MARKER GEEK MONDAYS

Marker Geek Monday Playing with Pencils & Blending Solution Options

Elaineabella here with a Marker Geek Monday post for you!

Now, I know, it is still summer. Believe me, I know. I’m over it. Every year, around July/August I start longing for October, and I have a deep desire to colour all of the autumn related things. This works pretty well for all the release colouring I tend to do around this time (hint, I just finished the next release and it is brilliant), but not so well for getting all the fun summer themed stuff done. Oh well! Anyway, I’m still in a bit of a funk, but I’ve been feeling drawn to my coloured pencils, so I thought I would play around do a little autumn themed colouring.

As a follow on from my last Marker Geek Monday post HERE, I decided to use blending solution with my pencils again, which is something I fell out of love with years ago. Here, now, in 2018, I’m back in love. Hooray! I spent a little time testing out some of the blending solution options I have on hand, to see what worked best, with each of my coloured pencils.

I won’t go into the testing in full depth, but a few observations for you:

  • Out of the options I have on hand, Winsor & Newton Sansodor performed best, closely followed by Zest It Pencil Blend. The Sansodor seemed to move the pigment around a little more.
  • Copic Colourless Blender worked quite well, which is good to know in a pinch! Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) would also work.
  • I did not care for Turpenoid at all, and I didn’t find the results to be that great.
  • The paper you use, as always, makes a difference. It isn’t always a huge difference, but it is often noticeable. Moving the pigment around on my preferred paper vs a cheap plain cardstock was much easier, although the cheaper cardstock did also yield decent end results.

That’s it for now, I’ll leave you with today’s colouring and my dreams of autumn…

Stamp Used: The Littles Pumpkin Friends (coordinating die also available)

I stamped the image on hot press watercolour paper and coloured using Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils with Sansodor to blend.

Colours Used: Skin – Light Flesh, Cinnamon, Medium Flesh, Dark Sepia Hair – Bistre, Burnt Sienna, Dark Sepia Scarf & Pumpkin Stalks – May Green, Olive Green Yellowish Dress – Violet, Mauve, Dark Sepia Pumpkins – Terra cotta, Sanguine, Burnt Sienna Hedgehog – Nougat, Van Dyck Brown Fox – Nougat, Sanguine, Indian Red Ground – Bistre, Van Dyck Brown, Dark Sepia Sky – Light Ultramarine, Ultramarine

Note: One thing I remembered while colouring was that my least favourite thing about colouring using this method has always been colouring skin. It always turns out a little dirty/patchy looking to me. With that in mind, I’ll probably grab my Copics for that area next time, or use the pencils without the blending solution.

Over To You!

What do you prefer to do when colouring with coloured pencils? Do you use a blending solution, or just the pencils?

Share your personal favourite Stamping Bella creations with us. We LOVE to see what you’ve been creating with Stamping Bella stamps. Share a link to your latest Stamping Bella card in the comments below, or an old favourite you made a while ago. Tell us what your favourite stamps are. Are there any additions you would like to see to the range? Let us know!

Another way to connect is by joining us in the Stamping Bella Sistahood Facebook Group and share your pictures.

If you are posting your images online, we would love to see them on Instagram and all the platforms mentioned above. To make it easier for us to find you just use #markergeekmonday and/or #stampingbella as a hashtag. Even better tag me @markergeek and @stampingbella . We love it when you connect, so don’t be shy!

Until next time, HAPPY STAMPING!

MWAH

Elaineabella

9 Comments

  1. Candy Mills says:

    Oh! I wish you had done a video – I have never seen this done, and I love the results! Do you blend after each colour you lay down or do you do all of the colouring of a section – shadows highlights etc. and then blend?

    Your colouring is awesome!!!!

    • Stamping Bella says:

      Hi Candy, thank you! I will indeed do a video when I’ve had a little more time to play and reacquaint myself with this way of colouring. I’m actually taking a little time to chill and ease off the pressure of making videos etc over the summer – need a little creative playtime to fill the creative well!

      I lay down all of the colour, then blend, then go back in again and layer to get the look I want. 🙂

      ~Elaineabella

  2. frances c says:

    Have you used Gamsol, if so how did you like it?

    • Stamping Bella says:

      I haven’t, because I’m in the UK and it isn’t widely available here. Sansodor is an odourless mineral spirit, like Gamsol, so I’m guessing that they work fairly similarly.

  3. Rhonda says:

    What is your favorite paper for pencils, and what kind of
    colored pencils did you use?
    Thanks

  4. Karin Spinner says:

    I like using Gamsol for blending and have Prism as my colored pencils. I have been strictly using Copics for so long (since I was introduced to them) that I forgot about my colored pencils!!! This makes me wasn’t to go back to them for fall!!!

    • Stamping Bella says:

      I don’t know why, but this year I am feeling VERY coloured pencil for autumn. I think it’s because I’ve always wanted to be Paulabella when I grow up. 😉

      ~Elaineabella

  5. Nancee Purdum says:

    Thanks for sharing! I’m going to try that Zest It Pencil Blend for sure. Thanks for testing these! 🙂

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