This is the first one of the sketchcards that I’ve tried to color, and I used a technique I haven’t tried before. I inked the image as I saw it, then I went back and colored it with watercolor pencils. After that, I grabbed the brush and some water and painted it in.

Here’s what it looks like without any digital darkening:

This technique was very interesting. The 140 lb. cold press paper that I use is very heavy, and has a rough texture. That’s not a big deal with the ink or the wet watercolors, since they are absorbed in well. By using the watercolor pencils though, the water didn’t penetrate all of the color, leaving a texture behind.

In this case, I think it adds to the image, but I can see on others that it might be too much.  More experimenting needs to be done, I’m sure.  Here’s a close-up of the strokes, the color and the texture:

I played with it a little in Photoshop too, and here’s the final digital edition. If you’re interested I’ll probably sell the original sketchcard as well. As always, let me know what you think:


Russell Dickerson

Russell Dickerson has been a lot of things over many years. Author, artist, designer, winner of awards and recognition, pursuer of the truth, leader of the earth after armageddon.

2 Comments

Glendon Mellow · September 19, 2010 at 7:14 pm

They’re all looking good so far, Russell! What do you plan to do? Sell the originals, or print them?

admin · September 19, 2010 at 7:20 pm

I’ve scanned them in, in case I want to do anything else with them. But my plan is to sell the originals. Being 5″x 7″ that should keep them pretty cheap for folks. I’ll have them at the local gallery in a couple of weeks, and then if they don’t sell I’ll put them online. I’ve had a couple of people ask already online if I’d sell them, so hopefully that will go well either direct or through something like Etsy. Thanks!

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