It's all in the Details

Adding details with a mixture of media

You don't have to color in your image with just one medium. This Waterlily Dahlia comes alive with details using a mixture of alcohol markers and colored pencils. Here's how to achieve this look.

No Line Coloring Effect

Stamp your image with a very light color that will blend in as you color. I used Altenew Permanent Mist Gray. *Don't remove that stamp! Keep your stamp in your Stamp Wheel or Misti for restamping with embossing ink after coloring. Allow any permanent ink a few minutes to dry. 

Begin adding color with the lightest shade of alcohol marker you'd like to use. Here I used Frosty Pink from the Red Cosmos Set. Be sure to use very light handed strokes, flicking the brush tip of the marker from the bottom of the petal towards the center, then from the tip, downward.  You want fine lines, leaving white areas or gaps between strokes. Next, go in with a similar color colored pencil and add more strokes. These pencil lines don't fade as they dry so the details are more crisp. Continue going back in to add more strokes in the same colors, then use a shade darker (Coral Berry marker) for more shadows. Use this same technique on the leaves in shades of green. 

Embossing

Since you stamp is still in the Misti or Stamp Wheel, you can go right back in and stamp over the image with embossing ink and apply clear embossing powder. Heat it up and look at those lines shine! 

While you're at it, go ahead and stamp some partial images of the waterlily dahlia on the edges of the panel with embossing ink and heat with clear powder. These lines will show more when we ink the background. 

Ink and Reveal 

Using a light hand and a large ink blending brush, lightly ink the background starting at the edges of the panel, moving towards the center. I used Sea Breeze from the Deep Blue Seas set. The embossed lines will repel the ink as the cardstock absorbs the blue color. Your images will reveal themselves! 

Finish it up!

To add a little bit of a weathered look, I spritzed the paper with water, then blotted it after a few seconds. This removed some of the blue ink in an irregular pattern. To finish it off, I stamped the sentiment on vellum with black pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. The vellum is attached with light drops of liquid adhensive behind the words and in teh corners. The enamel dots also help hold the vellum down. 

Tips

• It helps to have your inks, markers and colored pencils swatched. I used my swatches to decide which pink ink would match the pink in my colored pencils. 

• Trust the process. Just as the Altenew Academy "Beautiful Details" class instructor Marika Rahtu said, I doubted myself. I was very intimidated by the artistic look of adding these details. I thought my image looked terrible for a while! I kept at it, adding flicks of color, and it came together in the end. 
• Feel intimidated because this technique looks too artistic for you? The class "Beautiful Details" allows you to watch the instructor add the strokes of color and gives lots of helpful tips. Give it a try! 
  

Supplies: 

Altenew Waterlily Dahlia stamp set

Altenew Alcohol Markers- Cosmic Garden and Green Fields sets

Altenew Fresh Dye Ink: Sea Breeze

Altenew Permanent Gray Mist ink

Altenew Crystal Clear Embossing powder and clear embossing ink 

Altenew Colorful Wonder Enamel Dots

Prismacolor Premier 24 ct colored pencils