Saturday 26 May 2012

A little sky & cloud tutorial...

**2nd post for today - please scroll down for my Pink Gem DT card**

I've been asked many times for colouring tutorials and I have always resisted, simply because there are so many out there already doing a fantastic job and I didn't think there was really a need for me to add to that.  However... lots of people ask me how I colour my sky backgrounds, and what I tend to do is refer them to this tutorial that got me started - I adapted it first for promarkers and then for flexmarkers, and my sky now ends up looking quite different to the one in the tutorial... it's still a great one to watch though!

I don't have the facilities to make a video - actually our camera does take video but I'm not sure how successful that would be, might try that another day.  So this is just a very quick, simple picture tutorial to give you an idea of how I colour sky... (please excuse my messy pad underneath - I always work with a sketch pad under my images).  The image I'm using is Denny with Watering Can, which is Janet's current freebie at Pink Gem Designs - go and get him while you can :o)


Firstly, the colours I use are Glacier Blue, Cloud Blue, Blue Grey 2 Flexmarkers and the Promarker Blender pen.  But you can easily adapt it if you're using promarkers, just choose a light and slightly darker blue and one of the lighter greys.


Start with Glacier Blue (or any light blue) and just add some wobbly lines/ shapes - try not to think about it too much, you want it to be fairly random!  It'll be quite different each time you do it.


You can see that towards the bottom I add lots of smaller streaks, rather than big areas of blue.


Then go in with Cloud Blue (or whatever darker blue you're using) and add some random scribble over the top of your lighter blue.


Now add the Blue Grey 2 (or any light grey) to give your clouds a bit of definition.


Go over the whole thing with the wide nib of your blender pen - it takes a few minutes to settle down to the right colour so give it a little while.  If you look at this card I posted on my blog earlier, you can see how it all looks when you've coloured in the rest of the image.

Always colour your sky before the rest of the image - there's nothing worse than blending your sky into areas you've already spent ages colouring!  I would also trim this a little, and then use Antique Linen distress ink around the edges to soften the look.

I hope this helps some of you - oh, also the card I'm using for this one is Elegance Satin from Joanna Sheen, just in case you were wondering (no connection, etc)!

18 comments:

Debs M said...

ooh will have to give this a try! fab tutorial x

Linda Wescott said...

I am so delighted to see this tutorial, at last a sky I think I could manage to do. I'll be giving this a go very soon. Thanks for taking the time. Hugs lin

Annie said...

This is fab, thank you so much! Hugs Ann xx

Christine said...

Hi Lisa thank you so much sweetie for this tute..no guesses to what Ill be doing tomorrow..lol you make it look so easy..off to have a look at the paper too..

smiles Christine x

Joey said...

Fab tute hunny, thanks so much, might might just give this a bash. Joey xx

Donna Mosley said...

Ooh! Lisa, what a fab tut hun. I MUST try this, your clouds always look amazing.

Donna x

Kat said...

Thanks for a great tutorial Lisa. I've never been brave enough to try clouds but I might have a go now.

Kat xx

CRAZYCRAFTSHED said...

Fabulous tutorial Lisa thankyou
Hugs Dianne xx :)

Karen Petitt said...

will give this a try - thank you Lisa hugs Karen x

Louise said...

Fab tutorial Lisa, TFS x

Jenny said...

Thanks for this Lisa, I'll defo give it a try :0) I think the brush tips make such a difference, may have to invest in a few strategic colours of flex marker!!
I know it's cheeky but could you do a tutorial on how to colour hair to give it that shine and what colours you use please..... So many Copic tuts out there but I know you love your promarkers :0) pretty please *big grin*
Jenny x

Anonymous said...

Fantastic Lisa - thank you! I will definitely try this.
xx

Laura Bradley said...

I will have to give this a go .. always been wanting to try a sky effect but didn't know where to start! Btw where did you get your new signature from on your pics? .. I love the butterflies! Laura x

Tammy said...

I can't wait to try this, thanks for the tip. xx

Jan Jones said...

Wow! Thank you do much for this Lisa. I'm having my first weekend off in three weeks so I'm off for a play...,

Jan x

The Little Stamper said...

Great tutorial Lisa - thanks!

Sharon x

Lily Anuska said...

I love this tutorial. Thank you Lisa. Lily Anuska

Kim said...

Thank you!! This is sooooo helpful, I have been wanting to try this, now I will.