of course, there are many stamp sets that do not need to be colored, also.
I have also found that some small images are easier to color than large ones, depending on the medium.
If you really are interested in coloring, as I have become recently, and enjoy it, practice with whatever medium you like. Always stamp out two images and then use the one you like better when you colored them.
And I agree with what people are saying about videos making it look easier than it really is. It is rare to see a you-tuber who shows their mistakes and practice attempts.
I struggled for about 3 years trying to get watercolor to blend, then i attended a class where they used the marker to color on the brown non-stick sheet (can't remember what it's called right now), then picked up some color with an aqua-pen to color on the watercolor paper with. This allowed more control over the color and not so much in one place with the need to draw it out to blend. They also used the smooth side of the watercolor paper. I went home and tried this - it seems to work much better for me and i get results i actually like - most of the time. The other technique they stressed was letting the paper dry between layers of color so it doesn't get so wet and pill off. I've learned to use way less water using the aqua pen picking up colors. You can also do this out of the lid of stampinup ink pads after you squeeze the lid to the pad.
Another item i find very useful are the Inktense pencils.
I know how you feel. I've tried a lot of different things: water based markers, Copics, chalks, watercolor pencils, and pan water colors. I initially bought Copics because so many here loved them and had such beautiful cards using them. I keep coming back to my Prismacolor pencils. I use odorless mineral spirits with them. I find I have better control with them. I do practice new techniques with them, and they are pretty forgiving. In fact, I just gave my 80+ Copics to an artist friend who was thrilled to get the. They were just making me feel guilty since I didn't use them, lol. I've decided I will just stick with them and my watercolor pencils. If you have a Pinterest account, search for whatever medium you are most interested in and look at the many tutorials there. YouTube has quite a few videos too. Subscribe to a few YouTube channels. Try to get comfortable with them, start with something simple and build from there. Take some time just practicing on your coloring when you aren't trying to create a card. Take the pressure off yourself. I learned everything I know about stamping here and thru tutorials I found online.
There is also no rule that says you have to color like everyone else. I can't get the hang of shading with alcohol markers..I end up with muddled images where the three shades are often over blended. My Primsa pencils don't give me the vibrant , sharp colors I like. So I do hybrid coloring where I color my images with light colored alcohol markers to get a base and then I go back and do the shading with my pencils and Gamsol. Works for me and I can actually produce a decent looking image that makes me happy.
There is also no rule that says you have to color like everyone else. I can't get the hang of shading with alcohol markers..I end up with muddled images where the three shades are often over blended. My Primsa pencils don't give me the vibrant , sharp colors I like. So I do hybrid coloring where I color my images with light colored alcohol markers to get a base and then I go back and do the shading with my pencils and Gamsol. Works for me and I can actually produce a decent looking image that makes me happy.
I agree! I've started adding pencils to my alcohol markers, too! (I don't have Copics - I use Bic and Spectrum Noir and Prismacolor) One of my favorite card artists is Linda Heavens (even though she doesn't blog any more), and she almost always adds pencil shading over her Copics (glitter, too, much of the time). She has a video tutorial for adding pencil, as well as one for adding glitter...
I agree! I've started adding pencils to my alcohol markers, too! (I don't have Copics - I use Bic and Spectrum Noir and Prismacolor) One of my favorite card artists is Linda Heavens (even though she doesn't blog any more), and she almost always adds pencil shading over her Copics (glitter, too, much of the time). She has a video tutorial for adding pencil, as well as one for adding glitter...
Pencils and alcohol markers together? I never would have thought of it.
Those examples Sue post are fabulous! Oh dear me. Oh no. Now I'm going to have to buy colored pencils ... and Walmart no longer sells the bargain pencils Sue uses.
I began with Crayola coloring pencils before I got any prismacolors, and they worked pretty well! I also use baby oil or GooGone with them, and they work good. I like the baby oil, because I don't have to worry about fumes or pets getting into it. I also began with Bics and Sharpie markers. Then later added some lighter color copics etc... My coloring isn't that great either, but I'm not an artist, and this is just a hobby, so I figure it doesn't have to be perfect. Don't be too hard on yourself! I have to resist comparing my stuff with others, because mine is going to be simpler. And that's o.k... We all have different styles; that's what makes it interesting.
Pencils and alcohol markers together? I never would have thought of it.
Those examples Sue post are fabulous! Oh dear me. Oh no. Now I'm going to have to buy colored pencils ... and Walmart no longer sells the bargain pencils Sue uses.
It's all true ...
and to me, it really comes down to *practice* as everyone has said.
Creating brings out this truth every day: We are our own worst critics.
Practice may just be a few efforts for one person, or months of irregular little stabs at it for another, or the simple reality of allowing oneself to simply improve over time without demanding any set outcome of yourself.
How about this: Allow yourself to find a style or technique that doesn't feel so much like "work", and go with it like a little ballerina in her first tutu from there. ;)
Pencils and alcohol markers together? I never would have thought of it.
Those examples Sue post are fabulous! Oh dear me. Oh no. Now I'm going to have to buy colored pencils ... and Walmart no longer sells the bargain pencils Sue uses.
I'm sorry Walmart no longer carries the Cra Z Art pencils. But I found them on Amazon. They are a really good deal and color well:
http://www.amazon.com/Cra-Z-art-Colored-Pencils-Count-10402/dp/B003U997AW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454436881&sr=8-1&keywords=crazart+colored+pencils
Link says Robot Check, but it goes to Amazon.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
If you need motivation to practice (since lots of it is what will really make you better at coloring), here is a site that is having a 30-day coloring challenge. It began yesterday (February 1). Jennifer McGuire mentioned it in a video. The site is called The Daily Marker.
I think it's hard not to buy into the idea that you have to be using Copics to do good coloring these days. I can't use them (or Gamsol, or any solvent or alcohol mediums) because the smell bugs me. That's probably a good thing for me financially because Copics are definitely an investment, but they do seem to be the coloring medium of the moment.
Of course, I know full well that if I bought Copics they wouldn't fly out of the package and color my images, I would have to practice and learn how to use them.
The other questionable belief I find I have is that coloring is THE thing you need to be able to do to make good cards. Which is not, of course, true. Design is just as important, and you can make perfectly great cards without doing much coloring at all, if any.
Yet it's hard to let go of these beliefs. If I make a card without doing any coloring I feel I haven't done anything challenging enough. If I color with my watercolor or Inktense pencils I just think about how much nicer they would look if I used Copics.
That's my confession for the day. Now everyone knows how insecure I am.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
I want to get a little philosophical here... I think we all may be guilty of comparing our work to others, and coming up short. We are way too hard on ourselves.
A good quote about this comes from the wonderful poem Desiderata:
"If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."
So please, keep coloring your images and try not to judge yourself.
Most of my coloring is of the very simple "coloring book" technique, I shade around inside the edges in a darker color, and fill in with a lighter shade. No blending and not lots of shades.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
I think it's hard not to buy into the idea that you have to be using Copics to do good coloring these days. I can't use them (or Gamsol, or any solvent or alcohol mediums) because the smell bugs me. That's probably a good thing for me financially because Copics are definitely an investment, but they do seem to be the coloring medium of the moment.
Of course, I know full well that if I bought Copics they wouldn't fly out of the package and color my images, I would have to practice and learn how to use them.
The other questionable belief I find I have is that coloring is THE thing you need to be able to do to make good cards. Which is not, of course, true. Design is just as important, and you can make perfectly great cards without doing much coloring at all, if any.
Yet it's hard to let go of these beliefs. If I make a card without doing any coloring I feel I haven't done anything challenging enough. If I color with my watercolor or Inktense pencils I just think about how much nicer they would look if I used Copics.
That's my confession for the day. Now everyone knows how insecure I am.
Isn't it funny how different our perceptions can be? One of the reasons I color images is because I don't do "techniques" - no gelli printing, no watercolor backgrounds, no polished stone or wrinkle-free distress or what-have-you, and not many diecuts, so I have to do SOMETHING! And those stamps that don't require coloring - solid images or two-step flowers or whatever - are harder for me to make something that I'm happy with, as a general rule...
Ha! I never thought of it that way, Sue. Everyone has those things they don't like to do or feel that they can't do. Very perceptive.
And of course Bugga is right, we all judge ourselves way too harshly.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
How about this: Allow yourself to find a style or technique that doesn't feel so much like "work", and go with it like a little ballerina in her first tutu from there. ;)
One of the reasons I color images is because I don't do "techniques . . ."
Sue, me stamping sister! I am exactly the same!
I play with techniques, but I rarely use them on a card--except for a challenge. Why? Because my technique results STINK! I so wanted to love my Gelatos, but those puppies are hit & miss for me--mostly miss. I guess that's partly why I started art journaling. It's okay to have an ugly page in an art journal. LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rachelrose
Design is just as important, and you can make perfectly great cards without doing much coloring at all, if any.
Design is most important in my book. Unfortunately, this is another area where I greatly struggle. Art, shapes, design, placement -- none of it comes natural to me, which is why most of my cards are base, solid rectangle, white rectangle with a stamped & colored image.
I do love my Copic markers. I have never, ever been able to do any decent coloring before owning them. To me, they are like magic. But I will be the first to admit that they are not perfect. Some color "blending" families don't blend well. The alcohol from the lighter colors often cause the darker colors to move and gives a mottled, puddled appearance. I've learned to embrace their deficiencies and, as best as I can, use them to my shading advantage. Many of those imperfections we see while coloring are what makes the colored image appear more realistic when viewed as a whole.
Thanks, I really, really needed this quote!
I should probably find a way to incorporate it in a wall hanging, so that I can refer to it every day!
Glad it spoke to you. The poem "Desiderata" is full of wisdom. I have a lovely print of the whole poem framed and hanging in my kitchen. If you would like to read the whole poem, here it is:
Glad it spoke to you. The poem "Desiderata" is full of wisdom. I have a lovely print of the whole poem framed and hanging in my kitchen. If you would like to read the whole poem, here it is:
Thanks. I've heard of Desiderata but have never read it until today. Probably that is because I've never been big on poetry.
I just read that Max Ehrmann wrote Desiderata in 1927 (two years before the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression) but that it did not gain fame until after his death in 1945 (the year World War II ended). Seems to me that this wonderful poem would have spoken to many people between those years. Maybe it did, and it just took some time for word to travel.
Interesting how a poem written nearly a century ago is still so spot on today.
Edited to add: I think poems like this or at least quotes from poems like this will be a wonderful addition to my art journal. Not sure why I never considered it before. Thanks millions, Bugga!
__________________ Melissa59 ♥
Last edited by melissa59; 02-03-2016 at 11:07 AM..
i just can't seem to get the hang of coloring on my cards
