Judgement

I keep running into the same old problem of people judging others and ignoring the faults in their own lives. Are you guilty? I certainly am at times. (Matthew 7:4 - Luke 6:42) At times that judgment will cause animosity after which we file away the wrongs and it becomes hate, the hate then becomes an action that makes us no better than the one we have judged to be wrong. We ourselves are then the ones who are wrong. How much time have we wasted in this process? Isn't it better to do something constructive with our lives than to find ways of hating or correcting someone elses faults? (Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.") It is better that we leave the matter of judgment to the Lord. He is the one who will judge the living and the dead according to God's will. (1 Corinthians 4:5, Acts 17:31, Matthew 16:17) Let us move one to correct our own lives and live as an example of God's children on earth.

I have done a step by step coloring sample when I first started blogging back in 2014. It was not very good back then since I was just starting to gather together the Copics and other art supplies needed. There has been a quantum leap in technique since then as well. I am going to use one of the Moontear images for the demonstration. The final result is not what I was hoping for but it will do for this sample.

This is the image we will be working with.

When coloring an image you first need to decide where to start. For this image I decided to start with the eyes (E55) and lips (E95). After coloring the eyes I used the 0 pen to lighten the lower 1/3 of the eyes to give them life. I did the same with the top half of the lower lip.

Next we color the shadowed part of the skin (E00). I prefer to work from dark to light. I find that Copics blend better if you go from dark to light.

Next is the fill in of the face (E000). It is important to remember to always follow the contours of an image with your pen strokes. It provides a more realistic and life like image.

Next, to give the image a younger more vibrant skin color it is necessary to give it a pink tone (R0000). Be careful! Don't over do it. You don't want her to look like a cartoon character. Plus if you use the pen too much it will begin to gloss over and the image will be ruined.

(I almost forgot. Notice in the very corners of her eyes I used a very light pink which I didn't mark down. It helps bring the eyes to life.) Next is the hard part. the darkest shadows of the hair were done first (E29).

Next is the dark areas (E27) and color over the deep shadow areas again.This will help bring out more detail in the hair.

Next I colored the hair (E25) making sure to color over all of the previous colors as well. Remember to follow the hair contours. It is important. The straggly hair or fly away hair strands are tough. Use the super brush tips and very lightly color the strands of fly away hair. This requires a delicate touch. Tip: use paper that is made for alcohol ink pens if this kind of coloring is needed. It bleeds less than the regular card stock.

Since the small berry like ovals are so small and tend to get lost in the image I colored (YR61) them next using the tip of the pen. I also colored the lace-like crown connections and earring (C0) to look like silver.

Next I colored the flower (V20) and the flower center (Y21). Just off to the right of the flower there is an area that I had no idea what it was so I colored it just because (YG21) it looks better.

I colored the dress (BV0000) and trim (Y28). I didn't color any other part of the dress or decorations on the dress so they would not clash with her face etc.

To finish the image I colored the leafy border around her head with a light color (G000) to highlight and bring the focus to her.

This rendering was not my favorite because of the hair. It should have been a much lighter color to show off the child's softness. It kind of took over the image. There is another rendering that is much better. Not all images will be to your liking but that is the fun and challenge of art.

I hope I didn't lose anyone with this long post. I don't want to do many more of this kind of post. They are very time consuming.

That is it for this week. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."