Hee Haw - It's Your Birthday

The fun continues with these Darling Donkeys! I created a sketch challenge for my team and it truly has been more of a “challenge” so I decided to follow along and give samples all along the way. The sketch uses three circles, and it’s easier than you would think to follow along once you allow yourself to just play.

Here is the original sketch, and I decided to mix it up a bit. I still used the design for inspiration, but then made it my own.

I also stepped up the coloring a notch from the examples that I have shown the past few days. This builds on the concepts from yesterday’s post and adds just one more touch of color. Donkeys come in all sorts of colors!!

Donkey with hints of Petal Pink coloration

Cut and die-cut the Card Base and layers.

Cut Standard A2 Card Base from Magenta Madness. (Cut 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, and score at 4 1/2″.)
Die-Cut larger largest circle in Basic White from Stitched Shapes dies. Die-cut smaller circle in Basic White. Die-cut smallest circle in Magenta Madness.
Cut a piece of DSP at 2 3/4″ x 5 1/4″. Flowers for Every Season used here.

Adhere DSP to card front.
Stamp sentiment on medium circle.
Stamp and color donkey on large circle, using these tips:

Use Memento Black Ink and Basic White Thick Card Stock for best effect.
Stamp donkey and let it sit and dry for a moment before coloring.
Using a very light hand, use the Light Pool Party Blend to color all around the donkey. (Don’t color in Pool Party underneath where the ground is.) Using the Brush Tip, just trace along the outside of the body faintly.
Be extra careful around the snout and around the ears. The reason for this is that you will be coloring those areas in a color that is lighter than the Pool Party and don’t want to blend those two colors.
Remember to add Light Pool Party between the legs too.
You can optionally use the Color Lifter around the edge of your Pool Party outline to further blend and soften. Use the Brush Tip and go along the Pool Party outline. It won’t look like anything at first, but it is a subtle touch to help the outline blend into the background.
Using a light touch, next add the ground in Light Crumb Cake. I used the Brush Tip end for this. I go over some parts of the ground a few times to darken parts of the color. I make sure to color all the way close to the bottom of the donkey so that white space doesn’t show through. You can soften this with the Color Lifter also, especially using the Color Lifter on the edges to feather the color.
You can add multiple colors to the ground for interest. Here I added Light Basic Black as a layer of top soil (or it could be considered as a shadow) and then blended with the Light Crumb Cake. I did a final blend with the Color Lifter to integrate the colors.
While you are in that vicinity, you can color all four of the hooves with the nib end of Light Basic Black.
Color the snout and the inside of the ears with Light Petal Pink. Come back in with Dark Petal Pink and partially outline the inside of part of the nose, just to give some color variation.
Add some Light Petal Pink to the inside belly of the donkey. Add some Light Petal Pink around the eye area.
Color the whole inside of the donkey with Light Smoky Slate, being careful not to cover the Petal Pink. I used the Brush Tip.
Since the Blends tend to spread, I don’t color all the way to the edge. I leave a little bit of white space right along the inside of the drawn image. The color usually fills in to the edge, and if it doesn’t then it gives a nice highlight.
Use the nib end of the Light Smoky Slate to draw an outline all along the inside of donkey’s face and body. Use the Color Lifter to blend the darker outline with the body colors. I like to make the inside of the belly the lightest, and the area around the eyes the lightest. Here I used the Color LIfter quite a bit to get all the variations of color.
I try so hard to be very, very careful not to get any donkey color outside of the donkey outline.

See the coloring details and variation in this image

Use dimensionals to adhere donkey panel to card front Use dimensionals to adhere the sentiment to card front. Use liquid glue or Snail + to adhere the Magenta Madness circle to complete the sketch.
Use your Take-Your-Pick tool to adhere matching pearls in a triangle shape that draws the eyes in toward the donkey.

You can earn these Darling Donkeys free with a minimum $50 purchase. Here are some suggested supplies that would be a great addition to your toolkit.

Product List