Aqua Markers

Letraset are listening to us crafters and have brought out a new 20 colours in the Aqua range, these markers are not to be confused with the promarkers as they are water based so they work in the same way that watercolours do but the great thing abut them is they are wet and ready to use.

Letraset have kindly sent me the information sheet that gives lots of hints and tips on how to use them.

They have also kindly sent me some sets to set as prizes for my readers so I must get busy and make a sample or two to show you for when the new 20 colours are available in August.

Just click on each picture to enlarge it.

Colour Duo's & Blog Candy

Some of my favourite Colour Duo's,

I wanted to try to help you all matching some colours, I know just how hard it can be to pick colours when you are faced with so many colour variations, I will add more for you in due time and I'll pop them on the side bar as a quick reference for you.

I have some Promarker blog candy on my main page here so make sure you pop over and enter

Lighter Shades with a Blender Pen

I wanted to show you a way of getting really pale shades with the Promarker as i know we often feel we need an even lighter shade in the range of colours, so for this tutorial i will be using the Pale Pink and the Blender Pen Promarkers and a Digi Stamp by Mo Manning called My Friend.

Take the Blender pen and lay down a layer of blender all over the cardigan, I've marked the area in an orange outline so you can see where i am using it, this blender solution will hepl to keep the paper wet (damp) enabling a light colour blend.

Next using the Pale Pink Promarker colour where the darkest shade would be ( creases of the cardigan, under the arm and at the edges)

Take the Blender pen and stroke the nib over the chisel end of the Pale Pink Promarker to pick up a little of the colour.

Work with the blender pen in small circular strokes over where the pale pink Promarker meets the white on the cardigan towards the centre. The pink ink on the blender pen will flush away so you will need to keep picking up the pink shade onto the blender pen as you work.

You can see that the Pale Pink and the Blender Promarker pens have worked nicely together and without the mottled effect that can happen.

The wonderful folk at Letraset have given me a Promarker Rubber stamping Set 1 to give away to a lucky person.

Leave me a comment on my home page under the Promarker Knowhow Tutorial post and add a link on your blog to www.jakheath.com to be in for a chance to win the set and I will pick a winner on Saturday 29th May

Choosing Colours

This is the set up I work with when colouring with promarkers, I use an old telephone directory to colour on top of, partly because i like to work on top of other paper and partly because the ink tends to bleed through to the other side of the card you are colouring on and I can just throw away the under sheet with no extra expense.

You can see from this close up how I lay down the colours before I start colouring the image.

By laying the colours side by side you can see which colours will work well together, at the bottom of this picture you can clearly see that one of the pin shdes doesn't work with the others.

Basics

Lets start with some basic information.

1. Choose colours that you like. Then choose a light shade and a darker shade of the same colour tone, the lighter shade will work as highlights and the darker shade will be used for shadows.
2. Use a dye base inkpad on your rubber stamp images (momento is a good one) if you use any solvent base ink pad the promarker will smudge the ink.
3. If using digi images and printing them from an inkjet printer, leave the image overnight before colouring.
4. Use card that is smooth to the touch to use your Promarkers on, if the card is too absorbant you will waste lots of the ink and you wont be able to blend the promarkers as well as you should be able to.
5. use scratch paper to test your colours to match them before you start to colour in.
6. Blender pens are great for making mistakes, you can use them to push the coloured ink back to where it should be.