Hey crafters! This is Jehan, from JeCrafts, back again here with my July Project. As the scorching heat of Dubai is just increasing day by day, people out here are preferring staying indoors. And what better reason can you have for getting your hands on your craft materials and creating something awesome.
The theme for this month is ‘ Summer’, so apt for the season, and I have decided to take you through a tutorial on blending using brush pens and watercolors. You will find loads of techniques if you search through the internet but here are some that I have learned and used throughout my lettering journey.
First, let’s begin with brush pens. We letter out the quote on a Canson mix media paper.
I have chosen my color palette that represents the summer colors.
1. Brown – 879
2.Scarlet Red – 847
3.Crimson – 925
4.Process Yellow – 925
5.Orange – 933
Blending Technique #1
This technique is the direct blending with brush pens. You start with brown.
Then add in scarlet red with space in between. Then using the same red, color over brown and pull in the mixed shade to the blank space between the colors. The brown will blend into the red.
Continue with the other colors but remember to keep your colors shading from dark to light as shown below. Another very important point is that the blending should be done before the colors dry. If they dry then the proper blending effect will not be seen.
Blending technique #2
This technique we will be using the Colorless Blender ( N00 ) that is available with every Tombow Dual brush pens set. Add in the brown color first. Then the red with space in between. Then with the colorless blender color over both the colors to fill in space in between.
Remember to clean the blender and make it colorless again before you use it to blend two different colors. To clean the blender all you need to do is color it over a blank piece of paper as shown below.
Continue with the other colors but remember to keep your colors shading from dark to light. Here also the blending should be done before the colors dry. If they dry then the proper blending effect will not be seen.
Blending Technique #3
This technique is a little different as only blending of two colors for a word can be done. Take the dark color and apply over any plastic or non-stick surface. Then take in the light color pen and take the ink from the surface and start writing. The blended effect will be as shown below.
Now let’s see the blending using watercolors. I have used colors from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi set as below,
1.Dark Brown – 47
2.Red – 32
3.Orange – 33
4.Lemon Yellow – 40
Blending Technique #4
First, add in the Dark Brown color. Then add in the red and pull it up to the brown. Since there is already water involved in the process the blending will be easier. Remember to blend in such manner that the brown, the blended shade and the red all have enough space to be distinguishable.
Continue with the other colors but remember to keep your colors shading from dark to light as shown below,
Blending Technique #5
This my favorite technique and the one that gives the maximum blending effect. The watercolor artists call this wet on wet technique. Wet the area in which you want to blend in the colors and then drop in the colors in whichever order you would like. The final blending effect will be as shown below.
Blending Technique #6
This technique is seldom used in lettering but mostly seen in florals. But just gave it a try in lettering too. You start with one of the light colors. I chose orange. Keep the color dark in a few areas and light in the others.
Then you add in the other colors in the order you like and blend them with the base color which is orange in this case. Remember to add in the other colors in the lighter orange shaded parts so that when you complete blending the base color is also evident in certain areas.
This the final look of the blended look for the word ‘SUNSHINE’
Then we complete the rest of the lettering with Pentel Arts Sign Brush Pen and Sakura Pigma Micron 01
And the final look!
Hope this tutorial was helpful. Please do share the projects that you make by using these techniques with us by posting photos on social media using the hashtags #ppsuae #prettypaperstudio #madewithppsuae. Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram and/or Facebook.
Thank you so much for stopping by. Please feel free to share your queries and feedback in the comments section below.
Until next time Happy Crafting !!
