Fall Leaves Header

You may have noticed a few days ago that I switched to a new header for the season. This image is from a picture I colored a few years ago. For the complete tutorial on how I colored the picture of markers, please visit this older post.

Meanwhile, come visit me in Savannah at the College of Art & Design. I'll be in the booth Friday and Saturday down at the SCAD River Club.

Rainy Tutorial

Dripped Water
Today I wanted to show you some simple methods to show, wet, drippy things. i know I've shown water drops in earlier posts, reflections on water, but I figured you can never have enough water tutorials, as water can be pretty tricky.

I started by choosing my light source and coloring the galoshes in shades of yellow. The scanner didn't pick it up, but I used Y06, Y38, and E35. The E35 helped tone down the shadows, otherwise they would have looked glowing orange instead of shaded yellow.


When we want something to look wet or shiny, the best way is to have very strong contrast between light and dark. In this case, we'll want the puddle of water to look wet, and we'll make the galoshes shiny, and add drops of water on both the umbrella and the galoshes. Since the image is so tiny, I'm going to worry about adding contrast back in later.


Next, I colored the water with B41. I want this to look dimensional, so I left strong white highlights on the edges that were closest to the light. I darkened the shadows with B45 and added a dark rim around the bottmo edge, especially on the shaded edges of the water. Already, the water is looking more wet and is catching the shadows from the boots and umbrella nicely. Now we can move on to coloring the umbrella.


I want the umbrella to be pink and purple. Notice that the way the light is shining, it is the inside of the umbrella that will be the brightest, not the outside. Also, keep in mind that the bottom of the umbrella outside will have darker shadow than the top of the umbrella, as there is less light bouncing around under the umbrella.

I colored the purple areas with B12, B17 and a hint of B79 to darken it up. Then, I colored the pink areas with RV00, RV02, RV04, and a hint of E04 to tone down the neon pink on the outside of the umbrella, yet keep the same feel of the base pink tone.

Now I am ready to add some drips of water. To do this, I start by grabbing my darker blue, B45 and adding spots on strategic places around the boots and umbrella. Don' go crazy- just add enough to make it look like it still has some drips left on the surface.

Last, with a tiny brush, take a jar of Opaque White and a really tiny brush and add a speck of white back into the center of each drop. Add a couple shiny highlights onto the edges of the galoshes that sick out closest to the light. To make the water appear shiny I added a couple simple parallel lines along the surface.

Now I have a pair of drippy wet boots and a wet umbrella. I hope you have a dry day today and have fun coloring!

Class Updates

It's officially Fall here in Oregon, which means that the rain has started. Maybe in April I will see the sun again. I apologize that I have not blogged in a while, I have been very busy writing the new Intermediate Manual, so all my tutorial efforts have been going into that book. To get you into the mood for rain, I'm sharing a quick tutorial on coloring a drippy umbrella and galoshes.

Before I get into that, here is an update on all Certification Classes coming up this Fall:

Sept. 25th Salt Lake City, UT taught by Jennie Black Open to the Public
Sept. 26th Calgary, Alberta taught by Sherrie Siemens Open to the Public

Oct. 2nd Buena Park, CA taught by Jennie Black Open to the Public
Oct. 8th Jacksonville, FL taught by Colleen Schaan, Open to the Public
Oct. 15th Vancouver, WA taught by Jennie Black, Open to the Public
Oct. 21st Chicago, IL taught by Lori Craig, Open to the Public
Oct. 22nd Chicago Intermediate taught by Marianne, Sherrie, & Debbie Spaces still available

Nov. 6th San Antonio, TX taught by Jenn Balcer Open to stores & designers
Nov. 8th Richmond, VA taught by Colleen Schaan Open to stores & designers
Nov. 14th Halifax, Nova Scotia taught by Sherrie Siemens Open to the Public
Nov. 16th Detroit, MI taught by Debbie Olson Open to stores & designers
Nov. 20th El Paso, TX taught by Jenn Balcer Open to stores & designers
Nov. 20th Denver, CO taught by Marianne Walker Open to stores & designers
Nov. 21st Tampa, FL taught by Colleen Schaan Open to stores & designers

If you need an application for either Intermediate or Standard Certifications, you can download one here.

Also, there are lots of classes coming up internationally as well:

Oct. 25th Brisbane QLD, taught by Kathy Jones (click here for Australia class info)
Oct 27th Wiesbaden, Germany taught by Diny Sprakel (for class information please e-mail Britta: b.rumpf-burblies@holtz-gmbh.de )
Nov. 8th Sydney, NSW , teacher TBA
Nov. 20th Melbourne, VIC Taught by Mandi Lee Klinger
Nov. 21 Elcot park Hotel, Nr Newbury, Berkshire, UK taught by Wendy Kadzidlo (click here for UK class details)

Whew! there are a LOT of classes this Fall! Now, onto the tutorial...

New classes coming up!

As the seasons change our Certification instructors are busy adding classes. Next week there will be a whole bunch of NEW applications going out, including:

Nov. 14th Halifax, Nova Scotia taught by Sherrie Siemens
Nov. 16th Detroit, MI taught by Debbie Olson
Nov. 20th Boulder, CO taught by Marianne Walker

You can check out the full list of currently available applications here. There are still a couple spots in the Intermediate class open as well, so get your applications in quickly.

Meanwhile, we have some great events coming up this Fall as well. Over the weekend I had the pleasure of doing a demo at the Eugene Teen Mayor's Art Show. Where else can you see me this Fall?

Sept. 30-Oct. 2 Savannah, GA Savannah College of Art & Design Art Materials Trade Show
Oct. 30 Eugene, OR Maude Kerns Art Center, Teen Manga Drawing workshop (to register please call 541-345-1571)541.345.1571541.345.1571 541.345.1571
Nov. 10 & 11th Eugene, OR University of Oregon Tools of the Trade Show, U of O Bookstore
Nov. 11th Eugene, OR Adult Marker rendering workshop, DIVA Art Center (to register please call 541-344-3482)

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in the next few months!