Adult Colouring – The Many Benefits

I’m back! As my regular readers will know I have taken a two-week break from the blog while Michael (my husband) has been on annual leave. Unfortunately, we were not able to go away on holiday for financial reasons (which was probably a blessing with hindsight), but we had planned to make it a staycation and have several days out. Unfortunately, we ended up playing ‘tag team poorly’ through more of the fortnight though, and we only got as far as a trip to the local park! Hopefully, we can still have a Saturday at the coast soon though. One thing I have been busy with is my Adult Colouring, in fact, I am taking it to a whole new level.

Adult Colouring to Improve my Art

You may remember my last creative post was the Watercolour Challenge from Cass Art. I enjoyed doing this, especially creating the background scene for the boat. As I mentioned at the time, I want to improve my art skills, and that begins with Adult Colouring. Not long after finding Jamie Jo‘s YouTube Channel I discovered Colour with Claire, and I have been a little obsessed ever since. As I said to Claire, I think I have found a new “online bestie” which is fantastic. Here is an example of her colouring talent.

Spectrum Noir Colorista Under the Sea

Throughout the time off I have been working on completing some of my partially coloured Adult Colouring Pads. The first one I finished was the Under the Sea Pad from Spectrum Noir Colorista. This pad contains sixteen images, and before the holiday I had only done four of them. As I complete each one I shared with my Instagram (filtering to Twitter and Facebook) followers. I was so grateful for the positive response and many likes I received. You can see all of the pages coloured on this Pinterest Board.

Spectrum Noir Colorista Exquisite Florals

No sooner had I finished the Under the Sea pad then a few days later I turned my attention to the Exquisite Florals one. In this case, six images were complete. This pad had encapsulated glitter in it which was great when using my Colorista Markers, but I think a little damaging to the brush nibs of my Illustrator markers.

Working on some of these images I had two focusses, the first being to refer to colour theory and I chose Triad colours (a rectangular selection on the colour wheel). As it happened, the primary colour was quite dark therefore the rest had to be too. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, and the glitter is sparkling. The second focus was blending which I think is one of the most significant skills to master really. You can see this completed album on this Pinterest Page.

Adding to my Adult Colouring Supplies

Since I became addicted to Claire’s channel, two things have happened. I have increased my Adult Colouring supplies, and I am working on organising them. The only “big” purchase I have made is the Prismacolor 72 pencil collection which is available from Amazon for a decent Price. Although I already have the Spectrum Noir Colorblend (1st generation) pencils, these are oil-based whereas the Prismacolors are wax-based. I have been learning the difference this week, and I’m sure I will make good use out of both. The Prismacolor seem to be the best rated wax-based pencils for Adult Colouring whereas the Colorblend are I think trumped by the Polychromos. Polychromos seem to be the artist choice with prices on Amazon ranging from £14 for a set of twelve to £140 for a set of One hundred and twenty. That is currently out of reach financially, and my skill level does not require it, but one day who knows?

Getting my Supplies Organised

Having seen Claire’s review of it, I have invested in (well I say invested, but it is less than £5 at Amazon) a colour swatch book. I already had some of my pens and pencils swatched on various pieces of paper in an A4 file, but this was cumbersome, and I wouldn’t be able to take it with me to a craft shop if I was looking at open stock colours. This book is fabulous; it is single sided so you can add alcohol markers without worrying about them bleeding through. Here is where I am up to with the swatch book and an overview of some of my pencils and pens, (I have not even started on my Spectrum Noir Markers yet!):

Once I have finished with the colour swatches I have two more books to help me improve. The first one is by the same author as the swatches book, Yasmeen Eldahan and it is another book for swatching in, but rather than just adding all the products in your collection this time the focus is on finding colours that work together and creating blends, that you can quickly refer to in the future. This book will be useful when Claire or other colourists share a project, and I love the colours. As long as I have the same pencils/pens (which I can quickly check in my swatch book) I can add the colours to a swatch in this book to remember them, it is also from Amazon and only just over £5.

Developing my Adult Colouring Skills

The other new book I have as recommended by Claire is the Colorist’s Special Effects book by Helen Elliston, this book costs a little bit more at just under £15 but it is a pretty much a course in a book so I think it is fantastic value, again you can purchase it at Amazon:

What about my Cardmaking?

That pretty much brings you up to date with where I am on my Adult Colouring Journey. So I am sure a few of you are starting to wonder what is going on with my cardmaking? Do not worry I am still very much a card maker! I have made the decision, though, to concentrate on using supplies like my Hunkydory Collections because I do have a crazy amount and it is getting hard to store it. So the plan is to try to do some colouring daily to improve my skills, continue making cards with my papercraft supplies and in between test out new stamps and maybe colour them in for the practice. I will perhaps make cards using my stamps or digital supplies if I have a specific design in mind but in general, I will save using the stamps I decide to keep until I am pleased with my colouring and I have got down my stash to a sensible limit. We have a plan, and of course, I will continue to share it all with you via blog posts and social media.

For my social media followers who have enjoyed my daily colouring images, do not worry they will be back soon once I have finished swatching everything. I can’t guarantee I will always be able to share a whole image as some of my newer resources are either more substantial, more intricate or both!

Until next time,
Gentle Hugs,
Susan