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How to Use Stencils in Mixed Media Art

By Mixed Media Art Newbie Leave a Comment

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Stencils have always intimidated me, probably because the decor fad of the 80’s when I bought my first home was to stencil things on your walls, and they had to look perfect! I tried them a few times and they were always crooked or not filled in all the way, or the edges looked too smudgy, just not the look but in mixed media, smudgy, crooked, imperfect perfection is the goal.

I think I belong to a large club of art supply collectors who don’t necessarily USE all the lovely things we buy. I wanted to start using some of my pretties so have been watching the masters use their stencils in unique ways in art projects and journals.

my art supply stash with stencils, stamps and ink from scrapbook.com

Well, I have used a few of these at least! Good to look back at pictures of my pretties from Scrapbook.com.

Stenciling Techniques for Mixed Media Art

Tamara Laport goes through several different ways to use her whimsical stencil pack including spray inks, heavy body acrylics, liquid acrylics, modeling paste and more.

Tamara Laport Stencil Ideas Tips & Tricks

Another of my art journaling heroes is Dina Wakley. She taught me in her art journaling books that it’s OK to copy, it’s OK to trace, it’s OK to learn from your teachers. Yes, you should credit them with being your inspiration of course but if you’ve ever tried to copy what an art teacher does exactly I’m sure you’ve learned that yours looks like a sister or a cousin to the original example but it really never looks EXACTLY like the originals piece of art.

How to Monoprint with Stencils by Dina Wakley – Art Journaling Live

Dina is using a few of her stencils as well as heavy body paint in her demonstration.
Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint
Dina Wakley Mixed Media Stencils
Dina Wakley Art Supplies on Amazon

You can also take art classes from Dina Wakley here.

Tim Holtz Stencil Layering Ideas at CHA

Tim demonstrates how to layer random stencils and stamps with inks to get lots of different effects The goal is always perfectly imperfect. Love that quote from Tim. Stenciling first with acrylic paint and then adding ink on top creates a resist of the original layer.

click here to join or for more information

Jessica Sporn demonstrates stenciling on Tissue Paper Techniques starts at about 4:20 and it’s pretty brilliant.

Dry Stencil Techniques from Stencil Girl

She uses pan pastels and sand paper in ways I’ve never seen before in this video tutorial.

I hope these tutorials from some mixed media artists will help you get some of your lovely art supply collection a little dirty instead of staying in their pristine condition in the box. As Dina says. Done is better than perfect!

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Coloring Backgrounds Tutorials

By Addicted Colorist Leave a Comment

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We often see amazing creations from those expert colorists in the coloring groups on Facebook and wonder how in the world they could make a simple coloring page look like a work of art. Backgrounds are the magic sauce. Below we gathered several background tutorials to try in your adult coloring books to really make them pop!

Background Coloring Tutorial Videos

Our wonderful Johanna Basford has given us a lovely video tutorial on a picture in her coloring book.

You know how fond I am of Peta Hewitt’s Tutorials and she hasn’t let us down on this topic. This first video she using the pastels first for the background before she colors in the picture.

Coloring Book Tutorial – Pastel Background Made Easy by Peta Hewitt

In this tutorial, Peta shows us how to preserve the pencil colors if you use a darker pastel next to it. It’s quite an extensive study on the topic.

Coloring Book Tutorial: Applying Pastel Over Pencils by Peta Hewitt

Cher Kauffman has done this extensive series about coloring in Backgrounds

Coloring Backgrounds First Steps

Coloring Backgrounds Pencil Basics

Pastels Coloring Background Tutorial

Coloring Backgrounds with Eyeshadow

Coloring Basic Backgrounds using Gel Pens

Coloring Backgrounds – Chalk Basics

Coloring Book Background Tutorial from Coloring Karia

Ultimate Adult Coloring Book Background option breakdown: Watercolor, Pastels, Inktense from Coloring Karia.

The key to beautiful backgrounds is to play and practice. We’d love to see your work in our Coloring Book Addicts Facebook Group here.

Visit the Background Coloring Supplies page here to see our favorite brands.

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How to get white in your coloring book pictures

By Addicted Colorist 4 Comments

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Which white pencil, pen, crayon, mark-making device should I use to make areas of my project white? That’s one of the most asked questions in our Facebook group so I figured I should give you all my favorite white methods.

White Pencils

Of course, you have a white pencil in your set so one way if you want a large area to stay white is to color it first with the white pencil. You can also use your white pencil to blend other colors and to soften or lighten them up a shade. This doesn’t really work if you have already colored something in so let’s move on to another method. The Luminance White Pencil by Caran D’Ache is really the best white pencil to use for making things white as it is the most vibrant and you can buy it individually. It’s a softer method than those below but can be quite effective.

White Gel Pens

best way to get white in your coloring

There are a couple that we love and it just depends on your uses. Hands down my favorite are the Uniball Signo White Gel Pens This is a 3 pack of the broad point and it just keeps out performing other pens and it dries quite quickly. It works over all types of colored pencils and even watercolors & some acrylic paint. The picture I colored above shows you how well the Uniball pens show up even on light pastel type colors.

The next in line is the Gelly Roll White Gel Pen,  this one can fade into the pencils a little more than the Uniball but it’s a great choice if you can’t find my favorite.

White Paint Pens

White paint pens are the trickiest of these 3 options but give you the most reliable coverage over your colored pencils. You have to shake them each time you use them and prime them the first use by pressing on a piece of paper with the tip LIGHTLY until the ink flows.. do NOT do this ON your coloring book!! (I may have done that and ruined a page… OOPS!) .

White Sharpie

The most economical choice is the Sharpie WATERBASED White Paint Pen. ( I can’t find these locally but maybe your store carries them. Just be sure it doesn’t say OIL on the packaging) These come in Bold, Medium, Fine & Extra Fine.

White Posca Pen

These take a little longer to get the US but are worth the wait. This set of 3 has all 3 of the sizes, medium, fine & extra fine.

Dylusions Paint Pen

I confess, these just came out and I bought this set with black and white paint pens in it but haven’t had a chance to try it yet. I love the other Dylusions products and these other two options are often hard to find so hopefully they are filling a niche that is needed in the art supply section. Click to order Dyan Reaveley’s Dylusions Paint Pens in Black & White.

If you are new to coloring or just want to dive in a little deeper be sure to read our expansive supply recommendations along with our tips and tricks articles.

*How to Get Started with Adult Coloring Best Colored Pencils
*Best Gel Pens
*Best Markers that Don’t Bleed Through the Paper
* Background Supplies
*Coloring Tutorials
*13 Tips & Tricks for Colorists

You can also join our Coloring Book Addict Facebook Group Here.

There are so many uses for white in your coloring, the obvious things like snowflakes or highlights in the eyes, but you can also use them for detailing as I show in the picture at the top of the page. You can also use any of these three options to soften color that’s gotten too strong where you want it highlighted, the pencils you use by blending but both the gel pens and the paint pens are liquid when you apply them so you can take a damp paintbrush or your finger (Yes.. my fingers always have colors on them) and smudge it in to get the effect you are looking for.

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Top Hand Lettering Art Supplies

By Addicted Colorist Leave a Comment

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You’ve decided you want to start hand lettering items in your home and office and making the world a prettier place to read. It’s a fun and relatively inexpensive hobby and will, in the end, save you money as you can create your own decor and create invitations and cards by hand showing your friends and family just how much you love them. Great! Be sure to check out our recommended how-to hand lettering books in this article and then go for it. We’d love to see what you create so please tag us on social media.

Hand Lettering Art Supplies

Hand lettering supplies can be as simple & inexpensive or as complex and pricey as you want, just like all other artsy endeavors we pursue as adults. We have pulled out our personal favorites and crowdsourcing from our socials for what lettering supplies people love the most. If we have missed your favorites, please let us know in the comments.

Hand Lettering Paper

You will need nice paper to practice your lettering projects onto so that you don’t mess up your actual project and to learn the process. This big pad by Strathmore is 11×14 with 50 spiral-bound sheets. The paper is suitable for lettering, drawing and mixed media projects. For lettering, you don’t want to use your watercolor paper as it has a texture that makes it hard to form smooth lines you will want in your lettering. I also really like the Visual Journals by Strathmore that come in several sizes and types of paper. Either artist paper or mixed media paper works great. Canson Multimedia Paper is another great option.

You can use Tracing Paper over samples in the book to get a feel for the form and structure of the letter. Inexpensive pads of graph paper are great for practicing your sizing and spacing of letters as well as getting a handle on your ascenders and descenders.

Hand Lettering Pencils

Palomino Blackwing Pencils

I first found out about these ridiculously beautiful pencils from Dawn Nichol called Blackwings, they truly are a step above if you are an art supply junkie like I am. Click here to order Blackwings

palomino blackwing pencils for hand lettering

Harder pencils will work better than a basic #2 you are used to because they won’t smear and are easier to erase after you ink on top. This is a great chart to figure out which pencil will work best for you.

pencil graphic

This Pentel GraphGear refillable mechanical pencil is my favorite.

This Pentel GraphGear refillable mechanical pencil is my favorite for hand lettering projects

Prismacolor Premium Drawing Pencil Set

Prismacolor Premium Drawing Pencil Set

Koh-i Noor Mechanical Pencils are a great choice as well as regular inexpensive mechanical pencils.

This Staedler is a nice choice for a mechanical pencil,

Hand Lettering Pens and Markers

Prismacolor Hand Lettering Kit

Prismacolor has come out with a great set that includes everything a beginner needs to get started.  2 pencils, 7 illustration markers, 2 dual-ended art markers, an eraser and a tips & tricks pamphlet.

Prismacolor Hand Lettering Kit

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

Tombow Hand Lettering Pen Kit

Each set includes two Dual Brush Pens, Fudenosuke Calligraphy Pen, MONO Twin Permanent Marker, MONO Drawing Pencil and MONO Eraser.

Tombow Hand Lettering Pen Kit

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

Micron Pigma Pens

This is my favorite set of six different nib sizes. It is only suitable for detail work and embellishing your hand lettering.

micron pigma pens for hand lettering invitations

Faber Castell Pitt Pens 

You may already have some Pitt Pens since they are our favorite pen to use in Coloring Books because they don’t bleed through the paper. Tombow Brush Pens and inexpensive double-ended Sharpies work well too. 

Best Brush Pens for Hand Lettering

Waterbased Markers 

Tombow Brush Markers

  • Durable nylon brush tip can create fine, medium or bold strokes
  • Included colorless blender pen softens and blends colors, creating a watercolor effect
  • The water-based ink is non-toxic, blendable, non-bleeding, and odorless
  • Tips self-clean after blending – Color Options

Amazon US, UK or Canada

Brush Lettering for Beginners – Tips from Tombow

Kuretake Fude Real Brush Pen

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Kuretake Zig Brushables

Kuretake Zig Brushables hand lettering supplies
  • 24 Pack of dual tip brush pens, 48 colors
  • Each dual tip brush pen offers two colors, making them perfect for blending and shading
  • Water-based Pigment, Acid-Free, Lightfast, Odorless, Xylene Free
  • These work beautifully for coloring books as well

Amazon US UK or Canada

Koi Coloring Brush from Sakura

Alcohol Markers

Alcohol markers do NOT react to water but they will blend beautifully by either blending them together for an ombre effect or using the colorless blender.

Copic Markers

I have talked about Copic Markers in reference to coloring books here where they really aren’t the best thing to use in most cases, however, for hand-lettering, they are divine!

These are top of the line for artists and the price reflects. Although expensive, the thing to remember is that they are refillable, you can change the nibs and they will last you a lifetime with proper care.

copic markers alcohol based coloring book best of the best

You can start with a basic set before you invest hundreds in the set shown above. That is a dream come true up there. But I started with this basic set. Remember these are very blendable with the colorless marker and into each other so you can blend to create a myriad of colors with a basic set and a bit of color wheel knowledge.

Click to order Copic Markers Amazon US, Uk or Canada

Copic does offer their markers as one-offs as well as small sets like this one.

Copic Marker Basic Sketch Set

Copic Marker Basic Sketch Set

Spectrum Noir

The poor man’s ( or woman’s) Copics. They are alcohol-based but they don’t blend as easily and don’t have replaceable nibs or refillable ink. They are gorgeous pens though and are easy to use for your hand-lettering projects.

Spectrum Noir Markers Amazon US, UK or Canada

Pentel Color Pens

Not all alcohol markers are expensive, a set of Pentel markers will work well for hand-lettering and be kinder to your pocketbook. These are fabulous for detail work when you aren’t looking for the brush style lettering, or to use for outlining or detailing on your hand-lettering.

Pentel Color Pens

Pentel Color Pens Amazon US, UK or Canada

Crayola Super Tips

Yep! That’s right, good old Crayola’s are great for hand lettering, you can get thick and thin lines from the same bright happy marker and if you kids touch them there won’t be any fireworks. They don’t blend well but you won’t be using these for your professional presentation, they are great for fun and to practice your lettering with. Spring for the big box!

Crayola Super Tips Amazon US, UK or Canada

Sharpie Pens

Raise your hand if you already have a sharpie collection! I know I do. The dual tips are perfect tools for hand lettering, easy to find and inexpensive. You can buy them by the box so you’ll always have them on hand. The dual tip is my favorite not only for art but for my kitchen marker, my car marker, I have one of these pretty much everywhere. Plus, you can write on anything with your sharpie so if you want cute lettering on that clay pot in the garden? Sharpies are your tool of choice. These come in several colors as well as black.

Click to order a dozen Sharpie Dual Tip Pens

Gelly Roll Gel Pens

Ok, I confess to having an unnatural love for my Gellies! I have used these pretty pens since I was scrapbooking my 30-year-old daughter’s baby books and guess what? Those pens still worked when I pulled them out of my craft storage when I started coloring almost two years ago. I’m still in love with them. The glitter and the metallics are just so gorgeous and vibrant. Take care as you do with all gel pens and watch for smearing but the dry fairly quickly. You can use them to letter or to add embellishments to your hand letters. You can get the big box with all the colors here or order them in smaller batches like Metallics and Glitters etc.

gelly rolls

I use these glitter pens to enhance little spaces in my lettering to make them super special.

Click to Order the Gelly Roll Glitter Pens here.

Brush Marker Storage

hand lettering supplies

Brush markers should be stored horizontally so you have lots of options, these inexpensive stackable cubes or this Crafter’s Companion option which holds 72 Copics or any other markers you have and love. It is designed so the markers stick out a bit so you can grab them easily.

hand lettering pen storage

LightView Pro Flex Magnifying Lamp – 2 in 1 Clamp Table & Desk Lamp

This will come in quite handy too to see up close when you are adding details.

LightView Pro Flex Magnifying Lamp - 2 in 1 Clamp Table & Desk Lamp

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

LED Lighting is a must for detail work. Here is another of our favorites.

Desk Lamp Eye-Caring Table Lamp

It has 3 Color Modes with 4 Levels of Brightness.

LED Light for close up work

Hand-Lettering Tutorial Video’s

How to do Cheater Calligraphy by Dawn Nicole

Brush Lettering Practice

Hand Lettering Accents Tutorial

If you have any questions or other favorite tutorials please be sure to share there below.

If you are new to art or just want to dive in a little deeper be sure to read our expansive supply recommendations along with our tips and tricks articles.

*How to Get Started with Adult Coloring Best Colored Pencils
*Best Gel Pens
*Best Markers that Don’t Bleed Through the Paper
* Background Supplies
*Coloring Tutorials
*13 Tips & Tricks for Colorists

You can also join our Coloring Book Addict Facebook Group Here.

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Using Watercolor in your Adult Coloring Books

By Addicted Colorist Leave a Comment

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Can I use watercolor in my adult coloring books?

Many colorists are new to art and coloring books for adults are providing a wonderful way to tap into their creativity and inner artist, while other colorists come to the books with an extensive art background specializing in watercolor and immediately want to be able to use some of their art supplies right in the book. I know I have dabbled in arts and crafts and DIY things since I was a kid growing up with a single Mom always looking for ways to make our world prettier and create inexpensive gifts. My arts now are anything but inexpensive but that is due to my aforementioned coloring book addiction. But I digress…. Most artists have at least dabbled in watercolor painting and when they see these gorgeous already drawn designs their first question will be.. but do I have to use crayons or pencils or markers in these books or can I use watercolor? The answer is absolute, YES you can… with different degrees of success depending on the book, your application style, and your supplies.

Watercolor Techniques in Adult Coloring Books

In a “The Mind of Watercolor” video, this watercolor artist went through the four basic quality levels of the paper in the coloring books to show you his experience with each. For him, even the least expensive Createspace paper coloring book could take several layers of a watercolor application. He did, however, seem to scoff at we coloring book colorists and refer to the pod people which I took exception to and let him know so in a comment. Ah well… they can laugh at us all they want but we are the ones having the MOST fun.. right?

He used a water brush with both regular watercolor paints and watercolor pencils and practiced in four books, 3 of which I already own. I know.. SHOCKER!

  1. Posh Coloring Book – Vintage Designs
  2. Color Me Calm by Angela Porter A favorite and one of my first books. 
  3. Enchanted Forest
  4. Secret Garden Artist Edition
    (Note: At least he didn’t make any disparaging remarks about the wonderful Johanna Basford’s work… in fact, he seemed quite excited to be painting in her books)

He recommends painting dryer than you would on watercolor paper to keep the buckling down.

Brand new to the market are Kristy Rice’s 3 gorgeous watercoloring books, click here to see the details. 

Watercolor Supplies needed:

Get a travel set of watercolors so you can be portable whether in the park, at the coffee shop, on your back patio (my and my dogs favorite)  or in your living room.

Koi Water Color Travel Set – I really love this set as it contains a mini set of 24 pans of paint plus a Koi Water brush. This is made by Sakura, makers of Gelly Roll pens. This is the set I have.  Click to order US    UK  Canada

Some people have a hard time controlling the water that comes out of water brushes so you can use watercolor brushes. You will need a small and medium round and a small flat brush. You can buy sets of them for very inexpensively to start out or head to your hobby store and buy one or two nice ones using whatever coupon you have.

Watercolor Pencils

There are all sorts of options for watercolor pencils and opinions vary about which ones are best but no one seems super unhappy with any of them so if you are lucky to have an art store nearby I recommend going and buying 1 or 2 in your favorite colors of different brands and then bring them home to play with and see what you think.

Unless you are really going to get into watercolors in a big way, there is really no need to get a huge set of these since the whole magic of watercolor is the blending of different colors. I’d start with nice mid-range pack and look at which colors are included and what types of pictures you prefer to color in. If you like florals look for the pack that has plenty of pinks, reds and purples, landscapes you need browns and greens and ocean and lake you’ll need plenty of blue.

I will recommend that you buy artist quality watercolor pencils to use in your coloring books because most books aren’t really designed for water to be put on the paper so you don’t want to have to come back in and have to reapply many layers in order to get the color desired. The difference between student grade watercolor pencils and artist colored pencils is the amount of pigment in the sticks of color. More pigment makes it easier to get more and richer and deeper colors down on the paper with less effort.

Derwent Watercolor Pencils

Derwent has two options:

Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils can be used wet or dry but when water is added the colors become INTENSE.. thus the name.  Derwent Intense comes in tiny packs of 6, or 12 but I would recommend one of the 3 middle sizes. 24, 36, 48(in a fancy wooden box below) or 72. Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils in the UK and in Canada.

inktense watercolor pencils in a beautiful wood box

Derwent Watercolor Pencils – this is Derwent’s standard set of watercolor pencils. They come in sets of 24, 36, 48 and 72.

Derwent Watercolor Pencils US – UK – Canada

Peta Hewitt warns us Inktense Pencils actually aren’t watercolor but rather acrylic ink in the form of a pencil so it does activate with water, but once it dries, then it’s permanent as opposed to watercolors which you can add water too and move the color around.

Faber Castell also has a couple of option for you in Watercolor Pencils

Albrecht Durer Artist Watercolor Pencils

These pencils open new horizons to your artistic creations by combining the advantages and applications of the classical watercolor paints and color pencils. The high pigment density ensures unsurpassed brilliance and the maximum possible light- fastness even for the most delicate shades and nuances.

Wonderfully creamy leads and high-density color make these pencils a perfect choice for anyone who is at all serious about working with watercolor pencils. The colors are more muted than those of Derwent Inktnense Pencils, but the marks made can be moved more than once with water, so they serve a slightly different purpose. The two sets combined would be the absolutely ultimate collection a water colorist could desire. 

Click to buy Albrecht Durer’  Watercolor Pencils   US   UK   Canada

Albrecht Durer’s set of 24 includes: White, Light yellow glaze, Cadmium yellow, Dark chrome yellow, Dark cadmium orange, Pale geranium lake, Deep scarlet red, Dark red, Magenta, Helioblue-reddish, Ultramarine, Light ultramarine, Phthalo blue, Dark phthalo green, Emerald green, Light green, Earth green yellowish, Venetian red, Burnt ochre, Raw umber, Walnut brown, Warm grey V, Warm grey II, Black.

You can also order beautiful wood boxed sets for special gifts for the artists in your life.

Albrecht Durer’ Colored Pencils   US   UK   Canada

Your third artist-grade watercolor pencil option is from Caran D’ache the pencil company that brings you the beautiful Pablo and Luminance colored pencil also has a line of watercolor pencils called Supracolor which compare to the Pablo’s and Museum Caran D’ache Museum Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils which are the Watercolor version of Luminance! Oh, my! The price reflects. 

Caran D’ache Watercolor Pencils

WOW these are beautiful, just like their Luminance line of colored pencil they come boxed with little pillows for each pencil and that is how I treat my small set of 20. like royalty. You can purchase these 72 gorgeous sticks of color here in the US   UK    Canada

caran d ache museum aquarelle watercolor pencils

Watercolor technique using a Colorless Blender instead of Water

Julie shows something I’d never seen before in her how-to tutorial video here, using a Tombow Colorless blender as the water source. If anyone has tried that let us know how it goes in the comment section.

More on Best Watercolor Coloring Supplies here!

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