Colouring Q&A!

Hi everyone, this post is to answer some of your questions related to colouring! If you have any questions that you would like answering, please feel free to comment on this post, comment on a YouTube video or email me at ibutler1308@gmail.com

How do you decide what picture to colour next? - Patricia Moore

This is a really interesting question and one that I think is quite frequent throughout the colouring community. Personally for me, I always go by a few different "rules!"

• Colour a page that "speaks" to you - what I mean by this is pick a page where you can already imagine what colours would be on it, or what mediums you could use. This is a really good thing to do because the page will hopefully be something that inspires you and you can be inspired by your own ideas to create the picture!

• If you are stuck on what to colour, or you have lost interest in colouring, flick through your books and look at the pages - even without colour, the illustrations are beautiful as they are, so you may just look at them for a bit and then come to a page that you really like!

• However, if you can't decide what to colour next because you have so many choices, maybe pick a page that you are interested in but wouldn't usually gravitate towards - e.g. if you have been meaning to practise colouring fruit, pick a page that includes it or if you wouldn't usually colour fur but you like the look of a page with a cat, go for it!

Picking pages all depends on you and what you are feeling - if you are really stuck, maybe use a random number generator or get a family member to pick a page for you!

When you begin with colouring, what are your favourite colouring pencils and what's your favourite thing to use on backgrounds? - Daniela Sahin

Different colourists have different pencils that they begin colouring with. When I was younger, I had many miscellaneous pencils from various sets that I would use, but the first "proper" pencils I got were the Prismacolors in a 72 set.

However, if you are a total beginner, I would recommend the 60 set of Faber Castell Classic pencils. They are the student grade version of the Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and come in a red box. They are about £15 here in the UK and you can find them here on Amazon

The colours are bright and more suited for beginner colouring, rather than landscapes or portraiture. You also get a wide range of colours and you can experiment with them, without worrying that you have spent loads of money - you might not even enjoy colouring, so you can pass these onto your children if you don't enjoy them! I have a video showing my Beginner's Colouring Kit for £25 which I will link here

In terms of backgrounds, as a beginner you sometimes just want to colour the picture and not worry about backgrounds which is totally fine! Experienced colourists use watercolours, acrylic paint or marker for backgrounds, but I really like soft pastels - they give a lovely soft finish to a page without detracting from the main image and to start with, they are fairly inexpensive. I will link some beginner ones here

You may want to use a fixative as you get more experienced, but when you are starting out, don't worry about transfer too much. I know some people have trouble with transfer so it is something worth considering.

What high end pencils would you recommend for beginners? - Chloe Clarke

If you do want to dive in and get some high end pencils, there are two common options that people go for: Prismacolors or Polychromos.

Prismacolor pencils have a soft core, they are wax based and they blend easily. They are also a bit cheaper than some really expensive pencils. Lots of tutorials on YouTube also use Prismacolors and this is a great way to get inspiration!

However, if you are a fan of layering, I would recommend Polychromos, as they are harder and are oil based. They are also better quality compared to the Prismacolors, which are open ended and can sometimes break - Polychromos are closed ended and have thicker pencil cores. They are a bit more expensive, but have a clear lightfast rating on the barrel of the pencil (I believe Prismacolors are also lightfast, but this isn't shown on the barrels on the pencils.)

If you could only choose one set of pencils, 3 colouring books and 1 bonus colouring accessory, what would they be? - At Susie's Cottage

I have recently done a video on my channel showing the 5 colouring books I would have in Quarantine - this is another video similar to this question so feel free to watch that for more info.

The set of pencils I would have are my Holbein pencils. They come in a maximum set of 150 colours and I love the 50 set of pastels that come in the set - you can't go wrong with the overall palette. They are very versatile, as I have managed to make colours from other sets that I love from the pencils in this one. The only downside to these pencils is that they are very expensive, but are worth every penny and I really enjoy using them.

The three books I would have are:

• Ivy and the Inky Butterfly - this is a new copy that I have recently purchased. I would love the opportunity to complete it again and is definitely one of my all-time favourite books!

• The Flower Year - this is a book that I am working on currently and will at some point be finished. The detail is immense but I try to colour everything realistically, so it is a great challenge!

• Fairy Celebrations/Fairy Miracles/Tenderful Enchantments - basically any of the Klara Markova books! Whenever I don't know what to colour, I always find something in them! (I don't colour in Magical Delights much as I got it a long time ago and screwed up some of the pages!) I love her illustrations and would love to end up completing any of them!

The extra colouring accessory would be a Derwent battery eraser (and batteries!) - this is a tiny rubber that spins around when you press a button and you can rub out with very precise markings. It is amazing and is an essential in my colouring tool pencil case!

Is there a special way to colour light in a window? - Barbara H

I have done a tutorial on my channel where I show how I did light sources - this is a very similar method to colouring light in a window. The main tip I have is map out your light sources before you start colouring your page - this way you know the areas that will be affected by the light and you can work around them and then brighten up the light as you go on. There are many tutorials on YouTube that show light sources so if you are a beginner, this may be the right way to go.

My Colouring Space - Lori Anne

I did a video ages ago on my channel where I showed my colouring supplies collection and within that video, I took you on a tour of my colouring space which I will link here

It hasn't really changed, but all of my books are on a shelf, with my pencil cases underneath them in a big cupboard.

The only thing that has changed is I now have shelves above me on the wall where I have various pencil pots and tools that I use frequently - I hope this helps!

Do you have an Instagram account? - General Question

This is one of the most frequent questions that I am asked on a regular basis and the short answer is no, I don't.

I do however, post on my Community Tab on YouTube and I share all of the completed pages that I complete throughout the months! If you want to be notified about when I post, make sure to turn the notifications for your subscriptions to "Videos and Posts."

Thank you so much for all of your questions, and as I said, if you have any questions, please feel free to let me know! Bye everyone! :)