These alcohol markers are not doing what I was expecting at all.
I did something different with my coloring
page today, and I'm not really sure if the results are good or really, really bad.
But I've started now, so I guess this is what what I'm working with.
So what's different?
It's time to finally open my Thomas Kincade Disney Coloring Poster
book again, which I haven't opened since I took on the coloring challenge
with ADC Art Attack and some help from Mosko. Mosko!
But this time I'm on my own
with my markers and pencils and these crazy tiny details.
Because while the paper is thicker and the pictures are bigger than
the Thomas Kinkade Disney Dreams book that I've colored a few times, strangely,
the actual details in the pictures are smaller.
This surprised me at first, but the smaller book is only using
a section of the original paintings for each coloring page,
whereas these posters are the entire picture crammed into a page.
So it's a lot of detail on a page and there's a lot of page to color.
But today is the day. When I've colored this book
in the past, I've looked at different ways
to color the black lines and even improve the quality of the paper.
My first effort failed miserably,
and while some of my other attempts were more successful, my favorite pages have
been when I haven't tried to cover the black lines at all.
But in every video, I've had so many comments suggesting one thing - Gesso.
But did I buy the right Gesso?
No, this was the right Gesso.
I think. Maybe? Is it? but I used this, textured Gesso.
Which brings us back to the strange
experience I'm having with the alcohol markers.
Because as I color with the markers, it seems the Gesso has created a barrier
that is changing how the alcohol markers are absorbing into the paper.
So they are sitting on the surface for longer, making them easier to blend,
but also making the color transfer a lot more than alcohol markers usually do.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
I think it depends on what you're trying to achieve.
This is definitely a different technique,
and it totally changes the way these markers work.
I'm not sure if normal Gesso would have had the same effect
and it's definitely something that is making me curiouser and curiouser.
"Curiouser and curiouser!"
My concern is that there is a lot of texture here in this Gesso
that wouldn't be here if I just chdose the right Gesso.
The texture is almost acting like a bit of a sandpaper on my markers,
and I think it's wearing them down much quicker than it should.
They're feeling fragile, and I've never felt them do that before today.
So the extra textured Gesso - probably not recommended for markers.
But let's look at the positives here.
This could be quite interesting if I can
work with this change instead of trying to work against it.
It seems to allow me to darken areas a lot
more with a single marker, but it also seems to pull up the color
in other areas and be a little harder to control overall.
It almost feels a little more like what I would expect a watercolor
painting would be like, although I've never really tried
watercolor painting, so I actually have no idea what I'm talking about.
I'm having fun, though.
This is an interesting method, and I'm enjoying the results.
Hopefully my pencils will work as expected
on my top layer, and I'll be able to really cover up any
mistakes and bring in the details that will bring this piece to life.
I love using markers alongside pencils,
and you'll see me do this a lot with my coloring pages because it allows
me to fill up a page quickly, build up the colors,
but still work with the details that colored pencils can bring.
Prismacolor and Luminance are two of my favorite brands that I go too often,
and because I'm not familiar with the texture of this page,
I want to use pencils that I am familiar with today.
But I've also decided to include my new Arrtx colored pencils,
and I reviewed these recently and was really surprised at how similar they were
to the Prismacolor, but without the breakage and soft core.
So I want to see how they perform
alongside my favorites on a challenging page like this today.
But before I go too far into coloring with my pencils, I want to quickly show
you how I choose my colors for a page like this.
When I color anything, I take two different approaches.
I even start with a reference image,
like here, where I'm working from a Thomas Kinkade original painting.
Or I use a color palette like those I
offer in the Color Catalog and the Color Cube. From there
I have already created these little swatch cards of all of my pencil colors that I
can match up against my reference image or against my color palette cards
to find exactly which colored pencils in my sets are the best match for what I'm
working on, I've got blank templates available on my website if you'd like
to make your own, or you can just use a piece of paper and color to the edge.
I make a list of the colors that I see
in my reference image, and this becomes my starting point.
Sometimes it changes as I go,
but doing this step first helps me to think about the colors I see before I
begin, and to assess what colors I have available in my set of pencils and what
colors I might need to mix, through layering my other pencils.
So the textured Gesso, is proving to make this more difficult than expected.
There is way too much texture.
It is acting like sandpaper and almost
feels like I'm using soft pastels instead of pencils.
This could be useful in the right context.
If you wanted to use pastel pencils
in a coloring book, this could maybe be a good primer.
But in an image like this, where I really need to be able to do small
details, this texture might end up being a bigger problem than I realized.
It's creating a lot of extra pencil dust, and I'm needing a lot more layers than
planned, so this page is going to take me a while.
When I drew in coloring books as a kid, I didn't have all of these predicaments.
Creativity was simple.
In fact, that's why I think coloring books
are a great way for people to reignite their imagination as adults when they
don't feel creative or just don't know where to start.
But if you've been watching this channel
for even just a few weeks, you'll know that I love being creative.
And the more I create,
the more I try to stretch myself and take bigger creative risks.
This often comes with challenges and frustrations, but I love every moment
of it, and every failure teaches me something new and gives me an opportunity
to grow my creativity in an unexpected new way.
And if this is your first time here, please subscribe and check out some
of my other videos to see exactly what I'm talking about.
I don't just color,
I take coloring pages to the next level, and I'm constantly looking for new art
challenges to try and new ways to bring you along for the journey.
This channel isn't just about me, it's about you too.
And I love getting comments about all the ways that you are taking your own
creative risks and stepping out of your comfort zone to try new things.
So let's be fearlessly creative together.
I really love how these paintings are lit up.
The pink, blue
and yellow lighting combination that I see
in so many of these Thomas Kinkade paintings have inspired me to try some
similar styles in some of my other artwork since.
I really like how they captured Disney's characters.
And I think that's what I've enjoyed
the most about coloring these pieces from the poster and from this book.
Even though the tiny details are
challenging and I always find an acrylic paint pen is perfect for these scenes.
My yellow cream and white pens get used more than any of the other colors
in my set, and mostly just for highlighting coloring pages like this.
It's time for the leaves.
And I used to be so scared of coloring leaves.
I think it's actually me watching people paint and learning other media that has
given me more confidence in coloring these.
Even though I'm using pencils, I realized that leaves have a lot
of shadows and highlights rather than individual shapes.
So blocking out these color values
and generally creating patches of dark and light will get you a better result
overall than trying to draw individual leaves on a tree or a bush.
I mean, if I can randomly dab paint around like Bob Ross and it somehow looks like
a tree, surely I can do the same with pencils right?
Before I start on the characters, I need to erase a lot of the mess
that I've created from smearing pencil dust with my hand
as I've been coloring. Again, I'm blaming the extra textured Gesso for this.
It's sanding my pencils down and creating a lot of extra mess.
I'm also kind of hoping that with enough pressure, I can take off some
of the grit texture from the Gesso, maybe smooth it out a little bit.
Either way, it's important that I focus
on the finer details now, so I need my pencils to be much sharper.
I've decided it's time to use more
of my Arrtx pencils and less of the Prismacolor.
So far, I have to say that they have been performing just as well.
The slightly firmer lead is going to be much better for these fine details,
but they still have a very good buttery blend just like the Prismacolor.
And my Luminance pencils don't seem to like
the Gesso as much as I was hoping, so it's literally Arrtx for the win today.
And no, this video is not sponsored.
I really think if Arrtx could improve the barrel colors to be closer
to the actual core colors, bring out a bigger range and make
the wording bigger on the side of their pencils,
these would be up there with my top
favorite pencils, but I have a whole other video about them if you want to know more,
so let's get back to our coloring.
When I'm coloring the skin, I'm really just following the reference photo here.
I'm looking for the different color
values, working in light layers with very gentle pressure and taking my time.
And when I say taking my time, it's not fast like you're watching,
it's more like this.
This is why I don't put my videos up in real time.
We would be here forever.
But if you do want to watch me color this
whole page at double time, I have a second channel where I have
videos of all of my coloring pages with no talking, just music.
My team has even started adding the number
of each pencil as I go where possible so that you can try to color along or
at least watch the full process at an easier speed to copy my techniques.
I don't have a specific order of how I approach my layers with colored pencils.
Sometimes I start with the highlights, sometimes I start with the shadows.
Either way, I work in light layers so
that I can add or make changes as I go, so those lower layers don't have to be
completely perfect, especially with how forgiving waxy pencils like this can be.
Pencils that have a waxy core, like the ones I'm using today,
tend to allow a lot of build up of layers so you can adjust the colors as you go.
Not all pencils will work like this,
so this is something that you'll get used
to as you learn to work more with whatever pencils that you own.
There's one thing left, and that's Rapunzel's beautiful hair.
Hair is something that I don't feel as confident coloring.
But like everything else, I just trust that if I keep working at it
in light layers, it will look good by the end.
Hopefully.
We are always our own worst critics, and it's easy to focus on all
the imperfections when you're looking at something so closely.
But nobody else is looking at what you did wrong.
They are looking at everything that you did right.
So if, like me, you find it hard sometimes
to see what's going on in your pictures, walk away, come back after a break,
and try to look at the whole picture as if someone else had created it.
Sometimes just reframing your art like
this can help you to have a fresh perspective and to see it
for the masterpiece that it is, instead of being so critical on yourself.
And if you hear me being critical
of my own work in my videos sometimes, don't worry.
I like to talk through my process to help you,
but at the end of the day, I'm usually proud of what I achieve,
even if I don't always enjoy every moment in the middle.
It's part of my journey
and pretending it's all bliss isn't real
and isn't always helpful to someone else watching who doesn't understand why
learning new skills isn't a walk in the park for them.
That's why I show you my mistakes,
and that's why I share my negative thoughts at times.
Because it's to show you that it's okay
to fail and that it's okay to be upset when you do.
But don't stay there, and don't let that hold you back.
Learn from it.
Use it and move forward onto the next big thing.
You'll learn more from your failures than you will from your achievements,
and both are an important part of your creative journey.
When I started coloring this page,
I thought I'd made a mess of it before I'd even begun.
And yet, with some persistence, I've turned another coloring page
into a piece of art that I'm really proud to share with you.
Wait a second.
Those alcohol markers didn't go through the page
hardly at all!
Is that from the Gesso?
Okay, I think we have to try this Gesso
thing again, because that is a pretty cool bonus.
So I challenge you today, don't give up too early.
And if you enjoyed watching me color this
page, don't go anywhere, because I've got a full series of turning
coloring books into art just like this for
you to enjoy.