Allen Family Christmas Card 2019

Hello everyone, how are your Christmas preparations going?

How many crafters out there have been beavering away for months creating wonderful cards for your friends and family?  

Now, how many of you have been procrastinating and 1st December arrived along with the realisation that you don't have enough time to make all the cards.............oh that was me back in 2016!

Since then I have challenged myself to create an image each year which I use for all our family cards.

If you have been following me on Instagram then you will have seen 

my progress reports, but for those who missed them:

Part One

Having sketched out the stag from a reference image, I started on the mottled background.  You will not believe how much grey ink I got through - I needed the pens juicy and refilled several of them multiple times!

Part Two

The smooshy background was such fun to create - here's a tip.  In order to get the colours to blend well, keep the cardstock moist, almost saturated with a pale ink, that way the colours bleed in to one another and make blending with multiple shades much easier.

Part Three

Now for the Stag. 

His antlers were impressive, but the angle at which he was holding his head gave me a few challenges with regards to perspective, but I got there in the end.

Part Four

Something magical happens when you draw in the eyes and from this point on the boy was watching my every move.  His ears were fun to do - a combination of fur, fuzz and frosty bits........I really had to think outside the box to get them looking right.  But that's what I love about doing this every year - it takes me out of my comfort zone and challenges me artistically.

Part Five

Anyone who has ever coloured fur along with me in one of my classes knows I opt for the "flicking" technique.  It's literally lots of random dashes, that build up to give the appearance of hair/fur.  On this chap, I layered approx 6-7 colours, that's a lot of flicking and was somewhat painful as my hand cramped badly from doing this for several hours!

But as they say, "no pain, no gain" - the end result was worth it - a pelt to be proud of!

Part Six

I had to give my poor hand a break after colouring his hide, so I made a few adjustments to his body and then turned my attention to the snow.  When colouring snow, it's actually the shadows created by the dimples in the snow that you are colouring, it isn't pure white as you might think.

After many, many hours of colouring here is:

"Laird of the Glen"

The falling snow was created with a combination of white pencil and sharpie marker.  Initially I found the white marks made by the marker a tad too bold.  So I dabbed each dot with a piece of kitchen paper, it smudged and softened it enough to give the impression of real falling snow.  That's what I love about doing this, I am constantly learning new techniques.

COPIC COLOURS 

Background - N0, N1, N2, W0, W1, W2, BG90, BG70, B93

Stag Antlers - E40, E41, E70, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, 0

Snow - BG0000, BG000, C0, C1, C2, 0

Body & Head - E40, E41, E50, YR30, E70, E81, E71, T0, T1, T2, T3, T4,

 T5, T6, W0, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, W7, W8, W10

Caran D'Ache Pablo White pencil

Sharpie Water Based White Paint Marker

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

 I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2020

Until next time

Happy Colouring