Happy Marker Geek Monday! This week I’ve got a colouring video for you, and a few words about some requests I’ve had lately and the way I colour.

The Chick Tree Copic Colouring Video:

First, let’s start with the video! I’ve left the footage close to real time speed for the first couple of chicks, so you can get a really good look at how I tackled them. After that the footage has been sped up 4x, because I know you don’t have all day to watch me colour chicks!

Watch the video here or in HD over on YouTube.

Stamp Used: Stamping Bella – The Chick Tree (coordinating die also available).

Love that image so much, it’s just too funny.

Notes on Colouring:

I would like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who watches my videos, and for all the support and feedback you provide. I’m always happy to hear from you!

Recently I’ve received some comments that the colouring videos are a bit too fast, and that it is too difficult to see exactly which order I use the markers in. I’d like to address that here, because I’ve got a few thoughts!

I speed up the video footage because otherwise, most of the videos would be in excess of twenty minutes long, many closer to an hour. Realistically, I don’t expect you to sit for that length of time watching me painstakingly faff with an image! As in today’s video, where it makes sense, I try to keep some of the footage closer to real time, and speed it up when I feel it is appropriate. I enjoy watching speed colouring videos, and I know many other people also do. They give a fun overview of how someone tackles an image, and where colour combos are provided they can give some fun colour ideas. Overall I try to provide a mix so you can get a little something from the videos, without devoting too much of your valuable colouring time!

On the subject of colour combos, I’d like to reiterate something I mentioned in a previous post – Marker Geek Monday: There Is No Magic Wand – colour combos are fun and they can be a great way to get some suggestions on colours to play with, but they are by no means the most important information you can take away from a video. If you have a tendency to stress about the colours, try just watching the colouring without thinking about replicating the colours – watch the marker strokes, watch the way the form of the image is created by where the colours are laid down and where the shading is added.

Familiarise yourself with your markers. Swatch them out on your colouring paper, use a simple stamp or a simple shape outline to play with colouring, blending and shading. See what the colours do, what adding differing amounts of each colour will do to a particular combo, or what difference using the markers in a different order makes.

In my videos I note the markers used for each part of an image, as a group. So for the video above, I list all the Ys and YR used to colour the bodies of the chicks as one group. I don’t place the caps in view each time I change markers, because it doesn’t work for me – it interrupts the flow of colouring, or I get so into what I’m colouring that I forget to do it consistently. I love to provide you with inspiration and hopefully some helpful tips and information, but it has to be in a way that works for me too. Take the list of markers, swatch them out, play and see how they work for you before colouring your image.

Really, speed colouring videos are no substitute for a class, so if you feel that you need more in-depth instruction, I’d recommend that you look into actual classes. While I hope to inspire, and that you may pick up some ideas and tips from my posts and videos, there is a limit to what I can provide in a video or blog post.

How I Colour:

In general, you should be able to see from the videos the rough approach I take to laying down colours. For the most part, I take the lightest marker and map out where I want to add the deepest shading. I then take my darkest colour and add a small amount over the mapped out areas. I then use the mid tone to blend out towards the lightest areas. Then I will either blend out further with the lightest marker, or I will return with the darkest, more of the mid tone and then the lightest. It all depends.

When I first started colouring, I would actually colour by laying down the darkest colour first, then blend out. This worked best for me at the time, partly because of the paper I was using. There is no correct way to do it, no hard and fast rule.

For more information and detail on how I colour, including step by step guides, colour combos and lots of tips, I would encourage you to look back through the Marker Geek Monday archives if you haven’t already! Some of the posts (such as the one on colouring pleats and folds) include videos that have been cut down to concentrate on a specific area of colouring in real time.

If you’d like me to cover a specific topic here, do let me know by leaving a comment, and I will see what I can do! Bear with me for the next few weeks though, as I am in the process of moving house and will be busy for a little while setting up my new craft room!

Over To You!

If you try out the techniques shown in any of the posts with your Stamping Bella stamps, be sure to share! We would love to see the results and hear how you feel about them. Show off your creations in the comments below and even better, share your own favourite tips with us. Let’s talk colour!

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! Make sure you use the #SpotThisStampingBella hashtag on social media if you’re happy for me to feature your work in my Spotted On Sunday posts!

If you’re on Facebook join us in our private chat group Stamping Bella Sistahood to share your creations there and chat all things Stamping Bella related!

Until next time, HAPPY COLOURING!

MWAH

Elaineabella