What is your favourite colour? Whenever someone asks me this question, I always hesitate and am unsure how to answer, because I like most colours and I have a different favourite colour for different occasions and situations. For example, I love using orange in my artwork because it’s such a positive and happy colour, but I am not a big fan of orange coloured clothing. You get what I mean! To add an extra layer of complexity to the matter, being a paint maker, I am extra sensitive with colours - the different hues, textures, opacity and characteristics that can be seen in a vast range of reds or blues or greens. Each colour has its unique quality and has its valid place on the spectrum. ‘What is your favourite colour?’ is just not a simple question to answer after all. We often associate colours with certain things in our life and perhaps because life is such a complex matter, choosing ‘a’ favourite colour becomes a not so easy business.
My washi design included in November’s box stems from this idea. Designed during this pandemic period, I wanted it to capture the excitement of everyday life with multiple layers of different colours, to remind us to appreciate the small things in life and view everything positively ☺
The November box is an ultimate box of happiness, filled with colours and creative materials. I really like the LE Marumann Croquis LE Sketch Pad! It’s a perfect pocket size and the cover is just so adorable. After a few swatches and trials, I decided to create an abstract dreamscape illustration using the Kokuyo Pasta Markers and Tombow Colour Pencils to share with you!
The illustration was created in layers, let’s see if you can create one too! Here are the steps:
- Use washi tape to mask the edge of the paper to give the illustration a clean finished edge
- Start with colour pencils, I slowly build up a dreamscape using simple shapes and selected colour combos from my earlier trials. It is often a good idea to overlap some of the shapes and use repeated shapes. You can also add small marks or lines to add textures to the illustration.
- Use Pasta markers in a painterly style, making random small strokes, overlapping different marker colours on top of the existing pencil drawing until the entire page is covered.
- You can stop right here, but I used Posca markers to draw repeated shapes over the entire illustrations to add more depth to the composition.
- Once I was happy with everything, I peeled off the washi tape and revealed the clean finished edge to complete this abstract dreamscape illustration.
I hope you enjoyed this short tutorial! Enjoy the colours and don’t forget to share with us your creation by #thestationeryselection on IG. See you next time!
X Connie @pepperconarts