Coloring Tips and Tricks with Amy Shulke

If you've been a Power Poppy fan for long, you know that even Power Poppy's larger images have tiny details. It's just the beauty of Marcella's illustrations. Well, if you've sat back and scratched your head wondering how to do these little details justice, we're sharing some wonderful tips from the professional colorista Amy Shulke from VanillaArts.com.

To get started, let's just take a gander at her finished project using Power Poppy's Berry It digital stamp set. Try not to let your jaw hit the floor please. It hurts. Don't ask me how I know. 

Take it away, Amy! 

Tip 1: There's nothing wrong with finding a good set of leaf markers and sticking to them. Using the same greens on most projects has benefits. First, you'll learn that combo really well and blend it like a pro. Second, you can combine your images for collages or framed sets and they'll magically match. And third, card makers can stock up on decorative papers to match the green combo.

Tip 2: Real life is often far more interesting than your imagination. If you asked me to "color some blackberries", I'd likely color them all the same. But with a photo reference, I find a wild assortment of colors. References don't just help you color with realism, they also keep you from defaulting to boring assumptions.

Tip 3: Highlights are not as white as you think! Real highlights are usually a few shades lighter than the base color (called the local color). I caution students not to over-highlight their objects and that doesn't just mean adding too much highlight, it also means using a color that is too white.

Tip 4: "Color Kissing" is my term for sharing colors from one object to another. The green leaves get a kiss of red and violet, the berries get kisses of green... color kissing adds cohesiveness but it also adds an artistic flair.

Thank you so much Amy for sharing your little tidbits and your beautiful colored up blackberries! Keep in mind folks, last weekend was the Livestream class where folks got to watch Amy color LIVE on her private tutorial channel. The good news? If you like what you see above, you can still take the class! Amy will have this coloring session in her archives until February 2019. Just click HERE to learn how to get in on the action.

Meantime, I'll see you back here tomorrow when we throw up some more Creative Confetti to get that mojo a flowing with a fun new weekly challenge! Remember, if your name is randomly drawn at the end of the month, you win a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop. Enter as many times as you like as well to up your chances...

Until then!
~Julie