Category Archives: Tutorials

Prismacolor Skin/Hair Guide Book

Posted on by
19

Hey everyone! I wanted to pop on and share a little book I made not to long ago to help me remember what skin color combinations and hair color combinations worked well. I posted this over on Club Anya and Friends not to long ago but also wanted to post it here as a reference.

To make this book I took a plain sketch book, it was a left over from my husband’s work, and stamped Fancy Anya twice on each page. I wanted a stamp that had lots of hair and skin to color so I could get a clear idea of what the combinations looked like. Then I just got to work recording the combinations I typically use. I’ve got them all posted below. Some of the pictures need to be clicked on to see the details in the picture.

Here’s a shot of a full page so you get the idea how the book is structured.

notebookview-browns

Dark Brown Hair/Olive Skin:

darkbrown

Medium Brown Hair/Fair Skin with yellow cast

medbrown2

Dark Blond Hair/Fair Skin

darkblond

Black Hair/Dark Skin

blackhair

Light Blond Hair/Fair Skin

lightblond

Light Brown Hair/Fair Skin

light brown

Red Hair/Fair Skin

red hair

Strawberry Blond Hair/Fair Skin

strawberryblond

There are still a few combinations I haven’t worked up yet and I’ve been taking notes on other color combos that I think work nicely too, like which colors make the best shadows etc.

I hope you find this helpful and might think about making your own reference book!

Faux Charcoal Prismacolor Tutorial

Posted on by
25

Hey everyone! I’m popping in here really quick today to share a video tutorial on using Prismacolors to create a faux charcoal look on kraft (or any colored)  craftstock. For this tutorial I used Amelia from The Greeting Farm’s Little Dreamer’s set and stamped her on PTI kraft cardstock using Memento ink. Before we get started I wanted to answer a couple of questions I’ve gotten recently about Prismacolors and OMS.

Oh!!! One other quick FYI you can get the 132 color tin box set for 1/2 price right now at Dick Blick. That’s where I got mine two years ago and it’s still going strong!

1. What ink do you use?

I almost always use Memento Tuxedo Black from Tsukineko. Any other Memento color would work well though and might give you some different looks. I’ve also used Ranger’s Distress Inks and they all work well also. The only thing you really need to look out for is that the ink is water based. Any solvent or oil based ink will break down with the OMS.

2. What paper do you use?

I use a couple of different brands. Prismacolors are a little more forgiving paper wise that Copics are so you don’t have to buy an expensive heavy paper if you don’t want to. I used PTI’s Stampers Select White (because I have a stash of it), Strathmore Bristol Smooth 300 series cardstock (this is my favorite), and I also have a package of the Micheal’s brand of white cardstock that I use and it works great.

3. What brand of printer do you use for digi’s?

I use an Epson and it’s about 8 years old. I’ve never tried any other brand of printer ink, I always get the name brand Epson ink and it always works with OMS. I know other inks don’t work well with OMS. This is one I don’t have any magic tricks for. I guess one thing you could do is print your digi’s on a laser printer though I’ve had trouble with toner and OMS before.

Alright! Let’s get moving on to that tutorial.

Faux Charcoal Prismacolor Tutorial from Deconstructing Jen on Vimeo.

And here’s a card I made previously using this technique. :D