I still don’t know why I lost interest. Likely it was because so many fun coloring books had come out around the same time and my attention span was fickle 😉
When I resumed working on it I filled in the remaining areas with the same fineliners as well as my set of Feela double-ended markers that have a brush tip on one end and a fineliner on the other.
I added Inktense water-soluble ink pencils at the end for the background, but clearly had not yet figured out how to apply them without leaving streaks, sigh.
I can’t say I’m super thrilled with the final image, though I am quite happy it’s done.
If I were to start it all over again I’d pick a cohesive color palette with the Color Catalog first. Ignoring the larger picture and working everything as individual motifs gives a rather chaotic look in the end that I don’t think I pulled off well.
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I follow a number of incredible artists on YouTube and their work has inspired me often over the years. One such time was when I discovered the wonderful art done by Dede Wellingham. I’ve binged many of her livestreams and she’s as sweet and funny as she is talented (which is a lot).
The first video of hers that really got me revved up was “Color Washes in Imagimorphia AdultColor book by Kerby Rosanes Pt 1 of 3“. Adult coloring books were starting to become a big thing in the creative world (back in 2016) and something I’d come to late since I usually focused on fiber- or food-based arts. It hadn’t occurred to me to mix media in the ways Dede demonstrated and I could NOT WAIT to try it out. And I… well to say I missed the mark would be an understatement.
It started out so promising! I collected an assortment of my coloring books, some acrylic paint, my Neocolor II watercolor crayons and my Inktense water-soluble pencils (neither shown in pic).
Problem # 1 – using the wrong materials
Dede uses a number of media in her books, including pan pastels, paint, pencils, markers…but in particular the video that inspired me was based on using acrylic paint to drop in washes of color onto your pages. This has a two-fold effect: 1) it gets color down on the page and fills in the tiny detailed areas, making it easier and less intimidating (and faster) to color in with other media later, and 2) it creates an incredible base for colored pencil as adult coloring books are usually printed on paper that’s relatively smooth but pencils benefit enormously from a paper with more tooth. The acrylic paint gives the paper the missing tooth.
Neither the Neocolor IIs nor the Inktense are acrylic paint. Both of these can be used to add tooth to a page, but I’d diluted them so much that all I’d really managed to do was warp my paper and leave it remaining smooth once dried.
Looking back, even though I like some of the colors I’d chosen, I’m not happy with the results. I don’t like how all my random scribbles show because I hadn’t put the color down evenly, and I’m disappointed that I completely messed up on the entire “adding tooth” benefit.
Problem # 2 – using the right materialsthe wrong way
The remaining pages that I’d painted were all done with acrylic paint. That means they must be good, right? No, actually. Not at all. Some of them (the underwater ones in particular) look better in person than in the images below, but none of them are “good”, because I missed the mark again. I was so focused on getting a spread of color onto the page that I didn’t think I had to try and do it nicely. I’m embarrassed to admit it really didn’t occur to me that that it was more than a matter of simply splashing water into paint and wiping it across the page a few times. In most cases below I did a horrible application, and in the one or two that aren’t too bad, I used too much water and so the resulting color doesn’t have the tooth either. (And in the final case, I’d used much too much water and caused the marker on the reverse to completely bleed through).
(the next page that bled through to the one above)
Problem # 3 – choosing the wrong pages
I think this was the worst mistake I made out of all of them – I chose the wrong pages. With one exception, I’ve never really wanted to color ANY of the images above. Rather than pick pages that I looked forward to, instead I thought I could “cheat” my way into getting pages “done”, and done “faster” by slapping color down to make the final coloring quicker and easier. Instead I now have pages I still don’t want to do, just now they have some color on them.
So why am I bringing this up now? Well Dede’s videos have come back into my recommendeds and I’ve begun binging again, and once again am completely hooked. On THIS TIME I’ve learned from my mistakes!
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It seems like everywhere you look online these days, people are taking stock of 2018 and setting goals for moving forward. The first few days of the new year tend to be all about making resolutions, and to that end- here’s one of mine:
I resolve to turn the following 19 wips (works in progress) into FOs (finished objects) before the end of 2019.
I’ll write at length about each project when I finish (and post) about them, but for now here’s a short blurb for each:
1. FO Project Jars
I need to rip out all the individual lengths of yarn (1-10 yards long, each), match them up with what project they were from, and put the separated yarn into jars designated for each year.
2. Harvest Moon Pullover – crochet
I started this sweater on November 25 2016 as a way to use my adored Noro Silk Garden limited stash on something for myself. Limited yarn + crocheted pattern with big holes = a sweater that might fit… right?
3. Granny Rectangle Blanket – crochet
I started this blanket on August 9 2015 as a way to use up random sock yarns I figured I’d never get around to using for, y’know, socks. Figured out how to make granny squares as rectangles and then alternated with white for… some reason.
4. & 5. Ralph and Black Sheep’s Sweaters – sewing & cross stitch
I started these sweaters for the boys’ favorite stuffed animals a few nights before Christmas 2016. They were intended to be little surprises for them but instead they’ve sat in a bag ever since. Sadly Jakob is no longer as into iHasCupQuake as he used to be, so I’ll need to rip out the stitching on the front of Ralph’s sweater and hope it doesn’t leave gaping holes in the fleece. Then I’ll have to figure out new designs to personalize the fronts, find where I put the sleeve pieces, and sew the little sweaters together.
6. Drops V-Neck Pullover – knitting
I started this deep-v sweater somewhere in 2015 or 2016. It’s slouchy and soft and I want to wear it already.
7. Fluffy Shawl – knitting
I started this shawl on April 6 2015. It’s been sitting untouched in a bag since roughly that Fall. I love how the colors blend together (black Sandes Garn Sisu and purple/green Noro Kureyon Sock) and would like it to be done and hugging my shoulders.
8. Comfy Socks – knitting
According to myself, I started these socks 2 FULL YEARS AGO. They’re supposed to be my ‘take along’ knitting but because I haven’t finished designing the pattern, I never take them with me to work on. I need them done so I can reclaim the needles and portable hanging knitting bag and start being more productive again.
9. Fun Fur Vest – knitting
I started this Bergere de France vest in 2012(!!). My Ravelry projects page has it listed as completed on Feb 10 2015 but clearly it isn’t. No ends are woven in, it might need armhole cuffs, and I think I was debating overdying the entire thing black.
10. Doodle Fusion Marco Raffiné Page – coloring
This page from Doodle Fusion was started last summer (I think) using only my set of Marco Raffiné oil-based colored pencils.
11. Grimm Fairy Tales Alice Page – coloring
This page from Grimm’s Fairy Tales was a test to see if I could get good results using dollar store colored pencils. I’ve since moved the pencils somewhere else and want to finish the image so I don’t need to dig them out any more.
12. Grimm Fairy Tales Little Red Page – coloring
Those of you who follow me on Instagram would have seen this page from Grimm’s Fairy Tales back when I started it in June. I love how it’s turning out and want to see how well I can complete it.
13. Imagimorphia Eagle 2-Page – coloring
This double-page spread from Imagimorphia was started in the Fall of 2016. I loved coloring the tiny rainbows and then lost steam.
I honestly don’t remember when I started this page. Luckily I’d blogged about it!
15. The Time Garden Quilt Page – coloring
I don’t recall when I started working on this page in Daria Song’s The Time Garden either but judging from other posts about it I’d made in April 2016, I’m going to guess it was about that time. I have NO idea, however, why I stopped it so close to being done.
16. The Princess Bride Fred Savage 2-Page – coloring
This page was blogged when I first started it, way back in March 2017. I don’t want to move on to another page in the book until this one is done, though, so I need to make the time to finally get it finished up.
I’ve never shown these before, except for the odd glimpse in the background of Instagram pics. I started this trio of plastic canvas portraits when I moved in August 2017. While I love how they look in black and white (and blue), I designed them to be in full color and I’d love to see them complete.
Think I can do it? Want to play along? Use the tag #19WIPtoFO2019 so I can see how many you get through!
ps: As I’m about to post this I just realized that 19 projects means committing to completing more than one per month. Months that are already pretty busy with Becket, work, kids, commissions and all the new projects I want to work on and might come up over the year… Wish me luck- I’m gonna need it!!
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I don’t have a ‘Crafty Compilation’ for either of the last two weeks as I’ve spent them working primarily on some sample knitting that I’m not sure if I can talk about yet. So, instead, here’s a quick tip for those of you who enjoy coloring: pants hangers are your friend.
Yup. Actual hangers that you use to hang up your pants. (Or your kids’ pants, in my case).
I’ve been using binder clips with my Art of Coloring: Disney Villains book ever since I got it. I’ve been using a lot of water media in it and I’ve taken to clipping the book shut whenever I’m not using it to minimize most of the page warping. Because this book has thick cardboard covers it stays open pretty flat on its own, though I tend to pop the clip onto my working page mostly so I don’t misplace it until I need it again. With other books I’ve taken to working on a clipboard for both the hard surface as well as the ability to clip the book open to my current page. For the most part, that worked perfectly.
Then one day I was laying on my belly in bed coloring the page above (the Eagle image in Kerby Rosanes’ imagimorphia). It was held down by my clipboard on the far right of the right page but I kept getting frustrated at the left-side page flipping shut every time I reached over for my coloring supplies (Stabilo 88 and Staedtler Triplus fineliners, as well as Caran D’Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons for the purple wisps). I’d been laying on my belly and constantly raising up onto my elbows to brace the page between color changes was starting to hurt more than the coloring itself soothed.
Henri had had a similar problem holding open his Pokemon books so he could sketch from them, and I’d lent him my cookbook stand. It was a great solution but now that I needed it I didn’t have the heart to steal it back for myself. That’s when I remembered the image going around Facebook a while ago in a list of kitchen tips: using a pants hanger to hold your recipe up and out of the way, by hanging it from an upper cabinet doorknob. I had no need to hang my coloring book, but it would be perfect for what I needed too!
And it was! The two clips hold the pages down on either side, but the stiff bar that connects them keeps them open flat, where the book could otherwise still slip shut. (The above wip image is also from imagimorphia, and the background wash was done with the Neocolor IIs). After you’ve finished coloring the page, the hanger can then be used to clip the book shut as it dries to minimize any warping from the wet pages.
If you wanted you could also store your books from the hangers, sideways along a bar similar to needlepoint sets. (Ooooh now I’m picturing a dry cleaner-style conveyor holding all my coloring and craft books… that would be awesome!!)
And for an easy reminder to pin:
That’s all for now. Hopefully this tip could be handy for some of you!
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I haven’t talked about it much but I’m going to be having surgery in about a week. I’ve actually been off work since mid-August, and this unexpected time at home has given me a lot of time to knit and color, and while I’ve been revisiting old supplies I’ve also been lucky enough to get some new ones.
My watercolor research back in August led me to discover Derwent Inktense and I went on a really long review and YouTube binge, learning everything I could about those amazing ink-pigmented colored pencils. When my birthday rolled around in September I basically only asked for art supplies, and my parents were wonderful enough to oblige.
Topping my list was the Inktense set. I really enjoy the metallic watercolor pencils and the Spectrum Noir Sparkle set is just yummy for anyone who likes glitter (um. yes. me! I like glitter!), but in this post I’m focusing on the Inktense which I’ve been using primarily with the waterbrushes I got with them. I really love this waterbrush set because of the sizes, the tiny #1 tip is perfect for the small areas in coloring books while the larger sizes make doing washes of color or wetting larger areas a breeze. They’re super easy to fill and I haven’t had a single leak, and I’ve been using them on a regular basis since September.
Now then, on to the Inktense! I got the full set of 72 colors but they do come in smaller tins, and the pencils are available open-stock so you can definitely get a smaller set and then add to it as you go.
So what are Inktense pencils? According to their site, “Derwent Inktense pencils are our best watercolour pencil ever! You can use them dry but mix them with water and WOW! the colour turns into vibrant ink. Once it’s dry the colour is fixed and you can work over the top of it, and, because it permanent it’s great for using on fabric such as silk and cotton!” They refer to them as ‘watercolors’ but they’re not, not really. They’re ink pigments in colored pencil format. You can use them as pencils and they’re nice, on the darker end of color ranges, but it’s when you add water that they transform completely. And because they’re ink once they’re dry they’re permanent.
What does this mean for coloring and how does this compare to a watercolor pencil? Let’s say you wanted to color a pink sphere, and you wanted to block in the rounded shading first, then go over it with a wash of pink, leaving a highlight area. With watercolors the paint reactivates any time it gets wet. So even if you let the gray shading dry, once you washed pink over top the gray would bleed out and muddy the pink and if you’re not careful you can make a real mess of your work. Inktense are permanent when dry so you can block in your shadows, wet the pencil strokes and fill your darker areas, and then once that’s dry you can go over it with even the lightest shades and the gray won’t budge. This is a horrible way of explaining that you can go overtop of previous layers without affecting them.
Of course the first thing I did when I got my set was to swatch out the colors so I could see what I’d be working with.
Above are the pencils when dry. The appear quite dark, and there are a lot of greens and browns for those who enjoy coloring books such as Secret Garden and other floral-heavy books. The pencils apply well and it’s very easy to get a lot of color down. Each pencils is marked with it’s color number and name, making it very easy to identify which one I’ve used…which is helpful because the colors on the ends of the barrels aren’t quite identical to the actual color of the pencil itself.
Okay, so they’re really nice when dry. The real magic, however, happens when they are activated.
This image barely shows the bright vibrancy of these colors in real life. The pigments activate instantly with water, and I could have used the lightest of strokes and still had the same color payout as I got here. I was blown away by my swatches and as soon as I’d added them to my swatch book I had to get started on a coloring page.
I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube coloring tutorials featuring Inktense pencils (Peta, Dede, Lindsay and Lisa are four of my favorites) and I know that the pencils are typically used in wet-as-you-go manner, coloring a section and then activating it, and so on. However, making the swatches was so satisfying in a “wait til the end” surprise payoff, that I just had to try coloring an image that way: coloring the whole thing, and then activating the ink at the end to see the before and after.
After testing the paper in the back of the book to make sure it would be safe to use (no bleed-through) I chose this image from Kerby Rosanes’ imagimorphia.
I’ve been having a lot of tummy time (lol) and this is how I’d set myself up in bed. A clipboard helped keep the book open as well as gave me a flat, hard surface to work on. I had a sheet of card stock underneath this page to protect the ones beneath, and I had my swatch book open in front of me so I could accurately choose my colors. My laptop was off to the right playing episode after episode of Welcome to Nightvale (soooooo weird and awesome) and the tin of colors was on my left within easy reach. Finally, my flip-top Ott-Light was balanced on the bed casting accurate light over the picture for me, since lighting in my house is crappy at best.
This is my completed painting before activating the Inktense inks. I colored pretty lightly, wanting to see how the pigments did on their own before adding any shading or depth. (PS yes I know that’s supposed to be a whale and whales aren’t green LOL) Coloring with these pencils is like a dream. They apply color beautifully even to paper that doesn’t have a lot of tooth. It is really easy to apply just a hint of color without any pressure on the pencil, which is a good thing because it means you won’t have to waste a lot of the pencil just to get a good color payout. In fact, these colors are so vibrant and juicy when activated that if anything, it’s almost too easy to add TOO MUCH color.
(For example, my son Jakob is addicted to these pencils too and is coloring an image in one of his books. I was showing him how subtle applications of color give pastel-pale results and he tried it out for himself. His three light strokes of Payne’s Gray, applying barely any pressure, provided enough color when activated to light wash a bunny butt around 3″ in diameter.)
I took this image right when I’d started activating the inks. I went slowly, enjoying watching the colors blossom into vibrant paint. (Seriously, it’s addictive). I activated each like section at a time, brushing off any excess pigment onto a paper towel to keep the tip of my water brush clean. In this image you can begin to see the difference between the activated (water-applied) and pencil-only sections. The orange and yellow fish on the right is still pencil, while there has been water applied to the one on the left. The little fairy creatures have been wetted on both sides. What really shows off some of the color payout, however, is the school of fish that crosses the tentacle. You can see how little color I’d applied, versus how much blooms from the watered inks.
And here is the completed painting. I didn’t use very many colors, but even still the brightness and depth these inks have is amazing. This picture is so much brighter and deeper in real life, showing subtle shading and contouring just from the way the ink moved like paint. It dries faster than watercolor so you do have to go in sections and work quickly if you want to activate a larger area without dry lines showing, but there’s still a decent amount of time to move the paint around before it dries, allowing for things like the softer blues in the water froth being ink I’d swiped from the water sections.
I’ve very quickly developed an Inktense addiction, as have my kids, who have been getting to use Mommy’s special art supplies now that they’re a little older. They don’t replace watercolors if that’s the type of medium you want, rather they’re a medium of their own, and are absolutely gorgeous to use.
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When I was playing around with my Caran D’Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons I had my Raffinés next to me, as I’d just been working on the Egypt picture in the same imagimorphia coloring book. I’d done a lot of research on them before purchasing, and one thing that had come up in people’s comments were how some of them had been able to use them as watercolors, though not everyone had that luck. The Raffinés are oil-based colored pencils, not wax-based like Crayola and Prismacolor and most others, so they do color and shade and grip the tooth of the paper in a different way, but were they really so different that they could dissolve in water enough to be used as paint?
Let’s find out.
This is the page in the back of the book right before the hidden objects are pointed out. I colored a bit of it with the pencils then used the same small brush and water pot as I used for the Neocolor IIs.
Here’s a before-and-after closeup of the lower section of the page.
The top image is the dry coloring, and the lower image is after I’d applied water. At first I was happily startled to see that it did appear to work! I had to double check the ‘before’ pic on my phone to be sure, but seeing them side by side it’s hard to deny that there’s a clear difference between the two. The light pencil strokes in the worm (?) have blended outwards, as well as in the pink flower on the left and the green leaf in the background. The orange puff ball looks exactly like a watercolor had painted it, and even the browns in the fox (?) and mushroom are more evened and fluid.
I immediately checked the back of the page even though I wasn’t really concerned with bleed-through, but sure-enough there was none.
So if I think it sort of worked, why am I hesitant to say that outright? Because while the colors did wetten and spread, once dried the strokes were still visible and retained the soft look of the oil-based pencils. It’s hard to explain but it sort of looks like I’d done a light wash of watercolors over or under the pencils, as they’re both visible.
Since it was hard to compare the ‘after’ with the small image on my phone, I decided to do a definitive comparison test in the book itself.
The first image below (top left) is my initial coloring of the royal penguin on a skateboard. I drew a line down the center to keep the division clear and then colored both sides with the Raffinés. Then I wetted the left side only. Did the pigment become a wash of color? Yes… there is a visible difference in the two sides, with the left side looking more even and ‘full’. But I still wanted to see a bit more.
In the top right image I added a few more test things to try out. On both sides I put a light shading of red and blue to see if it would be possible to blend them once wet, and I also drew a quick leaf and colored it with some light and dark shades to see if I could get blending on that. Basically I was trying to mimic effects one would be trying to achieve in a coloring book or drawing.
The bottom right image is right after I wetted the left side. I did my best to blend the red and blue together, as well as the colors in the leaf. Those items are still wet, but the penguin is already begun to dry and look a little different from when wet – a touch less blended and spread, and a bit more colored-pencil-y (if that makes any sense at all).
Finally the bottom right image is after everything had dried, for a full comparison. I’ve included a solo pic of that image here, so it can be viewed larger:
So. Do we really have “All the Answers”? Did the blue and red blend? Not really. There was a bit of pigment bleed spreading the colors to one another, but no real blending of the two to become purple. What they did do, was soften alongside each other. In fact, that seems to be what all the colors did. The pigments spread slightly, giving a bit more color to the background of the pencil strokes and softening the overall look of the colored image. In real life the coloring looks very dry, almost pastel-y, and the pencil strokes are visible over the softened backgrounds.
I think the final answer is that they DO spread somewhat with water, but not completely nor efficiently to claim they would be an inexpensive comparable to true watercolor pencils. What they DO do, is soften the pencil look. I think they would be great used with stamps for cardmaking, where one can lightly shade the image then soften the pencil colors. In knitting there’s a term called ‘fulling‘, where the yarn is plumped up and thickened while still retaining some stitch integrity (unlike complete felting), and that’s how I feel about adding water to these pencils; when wettened the color plumps and fills its space while still retaining the original lines and strokes.
TLDR: Do they watercolor? No. Does applying water slightly bleed and soften the colored pencils for a unique, almost delicate look? Yes.
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I’d been researching watercolor pencils a little while ago, and while reading review sites I came across a few mentions of the Caran D’Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons. They looked interesting and were lauded for their bright, vibrant colors and creamy texture, so I made a note to look up more reviews. In the meantime, I remembered that at some point during my creative history I’d owned a set of, what my memory told me, were kid’s-quality twist-up watercolor pencils. I could picture the set, and knew there was only one place in my home-office they could be, so one morning I went downstairs and took a look.
I found the twist-up colored pencils right away… and was disappointed to see they were just that- colored pencils. Nothing water-soluble about them. It was frustrating to have been mistaken but I figured I’d just continue my research… and then I peeked through the rest of the drawer just to see what other drawing supplies I’d collected over the years and had forgotten about.
What a discovery! I think I squee’d out loud when I saw the white edge of the tin under an old pencil case of charcoal and blending stumps. Not only had I forgotten I owned these but clearly I’d barely ever used them when I got them, because they were all still full-sized and touching the sponge strip running the top of the case.
Immediately I brought them upstairs to try out. I’d been stuck in bed, resting my legs due to a really bad bout of sciatica, so I put together a little portable watercolor kit that I could use in bed without making a huge mess: a tiny tupperware of water, a fine-tipped paintbrush, and a folded handtowel for blotting and cleaning my brush, all contained within another small tupperware that I could close up and store with my craft supplies.
I made pages for them to add to my swatch book. I didn’t want to use water in that pad itself because the paper is so thin, so I folded a sheet of cardstock in half and tore it into two papers that each fit on my swatch book’s pages. I scribbled a little bit of each color onto the paper and then activated each with a tiny bit of water. These colors are so rich and the crayons dissolve so easily that a SUPER tiny amount of water is all that is needed.
After the swatches dried I labeled them with the color names from the Caran D’Ache site and then used a glue stick to affix them into the swatch book. Now- onto the coloring!
My first test was the inside cover page of Kerby Rosanes’ imagimorphia, which I have been loving lately. I colored the page pretty quickly, not bothering to fully fill in all areas (like the cut area of the tree, for example) because I knew once wetted, the color would spread. I did some minimal color mixing and shading on the leaves, deer and dino, all using the crayons as crayons to color. Sadly they’re old enough that they became fragile, and two colors broke in half as I worked. They’re still usable, but I was disappointed. More evidence of their age is the (removable) white bloom on some of the darker colors, as well as how the lightest brown dried out to the point of looking like a Flake chocolate bar inside its wrapper. 😦
The crayons applied color wonderfully but, as to be expected of crayons, they didn’t have points sharp enough to work into the fine areas of the image. I was able to use the edges of the points to get into fine spots like the rays’ tails and such, but I didn’t bother trying to color the butterflies, knowing I’d just make a mess. In some areas, like the pom-pom-looking little dudes, I only colored the center, planning to move the color outwards later, once I activated the paint.
The very first spot I activated were the clouds in this image. I set a sheet of cardstock behind the page to protect it from any bleed-through or water damage, but it really took such a tiny amount of water that I doubted there would be any actual problems on the reverse-side pages.
You can see in this enlargement of the lower edge what the clouds looked like before the water was applied, as well as the rough, uneven coloring job I did. I’d cringe, except it was deliberate. After seeing how vibrant the colors were and how much they spread, I didn’t want to waste any of the crayon filling in any more densely.
This is the final result. I can’t get over the difference, and how smooth and rich the colors turned out! I did manage to achieve some subtle shading and depth to the colors, and if I’d wanted to color over-top and re-wet I’m sure I could get even more effects. The largest difference for me is in the tree, the deer and the dino, but I’m charmed by all of it.
I was super-pleased (but not surprised) to see that there was NO bleed-through on the other side of the page. This means I can use these crayons throughout the book without worry, which makes me really happy.
Here’s a side-by-side to really compare the before and after images. Besides blending out the patchy scribbles, the colors (which were pretty vibrant before) didn’t fade out and some became even brighter. They blended beautifully and dried really quickly, but not too fast that I couldn’t move around soft watercolor washes.
For the facing page (above) I decided to try using the crayons in a different fashion, as if they were individual little sticks of paint.
I wetted the brush, blotted most of the water off, and then dabbed it against the tip of the crayon, picking up some color, which I then applied to the image as paint, just as if I’d picked the color up from a palette. You can see some of the peach on the tip of my brush, as well as on the face and hands of the little girl I’d just painted.
This is the finished image after painting. In contrast to the side where I colored first, I think this side has a softer, almost dreamier application. However it is slower to keep re-dabbing the brush to the crayon, and it makes mixing colors more difficult as the paint dries much faster when using this method. I greatly recommend it for areas where you need more control or a finer application than you’d get with the stubby crayon.
This method also made me realize that my broken crayons were not a loss, nor was my flakey, dried-out tan. I can put a small piece of the color in one of my palette wells and activate it to use as paint, meaning that no part of these (expensive!) crayons will ever be wasted. 🙂
Here’s the back, showing again that there was no bleed-through or ghosting.
I’m really glad I found these crayons in my stash, and I can’t wait to play around with them more in this and other books. The colors are incredible and they activate so easily and beautifully, I really recommend them. Mine have broken and dried out, but they are also over 15 years old (!!!) and still work as well as if they were brand new. I would wholeheartedly recommend these.
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Boy it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted last. Back-to-back secret projects will do that, unfortunately, so I’m gonna try popping in with the little things I work on around the big ones, when they’re ones I can’t share.
I’ve already shown a few coloring books from my collection, but those who follow me on Instagram or Twitter will have seen pages from others here and there. This is the one I’ve just started: the Egyptian-themed page from Kerby Rosanes’ imagimorphia, the sequel to his incredible animorphia (which I also own and have sadly neglected).
Ignore the dark circle in the lower corner. I forgot to take a pic of the page before beginning to color, so I had to photograph the smaller version from the hidden object answer key at the back of the book.
I’ve been using my Marco Raffiné colored pencils for this one. I have been using my fineliners a TON lately, and wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy going back to colored pencils. Plus, this book has all double-sided pages, and I was worried the markers would bleed through.
I did a little media test at the back of the book. The first little dude was colored with Bic Mark-Its, the next with fluorescent Sargent Art gel markers, and the third with bronze Sharpie. Fourth was the Marco Raffinés (I knew colored pencils wouldn’t show through but I wasn’t sure how they would take on the paper’s tooth.) Also Marco Raffinés are oil-based cp and not wax-based like my other ones so I need to swatch those elsewhere sometime. After the cp I have Stabilo 88 and Staedtler Triplus fineliners, then a Gelly Roll glitter pen, and finally a few assorted Gelly Roll and other-type metallic markers. In the word box I tried out my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers even though I KNEW they’d bleed, and then I doodled a flower and word up above because that was in a white area on the reverse side and I wanted to see if anything would show through where there wasn’t a drawing.
I was so pleasantly surprised with this book! Not only are there a crazy amount of pages, but almost nothing bled through. I expected the alcohol markers so I ignored that, and since the Bics are alcohol-based as well I wasn’t surprised to see they’d also bled. What really thrilled me is that none of the others did! There’s a faint bit of ghosting from the fineliners but it’s mostly only visible in the white space area. I think if I used them to color any image or sections that had a picture/patterning on the reverse, it wouldn’t even be noticeable. Yay!
I was also really happy with how the Marco Raffinés took to the paper. They don’t play nice at ALL with the paper of my swatch book (seen above, and again below), and it takes a lot of pressure to get any color to lay down. In the book, however, I could apply the barest touch and get a sheer wash of color, and was able to layer nicely. Double yay!
PS I’m storing my pencils in a case I ordered off eBay. I saw them in a review video that Peta (La-Artestino) did and picked up a few to try out. The largest size (4-zippers) holds 72 pencils which fits the full set of Marco Raffinés perfectly. (PS if you’re into coloring at all do check out Peta’s blog and her videos, she’s incredible!). I keep an eraser and blending tortillon inside, along with a sheet of watercolor paper with numbered swatches of the different colors so I don’t have to bring my swatch book around with me. I only wish there was some type of pencil-shaped sharpener so I could keep one inside too!
Finally, here’s the coloring in progress, where I stopped at last night. I started by lightly shading in the areas I wanted the darkest color, using my lighter blue and brown. Then, starting with the head-piece and curved staff, so far, I went back in, applying a longer fade of each color, which I then darkened up in the shadows with a darker version of each color.
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Then one day I was laying on my belly in bed coloring the page above (the Eagle image in
jeloca.com 