adding colour

Adding colour to some whimsical flowers

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Click on this link to watch the video where I add colour to some of the whimsical flowers in my sketchbook.

I took a short break from social media over the last couple of days. I had other things that needed to be done, not least a trip out for brunch in a local cafe with a friend. That’s the first time in over two years I’ve eaten out!

I was highly anxious and stressed, but had a lovely time. The cafe was quiet, thankfully. The food and drink were delicious. It’s our new favourite cafe to go to, one that’s close to us both as we, like most people, are mindful of the cost of fuel at the moment.

The comedown from anxiety and stress leaves me exhausted, and unable to focus my mind. So, some simple colouring of my whimsical flowers sketchbook page from my last blog was just the thing I needed. Nothing to tax my mind. Sketchbook work is a place to experiment, practice, and enjoy the creative process with no pressure for anything to be perfect!

To add colour I used a mixture of Pentel Brush Sign and Tombow Dual Brush pens, along with a water brush. Both of these pens are filled with water-soluble inks and so work a bit like watercolours. I feel I have much more success with these media than I do watercolours, especially as the colours are so bright and vibrant – saturated I think the arty term is.

Just a bit of colour brings the line art to life. It’s its own kind of magic.

Draw with me … adding shadow, colour and highlights to floral motifs | 24 Nov ’21

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Oh, I had a lot of fun bringing the simple line drawings from yesterday to life with shadow, colour and highlight. Here’s the link to today’s video if you’d like to try this along with me.

The humble 2B and 6B graphite pencils (the Pitt Graphite Matt versions) were used to create the shadows, the illusion of folds and curls, curves and edges. It took me a while to remember how to do this, to work out the effects I wanted to create. This is, however, like riding a bike – once learned you may be rusty, but you never forget!

There is a simple pleasure in using just the grey of graphite to give more form to these designs. Adding colour over the graphite added to this. I really am enjoying the way the careful shadowing with graphite works with transparent watercolour. Then, there’s the use of white charcoal and/or white ink to bring out the highlights.

If I use ink, I much prefer to use dots white, rather than a solid line or shape. I enjoy the subtle texture it gives as well as that brightness too. I find the white charcoal tends to bleach the colour out way too much, it feels not quite right. I will eventually work out how to do this in a better manner I think. Perhaps trying other colours of chalk pastel pencils maybe, or really making sure that the colour is barely there in the highlights. It’s a work in progress for me, that’s for sure! I may just stick to white ink dots, perhaps trying other colours that work with the colour of the motif.

Using various grades of graphite helps me to get that intensity of shadow that I like, without struggling with watercolour. I can vary the intensity of one colour (and I even tried two colours in one motif!), and let the graphite do the work of darkening the shade of colour.

The metallic looking result I find quite pleasing, now that it’s becoming familiar to me. I find I like the effect far more than adding graphite on top of the colour. The pigments in the watercolour pencil seem to sit over the graphite when they’re activated with water, tinting the graphite in a way that is pleasing to me.

I do love the Graphitint pencils very much, but this method gives me a way of getting more vibrant colours, which are pleasingly toned down by the under-shadowing of graphite.

Entangled Drawing | Adding Colour Part 5

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Link to the Adding Colour Time Lapse Video

This morning, I spent nearly two hours adding colour to this drawing. It’s getting close to being completed. Well, the adding colour part. There’s embellishing to be done too!

I’ve used Inktense pencils through out, along with a damp brush to activate and blend the colours.

As well as colouring new areas of the design, colour was added to intensify various areas that were appearing too insipid. I still have some of this to do to bring out a sense of volume in various elements.

I’m fairly pleased with this, though in hindsight adding the shadows with a grey Faber Castell Pitt Artist pen first may not have been the best idea. Still, it’s a learning experience, again.

Entangled Drawing | Adding Colour Part 4

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Link to today’s vlog on YouTube

It seems to be dry outside, weatherwise. Cloudy with the odd bit of sunshine. It’s a nice day to go out for a walk. But first I’ll need to get some work done.

The day started with adding more colour to this entangled drawing. I continue to use Inktense pencils. As well as adding colour to new areas of the design, I also started to intensify the colour on the collection of red ‘seeds’ in the centre. It’s subtle, but the colours there no longer look washed out.

As I type, the vlog I recorded while adding colour is uploading and I’m going to get all my social media posts done. Then, I’ll get a fresh mug of tea, put a load in the washing machine and then start to ink in the cover of the new book I’m working on.

Then, if the weather holds, I’ll go out for a walk.

It all sounds like a plan, a good plan for the day.

Entangled Drawing | Adding Colour Part 3

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This morning, I spent nearly an hour adding some more colour to this entangled drawing. I estimate that a bit more than a half has been coloured.

Today’s video on YouTube is a time lapse of this process.

I’m using a fairly limited colour palette of inktense pencils.