Reactive Inks + Colored Pencil With Koi Bunch - Hero Arts
Posted by Lydia Fiedler on February 25, 2022

Reactive Inks + Colored Pencil With Koi Bunch

Hi friends! I have been on a colored pencil kick lately, so I thought I'd bring that to the blog today.

Koi are one of my favorite types of stamp images, because in real life, there's an endless variety of colors and patterns on koi, so you really have limitless coloring potential. At our botanical garden, there is a long, winding koi pond where you can see hundreds of these beautiful fish in all sorts of wild colors - my favorites are the ones with grey and black on them.

Today I thought I'd show you an easy trick for making your koi from the new Koi Bunch set look like they are under water.

First - use a blending brush to blend Splash and Pool Party Reactive Inks all over a card panel. You do not want this to be smooth - you want color and tone variation to give the look of water.

Next, stamp the koi in Contour Ink - this will react with the Hero Hues and give you a light outline to follow.

Finally, color them with colored pencils - I used Luminance.

You'll notice that even the white spots don't look totally white, they are faintly blue from the ink underneath, which gives you the illusion that the fish are beneath the inky water on your card. I added a few little highlights with a white gel pen here and there.

Here's a closeup of some of the fishies. So fun and relaxing.

The sentiment is also from Koi Bunch.

I hope you have a great week!

Click on products to shop:
CM591 Koi Bunch | Hero Arts
HA ]
AF428 Splash Reactive Ink | Hero Arts
HA ]
AF426 Pool Party Reactive Ink | Hero...
HA ]
AF468 Contour Ink Pad | Hero Arts
HA ]
MI003 Ink Blending Brushes | Hero Arts
HA ]

3 comments

Gorgeous!

Linda Crowley,

Great tips on this technique, Lydia! Thanks!

Cindy Graham,

Wonderful tip shared about blue panel & water coloring of the Koi fish.
Just rcvd email that my Spring Stamp Along Bundle is out foir delivery.
Melissa
“Sunshine HoneyBee”

Melissa SunshineHoneyBee,

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.


  • Spellbinders Beginners Blog Post Series - Common Cardmaking Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

    Beginner’s Guide to Cardmaking

    Common Cardmaking Mistakes and How to Fix Them: A Beginner's Guide

    Mistakes happen to every cardmaker, from beginners to experienced crafters. This comprehensive guide shares practical solutions for fixing common cardmaking mistakes, including stamping, die cutting, foiling, BetterPress, ink blending, stenciling, coloring, heat embossing, and more, so you can confidently rescue your handmade cards instead of starting over.

  • How to make a Polar Bear Christmas Card with Alcohol Markers, HUR93909, S7-291, S5-619

    CS-8-100

    How to make a Polar Bear Christmas Card with Alcohol Markers

    Hello, cardmaking friends! It’s Mona Tóth here, and I’m so happy to be back on the Spellbinders blog. Today, I’m sharing a Christmas step-by-step card tutorial featuring the Polar Friends Stamp and Die Set by Simon Hurley. This card was inspired by the Christmas advertisements I remember seeing on television when I was a child in the 1990s. They often featured polar bears surrounded by...

  • Interactive Scrapbook Layout Using the Turn the Page Collection by Esther Glas, SCSP-037, SCSE-054, SCSE-039, SCSR-016, E3D-186, STP-279, SDS-232, S2-473, S7-298, S7-295

    E3D-186

    Interactive Scrapbook Layout Using the Turn the Page Collection by Esther Glas

    Hello, crafty friend! I’m Adrienne Boese, better known online as Alice Scraps Wonderland. I love a good interactive scrapbook page! It can be something as simple as a pocket or something more intricate like a waterfall mechanism or flips. Today, we are going to focus on one of those simple techniques - a pocket!  It’s the perfect technique to dip your toes into the interactive...