The Artist's Notebook: What is Artistic Coloring? (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)

The Artist's Notebook: What is Artistic Coloring? (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)

Confession time…

I spend a lot of time doing something without a name. Yep, I spend hours coloring highly detailed projects with Copic Markers and colored pencils. They’re little paintings. Lots of other people do it too— some working with digital stamps and others with their own original line art.

You’d think there’d be a name for this… Hobby? Pastime? Obsession? For want of a better name, I call it: Artistic Coloring.

Artistic Coloring… It’s a sub-niche of something fine-artsy, almost like watercolor but crossed with illustration, the step-child of paper crafting, and cousins to card makers and art journaling… whew!

See? We’re the Duckbilled Platypus of the coloring world…

The Artist's Notebook: Blessed with Color (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)

The Artist's Notebook: Blessed with Color (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)

This is the most creative time of the year…

When we pull out all our very best art supplies to color cards, decorate our homes, and make special gifts for friends and family. Your Copic Markers, colored pencils, and pretty watercolors get a real work-out in November and December.

Today, let’s pause for a moment to appreciate the art supplies we have.

Are you so focused on building up a full collection of markers and pencils that you’ve forgotten the point is to create beautiful and unique colors?

Join me at the Power Poppy blog to read the full article!

Doodle Art Journals: five tips to stop procrastinating and start Making Art

Doodle Art Journals: five tips to stop procrastinating and start Making Art

Stop Stalling!

It’s a common problem in art journaling. Blank white pages… so much potential but you’re afraid to start because you might mess up. Or perhaps you feel creatively stagnated and stuck, like all you are accomplishing is an artistic doggie-paddle.

Your artwork just seems to go in circles and never gets anywhere.

And that’s a problem because you started this art journaling stuff with the idea that it was going to be fun.

The Artist's Notebook: The Secret to Eye-Popping Color Palettes (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)

The Artist's Notebook: The Secret to Eye-Popping Color Palettes (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)

Have you ever found yourself half-heartedly scrolling through Pinterest, only to hit upon a coloring project that made you slam on the brakes? Once you look closer at the project, you’re blown away by the Copic Marker technique or maybe the texture created by colored pencils or watercolor…

As coloring fanatics, we’d like to think we're drawn to the technical skill and amazing technique. We know great coloring when we see it.

But honestly, what grabs your attention in the first two seconds has nothing to do with skill, technique, or even artistry.

So what’s the secret to eye popping projects?