Coloring Koalas with Alcohol Markers

The main feature of these two cards are from the Spellbinders Playful Koalas stamp and die set. I stamped the koalas, birds and greenery in Memento Rich Cocoa. This is a solvent-based dye ink that enables you to color stamped images with alcohol markers.

For the coloring I used mainly Ohuhu 168 alcohol markers with Staedtler’s Fine Liners for fine details, such as the flowers. I’m a newbie alcohol marker artist, so it took quite some time to color them. There are still bits I’m not entirely happy with. But I intend to practice a lot so I get better over the next couple of weeks. Being able to color critters with alcohol markers is an important skill for cardmakers.

I cut out the My Favorite Things Horizontal Collage die three times per card and stacked them. For the top layer I used pattern paper in pink. I also cut a piece of white cardstock as the back for each card. These I colored in blue and green, to suggest a landscape.

The koalas are not all the same size. Specifically the koalas with the leis and the party hat are slightly larger than the koala without accessories. That’s why I placed that koala in the top row to hint at distance.

I decided early on that I’d use two birds of the same kind on each card. That meant that the birds determined where the greenery would go. It’s natural for the eye to follow the direction that an animal or bird faces. The tall greenery stops the eye from wandering off the card in that direction. Instead it redirects the eye down toward the koala beneath it. From there it’s natural to follow the frame towards the center of the frame. This is an important compositional principle — to put up barriers that redirect the gaze to keep it circling inside the card.

I added two layers of cardstock behind the motifs that sit on top of the frame. This way they won’t get bent out of shape when the card goes through the mail. When I was happy with the sturdiness of all the features, I glued the frame onto the background.

For the sentiment I used a white piece that came out of the center of the Collage die. The sentiment itself is also from the Playful koalas set. I stamped it in Archival Ink Coffee. Then I put foam behind it and slid it in behind the party hat.

All that remained then was to adhere the finished frame with backing to the white cardbase.