Coloring and Shading with Gel Pens

Today's examples are more of my covered notepads, but I'm going to focus on how I created the focals - specifically on coloring and shading using gel pens.  All of these examples started with digi-stamps, gel pens, and a Dove Blending pen.

In this first example, though I did some blending on the butterfly, most of the blending was done with the sun and frame.  For the sun, I first colored it with a yellow pen, then added just a bit of color on the OUTSIDE of the sun.  Using my blender, I pulled this color down the lines to create rays of yellow.  For the frame, I took one small section at a time. I colored only one or two edges, then used the blender to pull the color through the rest of the space, so I had a dark area that gradually got lighter and lighter as it went to the other edge.

These roses were colored in a similar manner.  I colored the centers with my gel pen, and then pulled color into the rest of the petals with my gel pen.  For some of the petals I outlined an edge where shadows would form, and then pulled from there so it was darkest where the shadows would be.  The vase was colored with chalks, and the blue background was created by daubing my blending pen over the chalk and then coloring with it.

 This one was once again colored with gel pens.  Mostly I colored near the outlines and then dragged the color in with my blender.  I especially like the way this gives a varied color to the kitten, mouse, and grass.

This final example used a couple of different blue gel pens, combined with the blender pen.  For the clouds I colored along the lines and then blended in lightly.  For the water, I completely colored in some of the water, and then pulled from there with my blender.

While I would love to be able to afford the copic markers, I find my inexpensive gel pens can do pretty well when I combine them with a blending pen.