Make It Crafty Sunset Tutorial

Hello everyone! It's Delphine here - have you seen the second Make It Crafty Colouring Challenge is live on Facebook (HERE)? This time, it is all about backgrounds! Any coloured backgrounds, or backgrounds with clouds, or sunsets - you choose which of the three levels you want to play with! So today, I'm sharing a tutorial about sunsets. 

For this tutorial, I have made a simple scene using 2 MIC stamps - the gorgeous Summer Dreams and my all time favourite background The Beach, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Langton watercolour paper. The colouring of the scene is done using Caran d'Ache Neocolor II ( watersoluble wax pencils) and Faber-Castell Polychromos.

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STEP 1: I have selected 5 colours typical of a sunset to create a gradation (Canary Yellow 250, Orange 030, Vermilion 060, Ruby Red 280, Crimson Alizarin 589). Please note, for my sunset, I'm using Neocolor II watersoluble pastels which I like for their intense colours but you can use any other watercolour pencils.

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STEP 2: Apply colour from the lightest to the darkest, making sure your colours overlap every time you use a new colour. Don't press too hard, you don't need to really cover all the surface and you don't want very strong pencil strokes which you may have problems making disappear.

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STEP 3: With a wet brush, dissolve the colour. I start at the top where the lightest colour is and make a gesture from left to right then right to left an again left to right going down little by little towards my darkest colour. When I am at the bottom, I keep doing the same movement, this time going back towards the top and that's it. I like having some trails which recall the clouds and trails in the sky. The photo shows the result and the margins give you an idea of the horizontal movements I made with my brush.

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STEP 4: I'm now going to add clouds, very easy with Neocolor II since they are opaque. I use Ultramarin Pink (which is between pink and light purple) and draw long thin shapes to represent the bottom of the clouds. I try to fill the background a little and put some clouds on visible colour transitions.

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STEP 5: On top of the Ultramarin Pink added in Step 4, I now add just a touch of Light Cobalt Blue 661, then a bit of Light Grey 003 and blend everything with my White 01, also expanding the surface of the clouds. As a finishing touch, I add some orange at the bottom of the clouds, for the reflection of the sunset light. Once the clouds are done, I add some white to the reddest parts of my sunset to tone them down a bit. Here is a close-up...

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STEP 6: Now all that's left to do is colour the rest of the scene! PLEASE NOTE: I have used watercolouring for all the background, but Polychromos pencils to colour my character and shells (no watercolouring on them).

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And here is the finished card with the details of all the pencils I used...

NEOCOLOR II (used for the background)

Sky: Canary Yellow 250, Orange 030, Vermilion 060, Ruby Red 280, Crimson Alizarin 589
Clouds: Ultramarin Pink 083, Light Cobalt Blue 661, Light Grey 003, White 01, Orange 030
Sea: Turquoise Blue 171, Malachite Green 180, Phthalocyanine Blue 162, Prussian Blue 159
Island: Toledo Brown 028
Sand: Ochre 035, Raw Siena 036, Sahara Yellow 521

POLYCHROMOS (used for the character and shells)

Skin: Light Flesh 132, Cinnamon 189, Burnt Ochre187, Sanguine 188
Hair: Light Yellow Ochre 183, Raw Umber 180, Burnt Umber 280
Dress and hat: Light Cobalt Turquoise 154, Phthalo Blue 110, Indanthrene Blue 247, Violet 138, Black 199
Ribbon: Black 199, Light Magenta 119, Pink Madder Lake 129, Crimson 134
Shoes: Raw Umber 180, Burnt Umber 280, Black 199
Shells: Ivory 103, Chrome Yellow 109, Orange Glaze 113, Yellow Ochre 183

List of Make It Crafty products used
Summer Dreams
The Beach
Swirly Corners

Challenges I am entering:
Cards Und More - Summerfun
Crafty Sentiments - Fun In The Sun
Pollycraft - Anything Goes
Loves Rubberstamps - Summer theme

I hope you will want to try sunsets, or clouds, or any coloured backgrounds and join us on Facebook to play! Thank you very much for your visit!
Hugs
Delphine xx