My favorite medium to colour with is Copic markers, but a close second is coloring with pencil crayons and odorless mineral spirits, or "gamsol." The gamsol kind of melts the crayon and blends colors together while helping to soften lines left by the pencils. I get a lot of questions about pencils and gamsol because it's growing in popularity and it's also an inexpensive alternative to copics. I use Koh-I-Noor pencils ($25/set) and Derwent pencils ($1.50 each) so they are WAY cheaper than my $1000 collection of markers!
Here are the supplies I used:
Gamsol comes in a big bottle so I transfer it into a smaller
squeeze bottle for easier pouring. I use a tea-light holder as a vessel for the liquid.
Blending stumps are the tools for holding the gamsol and
blending the colors together. I used one tip for each color. The alternative
is to sand the tips down to clear the color away. This is quicker...
I color-match my pencils to the papers I will be using. Because I don't have
hundreds of colors, blending different shades together is often needed
so I like to try the colors out before I color the image.
I roughly color the image going over the entire area with
the lightest color, then add shading with darker colours on the edges.
Dip the stump into the gamsol and you will see it suck up the liquid.
Start by blending the darker colors and blend into the lighter colors.
You will have to re-dip the stump into the gamsol as the tip dries out.
This is the image after I blended the initial layer of greens..
I added more dark a couple times until I got the contrast I was happy with..
I colored the frog image twice and cut one out and
popped it on top of the other. (paper tole)
(The sentiment is from a St. Patricks Day set of stickers from SRM!)
5 comments
Tobi - what a great tutorial. Very interesting - and then what a treat to find stitching around the card!!!
ReplyDeleteLove it!
Thank you for the tutorial. Its good to learn about new techniques. I have been curious about this medium.
ReplyDeleteTobi very nicely done! I forget to use my pencils now that I have been using the markers but you have inspired me to pick them up again.
ReplyDeleteHUGS,
Vicki
Hi Tobi,
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in this medium (copics being so expensive!) but I can't quite figure out which of the Koh-I-Noor products that you're using. Could you please elaborate?
Thank you!!
Anne
Thank you for the great tutorial! You make it look so easy.
ReplyDeleteGreat card too!
Thank you for commenting!