Crafters Corner : Mini Album with Zig Brush Pens

Hi friends , Dr Sonia here saying a big HI !!! Recently my family vacationed in Phuket, Thailand and we spent so much time in the ocean that for my DT post at Crafters Corner I made a mini album in an ocean theme featuring a cute mermaid [from Whimsy stamps], shells and various ocean motifs.

The blue sparkling rose is handmade using Dress my Craft papers and sparkling dust and I have shared the Tutorial already. The pink flowers are made using foam and Spellbinders and Cheery Lynn dies. The plumeria was made using thai clay .

The waves background was made using Texture Paste and Carabelle Studio Geometry Stencil and sprayed with Lindy's .

The Whimsy stamps image was stamped with Versafine and water colored with Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens . Used Wink of stella over the body for a subtle shimmer and added Diamond dust for a chunky sparkle!

Now for some tips on water coloring with Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush

Pens

Stamp your image with an ink such as Versa fine which will not react and bleed with water!
Allow enough time for the stamped image to dry before you water color or if you are in a hurry heat set it with a heat gun!
Paper Matters!!

Watercolor paper

Use water color paper and amongst water color papers itself you will get different results with different brands of water color paper so dont give up if your first attempt is not satisfactory! Will show you what I mean later in the post!
Make and Use a Color Swatch Chart

Download a color swatch chart like this one from Kuretake website

Or better yet...make your own. This will come in handy as a quick reference for choosing colors while you color!

I made mine in chronological order but I will suggest you make a color chart according to the color as that will be more useful!

While coloring an image such as an animal or human using different shades of the same color, apply dark colors first and blend out with the water brush. If you put dark colors later it is more difficult to blend without using more water!

For the tail of this mermaid I used turquoise green[ No 42] first and pulled it inside with the water-brush

Later applied light blue [No 36] and blended it in nicely using the waterbrush again.

Deciding where to lay on the colors first!

Brush on the ink on the edges and shadow areas

Pull in the colors using the water brush!

This is one of the easiest ways to get seamless blending!

Always apply the brush pen directly to only small areas at a time as if it dries it wont blend well
Coloring Skin Tones

Flesh Color [No 71] is one of the most useful colors in the Zigs set and using it alone you can get a beautiful skin tone. In this step by step however I first applied Blush [No 69]on the edges and shadow areas and pulled it in with a waterbrush

Later went over the larger area with the Flesh Brush pen [ No 71]

Adding Cheek blush!

You can add life to your animal and human images by adding a bit of color to the cheeks using Tea Rose [No 220] or any shade of pink..... Just add a tiny bit of pinkish color and blend with the water brush!

While water-coloring tiny areas such as the flowers in this mermaid image use the brush pens directly and use very little or no water as it can bleed easily!
Coloring Hair!

Coloring hair is really tricky using whatever medium you are working with and whilst before Zigs I got a big blob of hair mass when I tried coloring, using zigs my results are much better!!
Last Tip is that if you dont get good results with your attempts try changing the type of water brush you are using and/ or the type of watercolor paper you are using!

Different Water Color Papers- Canson Montval and Brustro

In these images the first one is on Canson Montval Paper and the 2nd one is on Brustro Paper.

On Brustro the pigment had a tendency to spread more on adding water , bled outside the lines quite a bit and had a splotchier look on layering the colors.

The colors were however more vibrant and rich on the Brustro Paper and lovely for freehand water-coloring.

So the main point is to experiment with different brands of watercolor paper if you are not happy with your attempts!

I am not an expert at water-coloring but I do hope some of these tips will help beginners in their maiden attempts! The main thing is not to give up !