How to Color Flowers

With the sun coming out a little more each day and buds starting to peek their green heads out, today's blog is in honor of the coming spring; how to color flowers! As usual, there is a lot of room for creativity here as flowers come in so many varieties, so I'll just touch on a few options.

As a general rule I color the center of the flowers yellow, sometimes with orange shades thrown in.

However, if I want to mix it up, I may make the flower itself yellow, and then make the center red or purple for a nice contrast.









The flower petals themselves can be any color you choose. I choose my petal color based on if I want the flowers to stand out, compliment the scene, or fade into the background. Sometimes I'll just throw in a blue flower because my poster needs the color blue in it...







If the flower is a focal point, I like to use similar or complementary colors to give the petals some variety and depth. For example, I'll add shading to the center of the flower (such as a darker pink/purple) to create a more 3-D appearance. I'll also add lighter colors to give it highlights...

I may also just switch up the colors of the petals to make it more visually interesting...


However you like to color em, I hope you get to enjoy the beauty of these spring blooms both in your posters and in nature! Happy (almost) Spring!

Erin

Coloring puppies!

Welcome back to our Stuff2Color blog! This week's blog is in honor of my new puppy, Emma! We're going to cover a couple different coloring strategies for these adorable posters.

• As you can see from my examples, I often like to use a bright warm color that makes the puppy draw your attention. Yellows and light browns (often with orange tint) are great for this.

• Like the previous blog about coloring hair, I like to leave high-lights and low-lights to show variety in their fur. I often outline the visible tufts of hair a slightly darker shade. 

• I generally color the muzzle a lighter shade. This fur is often shorter and finer, and gives definition to your puppy's face.

• And finally, you always have the option to color your puppy with different patches of color. Dogs come in all varieties, whether its white spots, dark spots, or even three different colors on one dog!

Here's my example of my own puppy. However you choose to color em, they're are going to turn out adorable :) Thanks for joining, please let me know of any coloring ideas you have for all these puppies.  Take care!

Erin

Coloring Hair

Hi again, hope you all had a great holiday season! A great time for family, friends, coloring... :) So let's dive right back into it, shall we?

Today's blog covers how to color hair. Now we all know the variety of colors that hair comes in, so this blog is more about adding highlights and lowlights to the characters in your Stuff2Color posters.

Check out my examples below. You'll need 2 to 3 shades in similar colors.... so if you're going blonde you may want a yellow, light brown, and maybe just leave some strands white (if you don't have a lighter yellow color to choose from). Brunettes-light brown, dark brown, and black. You'll want to color the majority of hair in your middle tone. Then add lighter tones to the top of his/her head and darker tones to the hair underneath.

Or as in the case with "Cat Lady" I also like to alternate between 2 similar colors just to give some variety and depth to her hair.

Finally, in some cases like "Wizard", I like to add strands of gray to age him a little.

 Any other tips for creating colorful, realistic hair? I'd love to hear em! Take care and keep on coloring!

Erin

Coloring Scenery, Part 3: Water

Welcome back, hope you all had a great Christmas! Mine was filled with family and traveling, love this time of year :)  Today we're going to discuss how to color water in your Stuff2Color posters. Obviously you can go with the traditional bright blue water. Or you can go with a few of these other tricks....

• Color the water a blue-gray or muddy greenish color to represent a stagnant lake, or darker colors to make the water look deep....

• Alternate the blues of the water to give the appearance of movement....

• Or color reflections on the water... This can include the color of a sunset or sky... or foliage/animals that are reflected in the water. See how on the lion above (Lion Reflection) I outlined the blue squiggles of his reflection to add a realistic element of water distortion to his image?

Have any other tricks for coloring water? I'd love to hear your ideas! And if we don't speak before then, have a very Happy New Year!

Erin

Countdown to Christmas! Only 24 Hours Left For These Great Items!

I was planning to write another blog about coloring scenery when I realized that there is only 24 hours left to order anything from Stuff2Color to be received by Christmas! So here are some great gift ideas if you have any last minute presents to get like I do.

• Line Art Coloring Books- Offer 10 different designs in one package. Choose between Country Living, Family Pets, and Nature's Animals. Variety is the spice of life right?

• Gifts for Her- Quick selection of posters for your daughter, sister, mother, etc.

• Gifts for Him- Don't forget the gentlemen in your life.... 

• Markers & More- Coloring accessories for the artist in your life. Here's a quick review of some of the products offered, check out the website for a complete list.

48 Pack of Fiskars Gel Pens - Fine point is great for very detailed work. Comes in variety of colors with neons, metallics, glitter pens, and swirl pens. Flow nicely and do not bleed through the paper (just make sure to not smudge before gel dries).

36 Pack of Pentel Coloring Pens - Fine point markers, cover area smoothly and evenly. Great for smaller spaces and details. Great color selection including grays, jewel and flesh tones.

10 Pack Sharpie Liquid Pen Style Accent Colors- Great tapered ends allow for broad strokes and very detailed work. Ink flow is amazing, with bright colors not found in your classic color marker set. Will add variety to your artist's tool set.

So there is a brief list of some ideas to get the gift-giving juices flowing. Check out Stuff2Color.com for even more ideas, just make sure to get your order in before 3:00 PM (PST) tomorrow (12/19)! Happy shopping!

Erin

Take a Peek!

This week's blog is less educational, more informational. Just wanted to give you guys a sneak peek at some upcoming posters so you can be as excited as I am! This anticipation is like waiting for Christmas morning :)

Our first Inner Nature Giant Poster

A mandala!

Spider!

So now you're in the loop! Thanks for dropping by. Feel free to ask any questions or let me know if you want anything in particular discussed in an upcoming blog.

Have a great week!

Erin

Coloring Scenery, Part 2: Skies

 Hello again, welcome back to the Stuff2Color blog! Last week we talked briefly about how to color trees. This week is a similar concept, how to color the sky.

 Like our discussion last week regarding trees being green, the sky does not always have to be "sky blue". Maybe you want to color a gray, overcast sky. Or a light purple for dusk. Or go full out and make it night by coloring the sky dark blue, black, etc. like "Pond in the Park". It's all up to you! Here's another example below of the poster "Hungry Puppy" where I colored the sky with multiple colors to create a sunrise/sunset. For the best results I use analogous colors to build up this effect in a harmonious way (check out previous post about shading/layering with markers for more explanation of this technique).

How do you like to color the sky? Any tricks you would like to share, please comment below.





Thanks for stopping by!

Erin