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Saturday, November 1, 2008

Coloring Popcorn Tree

I think of Popcorn Tree as a "Charlie Brown Tree" - you know, kind of scrawny and overlooked - with just little tufts of needles at the ends. And in desperate need of some loving. So some kind soul decorated it up with a popcorn and cranberry garland for the birds to enjoy. (Didn't know anyone could get all that form a piece of rubber huh?)

I chose to color it brightly to go with the bright colors in the kit papers. But you could also do a more muted watercolor look.

So...........here is what I did.............with Copic markers

tree1

I chose my "sun" to be in the upper left. So darker colors and shadows with be on the lower right side of the element.

I added a couple dots of Y-21 at the lower right of each popcorn, then blend up with colorless blender.

 

 

tree2

I feathered out YG-63 from the center out over all the pine needles.

 

 

 

 

tree3 Then I blended in YG-03 along the stem of the pine needles to brighten the center.

 

 

 

tree4 Then I colored in the cranberries. I colored the whole berry in R-14. Then added a couple dots of R-59 in the lower right of each berry, and then blended the R-59 upward a little with the R-27.

 

 

tree5 Then the tree trunk. I colored the whole thing with E-34, then ran a line of E-37 on the right side Then I blended the edge of the E-37 with a little more E-34.

 

 

 

tree6Last I added shadowing with W-1.

I just edged the tree branches and garland along the bottom and right sides of each element. (because the "sun" is on the upper left). Then I added a shadow at the bottom extending to the right.

Hope everyone is have a great Saturday - try not to eat too much candy!! (Hey - I got my Milk Duds last night! There was only one box - and I scooped 'em right up. )

4 comments:

Kathi said...

Great tutorial. Thanks for explaining the process of deciding where the "sun" and shadows fall.

Crystal Ware said...

Great tut. Your Charlie Brown Christmas tree is great. You are such a great colorer.

mel m. m. mccarthy said...

This was awesome. I had to come back when I could read every detail. I love the way it looks. The cranberries seem so real and the shadow is amazing. I couldn't agree with you more about the Charlie brown tree. Those were the type we had when I was a kid, & we did string popcorn & cranberries (probably while we watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special, LOL) That's one sweet stamp! :O)

The Johnsons said...

I really love your copic tutorials! I always follow your copic advice ;)