My Instagram followers might remember the colouring on today’s card. I actually coloured this image last summer, but for some reason never got round to sharing the finished card. Happily I rediscovered the photos so I’m here to share it now!
I’m in the process of putting together a comprehensive guide to No Line colouring, with lots of inspiration, advice and tutorials for you. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this post!
Stamping Bella Chrysanthemum Card
Stamp used: Stamping Bella Tiny Townie Garden Girl Chrysanthemum (also available in the UK at Dies to Die For).
I stamped the image using InkOn3 Fadeout ink on Make it Colour Blending card before colouring using Copic markers, and finishing off with some Polychromos coloured pencils.
No Line Colouring Step by Step
1. Start by colouring the background. This isn’t necessary, but does make things a little easier. Firstly it eliminates the risk of dragging any colour from the main image. Secondly it helps to define the outline of the image.
3. With character images I tend to start with skin tones. This will look pretty strange – remember that this is a process, don’t overwork it at this stage, you can go back in later on and deepen shadows or add details. As you start to colour other areas like the hair, it will all start to come together.
5. Moving on to the outfit, I started with the petal skirt. There are lots of individual petals, so it looks intimidating. Just break it down into sections. I recommend starting with the lowest petals, as that will allow you to easily define the edges of the ones that overlap. This is where it really helps to have a black outline version of the image to hand as a reference.
7. The flower on her head has a lot of detail, with some really tiny areas. Again, start with the lower petals and also areas like the very centre of the flower. This helps to define the edges of the overlapping petals. Work a section at a time, and take breaks!
9. When all the marker colouring is done, set the image aside or walk away for a while. Give yourself a breather and come back to the image with fresh eyes, it really makes a world of difference in how we see our colouring, and also enables us to look at the piece and determine what we want to fix or add.
2. Don’t try to make the background perfectly smooth. Using a loose scribbly motion when colouring helps to create a nice background texture without distracting hard lines. Remember to add a little shadow under the image to ground it.
4. Here you can see one of the cool things about no line colouring – it makes it so much easier to customise images. To go with the darker skin I’ve chosen for this image, I wanted to give the existing curls more volume. On other images you could change the hair style or other features more dramatically.
6. Little by little it all starts to make sense and take shape. Keep going, don’t rush things!
Working in such small detail areas with Copic markers you may run in to some issues with sticky ink. Don’t worry about overworking the colouring, you can go in with coloured pencils later on to tidy things up and bump up the shadows.
8. Don’t try for blending perfection in such small areas – a little texture helps create interest, and any issues can be tidied up with coloured pencils later. It’s much easier to get into the tiny detail areas with a sharp pencil tip!
10. Grab those coloured pencils and a sharpener! I used Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on this image, to deepen shadows, cover any blotchy areas or mistakes, tidy up edges and increase highlights. Make sure your pencil tips are nice and sharp using a good quality sharpener. You can find out about my favourite pencil sharpeners in my Pencil Sharpeners: Comparisons & Favourites post.
Copic Marker & Prismacolor Pencil Info
I coloured her using Copic markers, followed by Faber-Castell Polychromos coloured pencils to add some extra shading and refine some of the details.
Copic Markers Used: Background – YR20 Skin – E000,E01,E11,E13,E04 Hair – N4,N6,N9 Petals – V12,V04,BV02,BV04,BV25
Polychromos Pencils Used: Throughout – Dark Sepia, White Skin – Burnt Sienna, Cinnamon, Ivory Hair – Black Petals – Black, Violet
Paper Used: Make it Colour Blending Card
Ink Used: Inkon3 Fadeout No Line Colouring Ink
If you are in the UK/Europe you can find Stamping Bella stamps and dies at Dies to Die For here in the UK.
Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you have enjoyed today’s post as much as I enjoyed creating it for you.
Don’t want to miss out on future posts? Subscribe to my RSS feed in your favourite blog reader or subscribe to my email newsletter.
Follow me over on Instagram where I share frequent peeks at the colouring I’m doing along with other day to day snaps. You can also follow my page on Facebook if you’d like to connect over there. Subscribe to my channel on YouTube (and hit the notification bell over there to make sure you don’t miss out on updates).
Help support this blog and my work directly – become a patron over on Patreon.
Any and all support you give, whether it simply be liking a video or social media post, commenting here on blog posts, purchasing via affiliate links or giving direct support through Patreon, is greatly appreciated.
Please note that in order to assist with the running of this blog I do use affiliate links from time to time and there may be some in this post, denoted with a *. Please see my About Me page for more information.
In my capacity as colourist and design team member for Stamping Bella, I do receive the stamps I use from them. All opinions and creative decisions remain my own, and I only work with companies/use products that I love.
Leave A Comment