How to.... Penny Black Hedgehogs

This is the first of a series of 4 tutorials I'll be doing especially for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. I've been asked many times how to colour Penny Black images with promarkers, so this is how I colour the Hedgehogs...

First I stamp my image with Memento ink (do not use alcohol/solvent based ink like Stazon) onto smooth white card - I have used some from my local paper mill, alternatives are available from Stampin' Up, Craftwork cards etc. I will be using the following colours of Promarkers: Walnut, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Tan, Almond and Sunkissed Pink for the Hedgehogs.

 Using small, light, feathery strokes with the Cinnamon promarker, colour randomly over the hedgie's prickles

 I've repeated the same technique with the Cocoa promarker, randomly colouring tiny wee strokes all over his prickles.

 And again, I've randomly coloured wee strokes with the Walnut promarker

 For this stage, I have again used light feathery strokes with the Tan promarker to colour all over the area of the Hedgie with prickles, this softens and blends the colours, but be careful not to overdo it as we want to keep a textured look. I have also used the Tan promarker to lightly colour where the prickles meets the Hedgies tummy and face.

This is the point where I add his wee rosie cheeks - I've used Sunkissed Pink very lightly here - remember you can always add more layers if you want the rosy cheeks to be more obvious later.

 The next stage, I've used Almond promarker in small circular motions all over the tummy and face area - and have gone over the Tan edges before you get to his prickles, you can repeat this until you are happy that you have no hard edges left. If you want the rosy cheeks to be a bit more obvious you can add more of the Sunkissed Pink at this point.

 I wanted to give a bit more definition to his feet and front paw, so have added tiny touches of Tan promarker where I imagine the shadowy areas would be, then blended by colouring over the whole area with Almond again.

 I've coloured the other Hedgie to match - if you look closely though you'll see that I've blended a little less so that there is a bit more texture to his prickles.

 I coloured the whole of their umbrella with Denim Blue promarker - don't worry about getting a seamless result just yet.

 I used small light strokes to colour areas of the umbrella with Midnight Blue promarker to give a 3-d effect

 And then coloured over this with light circular movements with the Denim Blue promarker, moving the colour towards the middle of the panels.

 I repeated the blending until I was happy that there were no hard lines left.

 I coloured the parcels with Denim and Midnight Blues, and Poppy and Burgundy for the ribbon. I added Powder Blue promarker to the lower edges of the snow on the umbrella and just under the Hedgies' feet

 To soften the Powder Blue line I go over it and outwards with the Blender pen.

And this is my finished image (above), I've used a white gel pen to recolour the spots on the present and the dots of snow on the umbrella. (I find this much easier than colouring around them) and below is my finished card...

I'd also like to enter my hedgehog card into the following challenges...


Papertake Weekly - Cards for Men/Boys
Charisma Cardz - With Love @ Xmas
I Love Promarkers - Snowflakes
Patties Creations - Xmas card or creation