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Category: Tutorials

Tissue Paper Tutorial

prairiefairy | March 20, 2010

I have this tutorial posted at the Prairie Fairy PCP group page but I am going to post it here too.

I used tissue paper and watercolors and watercolor paper to create this background paper. You can also use reinkers too.

Tape your paper to a stable surface and tear up some plain white tissue paper.

Wet the surface of your paper and add some color. Two is usually best and make sure they are not compliments as if you mix compliments they will make mud.
Compliments are:
Red and Green
Blue and Orange
Yellow and purple

Smoosh the paper down onto the surface with a brush and add some more paint if you like. It really stains the tissue well. Let this dry.

Seal the surface with modge podge or watery glue or I used matt medium which is used for sealing, thinning and collage on canvases with acrylic paints. This will prevent the tissue from peeling off.

Here is the finished piece. It will always dry lighter so keep this in mind when painting.
You could stop here or:

I mixed some perfect pearls by Ranger with some of the matt medium and coated the surface to add a glow and shine. I could stop here too or:

You could take some acrylic paint in a contrasting color, here I used gold, and use your FINGER to rub some along the surface of the paper. Where the paper is raised from the tissue paper it will pick up the paint creating even more texture.

Here is the finished paper. Just trim to size!

Here is a close up of the paper showing detail of the texture. LOVE IT!
If you decide to try this why not make a large sheet you can get several small sheets from!

Here is the card I created with that piece of paper!

Sorry guys! I had to remove the picture as I am being published in scrapbook news and reviews!

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Colored Pencil Tutorial #2

prairiefairy | February 22, 2010

I had such a good response to this tutorial that I posted on PCP that I am gonna throw it on here too.

Start with light even coat of your lightest color. DO NOT go dark here as you will have no where to go for deeper shading if you do.

Blend this first coat right away in a circular motion with baby oil and blending stumps to SEAL the paper and get a smooth finish.

Add more of the same shade to the edges to darken them into the center. Leave a lighter strip in the middle for a highlight.

Now add a darker shade of blue to deepen the color of the shirt still leaving the highlight and blend this as well. Since your paper is already sealed and slick, you should not need more baby oil. Just do a tiny dip if you feel it is not blending well. DO NOT OVERSATURATE your stump.

Now add some dark blue at the edges for deeper shadow. You could stop here if you are worried about ruining your work, however if you want to be daring, try adding some more color to add some more depth.

I have added some purple to the edge to make the color look richer. I increased the brightness on the pencil so you could see the color better.

Then I LIGHTLY ADDED some red and red brown to really deepen the shadow area, make it dark. I know the pic is complicated but see on the right I added the red then blended. On the left I ALSO added another coat of navy OVER the reds to get almost a blue black color. I am sure you can see the difference between the one with just blues and the one with some red.

DON’T overdo the layering. It is better to go light and have to add more than add too much and then you can’t take it back.

For more info see my other Pencil crayon tutorial where I show you the stumps and other tools and how I store and use my baby oil. Oh and by the way, this technique also works FABULOUSLY with watercolor pencils too!

Yippeee!!

xoxox

The fairy!

Here is the link to the tutorial at PCP. Feel free to join the group too!!!!!

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Colored Pencil Tutorial

prairiefairy | January 17, 2010

Here is a list of some supplies you will find useful for using wax based pencil crayons. From left to right is as follows:

solvent based blender pen

colorless pencil for burnishing

blending stumps

tourtillions (different type of stump)

erasers at top soft and firm

sharpeners at bottom

extender for holding small leftover pencils

Other supplies for blending you will want to consider are gamsol, odorless mineral spirits or baby oil. In the tutorial I use baby oil, my fave by far! Use the blending stumps with these to create soft watercolor like effects.

I put sponges in a jar with the baby oil and then just squish the blending stump into it.

This is the fairy after I have put a soft layer of pink all over her dress. I then use some yellow in the warmer areas where there may me some light hitting the dress. I use red in the deeper colored areas. All applications are a soft layering application. In the darkest areas I use a purple to cool it off and deepen the shadows a little.

I then use the blending stump and baby oil to rub the penciled areas to “melt” the crayon and create a soft water colored effect. I decided after I had blended it to deepen the shadows further with a little more red and a darker purple. You can do this, keep layering and blending. I love being able to do that without damaging the paper. When you use a blending pen you can damage the surface of the paper though so take it easy.

And here is the finished fairy. Even though I used the baby oil my glue pen still works for adding glitter to the wings. Have fun layering colors to create new ones. You are save combining colors as long as you use colors next to each other on the color wheel. Eg. Use purple to cool down a red because red & blue make purple so purple is next to red on the color wheel. So is orange so you use orange or yellow to warm up red.

In this picture I have taken an image that I colored with copics. My colors are very limited with my copics so I added some pencil crayon shading over top and blended it with the stump and baby oil to smooth out the look and punch up the vibrance. I am sure you can tell in the picture the circled areas are where I added the colored pencil. I also did the same to her raincoat.

I hope this helps too, so if you have a little accident with blending your copics as they can be so fussy here is a little trick to fix it up.

Oh yeah, had a good question. I use ctmh daisy white cardstock. Stampin Up whisper white is fine too. There are expensive rough papers for colored pencil techniques but if you are looking for a nice smooth copic marker look you want smooth paper. The trick is to buy GOOD QUALITY white cardstock. Don’t cheap out here. You want it to be at LEAST 80lbs with good sizing. Sizing is something they coat the paper with to give it a nice smooth surface so that pigments don’t soak in to quickly. If your paper is cheap anything you put on it will soak right in and look uneven. Cheap paper feels rough and looks rough. Good paper is smooth with a nice sheen to it. Digital images print better on them and have smoother edges. On cheap paper the image looks rough or burred.

I hope you liked the tutorial and you decide to try having some fun with colored pencils. Baby oil even works well with Laurention colored pencils (Lori and I were testing it this morning!).

Have a great Sunday all!

PS. I am working on some new images to release soon so watch for those!

xoxox

the fairy

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Watercolor pencil Tutorial

prairiefairy | September 12, 2009

Well guys, I finally had some time to play so I thought I would make it a good one. First of all I want to mention that this is one of my images I designed. I call him dorky bird, I know how lame right. He does look dorky though. Anyhoo back to the tutorial. In the first picture I am showing you the finished bird but with an unblended sample to the right. That is what the birds neck looked like before I blended it.

In the second picture the bird has the first coat of color on him. Notice on the beak I have shown the second coat of color as well. The first being yellow and the second orange. Don’t be afraid to layer different colors as it will make your picture look richer and more realistic. In shadow areas I will use a color next to the color I am using on the color wheel but in a cool version of it. In areas where the sun would be touching the subject, if I want to I will do the same but with a warm color. For example: red and blue make purple, (the color I used) therefore next to purple on the color wheel is RED! Because I am using it in a shadow area I will use a cool or (bluish) red. MAKE SENSE!

And the last picture is the finished card! Notice on the edge of the bird and below his feet I added shadows to make him look three dimensional. It makes him look like he pops off the page. I did this with a grey watercolor pencil and the blender pen. Just trace a light shadow around the edge (always on ONE side only) and blend it out. If you do both sides it can look fake. You don’t normally have shadows surrounding you unless you are in some unique lighting situations. Of course you can shadow under his feet and body as they cast a shadow down as well. Print off a corny sentiment and you are good to go!

I will do a more complicated color mixing tutorial later so watch for it!

Hope you enjoyed!

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Making stones

prairiefairy | April 28, 2009

These are the tools I use to make stones. I mentioned I would do a tutorial in an earlier post so now here I am. Just cut out your rock shape and sponge the edges in your “rock colors”. The stipple tool I used is from clote to my heart but get creative and find something around the house with a bristly texture. Ink it up and pounce it onto the stone.

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stones

prairiefairy |

Here is a close up of the finished stone

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Rockin Dino

prairiefairy | April 9, 2009

This is actually my second try at this card. The first one just wasn’t cutting it for me but I loved the idea of the homemade rocks and play on words. Corry actually is working here with me right now and we laughed our heads off over how often I grabbed my sponges. I realise now that I am the SPONGING QUEEN! I have to say though it is the only way to get subtle proffessional looking transitions from one element to another. Corry had to admit that the carple tunnel and tendonitis was worth it!!!! By the way the stone texture was made with the black stubble texture tool from CTMH. I have had it for months and never used it, now LOVE IT!

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