Laughing horse birthday (with tutorial)

Good morning!  On wednesday evening my hubby says "oh, you're making my dad a birthday card, right?  It's Monday"... Uh-oh.  I had so much going on that I forgot!  SO I had to hurry up and make him something and get it in the mail by FRIDAY, so he'd get it on time.

I took pictures along the way while coloring for a TUTORIAL (see below).
I used the Saddle Up set.  Father-in-law used to have horses and cows, so I figured he'd get a kick out of this. And besides, the card is basically from the grandkids, so had to make it funny for them to give.

Here's the finished card full view.

Coloring supplies I gathered ahead of time:
Waterbrush
Paper towels to dab waterbrush on inbetween blending each color
Tombow markers 879, 947, 312, 249, 451, 912, 847, 942, N15
Printed image on 90 lb. Canson watercolor paper

TIPS:
In the whole tutorial, water flow should  be extremely LIGHT. You don't want water to pour out and make puddles, but you need enough to pull the color from the application areas to nearby. Basically, the brush tip is wet, but there's no dripping of water. If your water flow is just right, the areas you blend will look slightly wet right after blending, but not too shiny, and will begin to dry within seconds after it touches the paper.  Good idea is to have a scrap of watercolor paper nearby and practice before blending each color, until you feel your flow is right to blend on your project.

MY COLORING STEPS:
1. I blobbed on some 451 color around the sky.  Very uneven. I purposely made it "blobby" so that it would appear like a cloudy day after a little blending with the waterbrush.

2. After just a little blending, leaving some areas with no color, here's what it looks like.  In this step, the water can be slightly flowing to allow movement of the blue color.  Nice partly cloudy day. Allow to completely dry before proceeding.

3. To begin the horse face, I use the lightest colors first. I used the 912 on just the lips. When I blend this color, I only lightly tap the tip of the waterbrush to the color and brush once or twice.  Make sure the flow is not too wet since I will be having to blend over this area again later with darker colors. You don't want to blend over one area too much, or the paper will begin to "shed".

4. I did skip a few steps of photographs for the teeth and tongue since there wasn't much at all to blend there. I added 942 to the teeth near the gumline and then the 847 to most of the tongue and gums and there was almost no blending needed, just teeny tiny swipes of the tip of the waterbrush with VERY LITTLE flow.  Be very careful with blending this color of red in tiny small spaces... it is a VERY bold color and difficult (near impossible) to remove if it overflows into a nearby area on your image.  Test your flow on scraps.  If your flow is too much at first, then swipe your tip off on a paper towel until the tip is just wet, but not flowing.  Here it is after the mouth area was touched up with a waterbrush.

5.  Now I add the lighter of the browns, 947, to the areas of fur that become highlighted because they protrude out and when light reflects, it becomes the lightest part.

6. I blend just a little because I still have a lot more color to add and blending to do and I don't want the paper to shed. Here's what the blended 947 looks like.

7.  Now I add the dark brown, 879 and blend in with the other brown.  You'll want to do this almost immediately after the lighter brown application while the paper is still just slightly damp.  Do not add color with the marker while you can still "see" any wetness from previous blending. If you can "see" the wetness, it is too wet to apply the second color. Wait until you don't "see" how wet it is, but it doesn't have to be completely dry.

8. After blending the first coat, starting to look a bit better.  But I want a darker horse, so I wait until this step is completely dry before adding more.  Note: I kept a small area on the forehead with no color, since I wanted that cute typical little white diamond shape on his head.

9. After the first coat of 879 is completely dry, I add some more 879 color in a few areas.

10. After light blending of the final coat of 879, here's what it looks like.

11. Wait for the horse to be completely dry before add color for grass.  I used 312 and 249 and just drew small little lines all over.  Once blended a little, it will appear like a grassy meadow behind him.

12. While blending the grass, I used very short strokes, almost like little tapping motions starting near the horses body and moving outward, for each section.  You want the flow of water to not be drooling out of the brush, you just need the tip to be wet. Control your flow by dabbing the tip on a paper towel first.

13. Now for the hair, the darkest color of the image.  I used 879 and N15 (black) alternately. Most of the N15 is nearest the head.

14. Now I blend with the waterbrush and not much pressure. Be sure not to touch any part of the areas that are already blended, because the black will bleed over. Start with the tip of the waterbrush near the head and move outward in every direction of the whisps of hair. You don't want too much water flow, just want the tip of the brush wet before blending. Here's the finished image.  I am ready to put the card together.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a close-up view and the full card again:

CARD SUPPLY LIST:
IMAGE: Saddle Up Doodle Pantry llc
PAPER: 90 lb. Canson watercolor paper for the printed image, PTI dark chocolate, PTI ocean tides for card base, SU soft sky, printed digital paper from Shoot 'em saloon Digi paper pack by Doodle Pantry, and stripe digital paper from Four Seasons digi paper pack by Doodle Pantry
INK: Tombow markers 879, 947, 312, 249, 451, 912, 847, 942, N15
TOOLS: waterbrush, Spellbinders S3-006 Border trimmings die, MS fence border punch, paper piercer for brad holes, sewing machine
ACCENTS: Brads, foam dimensionals, SU soft sky ribbon

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for visiting today!   I hope you have been blessed and can pass that blessing on with your own bit of creativity!