Thursday 9 April 2015

Pansy

Warning this is a long post but only as I am sharing a step by step as to how I made this card.
(click on any of the pictures to enlarge)
I am colouring 'pansy' from Aurora Wings Stamps. It is a digital stamp and can be found here.
When i start to colour an image i dunno why but i always seem to begin with the hair. perhaps so i can find the basic structure of the image especially with the aurora wing images as there is always a lot of detail in them and i don't want to come to the end to discover i have coloured half of the curls green thinking they were part of the plants.
Here i have chosen brown hair and used these three browns (walnut, burnt sienna and bistre) from my polychromos. I always start with the darkest shade first and blend out to the lightest.

Here i have decided to finish with yellow ochre for the highlights in her hair.

Google images is my favourite place to find inspiration for natural flower colours. I chose a pink/fuschia pansy and got colouring as you can see. Sorry i must have skipped an image as i was going along. I basically tried to match my pencil colour to the colours i saw in the photograph of the flower i found. The bottom of the flower had yellow and chrome yellow was the best match so that is what i went with.

Next was the leaves. again trying to match the greens to an original pansy leaf and like the hair i usually start with the darkest area of the leaf and blend into the lightest area. The darkest section of the leaf is the creases/veins. the area obviously which isn't getting the most light.

Next obvious section is the face. I think of my light source and where the shadows of ones face will be cast. If you have trouble find some images on google or look in the mirror :)
I start with the cheeks with the colour medium flesh. I colour like i am adding blush make up :)

next i try and define the rest of the face like the nose and upper lip.
Usually at this stage my next go to pencil colour is cinnamon 
Once i am happy with the features i start the shading. Burnt ochre is next. Its a yellowy colour but darkens the feature lines.

Next i start to fill the area with light flesh. this is a very light pink so not the last colour to blend just yet. I usually finish the lightest areas with the second pencil from the whole set, Ivory.

I usually go over and over the shading until I'm happy. I even went  around the edges and cast shadows with indian red.
Her eyes i decided on green to compliment the finished garden look i wanted. I find colouring the top part of the eye in a dark green and then shade just under that with a lighter green works well to give a natural looking eye. A black line directly under along the top eyelid gives the sense of depth to her eye. Don't forget a nice shade of eyeshadow.
 Then last of all i coloured her eyebrows with Van-Dyck brown and a touch of walnut to darken them. 
To finish and smooth the majority of the colouring i went over the skin flowers and leaves with a pencil stump.

Next the background. I bring in my inktense pencils for this. I love these pencils from derwent.
I wanted a garden feel so i mixed a wash of green in a plastic palette  and applied liberally here and there making sure i shaded around the edge of the image.

Looks pretty good if i may say so myself :)
I spray my colourings with fixative just to avoid any accidental smudges and to seal it.

The bubbles in the image needed to pop a bit so i covered them all in glossy accents to give them the glossy 3D look they needed.

Now ages ago i found a sizzix pansy/violet flower die set and thought, hell, i need that, lol. 
It was perfect for this so i got to work cutting out little violet petals and leaves. i rolled, twisted, bent....whatever it is you call making paper flowers and stuck all the bits together to make the embellishments for the card.
All the cardstock i used is from kaisercraft. The green colour is fern and grape and wine are the purple shades.


The sentiment i printed on the image with the computer.
oh almost forgot i used a white gel pen to draw a thin white stripe across each of her eyes for the light reflection. I also used a silver polychromo pencil to shade her earrings.

I will be entering this card into the following challenges
Aurora wings challenge #13 Anything goes
Crafting from the heart #54 Anything goes
Lil Patch of crafty friends #7 anything goes
wish me luck :)
and don't forget you can follow me on Instagram @ericabruton

Erica xx

14 comments:

  1. Fabulous card with gorgeous coloring, Erica! Love the way you colored the pansy blooms! So delicate and fresh. Your attention to detail is fantastic!! Thank you for joining us at Aurora Wings Challenge.

    Mitzi xxx
    Artist/Owner Aurora Wings

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  2. Wow Erica, this is stunning, love the image and your colouring is superb. Thanks for joining our challenge at Lil Patch if Crafty Friends and we hope you will come back and join us again soon. Jennifer DT member

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  3. WOW this is fabulous Erica! I love the step by step. Gorgeous colours you have used. Love Mitzi's images.
    Hugs
    Linda xxx

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    1. Thanks Linda. I can't decide which of Mitzi's images are my favourite, they are all fabulous

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  4. Hi Erica this is gorgeous the image is stunning. Thank you for the step by step. Hugs Jackie

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  5. Stunning colouring. Thank you for joining us at Crafting from the Heart challenge. Good Luck.

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  6. This is amazing, well done xx Jan

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  7. this is stunning, love the artwork, so detailed

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  8. Really beautiful, it has such a professional finish to it. Creative Blessings, Tracy x

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  9. Erica, this is beyond gorgeous! Your coloring is stunning and the fabulous details are just breathtaking! Thanks so much for joining us at Aurora Wings. xxD

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