Playing with Tombows

This is one of my first few attempts using my Tombow markers. I am quite disappointed with the results of my first few pieces. This is the last piece I just coloured and it looks passable if I ignore all the smudges I created by mistake. I am still not getting the hang of blending the markers directly on paper. This image was coloured by picking up colours I scribbled on an acrylic block.

If there are any fellow crafters out there using the Tombow markers, please help!! I would like to be able to colour with the markers and not struggle so much. I am using both heavyweight watercolour papers as well as medium weight cartridge papers. Strangely, the heavyweight watercolour paper was blotchy and looked horrible after colouring. The picture above is of medium weight cartridge paper. I have a friend who uses coated printing paper but she usually uses the colourless blender to blend her colours. I have yet to try that and will try to find time to do so in the following week.

More Stampavie images and watercolouring

Here are more coloured Stampavie images. I love this monkey image with the balloons and present. The first two images were coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils. The first one was done on index card and the second one on medium weight cartridge paper.

As you can probably see from the picture, the blending was not very smooth as I did not want to cause the paper to pill. Index cards are not really made for watercolouring and a light hand is needed. I used a wet brush to pick up colours directly from the pencils and applied to the paper. For the last layer I ran the pencils across the images a few times and tried to blend that and it did not really work out. I can still see pencil lines, especially on the balloons.

This one done on cartridge paper worked much better. It was also cause I did not use the pencils on the paper while it was wet. I coloured in the image while the paper was dry and used a wet brush to blend everything out.

This one was done on cartridge paper as well, using the Derwent watercolour pencils. I think the monkeys look a little pale here. I still prefer the darker browns on them. I am having trouble with the monkey that is seated. The pink area i coloured in looks like its mouth is open, but I am not too sure. What do you think?

New Colouring Tools with Stampavie images

I bought several sets of colouring pencils made by Derwent last Aug. I have yet to find time to play with my new toys till last weekend. I took out my new sets of pencils and decided to do a whole series of colouring tutorials with my new toys. I had friends help with videoing. Will be posting the videos up once they are ready. =)

I will be doing a few each week and will be posting them here to share with other crafters out there. Comments are most welcomed. I am still learning how to use my new pencils. They seem to blend differently from my Swiss Colours ones I was using previously. 

The image is from Stampavie: Bear with Flowers. This first one is done using Derwent Coloursoft pencils. I was under the impression that these are the softest creamiest pencils available. Well, I guess the reviews got half of it right. They are indeed soft, but not really waxy from my first use. I find them rather chalky or powdery. They do blend quite well, being very soft but I was hoping for a more waxy feel to the pencils. Any suggestions for smoother, waxier pencils?

The second one is coloured using an older set of Faber Castell Watercolour pencils I had for quite some time. The colours are fairly intense but I usually need to colour with medium pressure to get the more intense colours to blend well.

The last image was coloured using my new Derwent Watercolour pencils. I like how I can colour on the paper with the lightest pressure and have the colours pop when I add water to blend the colours. 

What do you think of the coloured images? I could do with some suggestions on improving my colouring skills. I have trouble imaging the light source for some images and items. I will be uploading more of my coloured images soon as I have stamped a whole stack of images to colour with. =)