Inspiration

Whew.... have I been inspired this week!!!  These new Spectrum Noir markers are a BLAST to color with.  But this particular image inspired me quite some time ago when my blog buddy Melanie of Paper Blessings by Melanie colored this gorgeous Chrissy Armstrong image.  The minute I saw this beauty the quote from Twilight popped in my head:  "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."  I just KNEW I had to color this one.  But I didn't;  I've been sitting on this one for awhile and finally pulled it out for none other than my fellow Spectrum Noir teamies!  We've been in a discussion this week about how the Spectrum Noir markers work for hair.... because Spectrum Noir markers don't have brush nibs.  Well.... hair is sort of my thing and these markers make hair a snap!!!  Really, could there BE a more perfect image to show how these wonderful markers perform?  Check it out!!!

I began this gem by coloring in the entire lion using the chisel tip in the lightest color GB2.  I used the chisel tip because the coloring area was larger than most.  And yes, for those of you who know my coloring style.... I BEGAN with the lightest color first!!!  Yay me!!!  I'm finding that with Spectrum Noir markers, starting with the lightest color when doing hair works perfectly!!!

Next I used GB6 and flicked small and long lines around the inner and outer edges leaving the center light.  Honestly, these two steps by themselves makes for a pretty good looking lion... but I wanted him to be REALLY gold!!!  And because dark always makes light visible, my next step was to define my shadows.

So all I did for this step is to outline where the shadows would live throughout this lovely lion using EB5.  Once the areas that I would shadow were defined, I then continued flicking with EB5 just as I had with the previous color.  I only flicked where I had placed the dark line.  You can see where I started flicking at the top by his right ear.  The flicking subdues the actual line I drew.

I then took EB8 and further darkened the edges where I wanted my shadows to be the darkest.  I used a combination of stippling and flicking to blend the dark brown into the medium brown.  I finish the lion off by flicking GB10 to add more gold accents into the lion's mane.  This final step also helped to blend the light gold colors with the brown colors since GB10 is goldish-brown in color.  To finish him off, I used IG2, IG6 and IG10 to color in his nose and I called him done.

While I like lines in my coloring, those who like more of a blend could go over the ENTIRE lion image again using the GB2.  Be sure to go over the whole image only once and very lightly.  Key word here is LIGHTLY.  Pressing too hard or applying too much ink will actually skew all those beautiful flicks that makes the hair look like hair.  A quick, light coloring is all you need.... and let the image develop.  The Spectrum Noir markers blend on their own.  For those who are new to alcohol ink markers... they are magical!!!

Okie Dokie, that's it for my hair tutorial.  I will be sure to do another one in the next few weeks using one of the cute Swalk images I just got.  Those cuties are PERFECT for practicing hair!!!

Have a great one gang.  I hope this one inspired you.