April's colour along - All about grouding

Hiya! Debbi here again, with this month’s colouring technique.

This month is all about the basics of grounding and shadows so your finished image doesn’t look like it is floating in mid-air.

So, we will start with a ground shadow. Again I will be using the light, mid-tone and dark colour technique I shown you in my last tutorial. I will be using Cool Grey 1, Cool Grey 2, Cool Grey 3 and Cool Grey 4 Promarkers.

The first decision you have to make is where your light source is coming from. I always tend to have mine coming from the right, which is what I will be doing today (we will go deeper into different light source directions in future tutorials). In the diagram below show the basics of ‘light source’ and where the darkest part of the ground shadow would be. So with his in mind, let’s get colouring!

Firstly take the Cool Grey 1 marker and lay down the colour where you would like the shadow to be.

Then add Cool Grey 2 over the top but not quite as far out as the first colour.

Now add some Cool Grey 3 nearer to the object (in this case Jiffy) 

And then add some Cool Grey 4 where the darkest area of the shadow would be (remembering the diagram above).

Now go back to the Cool Grey 1 marker and go over the whole shadow area to blend.

And that’s it! Easy wasn’t it?

Now taking that very same technique you can do grass. I have used Meadow Green, Apple, Grass (of course...lol) and Lush Green. This time though I was a little sketchier in my colouring as I wanted a bit more texture.

And to complete ad someblades of grass using the Meadow Green and Apple markers

I am sure you have all seen how outlining an image with a very light grey (se below) really makes the image pop

But recently I have been playing with just doing one side of the image so it appears to be against a wall. Here’s how I do it.

Take Ice grey 1 and add some colour along the left hand side of your image.

Now add some Ice Grey 2 over the top but not coming out quite as far as the first colour.

Then blend together and outward in to the white of the paper with a blender pen and hey presto!

I am always learning about shadows and light direction so I will keep you updated with new tips and trick I learn along the way.

 

Thanks for joining in with this month’s colour along and if you took part please add your finished image in the linky below as we would all LOVE to see it.

Until next time

Happy colouring

Debbi x

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