Sunshine go away today. I don't feel much like dancin...Obviously, someone was singing this and doing a little bit of ye good ole rain dance, cuz the only place to find sunshine here in Iowa is right here on this blog. That's right!...Direct from Etsy.com for your viewing pleasure...It's Yellow Orange!!!
If you need a card to send to a friend, then
simplyexpress has just the one you need:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10125803
Need to knit some sunshine into your life?...check out
ThePaintedTiger's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10360523
Go and grab yourself this sunny NotYerAverageLobster from
sojournquilt's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=313624
Already have sunshine in your neck of the woods? Then go check out
pinkmarshmallow's shop for this way cool flip flop/t-shirt ensemble!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10567701
And how about a matching pair of earrings to wear with it from
SOUNDandFURY's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10033997
You know, I was plugging away at this cute little flower fairy, proud as a peacock at not only my choice of colors (which wasn't even an original idea lol) but at how well I was layering them on the paper, when I had an idea that would just look so cool...so I thought. I decided to outline the inner most red/orange part of her wings with the blueberry pencil. Let me tell you about bright ideas...this one wouldn't have lit up the refridgerator.
So....now what?!! It's dark blue/purple over pink and red! I can't just erase it, but I can't just leave it there and hope no one sees it. Actually...quite by accident I learned this neat little trick to fixing fully saturated swatches of colored pencil...but you have to use a light touch for this one.
Take out your handy dandy exacto knife, and put any blade your are comfortable with. Of course, I've forgotten if mine has a #16 or #11 in it, but they both work smashingly! GENTLY scrape off the colored pencil from the paper until either you get rid of the error, or until you have exposed your drawing surface. Then go in with the color you needed, in this case, I colored back over the red/orange/pink of the wing and made it as good as new.
This is a better trick on Illustration Board than it is on drawing paper, but with the right touch, you can do it without tearing it. And, this trick comes in handy not just for mistakes, but for changes made mid-stream, as you will see a bit further on.
I decided to make the Fairies clothes a bright yellow...same color as my pick for today, actually. I did this because it went with the rainbow like theme of the wings. It also really brightened up the entire drawing. I actually use 3 shades of yellow-orange for this, plus light brown and brown for the shadows. I also used Pale Flesh and the same browns for her skin. I think she turned out quite lovely.
Flowers always look best in odd-numbered groups. I'm not sure why that is...but there it is. I drew a grouping of 3 Morning Glory blooms, and decided to make them lavender and dark purple, with yellow centers. ALWAYS use your lightest color first...purple will cover yellow, most of the time, but yellow only turns burnt sienna when placed over purple. The yellow went down first, starting at the center and in a sunburst fashion, out from there. Then the lavender next to the yellow. If you put enough layers of yellow down first, the first layer of lavender glides over it, leaving no mark unless you push hard to make it leave a mark. This characteristic is what makes it easy to see where your colors are at. Then, I blended the dark purple into the lavender around the very edges of the flowers. They turned out really lovely, but something was missing.
I took my exacto knife out again and scraped away a little circle spot in the middle of the flowers. With the dark purple, I filled it in, giving it little rays into the yellow. You see...nothing is really permanent, is it?
I'm almost done with this little drawing. The completed drawing will be offered in my shop, as soon as I decide how I'd like to do it. I still have a sale on the drawings in my shop, and will be adding more nature photographs as well. Go check it out!
