A bella and some coloring

I desperately need to clean up my craft room (not to mention the rest of my house!) but i've been promising this coloring tutorial for DAYS and this bella card i created for Christi's color challenge nearly 2 weeks ago! Sheesh! Time to get on the ball i suppose since i no longer have holidays, family or traveling for excuses! :)

First... my card...

Christi's color challenge was to use one of my favorite color combinations, turquoise, chocolate and white. These colors ALWAYS look great together, and i think it's hard to find anyone who disagrees so this is a great color combo to use when doing something for someone else as well! I used my fairly new content-to-be-a-bella from Stamping bella. Isnt she just so cute! I also used Jen's sketch for you to try from a couple of weeks back. and i opted to not include a sentiment so i can stamp whatever i need at the time on the inside.
Other deets
patterned paper - cloud 9
cardstock - hobby lobby
flower punches - fiskars
other accessories - cuddlebug folder tiny mosaic, bling from studio g
coloring medium - copic markers

And now onto my mini coloring tutorial! I've been asked by quite a few people "how i color". Well, i do like to play with a few different techniques depending on the end result i'm wanting, but here is my most common way of coloring.
1. I prefer copic markers. I just like the end result the best and they blend so well. If there is interest i'll do some coloring tutorials on how i color using water based markers and other mediums.

2. When using copics i generally always color in a rounded motion (either circles or something like figure 8's. This keeps the edges wet and helps aid in blending.

3. I dont know why, but i generally always start with the face. For people i color a quick layer all over with e00 (skin white).

4. Then i outline the face usually using e31. Most people i know use e11, but i find it too pink for my personal tastes. I like the fairly greyed out tone of it without being just grey. I concentrate the most of the outline where you would see the most shadow. For the face, this is just under the hair line.

5. Then, just the same as i'm an advocate of blush in real life... i gotta add some blush to my image! Which color marker i use is dependent on how much pink i want the cheeks. For bellas i often choose E11 because the space is small and too pink just stands out to much on her small face. Larger images, or baby/child images i often go with R20.

6. I'm not sure if i didnt take a picture of this step, or if it's actually the above picture, but i go over the entire face again with E00 or maybe E000 to blend everything together. Again, i use circular motions. on a larger face i still concentrate the most color towards the outside and almost leave the forehead with the just first layer of color.

6. Next i go to the hair. In this case i actually used y23. i often use y21 for blonde hair. they are extremely close in color. I take a darker color and go along the outer lines as well as any internal lines. I concentrate a little more color at the hair "part". With blonde hair i use either E31 for more ashy blonde hair or E33 for warmer blonde hair with my shading. if you want even more defintition, i take my colorless blender and lightly "erase" a little spot to show where the light hits. Then i go over everything again to blend with my original color.

7. Now i go one everything else, usually clothing next. However i follow the same method. Lay down 1 layer of the lightest color. Then follow the outer edges with a darker color. Then color over the whole thing again to blend. To show you the difference, i took a step by step approach to 3 of the flower petals Miss Bella is sitting on...
The first petal is colored just once over. The 2nd petal i colored over a bit with a darker color along the edges (in a circular motion. The quicker you add your shadow color, the better it will blend. This is because the ink is still much wetter. The 3rd petal is when i went all over the whole petal again to really blend everything together.

This is the flipside of the same image just so you can see how much color has been laid down. (the random space in the 3rd darkest flower is from her uncolored leg :) )

Ok, and here is the whole image colored in...

For her shirt i used a light color and i actually didnt have a very good shading color. they were all too dark. So i used a technique (that i used to do alot, but not as much anymore) called Tip-to-tip coloring. Just use the tip of the lightest color and swip it on the tip of the darker color and shade along your edges that way. it takes a little longer, but it's a great way to use your markers if you dont have a bunch yet. You can make almost any color blend together this way. This is why i used to use it all the time, i had fewer markers! Now that my marker collection has grown, i dont need to do the tip to tip as much. :)

Along the entire outer edge of the image i use a neutral gray (or sometimes a very very light blue like b000) to outline outside the lines. it really makes the image stand out.

And that is pretty much how i color. :)