There are so many amazing illustrators out there, giving beautiful coloring pages for us to download during these home-staying times. I have posted about many of these before, in my Instagram Stories, but here they are again, if you have missed them!
Rita Berman have Done some Amazing spring-pictures That is free to download. I Have finally ordered New ink to our printer, so soon I can print them! (But no!one can color her pages like she does, just look at these colors, from her latest Instagram-post! ?)
These are just some of all freebies right now: the ones that caught my eye. I know that Belinda (@color_with_faithfulgirl1978) Have done a lot of postes in here Facebook-group, so there you can find even more!
We are all affected by what is happening around the world right now, with this new virus. As it is such new virus, there is still a lot of answers we dont have, but its hard to not feel scared and anxious (at least for me), about the future right now. I think that we all need something comforting and well-known and calming right now, and for me that is coloring (of course). I dont have much energy for big coloring projects right now, but I have my coloring books close to me, in my sofa, so I can color a little every day. That helps me to calm down, especially before going to bed (when I try to NOT check for news on my phone or the TV).
Molly Harrison has posted this wonderful picture, from Mystical Fantasy Coloring Book. as a free download in her Facebook-group (scroll down on her page to find it, link to her group if you click the picture below!)
And Sammie (@colourandchatwithsammie) has two really great iniatives right now, for the coloring community, as we all can need cosy distractions right now. One is coloring challenges we all are invited to do, between april 2020 and april 2021 (!) One is a Coloring Community Movie night (starting with Jurassic Park). Sammie will reveal more information about this event soon!
I asked some of your favorite artists, and some people I have talked to in my podcast, so I knew they could draw, and they have filled this calendar with their magic. And so many people wanted to join, that I decided to do a calendar for all of December, instead of just to Christmas. AND you will even get some extra special bonus pictures in the end of page three of the calendar!
You can download the calendar under this post (there is one version as A4 and one US-version in letter size), for free, as all of the illustrators have joined for free (yes, amazing, I know!!!). Some of the pictures you might have seen earlier, in their coloring books, others are special made for this calendar. All are super cute, if you ask me, and I cant wait to color one picture every day in December. My plan is to livestream on Instagram as many days as I can, and I might do some videos on Youtube.
I am soooo happy that so many illustrators liked this idea, and wanted to join. I have been the organizer, but I couldnt have done it without all these amazing artists! And I couldnt have done it without the help from Laura Rafferty (@lauracolorstoo), because she volunteered to help me with the layout, and she has put a LOT of work into this calendar the last couple of weeks, so thank you Laura! And thank you Adri for your help, to get in contact with Klara Markova, the calendar wouldnt have been the same without her two cuties. Thank you also to Claire Holoway, for helping me get in contact with Dea Lenihan, so she could join aswell (and theres also going to be a podcast episode with her soon!) And of course: Thank you my Streamer Dreamer-team (you know who you are), for all feed-back during the process, it have helped a lot!
There is also an episode of my podcast about this calendar, with some Christmas talk with Johanna Basford, Dea Lenihan and Kim White + a bit about Loras cute kitty Cam, who is the raw model for Betty Hungs cat in the Calendar. But this is an Patron-exclusive episode for $4 and higher. You can also be my Patron if you want to, here:
I dont think I have ever liked crayons, not even as a child. I always prefered felt tip pens, with those bright, vivid, colors. But of course I must have been using crayons as a kid, even if I cant remember it, and I still have a box with cheap ones, that just lays unloved, in a drawer. I would never have thought I could use them in the coloring books, until Laura Rafferty did a video on her Youtube-channel, where she did a fantastic coloring with just crayons!
I encourage taking breaks, work on some details on another page a while, make a cup of tea, take a walk. When I color a background I tend to want to quit at least three times, then again I do that when I color endless amounts of leaves as well ?
When I have finished with one color I move them to the other side of an object, just to keep track of where I am. Because when you work on a background it will take time and you will need a break now and again.
I filmed a bit here, because I discovered something. I got a question about which way the strokes should go. In big areas and especially in the first layer of a color I tend to just swish my pencil lightly back and forth.
It is because I find it easier to know where to end with a color than where to begin if that makes sense? Also because I know that I tend to use the lightest color over a very large area, blending the darker colors together. So to me it makes more sense to begin with the darkest that only covers a little area. But you need to find your own way.
Like I said I began the way you are supposed to, but then I changed my mind. It is a good idea thou, to consider how big sections each color group should have. Yellowbased up to the branch, pinkbased around the birds, purple on top.
Now I softly colored a bigger section with this next color, I recommend to begin in the middle and fade up over the other colors but stopping where the colors begin to shift too much and fade down as far as looks good to you.
Only two pencils left, or one actually since I have already used the lightest one. So this one goes up just above the branch and then down almost to the bottom. At the last 1-2 centimetres there will only be one shade.
My coloring friend Martina Brisegrd recently published such amazing tutorial, on how to do a beautiful background with colored pencils, in Johanna Basford Your pages Facebook-group. I know that this is something that many people are scared of trying, and I know that many people have questions about backgrounds. So I asked Martina if I could publish her tut0rial here aswell, and she kindly said yes.
Looking at the names of the pencils might help. With Polychromos there is an advantage there are whole series of colors with a common name. For example: in the yellow/orange section there is Cadmium, in the blue/green section there is Phthalo etc.
Gather all your pencils in one color, I picked pink this time, arrange them from light to dark as good as you can. Color a little with each and then cross out and remove the pencils that looks most out of place.
Step 4: This one is short and a bit similar to Step two, I even borrowed the same pencils, but you can use colors of your choice if you like. You can even use an ordinary lead pencil to practice with.
Becci involved four other Youtube-channels in this Project, and we are hosting one book each. Becci herself hosts Summernights. I host Seasons coloring book, on my Passionistacolorista Youtube-channel, Skyee (Dream in Color) hosts Daydreams, Honor (Honor your Crafts) hosts Magical Dawn and Sammie (Colour & chat with Sammie) hosts Jewelry box
We all let our subscribers pick pages, during our streams this weekend, so right now all of the books are filled. BUT if you have one, ore more, of the books, and didnt get a page, you can sign up to our back-up-list! Because if someone tells us that they will not be able to finish their page in time (deadline 28 July), we will need to get in touch with someone else who can do that page, maybe on short notice (but if you are on the list, and get a question to do a page, you always have the right to say no).
IF you already have got a page, in any of the books, please email the host, when your page is finished, so we can put together all pages! (It can be good to email us right away, so we know how to get in contact with you, during this Project!) And if you post WIP:s or finished pictures on social media, please tagg them #theHK5project so we can find them, and follow the process!
And when you take a photo of your finished picture, take the picture from above, in good light! Or try one of the scanner-apps that exists (I have personally not tried them, but apperantly theyre great at lining up the picture right!)
The list of pencil-combinations here is a mix of the ones Ive already written about (Gold, with colored pencils), and new ones, collected by my dear coloring friend @florabythesea . She asked her followers on Instagram to share their favourite pencil-combinations for gold, and she got some great new combos to try out!
Im 44 years old, lives in Ume, Sweden. Im working as a journalist, but the rest of the time (when Im not with my family or doing things like cleening, washing, cooking and sleeping), Im sitting in my favourite chair and color in coloring books for adults. I started to color 2015, but it was first when I got sick, in april 2016, that I started to color all the time. I LOVE bright colours and color very impulsive and with great passion. I have a coloring book-podcast, called Passionistacolorista, where I combined my skill in asking questions and my passion for coloring books for adults. I also have a Youtube-channel, where I have uploaded some videos and livestreams. On Instagram I upload all my colored pages, and organize some color alongs from time to time.
Welcome to my coloring universe!
/ Isabell (Passionistacolorista)