We love bringing you the most original rock painting ideas, but it's also so important to have simple tutorials to get that friend or family member who is new to rock painting hooked! This tutorial will win their hearts! This adorable heart features dot painting inspired design

Step one:

Find yourself a rock! It pays to be choosy and in this case because you are planning to gift your creation you should choose your rock carefully. A nice shaped would be perfect but also there’s that one in a million heart shaped rock if you manage to find one of those you're onto a winner!

Step two:

Here we are going to create a simple outline for the heart to be filled in with a solid colour.

Personally I do not use a base coat as I’d like to create something that will withstand the outdoor elements and will less likely chip off over time.

Using a white 1mm paint pen to create our heart to start off with is the best choice as white is the best colour to hide if you wish to cover the lines easily.

Step three:

Choose the base colour of your heart. Traditionally hearts are red but you might order to use your loved ones favourite colour or even your own!

I’m choosing a shade of pink from the Special Colours box in a 3mm for easy coverage and in my wisdom I would suggest this is this stage to click the jug on whilst you wait for your heart to dry. It’s essential that each coat is dry before rushing the next coat - that is except when it comes to blending but that’s another tutorial!

Step four:

Add a second coat to your heart for absolute perfection! Again allow the rock to dry before the next stage it only takes a couple of minutes and lets be honest there’s probably a load of washing you should be putting in the machine.

Step five:

Let’s add some daintiness to our love using the fine point 1mm or if your lucky enough to own the brilliant new 1.5mm nib sized pen available in the Earth Colours that would be the go to!

As far as colour selection you should choose a much darker shade compared to the colour already on your heart. If you choose a colour too close to the hearts shade you will lose definition in your design.

I’m choosing to use the forest 1.5 mm from the Earth colour paint pens.

Step six:

More details can be added at this stage but be sure not to go too overboard. Simplicity is beautiful and if you try to add too much detail your design may get lost in all the chaos.

I’ve chosen dots which are perfect when using the 1.5mm pen set. If you do not yet own this set (get it!) then choose a 3mm in the same colour.

To achieve nice dots always be sure your pen is well prepared! That means you need to shake well and prime your pen. Some of the more well seasoned paint pen users may not do this every time but that is most likely because their paint pen is basically glued to their palm (insert laughing until your crying emoji!)

Now the pens ready get your steady hand set and with a straight up and down motion make a single dot.

Step 7:

Adding a defined outline gives a great popping effect to your heart. The darker colour around the edge can assist in making your heart appear to become a 3D image jumping out off your rock. This stage is also great for hiding any lines that may have gone astray out from the edge of your heart too!

Step 8:

Add some personal sentiments. Let’s be honest at this stage our creation is rock with a heart - a beautiful one but not quite a card yet.

Let’s turn the rock over and write our loved one a message. A simple “I love you” might be enough or you might want to write something a little more complex. Before starting your message choose your pen type and colour wisely. A longer message will require a finer pen tip to get all your words in whilst a short three word I love you could be written using a larger tip! Be sure to choose a colour that will show up well - a lighter colour works well on a dark rock and vice versa!

Now you can either gift your rock to someone you love, or go out and hide it to spread the ultimate act of Kindness and love to a perfect stranger. 

Love from all of us at the Life of Colour team.