de rigueur: adjective

prescribed or required by fashion, etiquette, or custom : proper

pronunciation

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I loooove Mermaid images. They are so exotic and shimmery and fun! Combine all that with Faber Castell products and you have....shazam...wow power....awesomness!! Which I believe is totally de rigueur for a mermaid!! This is a card that I made for my friend Jamie ♥ I can show it now since she already received it. 

Faber Castell products used:

Metallic Gelatos

Art Grip Aquarelles

PITT pens

 

other product:

Ranger - stickles

 

Let's make an aquatic Mother's Day card!
Fish should be fun, bee-cause next to mermaids, I love a good pun! Whooo doesn't?
 :)
First cut a piece of water color paper to fit your base card stock. Water color paper is very important since we are going to use water on this card....water....on an aquatic card....am I the only one rolling their eyes about right now? lol

Then sketch your design out and draw over the pencil lines with your PITT pen.

 Now erase your pencil lines, with a white eraser. DON"T use the erasers that are found on the end of your everyday pencils! They will leave marks, so go out and buy a good artist eraser. Mine looks horrible, it's a couple of years old, but I LOVE it and it works fantastic!!  Don't worry, the PITT pen will NOT smear....and it is India Ink waterproof goodness!

Next, I am going to do a crayon resist, so using crayons first,

Then I did a silver metallic gelato wash over the entire card, adding in the blue and gold metallic. On top of the metallics I have added another layer of crayon to the "scenery". You can really begin to see the shimmer this card is getting now.

I started adding in some detail with my PITT pens and now I need to add some shadowing. I rubbed a small bit of the gelato onto my wax paper, and using my water brush helps me get into those tiny corners and define areas.

Once you get your base colors finished go back over the fish with black PITT pen to really make them pop out. You can see the difference in the 2 fish with one re-outlined. I'm not outlining the back ground, I want it to look soft and watery.

A close up of the coloring, if you click on the picture then you can truly appreciate the shine.

The finished card for Mother's Day, #20.

 

entering this in:

 

Chocolate, Coffee, & Cards - Challenge #34 Banners

Artful Times - Challenge 24, Spots and Stripes/Circles and Straight lines

Simon Says - A Bit O' Green

CARDZ TV - It's So You Challenge ( favorite colors! )