Pen and Ink Technique with Altenew’s Layered Stamps

Hi friends, Norine here back with you today. I have had a technique idea in my head for a while and finally got to execute it for today's post! I'm very pleased with how it turned out and I hope you like it as well.

I love the pen & ink style of watercolor painting and I'm most often drawn to the outline stamps that Altenew designs. I have occasionally even added some pen work to those watercolored images, but this time, I wanted to see how it would look to pen-outline the separate shapes and colors of a layered stamped image.

Let's get started!

I began by stamping the flower and leaves in the Story of Us Stamp Set. I stamped two different card panels with the colors from the new ink colors release.

The bloom has four stamps to create the layered image and two solid leaf stamps. On one card panel, I stamped the bloom with Sunray, Chamomile, Snapdragon, and Marigold inks, and on another panel, I used Baby Pink, Fuchsia and Magenta inks.

Because the leaves are solid stamps and I wanted to incorporate the three new green ink colors, Limeade, Lime, and Fresh Leaf, I used the MISTI and stamped a base color of the lightest shade first. Next, I touched the medium shade to the edges of the leaf, stamped again, and repeated this with the darkest shade, tapping the ink pad to the base of the leaf where it would naturally be darker from being tucked under the flower petals.

Once the stamping was all done, I used a 0.3 sized Copic Multiliner pen to outline each of the layered sections of color. I kept my hand loose and did not try to perfectly stick to the color outline.

TIP! You could do your pen work that way, but I feel like the loose, “messy” outlining is more authentically “pen & ink”.

Then I used a thicker, 0.8 sized Multiliner pen to add some extra lines and squiggles to the design. On the yellow card, I added a loosely drawn outline frame with both weights of pens to complement the pen work on the image and I stamped a sentiment from the Birthday Builder Stamp Set.

For the deep pink card, I used the three new ink colors listed above, and because there are four layered stamps that create the image, I doubled up with the two smallest images, using Magenta ink for both. I inked the stamp twice for the last layer to achieve the darkest shade.

TIP! When doing this type of pen & ink scribbling, it's a good idea to practice first on some scratch paper, just to loosen your scribble muscles. Drawing circular flourishes in both directions is a great way to begin and adding dots and squiggles to that is all it takes to make some scratchy designs look “arty”.

On my stamped images below, I selected a few spots to be more shaded by adding some cross-hatching scribbles. The important thing to remember is that there is no wrong way to do this and however you scribble-outline your shapes, it will look intentional.

For this card, I used the sentiment from the recently released Rennie Roses Stamp Set.

For my last card, I stamped the solid base image of the bloom onto masking paper and cut it out so that I could build a double bloom bouquet.

I used two different combinations of ink colors for interest. The bottom flower is stamped using Blush, Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, and Coral Berry and for the top flower I used Frosty Pink twice for the base layer, Cotton Candy for the 2nd AND 3rd layers and Coral Berry for the last layer.

For the leaves, I used various combinations of Minty Mint/Sweet Leaf/Forest Glades, Mountain Mist/Sweet Leaf/Forest Glades or Arctic/Volcano Lake/Forest Glades. I used the Forest Glades color with each leaf for overall consistency.

For this card, I used one of the sentiments in the Story of Us Stamp Set. For all three cards, I trimmed the stamped the card panels slightly smaller than an A2 card size and mounted each with foam adhesive for extra dimension. All three are finished with some randomly placed black enamel dots.

I hope you found this technique interesting, and I want to say thank you for stopping by today!

~SUPPLY LIST~

Story of Us Stamp Set [ ALTN ] March 2019 Complete Ink Bundle [ ALTN ] Birthday Builder Stamp Set [ ALTN ] Rennie Roses Stamp Set [ ALTN ] Blush Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Coral Berry Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Coral Bliss Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Pink Pearl Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Frosty Pink Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Cotton Candy Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Minty Mint Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Sweet Leaf Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Forest Glades Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Mountain Mist Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Arctic Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Volcano Lake Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ] Green Fields Enamel Dots [ ALTN ]