Close your eyes and think of a fire. Are you picturing a campfire with burning logs and maybe some kids toasting marshmallows? Which colors do you see in the flames?
Red? Orange? Yellow? Maybe a little bit of blue?
Great! You’ve figured out which colors we will absolutely, positively NOT be using today!
Traditional blending techniques teach you to color everything smooth.
It doesn’t matter what animal you’re coloring— furry puppies, spiky porcupines, scaly fish, or feathery flamingos— no problem, just color them all smooth!
So it’s no wonder your animals turn out generic and cartoonish.
Folks, this is nuts. As a professional artist, I can’t imagine ignoring the amazing textures that make birds so interesting and unique.
It’s not hard to add a little bit of realism to your coloring.
Uh ohhhh…
Backgrounds are far more important than most colorers realize.
You’ve just spent hours coloring a beautiful image with your very best Copic Marker techniques. You added lots of amazing details with colored pencils.
Do you really want to mess it up now with a bad background?
