Coloring Tip: Do you add detail too early? It’s fun to color decorations, reflections, texture, or fur with Copic Markers and colored pencils, but these details can not create realism. Start by coloring simple dimensional shapes. Don’t add details until you’ve created accurate, realistic forms.

We love to color the fun stuff first!

I know… and I don’t blame you either.

Some weeks it feels like we hardly get a chance to touch our Copic Markers and colored pencils. So when we do squeeze a little coloring time in between work and family stuff, we want to color something fun!

Like really cool, super shiny reflections?

Yep.

Or doodling pretty snowflakes?

Yes, indeed!

But wait. Do you realize that starting with the fancy details makes your projects look flatter and less realistic at the end?

Uh oh. That’s a problem.

Coloring decorations first is like frosting a cake while it’s still baking in the oven.

You’re not just working a little bit out-of-order, you’re physically blocking your own success.

You can’t color the spherical shape of these Christmas Baubles if you’re trying not to ruin the shiny reflections and delicate snowflakes.

There’s a reason artists work from the skeleton up…

Or in this case from the sphere outward.

Artists develop a kind of x-ray vision— the ability to look at objects on several levels.

Artists can look just at the shape of the object, exploring the underlying form or we can zero in on superficial surface details. This is an important skill for coloring with realism.

It all goes back to drawing classes where artists are trained to look for the underlying shape of an object.

In life drawing classes, we look for the skeleton and musculature before we draw the skin and clothing on top.

In landscapes, we look at the general shape of the land and trees before we add pebbles and grass.

In botanicals, we investigate how the leaves and petals are connected to the stems before we draw the full flowering blossom.

What’s underneath is far more important than what’s on top.

If you get the skeleton correct, the shapes on top make much more sense.

To color this Christmas Baubles project, I started with simple spheres.

At that point, my only job was to create believable glass globes. I worked each bauble, one by one, making sure each was touchably real and rounded.

This guaranteed that my Christmas ornaments had dimension.

Then I made sure that the balls in front looked like they were in front. And the baubles in back, looked like they were farther away.

This ensured that my entire project had depth.

Then I went back and added simple yet believable reflections to each sphere. One by one.

Next, I returned to each ball and made the reflections more complicated— adding accent colors of lime and violet, adding smaller minor reflections.

One by one. Thinking it through thoroughly before picking up a color.

See how the details slowly build up? I didn’t do them all at once and I definitely didn’t paint the details first and add the spheres around them.

Decorations are only convincing if you add them on top of a sturdy foundation of realism.

Levels.

Levels are important.

Build realism from the ground up.

Don’t get distracted by the sparkles. Start with the foundation.

Complex reflections

Create lifelike mirror effects while you develop your own artistic voice.

Christmas Baubles

Artistic Coloring Kits are everything you need to challenge yourself with intermediate to advanced level images.

Use your color sculpting and rendering reflections skills to create realistic Christmas Baubles!

Let your skill & creativity be the star of the image, not the stamp art. Ideal for large-scale projects in Copic Marker, colored pencil, or watercolor

Kit includes: digital stamp, suggested supply list, photo references, guide to shade and shadow & underpainting advice, color map & coloring process tips & photo collage

Select supplies used in Christmas Baubles:

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