Backgrounds

I'm finding that one of the biggest challenges I face in every image I color with Copics is coloring the background or grounding the image. I've tried several different techniques and one I am liking more and more is pointillism.

I made this card for Mo's Digital Challenge Blog (#70), which you can find at http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/.  This image is called "Giddy-up!" and can be purchased as a digital image from DigitalPencilToo. When coloring this image I used pointillism on the background and grounding. I really like the way this looks. Especially with this image because to me it's all about action and I feel like this background adds action! I followed the layout given in the challenge. This is my first blog challenge and it was fun to come up ideas based on certain criteria.

Materials I used on this card:

Copics W1, W2, W3, W4, E001, E21, E53, YG63, YG67, YG91, R17, R46, R59

Canvas Textured card stock from Coredinationsfoundation

Red paper - not sure - I found it in my scrap pile! (Probably Bazzill)

Green Dots and Stripes from the Travel series from Stamping Station

Black Grosgrain Ribbon

Brad Screws - Karen Foster

Just Smile - sentiment from the Angel Company

A little bit more about Pointillism.  I learned this technique many years ago in High School. Then we used only shades of black\grey to create shadows and depth. I didn't like it then, but I've seen many paper artist using it lately and I love the way it looks. With Copics I have found that using 3 - 4 colors (one contrasting) gives it a great depth. I started with the lightest color and using a very soft touch placed dots around the image with more dots nearer the image. With each color I repeat the process. When I got to the contrasting color I followed the same process but applied a lot less dots. Then I went over it all with the clear blender (using the dotting technique) to soften the look. Finally I started again with the first color applying dots sparingly, doing the same with all the colors again. The blender softens it, but I still wanted some distinguished spots on there to sharpen it some.

So that's what I've been working on. I hope this makes sense!

Thanks for taking a look!