Colouring - Magical Jungle

Another one of Johanna Bashford's books - Magical Jungle is a great collection of images to colour.

The paper takes wet media well so I've been using the Inktense pencils, Derwent WC pencils and NeoColors quite extensively. 

Some areas in the double spread have pencil layered over the water media. I was concerned that the paper is too saturated to take more water media

This beautiful pattern is done with only pencils. I had thought of adding a background colour when I first started, but I think in the end the white is the best colour for that.

I like the paper in this book. It was the first one to be published using the paper developed specifically for her books. I like the weight of it, the way it takes the media I enjoy using and also the white that is not quite a bright white. It works well as a background colour.

Colouring - Secret Garden

Of course I had to try Johanna Basford's colouring books, so when I saw 'Secret Garden' at my local store last year, I picked up a copy to give it a try.

I must say that her art work is of the highest quality and I am really enjoying this book.

This double page spread was the first pages I completed - within days of buying the book, I must add...

I used this colour swatch - just love these colours! You can find this one and lots of palettes over at Design Seeds

I basically looked at the pencils I had available and found colours to match as closely as possible. I ended up starting with Derwent Watercolour Pencils, and layering dry pencils over top. Except for the Derwents, most of the pencils are so old, they are no longer available. 

I had a hard time taking a clear enough picture of this page, but you get the idea - I hope.

I added a light line of silver Sharpie marker on the bee's wings. The Sharpies bleed through so one needs to move fast and draw lightly.

I also added a bit of glitter paint to the wings. It is an iridescent paint made by FolkArt. It is hard to capture on camera because it is so subtle.

Finally I added some colour with the water colour pencils to areas in the background. The paper takes water colours remarkably well. I did use a water brush which is not very wet and I also find that over time the slight buckling of the paper flattens back out again. I was very glad for that as I really like working with water colour.

I have quite a few more pages done in this book and I'll be posting more in the future.