Your watermelon looks amazing! Now, I would love to see you go back and do the strawberry cupcake again, using the form technique you just showed. I feel it would make it "click" more for me.
I really enjoyed this lesson. When you talked about coloring the planes, I felt the coloring light bulb go off. I can't believe I never looked at it that way! I appreciate you going through your thought process and why you're doing what you're doing. It really helps me. It also helped me to see your reference photo while you colored. I was able to try to predict where you would shade or highlight, which helps me learn. I love that we get to watch you learn (and "fail"). It reminds us that even professionals with decades of experience can still learn something new. I'm so glad I found your channel!
It's funny, the older I get, the more comfortable I am with failing on camera. In the early days of online teaching, I'd try to rehearse things, now I figure the recovery process after a failure is much more instructive.
I absolutely love your tutorial channel. Is wonderful to have a teacher that is so down to earth and she with her students “all the good the bad and the ugly” as Clint Eastwood would say.
LOL. Thank you. The art process is full of failures and frustrations. A lot of people assume being an artist is all rainbows and singing interludes with helpful woodland creatures. I'm always skeptical of any art video where the artist has a fancy manicure. That bleep just ain't real...
Apparently it took a little bit of digesting over a few hours and looking at the comments and your replies, but I think I really “get it” this time. A different way of phrasing things that resonates with me is that with details, if everything is important, then nothing is important. More importantly, form is actually a better way to look at a more complex composition, be it a coloring page or stamp before trying to tackle it. What are the major forms and what IS it that is really important/stands out and defines that piece (focal points even) vs what are just the details. All the other stuff-value, shading, texture, color, etc are really just there to support/define the forms, like you were saying.
@@AmyShulke Honestly, your miniatures are just as mesmerizing as your larger projects. I learn from both. The larger ones do have the advantage of adding more depth in not such a jammed up space.
I lift the color quite a bit before applying ink. Copic has resin in the formula so if you don't lift the graphite beforehand, you can't erase it after. When projects have light areas like the rind, I have to lift more than usual.
What would you have done differently with the cupcake. I get form when you are talking about it and showing it, but on my own I'm not sure. As I understand it, form is what gives the shape dimension?
You're correct. Dimension is the rise/fall of the form surface. When I simplified the cupcake frosting, I treated each swirl like an oblong oval shape, bringing some darkness in from each side-- which is basically that old "shading" technique taught in so many coloring tutorials. Each swirl received darkness from both sides, no matter where it sat on the pyramid. I flipped off my brain and simplified it too much. With a do-over, I'd focus less on the edges and more on where one swirl overhangs the next swirl, down the center of the pyramid. I had the overhangs correct where the frosting rests on the cake but everything above the cake was just brain-dead shading. One of the tell-tale signs that your coloring feels wrong, and we ALL do this so watch for it in your own work-- we start outlining the shape with marker or pencil. It's like when a kid clings to the side of the swimming pool, there's safety in the outline so we'll trace it with several colors while we worry. I definitely did that with all the big swirls. Never think with a pencil in your hand :)
Hi Amy, your videos are always so awesome and I learned so much from them. I was considering purchasing Ohuhu markers because they are a cheaper version but I prefer the copic tips to the Ohuhu. I came across a video advising that markers fade quicker than other mediums and this RUclipsr's artwork faded within 2 and a half years. If that's the case than I'm very sceptical about buying markers. What are your thoughts and advice?
As for markers in general and their fade rate, it's important to understand that today's artists are using an old tool for a task it was never designed for. Markers are a tool for print media. They're not lightfast because you're asking us to go back and time and make people in 1950 care about something they didn't need to care about. Markers are for creating art to be printed. There's no need for the marker originals to last 100 years or even 1 year. With markers, the point is for the printed (or now digital) version to speak to millions of people in our daily lives today, not generations from now. You were inspired by markers doing what they were intended to do. Now you're asking them to change into something they can not be. Markers are vibrant and blendable because they're made with dyes and dyes can not be lightfast. If you care about hanging originals on the wall, then you're looking at the wrong tool.
Thank you Amy, this helps a lot. I don't think k I should then invest in the markers more than I have. I have the Copic 72 set E which I wanted to use for underpainting or to cover most of the white paper and then go in with pencils. I also have the Ohuhu portrait set 36 purchased last year (wish I knew what I know now back then).
Is it possible that some people, just cannot ever visualize such things that you mentioned as you were coloring? I try these things on my own but now matter how many times I try to color realistic images, they never turn out looking dimensional and certainly not realistic. I stay hopeful though.
I think everyone can learn to draw and paint. We won't all achieve the same skill level and there are people with natural inclinations towards certain skills, but we're all capable of learning at least a few levels beyond the basics. But here's my question and it's a sensitive one: Are you self taught? I know the internet is full of advice about just practicing until you learn it on your own but in my experience, you can't teach yourself things you don't know exist. And even watching a video doesn't work if you're not in a place for the lesson to click as you're watching it. If this video didn't click today, you're not ready for the information... but what are the odds that you'll come back and watch it in the future when you actually are ready for it? This is why self-study often leads to frustration and quitting. It's the absolute hardest way to learn. The tone of your question makes me think you're bumping up against the limits of what we can do on our own without guidance, fresh ways of thinking, and an expert eye to point out where your technique (or concept understanding) is strong and where it needs work. Feedback is essential to the learning process. If you're not communicating both ways with the instructor, video creator, or book author, you're missing the most important part of any art lesson.
Maybe I can take to coloring food projects when I’m hungry…🤦♀️. Now my small brain loved the cupcake. But now that you’ve put both of these images next to each other. I can see what you are talking about in being 2 dimensional. The image needed to have the illusion of the back side of the cupcake. Those seeds on the watermelon really looked like they were sunk into the flesh
YES! I was so worried about size that mentally, I broke each swirl of the frosting into it's own shape. The cake was a shape. The cup was a shape. It seemed fine when I filmed the cupcake... I mean, I wasn't in love with it but then 24 hrs later, it was just a total cringe. Anyway, we're often told "no, no, it's not as bad as you think" but in my personal experience, the cringe is your inner voice telling you something's not right. You can't let it paralyze you but I also don't think you should ignore it. The trick is to figure out what the cringe is trying to tell you and learn from it.
Amy, I want you to note that I even knew what you were talking about. A year ago I wouldn’t have realized there should be a difference. I’ve already learned a whole lot from you…
YES! Find those pencils!!! I really think marker looks naked without pencil. It's like cookies and cream or peanutbutter and chocolate. They're made for each other!
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Supply list plus tips for tiny coloring here: www.vanillaarts.com/blog/tiny-copic-watermelon
Your watermelon looks amazing! Now, I would love to see you go back and do the strawberry cupcake again, using the form technique you just showed. I feel it would make it "click" more for me.
Great idea!
I'd love to see this as well.
This is amazing. Incredible how those seeds are recessed, the veining, & so much texture.
I really enjoyed this lesson. When you talked about coloring the planes, I felt the coloring light bulb go off. I can't believe I never looked at it that way! I appreciate you going through your thought process and why you're doing what you're doing. It really helps me. It also helped me to see your reference photo while you colored. I was able to try to predict where you would shade or highlight, which helps me learn. I love that we get to watch you learn (and "fail"). It reminds us that even professionals with decades of experience can still learn something new. I'm so glad I found your channel!
It's funny, the older I get, the more comfortable I am with failing on camera. In the early days of online teaching, I'd try to rehearse things, now I figure the recovery process after a failure is much more instructive.
I absolutely love your tutorial channel. Is wonderful to have a teacher that is so down to earth and she with her students “all the good the bad and the ugly” as Clint Eastwood would say.
LOL. Thank you. The art process is full of failures and frustrations. A lot of people assume being an artist is all rainbows and singing interludes with helpful woodland creatures. I'm always skeptical of any art video where the artist has a fancy manicure. That bleep just ain't real...
😊 nice
Thanks! 😃
Apparently it took a little bit of digesting over a few hours and looking at the comments and your replies, but I think I really “get it” this time. A different way of phrasing things that resonates with me is that with details, if everything is important, then nothing is important. More importantly, form is actually a better way to look at a more complex composition, be it a coloring page or stamp before trying to tackle it. What are the major forms and what IS it that is really important/stands out and defines that piece (focal points even) vs what are just the details. All the other stuff-value, shading, texture, color, etc are really just there to support/define the forms, like you were saying.
There ya go! I don't always say things efficiently so it takes me a few swings to connect sometimes :)
I love watching you bring your images to life! Your videos are mesmerizing. They really make me look at "coloring" an image in a deeper way! Thanks!
Thanks for watching! Which do you prefer, the miniatures or the bigger stuff?
@@AmyShulke Honestly, your miniatures are just as mesmerizing as your larger projects. I learn from both. The larger ones do have the advantage of adding more depth in not such a jammed up space.
Wow what a great lesson. Beautiful work too.
I appreciate the feedback and thanks for watching!
This was so interesting. The pencil drawing was too light. So I wasn't sure sometimes what part was being colored. But still super cool to watch.
I lift the color quite a bit before applying ink. Copic has resin in the formula so if you don't lift the graphite beforehand, you can't erase it after. When projects have light areas like the rind, I have to lift more than usual.
Hi Amy, I wonder if you could do a new version of the cupcake and show them side by side, to see the difference?
It's on the to-do list but I'll probably change the flavor of the cupcake... same concepts just not quite so repetitive.
What would you have done differently with the cupcake. I get form when you are talking about it and showing it, but on my own I'm not sure. As I understand it, form is what gives the shape dimension?
You're correct. Dimension is the rise/fall of the form surface.
When I simplified the cupcake frosting, I treated each swirl like an oblong oval shape, bringing some darkness in from each side-- which is basically that old "shading" technique taught in so many coloring tutorials. Each swirl received darkness from both sides, no matter where it sat on the pyramid. I flipped off my brain and simplified it too much.
With a do-over, I'd focus less on the edges and more on where one swirl overhangs the next swirl, down the center of the pyramid. I had the overhangs correct where the frosting rests on the cake but everything above the cake was just brain-dead shading.
One of the tell-tale signs that your coloring feels wrong, and we ALL do this so watch for it in your own work-- we start outlining the shape with marker or pencil. It's like when a kid clings to the side of the swimming pool, there's safety in the outline so we'll trace it with several colors while we worry. I definitely did that with all the big swirls. Never think with a pencil in your hand :)
Hi Amy, your videos are always so awesome and I learned so much from them. I was considering purchasing Ohuhu markers because they are a cheaper version but I prefer the copic tips to the Ohuhu. I came across a video advising that markers fade quicker than other mediums and this RUclipsr's artwork faded within 2 and a half years. If that's the case than I'm very sceptical about buying markers. What are your thoughts and advice?
Here’s a link to my Ohuhu info page. markernovice.com/ohuhu-archive
As for markers in general and their fade rate, it's important to understand that today's artists are using an old tool for a task it was never designed for. Markers are a tool for print media. They're not lightfast because you're asking us to go back and time and make people in 1950 care about something they didn't need to care about.
Markers are for creating art to be printed. There's no need for the marker originals to last 100 years or even 1 year. With markers, the point is for the printed (or now digital) version to speak to millions of people in our daily lives today, not generations from now.
You were inspired by markers doing what they were intended to do. Now you're asking them to change into something they can not be. Markers are vibrant and blendable because they're made with dyes and dyes can not be lightfast.
If you care about hanging originals on the wall, then you're looking at the wrong tool.
Thank you Amy, this helps a lot. I don't think k I should then invest in the markers more than I have. I have the Copic 72 set E which I wanted to use for underpainting or to cover most of the white paper and then go in with pencils. I also have the Ohuhu portrait set 36 purchased last year (wish I knew what I know now back then).
Is it possible that some people, just cannot ever visualize such things that you mentioned as you were coloring? I try these things on my own but now matter how many times I try to color realistic images, they never turn out looking dimensional and certainly not realistic. I stay hopeful though.
I think everyone can learn to draw and paint. We won't all achieve the same skill level and there are people with natural inclinations towards certain skills, but we're all capable of learning at least a few levels beyond the basics.
But here's my question and it's a sensitive one: Are you self taught? I know the internet is full of advice about just practicing until you learn it on your own but in my experience, you can't teach yourself things you don't know exist. And even watching a video doesn't work if you're not in a place for the lesson to click as you're watching it. If this video didn't click today, you're not ready for the information... but what are the odds that you'll come back and watch it in the future when you actually are ready for it?
This is why self-study often leads to frustration and quitting. It's the absolute hardest way to learn.
The tone of your question makes me think you're bumping up against the limits of what we can do on our own without guidance, fresh ways of thinking, and an expert eye to point out where your technique (or concept understanding) is strong and where it needs work.
Feedback is essential to the learning process. If you're not communicating both ways with the instructor, video creator, or book author, you're missing the most important part of any art lesson.
Maybe I can take to coloring food projects when I’m hungry…🤦♀️. Now my small brain loved the cupcake. But now that you’ve put both of these images next to each other. I can see what you are talking about in being 2 dimensional. The image needed to have the illusion of the back side of the cupcake. Those seeds on the watermelon really looked like they were sunk into the flesh
YES! I was so worried about size that mentally, I broke each swirl of the frosting into it's own shape. The cake was a shape. The cup was a shape. It seemed fine when I filmed the cupcake... I mean, I wasn't in love with it but then 24 hrs later, it was just a total cringe.
Anyway, we're often told "no, no, it's not as bad as you think" but in my personal experience, the cringe is your inner voice telling you something's not right. You can't let it paralyze you but I also don't think you should ignore it. The trick is to figure out what the cringe is trying to tell you and learn from it.
Amy, I want you to note that I even knew what you were talking about. A year ago I wouldn’t have realized there should be a difference. I’ve already learned a whole lot from you…
Thank you for doing another small project. It is so helpful in learning to get realism in my cards.
Now I need to find my colored pencils
YES! Find those pencils!!! I really think marker looks naked without pencil. It's like cookies and cream or peanutbutter and chocolate. They're made for each other!