Digital Stamps + Alcohol Markers

If you recall last week I was talking about digital stamps and collage images.  Today I wanted to share a bit about using alcohol markers on your digital stamp images.  First let me say how much it honks me off when people show you their perfectly colored digital stamp images and all they do is list the color numbers from the pens they used but they don't explain to people HOW they got that great look.  It's very frustrating if you're not familiar with digital images because you can very easily screw them up.

NOTE: all digital stamps used today are from Susana's Custom Art and Card Designs.

Now I'll be the first to tell you I'm not a wizard at shading with these markers...my coloring is marginal at best but hey, I have fun so that's what counts.  I did learn something by trial and error that has had a major impact on how I color with alcohol markers (of any type).  

DO NOT under any circumstances color on the printed lines!!! 

Seriously, if you color on the lines you will screw the image up...sometimes just a little but other times a LOT.  This was the biggest reason why I originally disliked digital stamps.   So here are a couple photos of how I used to color with alcohol markers....  You'll notice that with my first pass of color there are already streaks by his hands and elbows...  

By the time I added the second color and tried to blend the black was really discoloring my image....this is usually where I quit and and gave up...multiple times!

 I actually figured out something by accident - alcohol markers wick into the paper...  if you watch when you draw a line you will notice that it spreads out a tiny bit - not a lot but just enough to make a huge difference when you color a printed image.

Now I never cross a printed line with my markers nor do I touch a printed line.  I let the wicking action of the markers help color the image.  I lay my marker tip along the edge of the line and let the ink wick towards the line.  You can see here that there is no smearing at all of the lines....

And I have added 2 additional colors plus blended them together (on the left side) and there is no smearing or smudging of the printed image lines at all.  None whatsoever!  You can see on the right side of the image how I just barely touched some areas with the marker tip and let it wick towards the edge.   Can you believe it....It is that simple! 

Here are the two images side by side (L = wicking action; R = old way of coloring)...you can see how much darker the 2nd image is because I was pulling the black ink from the printed digital image into the coloring.  You can also see how smeared the image got - especially near the hand and toes.   

The image on the left still looks crisp and clean because I didn't actually touch the ink lines with the marker.  

I went ahead and made a finished card using the wicking action coloring technique to color an image for the second APC for week #9.  I started off by adding some Distress Stain to my bingo card...

Added some PanPastels to the background...

Did a little stamping and added some washi tape embellishing to the flowers...

(flower stamp = Just For Fun Rubber Stamps)

And finished it off with my funky little alcohol marker colored digital stamp monster & sentiment.

And here are both of my week 9 cards together...

both digital stamps from Susana's Custom Art and Card Designs.