Coloring Oscar

This video features “Oscar the Osprey,” the second in a series of sixteen designs, from my Tropical Florida Coloring Book. 

I’m photographing/video taping the coloring process as I go. For this demonstration, I’m using Arteza brand expert colored pencils. The paper is inexpensive office paper, which doesn’t take the colored pencil as nicely as heavier paper that’s in the Tropical Florida Coloring Book. The coloring book paper is “toothier” which takes more of the pigment and allows you to build up more layers. Eventually, you won’t be able to layer more color. A spray of Workable Fixative, which coats the artwork and prevents it from “offsetting,” also allows you layer more color.   

I encourage folks to “do your own thing” (when it comes to colors and technique). My examples have a graphic realism too them. I use bright, saturated colors. I layer the color and vary the tone with pressure. 

"Indigo" color was used under in the shadow area under wing. I layered "cocoa" color on top, which creates a deep, "painterly affect.

 Contrast in values of your color is important. Notice how the shadow area under the wing is darker in value than the lighter tan colors on the top of the wing.

 Try taking a photo of your art and converting it to grayscale. Now you can see the values in the colors that you're using and can adjust for more contact and a full range of value from 1 to 10.

Intricacy and detail are the hallmarks of adult coloring book images. It takes a steady hand, sharp pencil, good lighting and focused eyes to work on projects like this. There are some things you can do that will make life easier if you plan ahead. In the case of the border on this image, I used black in the background which allowed the colored ares to be colored more quickly.

From left to right - Tumeric, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Ochre, Cocoa.  The black and white photo shows the gray values of the colors. 

Oscar the Osprey by David K, Griffin

Click here to order: Tropical Florida or Viva Los Metros