Party Time!

Did you see that the 100th issue of Oddball Art's Creepy Cute Chronicles is launching tonight?  That's right, the 100th issue!  And celebrate this milestone, I am creating an extra special and large art project!  Today I have pulled out a full piece of 8.5x11 inches watercolor paper and combined this week's Creepy Cute Chronicles's free digital stamp and IMG443 Mermaid of the Stars and IMG434 Zombie Unicorn.  Because let's be honest, what's a party without a few of your closet friends!

I started by printing out the CCC100, IMG443 and IMG434 digital stamps out onto watercolor paper.

I then colored in each of the stamps with my Zig Real Brush water color pens.  I went vibrate with the Mermaid.

I stuck to a pretty traditional color palette for the ghost, focusing on pale grays.

For the Unicorn Zombie, I experiment with a pale purple and light gray to see if I could get an eerie feeling.  What do you think?  Was I close?

Finally, I went with bold and bright colors for the banners, because lets be frank....it's a party.

I then added a layer of Distress Oxide in Frayed Burlap around the edges of the massive project.

I then added layers of paint over the ink to create a rust effect to lock in the digital images into the
paper.

Finally I added several dollops of White Blizzard Nuvo drops around the project to add so sparkly (cause you know, it's a party).

What do you think?  Is this a party you would want to attend?  Let me know in the comments below.

And make sure you pop over to the Oddball Art Instagram Page.  The party will be continuing over there to celebrate the 100th issue of Creepy Cute Chronicles.

A Pumpkin Patch

It is Friday night, so it is time for a brand new Creepy Cute Chronicles from Oddball Art.  This week there is a really fantastic pumpkin patch digital stamp included in the newsletter in addition to catching up on all things happening in the Oddball Art.

I am parting this week's CCC digital image with IMG 84 Halloween Bats to give the card a little bit of an extra halloween feel.

Wondering how I put together this card, well you are in luck because I have a video sharing not only how I colored these images, but how I assembled the whole card.

Want to watch today's video in HD, there simply click here!

Make sure you sign up for this free weekly newsletter if you haven't already.  Until then, Happy Crafting.

I Will Hex You!

Hey Oddballs...Its EK Gorman and I am popping in to remind you that it is Friday night so that means it is time for a brand new Creepy Cute Chronicles from Oddball Art.  This week I am playing with the awesome CCC69 Coffee Hex digi stamp and IMG500 Magical Pile of Creeps.  I don't know about you, but I would not deny these guys coffee.

For these images I pulled out my colored pencils and colored in this image, and then added some distress oxide in both Vintage Photo and Brushed Corduroy.  

If you are not yet signed up for this free weekly newsletter you are missing out.  Don't loss your chance to own this super cute coffee mug.  Until then, Happy Crafting.

The End of Summer

There is still plenty of time to play with the currently Monthly Challenge over at Oddball Art!  This month's optional theme is Sweet Lemon Sour, so a really fun open theme to get involved and maybe even walk away with a prize from Oddball Art!

Today I am playing around with not only IMG 505 Creepy Cute Coconut but also the August exclusive stamp set for the Creepy Cute Chronicles premium subscription.
If you are not yet aware of the Premium Membership, it is a yearly subscription that not only gets you each month's premium digital image, but also instant access to all of the Creepy Cute Chronicles digital images.  Just so you know as of publication, there is 65 different images and on Friday, there will be one more!

I don't know about you, but the end of summer vacation, and well, frankly summer itself is quickly rushing up towards us.  And like a really good glass a Lemonade, I find it both sweet and sour.  The heat will soon be done, and the beauty of fall is on the horizon, and yet at the same time, the kiddos are back in school and the hectic race of that life making things just a little sour.  You might find it funny, but I actually like having the kids home on break, and each time a new school year starts, I get a little sad because of how fast they are growing.

So my project today is to sort of reflect those feelings I am having about the end of summer: the ice is melting, and the cocktail is gone.

I colored up my project with my copics and kept the card a single layered project.  I wrote in 'the end of summer' with my pen just so we don't think the card is too depressing.

I can't wait to see how you play along with this fun Oddball Art theme.  Struggling with the theme,  well, go ahead and submit a project anyway.  The theme is always optional, so you totally should get involved.  Until then, happy crafting.

Creepy Cute Chronicles #54

It is Friday, so that means it is time for a new Creepy Cute Chronicles newsletter over at Oddball Art!  Today, I am playing with this week's CCC digital stamp, but blowing it up have and mounting it onto a 8x10 inch wood canvas.

To give you perspective of how large I blew up the Red's Pet Wolf digi, I put a full size Distress ink case there.

Then using my copics, I colored both Red...

...And her pet wolf.  I am not crazy about the coloring on the wolf, but by the end of the canvas the coloring work.

I fussy cut out both of the image and set them aside while I build the background of the canvas.

I scraped on some black metallic acrylic paint onto my wooden canvas.

I die cut three panels of trees, and sprayed them with both a matte and a glittery spray ink.  I repeated the process with panels of grass cut out and gray, glittery black and green glitter spray ink.

Using soft matte gel, I adhered the trees onto the canvas, letting there be texture with the gel.  I also added the grass to the canvas with the same gel.

I then added the digital stamps onto the canvas.  I could have quit here and been happy with the end result, but I wanted to build the canvas up more.

So to build up the canvas, I pulled out metal crafting pieces, wire, paper flowers, art stones and more black acrylic paint an built up the bottom of the canvas with fun layers.

I really like how the texture built up the final look of the canvas.

Finally, I added a fun sentiment to the final product.

If you are not yet signed up for the Oddball Weekly newsletter...what are you waiting for.  Sign up today.  And until then, happy crafting.

Side Show Frank

Hey Oddballs!  It is EK from ekgorman designs.  Have you played along yet with the Oddball Art monthly challenge for the Month of May...there is still time if you have missed out!  This month's theme is Dusty Diamond's Twisted Circus!

I used two digis to create this card.  I used the new  digital stamp IMG530 Twisted Circus and the oldie but goodie IMG 92 Frankenstein.

To watch this video sharing how I colored and created this card in HD, click here.

Thanks for peeking in today, and I look really forward to seeing what you create for this month's fun challenge!!!  Until then Happy crafting.

The Bag of Idiots

Hey Oddballs, its EK and it is that time of week again when Oddball Art releases their weekly newsletter and thus a new FREE digital stamp.  This week's Creepy Cute Chronicles image is such a sweet cat girl, that I was just too excited to play with it.  I pared this week's CCC with the new digital stamp IMG524 Girl with a Camera, which of course is not a girl at all, but a classic Oddball Bat.

I pulled out my polychromos colored pencils to color up this week's image and thought I would share a quick pictorial tutorial of how I colored up this card today.

I started by printing out the two separate images onto some printer friendly cardstock.

When I color people, I always start with skin tone.  I start by laying down a layer of purple for shadows, and then a light brown, and build up to a dark peach and then a pale peach (and no I am not giving the exact colors I used, because each hand lays color differently and if you are trying to recreate this, you should pick the shades that speak to you).

Usually, I color hair second so that the skin looks less harsh.  For the hair, I flick in color, starting with my darkest color and building up to the lightest.  Here I used a dark brown, a red brown, a light brown and a blondish brown.

When I add color to a large scene, I try to add it to multiple place so that the whole project makes since.  I laid down a dark pink, a cinnamon color and a dark peach for these pink tones.

The same way I used the pink tones in multiple place, I used a collection of grays they same way.

I wanted the camera to feel like it belonged, but at the same time stand out, so I pulled out the black colored pencils and a silver and laid down the color.  It does not look special here, but when you move the card, it is reflective.

I created the ground with the same three lightest shades of brown that I used in the hair, but used them differently.  Without using the darkest brown, you get the same feeling, but a whole new look.
I also pulled out my distress ink brushes and blended a little brown distress oxide into the background and then laid a bit of pinkish distress oxide over it. 

The whole card got a fun snarky sentiment sticker and then some nuvo drops.

If you are not yet a weekly subscriber to the newsletter, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??????  You are missing out on all the fun!