Watercolour, Prismas or Promarkers?

[ann_louice]

What colours do you have in promarkers?

It's hard to get the same colours that you get with watercolours with only promarkers. when you colour you motive with promarkers it looks kind of boring and flat. But if you use prismcolour or Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and draw with them around the lines and where you want the shadows to be then the picture will come alive more.

Here is a tutorial on how to colour with prismacolours:

blog.ginakdesigns.com/2008/01/29/prismacolor-pencil-tutorial.aspx

Here is a tutorial in Swedish though but I have put it through Googles translation unction. I don't know how easy it's to understad, I don't have time to read it right now. But I hope you will be able to get something of it.

translate.google.se/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Finkywings.blogg.se%2F2007 %2Fnovember%2Fmala-med-pro-markers.html&sl=sv&tl=en&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8

When using promarkers you colour the entire motive first with promarkers and the finsih off with making shadows with prismacolour pencils just like they show in the tutorial with the difference that you alreday have coloured your motive with promarkers. So you don't have to colour the whole motive with prisma you just make darker shadows. Am i making any sense?

In pink I can recommend Dusky Pink or Coral. They also look great together.
If you want a more bright and colourful pink I can recommend Rose Pink.

For Green I can recommend Marsh Green. Red ones well if you want a very dark red Ruby is good. the oter ones I'm not really sure about the diference between them. It depends what kind of red you like. you can even use Terracotta and then make shadows with a really dark red prisma colour pencil and MCP technique.

I have to go now. If you still don't understand just ask more questions and I will try to answer.

[littleherb]

Thanks for that Ann-Louice. Yes, I think I see what you mean - that's exactly the problem I had using the promarkers, the image seemed very flat and I couldn't seem to get any light and shade. It never occurred to me to use prismas for shading. The colours I have in the promarkers are Rose Pink, Berry Red and a green which I can't remember the name of at the moment! I think really I need some paler colours as they are all very bright. Thanks again for your suggestions, it's been very helpful.

[ann_louice]

I'm glad to be able to help you.

This technique is also very good when you want to make decorations and doesn't have them inthe right colour. Just use a punch or Quickutz die or something like on white paper. Then you can colour it with promarkers and MCP to fit your motif.

I know some people that makes shadows with a darker promarker but I don't think it looks as good as making them with MCP.

I usually make shadows with a brown or a grey Prismacolour pencil. So start with that. I usually uses a the brown one. But I have more and more started to use Prissmacolour pencils that has the same colour as the promarker but a bit darker. Then you can get a slightly different colour than the promarker. That way you can get more colours than you actually have in promarkers. But it all depends on how many Prisma/Polychromos pencils you have. Maybe I'm doing it to motivate that I have bought a big set of Prismacolour pens.

I have tried to make a list of the promarkers I like most:

Red:[

I like Ruby becasue I like more darker colour in red.

Terracotta with shadows from a dark Prisma/Polychromos pencil is also quite nice if you like a little more brown red.

Orange:

Apricot is my favourite

Yellow:

Mustard is my favorite to more darker yellow.
Pastel Yellow for lighter yellow
I also like Saffron and Vanilla
Ivory isn't yellow. Its almost white. It's one of my favorite colours. I use it to colour hair and then makes it more alive with a brown Prisma pen.

Green:

Marsh Green is my favourite
But Olive Green and Moss is good too.
If you want a lighter green colour Meadow Green and Apple can be an alternative.
And then Pastel Green.

Blue:

Cornflower is my favourite for jeans.
China Blue i you would like a darker blue.
Pastel Blue is also one of my favourites.
Cool Aqua and Blue Peral are also nice.

Lilac:

Favourites are Lavender and Blossom
Lilac and Amethyst works fine also. It depends on what you are colouring.

Pink:

Blush is the most important colour. I use it on skin.
Dusky Pink and Coral works nice together.
Then if you like a brighter pink I like Rose Pink.
Pastel Pink is okey too.

Brown:

Cinnamon is my favourite. I use it on shoes and amy other things.
Terracotta.

Beige:

Pastel Beige one of my favourites
Satin works fine with pink colours
Sandstone. Definately one of my favourites. You can use it on clothes, hair, and wood. for hair and wood use a brown Prisma pencil and makes big shadows to make it look like wood and hair.

Grey:

Warm Grey 1 and Ice Grey 2 are my favourites. You can use them to draw a shadow on the outline of the motif. It looks better and you can hide the fact that you draw outide the lines

Cool Grey 5 is a very dark grey that works good using as black. Colour with the promarker and then make shadows with a darker grey or a black Prisma. I you use a black promarker as black you won't be able to make shadows and it will be quite flat and boring.

Other:

Blender. I have never understood the greatness about this marker but some says it's very good to use if you accidently have coloured outside the lines and want to erase it.

But to use for blending two colours of promarkers together I'm not that impressed.

Good luck!