Allen Family Christmas Card 2019

Hello everyone, how are your Christmas preparations going?

How many crafters out there have been beavering away for months creating wonderful cards for your friends and family?  

Now, how many of you have been procrastinating and 1st December arrived along with the realisation that you don't have enough time to make all the cards.............oh that was me back in 2016!

Since then I have challenged myself to create an image each year which I use for all our family cards.

If you have been following me on Instagram then you will have seen 

my progress reports, but for those who missed them:

Part One

Having sketched out the stag from a reference image, I started on the mottled background.  You will not believe how much grey ink I got through - I needed the pens juicy and refilled several of them multiple times!

Part Two

The smooshy background was such fun to create - here's a tip.  In order to get the colours to blend well, keep the cardstock moist, almost saturated with a pale ink, that way the colours bleed in to one another and make blending with multiple shades much easier.

Part Three

Now for the Stag. 

His antlers were impressive, but the angle at which he was holding his head gave me a few challenges with regards to perspective, but I got there in the end.

Part Four

Something magical happens when you draw in the eyes and from this point on the boy was watching my every move.  His ears were fun to do - a combination of fur, fuzz and frosty bits........I really had to think outside the box to get them looking right.  But that's what I love about doing this every year - it takes me out of my comfort zone and challenges me artistically.

Part Five

Anyone who has ever coloured fur along with me in one of my classes knows I opt for the "flicking" technique.  It's literally lots of random dashes, that build up to give the appearance of hair/fur.  On this chap, I layered approx 6-7 colours, that's a lot of flicking and was somewhat painful as my hand cramped badly from doing this for several hours!

But as they say, "no pain, no gain" - the end result was worth it - a pelt to be proud of!

Part Six

I had to give my poor hand a break after colouring his hide, so I made a few adjustments to his body and then turned my attention to the snow.  When colouring snow, it's actually the shadows created by the dimples in the snow that you are colouring, it isn't pure white as you might think.

After many, many hours of colouring here is:

"Laird of the Glen"

The falling snow was created with a combination of white pencil and sharpie marker.  Initially I found the white marks made by the marker a tad too bold.  So I dabbed each dot with a piece of kitchen paper, it smudged and softened it enough to give the impression of real falling snow.  That's what I love about doing this, I am constantly learning new techniques.

COPIC COLOURS 

Background - N0, N1, N2, W0, W1, W2, BG90, BG70, B93

Stag Antlers - E40, E41, E70, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, 0

Snow - BG0000, BG000, C0, C1, C2, 0

Body & Head - E40, E41, E50, YR30, E70, E81, E71, T0, T1, T2, T3, T4,

 T5, T6, W0, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, W7, W8, W10

Caran D'Ache Pablo White pencil

Sharpie Water Based White Paint Marker

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

 I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2020

Until next time

Happy Colouring

Christmas card Design 2018

For those of you that follow me on 

Instagram or Facebook

you will have already seen this......but for those of you that may have missed it, here is my 

2018 Family Christmas card Design

100% Copic!

and here is the final image

It never ceases to amaze me as to what can be achieved with Copic markers!

If you would like to see more of my work as I mentioned earlier you can also find me on both Instagram and Facebook

Thanks for dropping by my blog

SQUIRREL IN WINTER - CHRISTMAS CARD 2017

Hello there, did you manage to get all your Christmas cards made?

I had a brainwave last year when I realised that it was going to be impossible for me to make individual cards for everyone.  So I hit on the idea of drawing and colouring my own design, which I could then replicate.  OK, that meant stretching myself to do my first ever fine art piece of Copic work, but I did it and saved myself from, heaven forbid......buying cards!

This year, I just had to decide on the subject matter and it was whilst I was pondering that my Westie, Pip went tearing down the garden chasing after our local squirrel.........lightbulb moment!

Last year I didn't dare take photo's as I worked for fear of goofing, but this year I managed to tear myself away long enough to take a couple:

Having sketched out the squirrel, I started with the greenery in the background before turning my attention to that rather fiddly log the squirrel is perching on.  Oh, not to mention snow, which as I discovered last year is not white.  The knack is to colour the shadows, to give the impression of depth, rather than leaving areas of blank white space.

His fur was a challenge too, its made up of so many shades of red and grey, but as I built up the layers  the little guy started to take shape.  He looked so much better when I gave him two eyes, I almost felt him watching me as I continued, steadily to add his fur.

And, now for the final photograph - for my Christmas card prints, I used a scanned image as I did last year.  But in honesty my new Canon camera did a fab job, so next year I may skip the scan.  Anyway, enough waffle, I'm sure some of you have already moved on to the final picture...............

His bushy tail was wispy and I hope I've managed to capture that.  I opted for a simple background, lets face it, it's the squirrel that should have centre stage after all.

I have actually entered this little chap into the Copicaward.com competition, but he is up against some awesome competition.............whatever the outcome, I am chuffed to bits with my tufty little boy!

Happy Christmas everyone and I wish each and every one of you all the best for 2018

MFT RELEASE DAY - NOVEMBER 2017

Well, the day you have all been waiting for has finally arrived.

To celebrate the launch I created this fun scene with a Ski-Jumping Bear!

The adorable little bear is from the new Ski-sons Greetings stamp set and Die-Namics.  I opted to stamp him in Hybrid Cement Grey ink, enabling me to use the no-lines technique, giving a softer look to the image.  As you can see, I gave him a stripy scarf and added texture to his sweater as well as giving him fuzzy fur (my students will recognise these techniques)

Colouring the background was so much fun.  I first cut out a piece of Copic suitable card with a Stitched Square die.  Then, having Googled for images of snow scenes, I picked one that inspired me to draw and colour my own upon which to have my bear flying down the slopes.  I used a Picket Fence Distress Marker to add the snow to the pine trees, ensuring that I had finished my Copic colouring first.  

To add dimension and a little comedy to my card I attached my die cut bear to the card with a mini wobble spring.

in store at MFTstamps.com

Happy Shopping!

COPIC COLOURS:
Fur: E40, E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, W1, E11
Nose/Snout: E40, E41, E43, W1, W5, W7
Eyes: E97, E99, W8
Scarf: YG61, YG63, YG67, C0, C2, C3, C5
Sweater: BG72, BG75, BG78
Skis: W1, W2, W3, W4, W5
Trees: BG90, BG93, BG95, BG99, C1, C2
Snow/Mountains: BG0000, C00, C0, C1, C2, C3, BV0000, B41, V20
Sky: B000, B91, B32

Can you hear him roar?

Have you been following my progress on Facebook?  If not, don't worry here is a run down of what I have been up to over the last week!

Do you remember my recent Artistic Expression post on the My Favorite Things blog that featured a lion?  If you haven't read it, click HERE to see what I am referring to.

This image was calling to me from the moment I saw it!

Well, I bit the bullet, drew him and proceeded to start colouring him with my trusty Copic markers.......

It felt so good to be drawing again, something I intend to do far more in 2017!

As you can see he's coming along, a combination of delicate lines, dots and flicking........lots of flicking.  Ooh, those eyes......he came to life the moment I added colour to those stunning amber eyes!

But, oh boy, Copic markers, especially the E family have a nasty habit of going sticky, most noticeably when you have the lid off of a marker for long periods of time as I did whilst colouring this boy.  The alcohol in the ink evaporates, albeit very slowly and it alters the viscosity of the ink in the nib......basically it goes sticky.  To compensate for this I try my best to keep the markers full of ink so they stay as juicy as possible and whip out the brush nib and replace it if it's really misbehaving.  You can also use colourless blender to take the skin off an area that has gone shiny on your cardstock.......I lost count how many times I had to do that during this project.  It enables you to add colour again, but you must do this with care.

At this point, I did start to question why I hadn't chosen a lioness......way less hair!  Oh well, I had started it and I just had to keep going.

Here he is in all his furry glory!  It was a challenge, especially fighting the Copics, but I was not going to let a few mischievous markers prevent me from finishing this project.

I'd love to get my teeth in to another fine art project but I will have to wait until after my upcoming classes at My Favorite Things, Eustis, Florida.  For anyone coming........it's going to be such fun..........Copic, Cadbury Chocolate and an English girl with braces on her teeth whose speech on occasion can be quite comical!!!  Oh and of course I cannot forget my chicken mascot Ginger who is coming with me!

Pssst......my Saturday class has sold out but panic not, there are still a few spaces on Sunday 23rd April......so if this has inspired you to give Copics a go and you'd like to come spend 6 hours colouring with me, click HERE for details.

Copic Colours used:

E000, E30, E40, E41, E50, YR21, YR24, YR30, RV93, 

W00, W0, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, W7, 0

Thanks for dropping by the blog today, I hope you have enjoyed seeing my progress and I'll be back again shortly with more colouring fun!

Pushing the boundaries!

As crafters, many of us try (and in my case, often fail) to make our own Christmas cards each year.  Some are diligent and create the darned things "all year round" whilst others hit panic mode in November when they realise there just are not enough hours in the day to get them all done!!

Well, I reached that conclusion a little early this year........my Christmas card tally was in single digits and I'm away in early November...........things were not looking promising!

Then I sat in my studio day dreaming.........how long was it until my trip to Arizona to attend Jennifer Dove's Copic Bootcamp?  As I gazed into space I found myself pondering over the Copic fine art creations we have seen that amazingly talented lady producing......who can forget the giraffe drawn on an ostrich egg or those fantastic tulips and it got me thinking.........dare I have a go?

Could I do it?  So far I'd only ever used my Copics to colour stamped images adding the odd background here and there........would I be able to make the jump to a hand drawn piece of art as the Allen Christmas card? Well, there was only one way to find out - give it a try!  What is it they say - "nothing ventured, nothing gained" ...........but what was I going to draw - not a tractor in the snow, that was for sure!  Then my mind wandered to Ruby, the photobombing chicken and it got me thinking...........Christmas....birds....Turkeys, suddenly it hit me, what about a little Robin!

Well, I've waffled on long enough, so here it is:

It is based on an image I found online, along with numerous pictures of Robins I used for reference, primarily because, believe it or not this is the first time I have ever drawn a bird!

I would love to have taken some pictures whilst I worked on it, but I was simply too scared to do so........what if I goofed and had to start over!  So please forgive me; having drawn the image in pencil I drew a deep breath and started to add the colour.  Firstly the holly branch and leaves, then the Robin. Oh boy, creating the texture on those feathers took some thinking, I was layering lavenders, blues, browns and greys to get the right colours. Then of course there was that vibrant "orange" chest....yes, believe it or not Robin Red Breast is in fact orange!! Finally I turned my attention to the snow, colouring white is a challenge all on its own! I was literally holding my breath as I neared the end - praying that I could finish it without making a mistake - and thankfully I did, woo hoo!!!!  

Oh and it's 100% Copic, no coloured pencil enhancement whatsoever (pinky promise)!!! 

Are you all ready for the Copic list, you know me, I use lots.........well when you have a full set of Copic markers it would be criminal not to try and use as many of them as you can!

From now on I intend to use my markers for way more than just colouring in stamps.........and I have to say I am really rather pleased with my first piece of Copic Fine Art.........keep watching, there will be more, for sure!!!

Thanks for dropping by and I hope this has inspired you to challenge yourself, push those boundaries and try things you have never done before.................you never know where that journey will take you!

Happy Colouring