Life of Colour Blending Tutorial

Many of you have seen our incredible (and now famous) brand ambassador, lettering artist and master blender Karen all over our Facebook and Instagram. Karen and her lettering and brush pens friends always talk about "blending" and how they love how Life of Colour's Watercolour pens blend. If you are a beginner and have no idea how to blend, or have never used brush pens before, then this tutorial is for you. Read all Karens tips below. 

Let’s talk about blending! Life of Colour watercolor pens are insanely easy to use, and there are a handful of ways to achieve a great blend. You will get the best results with mixed media or watercolor paper. For this tutorial, I will be using Canson XL mixed media paper.

WATER BRUSH BLENDING

First, choose and lay down your colors onto the paper.

Make sure your water brush is filled, and the tip is damp. Go over one of the colors with the water brush, and then go over the second color. Finally, join the two colors together in the middle.

TIPS: If you would like to keep the original colors showing on either side of the blend, wipe the water brush off on a paper towel before wetting the second color. You can also use the paper towel if either color is darker than you’d like or taking over the blend.

You can also create fantastic ombre effects using one watercolor pen and the water brush. Choose the color you’d like to use, and lay it down on the paper. The purple and dark green Life of Colour pens are my favorites to use for this ombre effect.

Take the water brush, and pull the color down. Use your paper towel to clean the water brush if you’re getting more pigment than you desire. I will often clean the water brush several times to achieve a really nice gradient.

DRY BLENDING

Lay down the darker color. Then use the brush tip of the lighter pen to pull the darker pigment out, creating a blend without using any water.

You can also achieve a dry blend by coloring the tip of one pen with another.

NOTE: Do not clean the brush tips off with water. The pigment easily comes off of the tips when dabbed on a paper towel or colored on paper, returning the pen back to its original color.

The third dry blending method uses a blending dish. I have chosen to use a ceramic one, but any piece of plastic will also work! Ziploc bags are a great option.

Color your first color on the blending dish. Using your second color, lift the first color off, and you can color straight onto the paper. This is a great way to make new colors without showing the individual colors that you started with, and it gives you more control than the last tip coloring method.

SMOOSH

A fun way to make a blended background is called a watercolor smoosh. For this method, you’ll need a Ziploc bag and your water brush.

Choose the colors you’d like to use (you can use as many as you like!), and color the Ziploc bag. Using the water brush, wet your paper where you’d like the smoosh to be. Turn the bag over, and SMOOSH! Press it on the paper. You may want to use your finger and rub the colors in a little until you get the desired look.

You can repeat this process if you didn’t get the coverage or the color that you desired.

WITH STENCILS

I like to blend my colors with the water brush when I’m using my Life of Colour stencils. For this method, make sure that you choose a waterproof ink if you’re going to trace the stencil first. I always use a Sakura pigma micron pen 0.5, because it has a very small tip that works really well with the stencil sheets.

Choose the colors you’re going to use, and blend using the water brush method. I like to think about how I want the finished piece to look when choosing where to lay down the different colors.

There are so many different ways to blend these Life of Colour watercolor brush pens to achieve the look that you’re going for, whether it’s coloring in stencils, making backgrounds, blending lettering, or creating a picture. With 20 different colors, you can create so many more! Happy blending!

Lettering by Karen

@letteringbykaren

Do you feel ready to try some blending yourself?

Get some Watercolour Brush Pens right here.