Tips and Techniques

Here are a few Craft Techniques you can try out with Art-Kure.
Technique 1 - Basic Technique for using Art-Kure Brush pens with Stamping
Technique 2 - Using more than one Colour Sketch Pack and a Water Sketch Brush.
Technique 3 - Two tone Technique
Tip 1
Tip 2

Technique 1

Basic Technique for using Art-Kure Brushes with Stamping

First apply colour to your stamp with the Colour Sketch Brush. Use the flat of the brush (i.e. the side of the brush) to cover your stamp and then apply it to your card or paper. You wont have to ‘huff’ on the stamp as the watercolour will not dry out on the stamp the way stamp pads and felt tips do.

Once you have stamped onto the card/paper use the Water Sketch Brush to move the colour around, creating wash effects. When finished you should have an image that consists of detail lines of the stamp plus blocks of diluted colour, as shown in the below examples.

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Technique 2

Using more than one Colour Sketch Brush and a Water Sketch Brush

First apply the colours to your stamp in the places you would like them to be, for example on a rose stamp you would use Deep Green on the leaves and Geranium Red on the flowers, etc. Don’t worry if you get a bit of green on your flower or visa versa, this will not affect the stamp once you start using the Water Sketch Brush. If this does happen you can always retouch these areas with a Colour Sketch Brush by, again, using the flat of the brush, no huffing should be necessary, however it does depend on how quickly you apply the paint. To do this task quickly I usually pre-select my colours, take off the lids and have them at hand. Remember you can leave the lids off the brushes without worrying about them drying out.

After you have stamped onto your card/paper use the Water Sketch Brush to move your colours around covering the white areas of your flowers and foliage, etc. If you want to keep the original lines of the stamp then wait for some drying time before using the Water Sketch Brush or retouch the stamps with the tip of the Colour Sketch Brush, recreating the fine lines of the stamp.

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Technique 3

Two Tone Technique

To achieve this effect of two tones you will use the tipping technique (see art techniques page) with two different colour brushes. Remember to always tip the dark colour onto the lighter colour and use the light colour brush to paint.

Free Hand Painting: This is a one-stroke technique. For a leaf the nicest colours to use are Deep Green (44) and Pale Green (45). Tip the darker colour to the lighter one and lightly touch the paper with the tip of the brush, slowly drag it down the page adding pressure as you go. Then as you continue to drag, slowly reduce the pressure and return to just the tip of the brush touching the paper. This should result in a delicate elongated two-tone leaf, as shown on the leaves of the flower opposite.

For Stamping: Stamp the Black outline of the image onto some card/paper and wait for it to dry. The black that you use on the card must be permanent; so that when you add your colours the black does not mix with them creating a muddy, useless image. I recommend the Art-Kure Black (01) or permanent ink. When the stamp has completely dried tip the Colour Sketch Brushes to each other: Carmine Red (22) to Yellow (50). Using the Yellow start to paint in the areas, as you cover more area the red will start to disappear and the yellow will become more dominant.

Use the same method for the leaves with the Deep Green (44) and the Pale Green (45). When you have finished you should have a lovely three-dimensional feel to your poppies stamp

Example stamp used to show this technique: POPPIES FL1120 LD, HOBBY ARTS

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Tip 1: If you want stronger colour then you can apply the colour brush to the stamped image or use the tipping technique and increase the colour strength bit by bit. The second technique will give you more control.

Tip 2: If you want to emphasise the detail lines of the stamp use the Colour Sketch Brush and redraw the lines. Remember to wait for the stamped image to be completely dry before redrawing. When the paper is still wet any colour you add will bleed into existing colours and the lines will be feathery and indistinctive.

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