My FAVOURITE Completed Pages, Regrets & 2024 Goals // Mid-Year Colouring Check-In

[@lauras4472]

Well, now we need to see your kitten❤

[@andrysitaradejong5108]

Instead of an extender for your pencil, I suggest getting short pencils (like Ikea pencils) and superglue the color pencil to it. The problem with extenders is that it can't fit into a sharpener, so even though it can hold the pencil, it can't sharpen it nicely. Thought I"d share the tip :)

[@apicturedpurpose]

Oh that’s so good to know! Thank you for the tip 🙌🏻💕

[@cinqcolours]

I’d be interested in seeing a video about starting a colouring bullet journal! 😊

[@apicturedpurpose]

Can do! 🥰

[@MyColourfulCountryLife]

Awesome video Kyra 🤍! I'm loving seeing the resurgent of this tag on KZbin, so much fun to see everyone's answers. I might just have to join in haha. Your pages are beautiful, love the bright, vibrant colours. So fun and playful 🤗

[@apicturedpurpose]

Thanks Karen! Please do! I’d love to see your answers as well ❤️✨

[@KarenKhen94]

I’m currently really enjoying binging your channel and I’m getting so inspired I did a double spread in one of my colouring books and finally put my glitter gel pen to work

[@apicturedpurpose]

This is so wonderful to hear! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my channel and feeling inspired 😍✨💕

[@KarenKhen94]

@@apicturedpurpose thank you for keeping the inspiration going ❤️ I had an admin heavy day you definitely helped till the colouring book and the gel pens came out 😂😂😂😂 love your channel and I’m a fellow Aussie so I love supporting locals 💜

[@lochnezzles]

'Glossy accents' is the best! Leave it for the end, you cant go wrong w it! Def better than the pens.

[@colourcharm1401]

Amazon paper really isn't as bad as some people make it out to be. I'd much rather color on it than some others. Of the books I've purchased for myself, my least favorite paper is in Lulu Mayo's A Million books. So many regular colored pencil brands are miserable on it. The fact that it can take tiny amounts of water fairly well is the thing that has kept me from ripping them to shreds. Gives me an excuse to play with watercolor pencils, if nothing else. And, yet, there's still worse. In 2018, someone gave me a few Kappa Publishing books (probably from the dollar store). The paper was so smooth (and even reflected a tiny bit of light), I couldn't get much pencil on it, but all I had at the time was the pack of 50 Crayola pencils (Crayola pencils were still pretty good pencils back them, I could sharpen them, without breaking the sharpener). The easiest "trick" to coloring on Amazon paper is something Alyce Keegan's Kit and Clowder coloring classes reminded me of. Small pencil strokes are the key to filling in the valleys in paper tooth. When you color using long strokes, the pencil tip skips over a lot of valleys, and pigment is mostly added to the hills. So you're left with lots of white speckles of paper tooth showing through. Additionally, if you try to burnish (fill in the rest of the tooth) with "heavy pressure," the surface of the paper turns sort of fuzzy looking. You may be able to temporarily get a little more pigment down, but it will fade and fuzzy up again. So, in order to work around that, you need to use small strokes, in lots of light layers. In the end, burnishing with "heavy pressure," as so many KZbinrs advocate, is bad for your hand. Over time, you'll create repetitive stress injuries. I have long-term problems from other repetitive stress that couldn't be helped. Believe me, you don't want that kind of pain in ten or twenty years, just because of something as trivial as coloring. If you can't have, or don't want, a lot tools in your coloring process, your next simplest solution is probably a solvent of some sort. Something as simple as an inexpensive alcohol colorless blender marker can help break down pencil pigments down a little bit, so it fills the paper tooth. Various brands make liquid blender pens now (Derwent and Speedball all are the ones that come to mind). I've never tried the Derwent. I wasn't very impressed with the Speedball one, because the nib frayed with pretty light use. Many household solvent can be used: petroleum jelly, rubbing alcohol, and various oils. Some leave residues. Colouring Chemist has a couple of comparison videos. Then, there's the more professional blending solvent. Odorless mineral spirits is often used to blend colored pencils. However, it's both flammable and toxic, so it's not for everyone. There's also Zest It. It's hard to obtain here in the US, so I've never tried it. I don't know if it's a form of OMS. Then, there's something you've already discovered: basing. Some people base with alcohol or water based markers, some use soft pastels, some use acrylic paint pens, and some use watercolor pencils (or regular watercolor paint). When it comes to water soluble pencils, one can activate them with: water in a water brush (using very little water), an alcohol colorless blender marker, A Tombow (water based) colorless blender, 91% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. I had been experimenting with something for quite a while, before Colouring Chemist discovered it, and let the cat out of the bag. Using Holbein Meltz to activate watercolor pencils. I put some in an empty Copic marker. It works really well. However, the price of the Meltz went back to $12 USD on Amazon, pretty quickly after that comparison video, where she tried it. Not that $10 is much cheaper. Lol. It works really well, I'm just not certain how long I'll be able to excuse the price, if it continues to increase. Although, when using it in the Copic marker, instead of with a brush, or in a water brush, makes it go a lot farther. Amazon paper is just like everything else: you have to try different things. Figure out what works best for you. It could be worse... In the 80s, some coloring book paper was very gray and newspaper like paper. And sometimes there were large areas with lumps, due to flaws in the pulp. Impossible for everyone to color on really well.

[@apicturedpurpose]

Wow thank you so much for taking the time to give myself and others all these tips! They are so helpful 😍 I think I was a BIT too quick to judge the Amazon paper. Since filming this video, I’ve definitely found a lot more ways to enjoy colouring on the paper. And yes, I’m definitely concerned about damaging my hands in the long run, so I’ll look into those blending methods. Thank you again! 🙌🏻❤️

[@solod2087]

To avoid having to buy an entire new set of pencils to just replace the one, buy a similar color from an open stock brand like prismacolor, faber castel, or derwent. As your pencils run out in the set you have, replacing them one at a time is so much cheaper in the long run. Gesso really helps give the paper the tooth that soft pastels need. Mixing some acrylic paint into the gesso gives you a vibrant ground and "waters down" the gesso, so it's not too textured that it just eats through the pastels. The color from the paint makes it so the gaps have color and prevents the pastels from looking washed out. I've used this method to do pastel paintings in my really cheap sketchbooks that have Amazon quality paper with pretty good success. If you don't want the pastel to fall out fixitive is a must, but it will darken your painting, I tend to work a bit in the mid and dark tones, then add fixitive, then add my highlights and only use very a very light layer of fixitive to keep it from darkening too much. Fun fact! You can dip a paintbrush in alcohol and then run it over pastel on the paper it turns the pastel into paint! It's is great for doing under paintings without filling up too much of the tooth of the paper! Keeping journals for hobbies is so fun! Mine is digital. I take pictures of everything I finish and add it my Samsung notes file for this year's hobbies. I have so many hobbies its stupid! 😂 The part where you spoke about random shopping sprees... I feel that! For each of my hobbies I have to set up purchase rules for myself. For example I have to finish 3 times the number of coloring books I have worth of pages before I allow myself to buy a new one. Or for other hobbies I'll alot a specific amount of space to it and can only purchase what I can fit in it. For example I like embroidery, so I can only have as many kits as I have project bags to keep them in. Gotta finish something before I can buy more. If I didn't I'd never finish anything! 😂 Thanks for the fun video! Loved the prompts!

[@apicturedpurpose]

Oh my goodness thank you so much for all those tips. Especially regarding the pastels! I’ll definitely have to try some of those tricks out. And I love your shopping spree rules 😅 I might have to make some rules for myself haha

[@juliecontreras2368]

On your Amazon book. I use alcohol markers then I shade over the markers with colored pencil. Or I even use all pencil. So I don't mind the paper as much. I still prefer the good paper but I learned to use Amazon paper so I didn't miss out on such lovely books that are not printed on the good paper.

[@apicturedpurpose]

This is so true! I definitely think I’m slowly getting more used to it. Just have to adapt my technique ✏️✨

[@JordyColours]

Great video - loved seeing your favourite pages! ❤

[@apicturedpurpose]

Thank you! 🤩

[@mrsfrench847]

Just found you - fun video! I would love to see the coloring journal set up!

[@apicturedpurpose]

For sure!! 😄

[@miiaproductions]

I love coloring in small victories. I definitely want to buy a second copy when I finish it. So many pages I have multiple ideas for, and it would be fun seeing my progression from the first time coloring it too 😄

[@apicturedpurpose]

Right?! It would be so cool to see the difference!

[@colouringbumblebee]

This was such a fun video!! I definitely need to do a video answering these questions too! Thank you so much for the shout out 🥰 I've really enjoyed watching your colouring journey - there's something so fun and special about the first 6 months of colouring where you have a limited amount of books and can spend lots of time giving each of them some love - although I love my collection now sometimes it's nice to think back to when I only had 5 or 6 to choose from! 😆

[@apicturedpurpose]

Oh I definitely understand! Part of me loves having a smaller collection so it’s not as overwhelming to choose what page to colour next but then there are also so many books out there that I want to purchase 😅💕

[@whatcolorfulworlds]

Fun! I adore this concept. Thanks for picking it up again after Sassy Colouring! I think I’ll follow suit for my next video next week. Good luck with the new Johanna books! For a future video idea, I’d love to see your advice on coloring her leaves. They always confuse me with that extra outline/

[@apicturedpurpose]

That’s a great video idea! I’ll add it to my list 😉

[@rachel.colors.crafts]

Great video! This is such a fun tag! I'm a huge Lulu Mayo fan and I love her baby animals book. Highly recommend! 💕

[@apicturedpurpose]

I can’t wait to purchase one of her books! 😍✨

[@Shannttelle]

Officeworks has the Sakura Jelly pens and have even started keeping open stock!!! ❤❤❤

[@apicturedpurpose]

I saw that recently! I’ll definitely have to try them out ☺️✨

[@DiYdayz]

Such a fun video! I’d love to see a coloring bujo set up. By the way, as someone currently in a coloring slump you’ve inspired me to try small victories 😅

[@apicturedpurpose]

Oh I’m so glad! You definitely won’t regret it 🥰

[@shelscolouringjourney]

Really enjoyed this video!! Thanks for sharing….and hang in there with the soft pastels! Great (but very messy) supply to work with 🤗💗

[@apicturedpurpose]

Thanks Shel! I’ll definitely keep experimenting with my pastels 😅

[@DJsColoringArt]

I think you will do great in the Lulu mayo books. I also just recently got the million baby animals and it's so much fun to color in these books. Her style is just so cute and positive.

[@apicturedpurpose]

I know! Whenever I see her pages coloured, it always puts a smile on my face 🥰

[@Fifi4eva32]

YES YES YES to showing us how you set up a coloring bullet journal!!! That would be so fun to see! Personally, I am very interested to see your color combos if/when you start that! I absolutely love how bright and cheerful your pictures are because of the colors you use! I don’t tend you be able to pick those color combos myself as I tend to stick to coloring things more like they are in real life. But I really want to learn how to be more experimental and creative with my colors - so to see some of your color combos would be awesome! Thanks for another great video! This was a fun one to watch!

[@apicturedpurpose]

I’m so glad to hear that you’d be interested in a coloring bullet journal video! I’ll definitely start recording my favourite colour combos because I have not been 😅 Thank you for supporting my little channel ✨💕

[@kahunamatata4997]

RIP, Brutfuner 057! I'm guessing that you already found a replacement for your beloved 057 pencil? If you haven't, you may want to look at "Jade Green 211", Caran D'Ache Supracolor II's. It really looks identical to your beloved. (don't ask me why they named it Jade, lol. Doesn't look like jade at all.) Anyways, it's even available in the small 30 count tin that I'm currently using. Not sure if you've tried the Caran Supracolor II's? They are decent when used as a water-soluble pencil, but most of the time I find myself straight coloring with them instead. They're super soft--similar to Prismas, and sooo blendable. Super pigmented, too. I've been debating between buying the Gelly roll Glaze pens, and the Glossy Accents myself. Which did you choose? Love your channel and your colored pages!

[@apicturedpurpose]

Thank you so much for the recommendation! I’ve never tried the Supracolors before and I haven’t found a replacement yet for my beloved Brutfuner 57 so I’ll have to check them out 😍 And I still haven’t tried out glossy accents or the glaze pens yet 😅 But I’m thinking of maybe trying pearlescent watercolors instead…we’ll see how I go!

[@amandacolours]

Fun to hear all your answers!

[@amandacolours]

Glossy accents is fun, but a lot thicker than the glaze pens. I use the clear glaze pen a lot over coloured pencils and markers. But glossy accents definitely has a place. Thanks so much for the love too!!🩷🩷

[@apicturedpurpose]

Yes some others have said that about the glossy accents! I think maybe I’m best to stick with the glaze pens 👌🏻

[@gemmaludvigh8108]

You won me over once again. Please do a journal ❤

[@apicturedpurpose]

Can do 😉

[@bubbleofcoloring]

Soft pastels are such a great medium once you get the hang of it. Don’t give up! 😄 I just bought my first Lulu Mayo book after 3,5 years and it’s so much fun. I regret that I didn’t purchased it sooner. I wanna start a journal too for 2y but I have no idea how or where to start. Maybe your channel will give me some inspiration. Thanks for sharing ✏️🤓

[@apicturedpurpose]

It seems like quite a few people would like a colouring journal video so I’ll definitely try to do one in the future. And thank you for the pastel encouragement! I’ll keep trying ✨

[@bubbleofcoloring]

@@apicturedpurpose I bought the 'Ruby Charm creative companion 2024' book because I have a hard time on starting a blanc book. So I hope to get some inspiration for that one. Of couse I will try to make it my own. We will see for 2025 🤣 This book will be a test run.

[@books-on-a-wire]

I just did my first Lulu Mayo page and it's so cute. Now I want all the books. 😂 And yes to a coloring bujo, I use mine for reading but thinking of starting a section just for my coloring.

[@apicturedpurpose]

I can’t wait to get my hands on a Lulu Mayo book! Her pages are adorable 🥰

[@Elmcolors]

Love these mid year check ins ☺️ It great to see our progress and figure out how we want the rest of the year to go. I love my chalk pastels! Keep playing, don’t give up on them. Also, glossy accents is very fun, however it adds quite a bit of dimension to the page. Sometimes it makes a bit difficult to color the opposite side of the page when you use it. Where the glaze pens are a sheen with a tiny bit of dimension. Thanks for mentioning my channel ❤️ You are definitely a new fav of mine, too. Take care!

[@apicturedpurpose]

Oh that’s so helpful to know about the glossy accents! I might give that product a miss then. And obviously I’m loving your videos 🥰💕 Can’t wait to watch your June completed pages video later today!

[@karla.sanders]

How did you do the rainshower? I love you coloring. When you say it's inspired by, do you mean she has also done it the same colors or similar, or? I love her channel too and watching videos from her as well.

[@apicturedpurpose]

Honestly it changes for each page! But most of the time it’s either the colour palette or how they approached the shading/lighting. In regards to the rain shower, I used a ruler and around 5 different shades of blue and just slowly layered the colours on top of one another. I might try to find a page that I can do a tutorial on in the future!

[@karla.sanders]

@apicturedpurpose ah ok. I would love to see a tutorial on that! I literally went back and rewatched your other one so I could focus more on how you did things. I can't wait for more demonstrations like that and I'd love to see a coloring bullet journal! I do a regular bullet journal and was thinking of incorporating my coloring into it for pages and prompts.

[@apicturedpurpose]

@@karla.sanders yes I definitely want to focus on some more tutorials soon!! 💖

[@FredaGodinez]

My Crayola pencils work pretty well on Amazon paper since they are a harder pencil.

[@apicturedpurpose]

Yes! I was thinking I need to try a harder pencil 🥲

[@JAMIES_LIFE_101]

Awesome Tag I May Do This Tag ❤

[@apicturedpurpose]

It’s so fun!!!

[@JAMIES_LIFE_101]

@@apicturedpurpose if I do I will tag you

[@carynaozuna2570]

I can’t see coffee on the page

[@carynaozuna2570]

Pan pastels

[@lisakaye75]

If you are looking for inspiration to color in Worlds of Wonder, go to Karen's KZbin page at My Colorful Country Life. My favorite page in that book is one called "Moving Day" (named by Karen). It is a double page spread. I did her color a long for that page and it turned out beautifully. My sister in-law loved it so much, she has it hanging on her wall. So of course I had to purchase another book and color the page again because I love it so much. BTW , I do hope you get the full set of Prismacolors. Make it your nextpurchase. You will not be disappointed.

[@apicturedpurpose]

Yes! I love Karen’s colour alongs, they’re so helpful. And yes, I definitely see myself getting the full set of prismacolors in the verrryy near future ☺️✨

[@ColouringwithK]

Just discovered you, what a great video and hope to 😊do a similar video! Subbed; have a fab week

[@ColouringwithK]

Btw your colouring is beautiful, I love the colour combinations you use

[@apicturedpurpose]

Awww thank you so much 💕

[@Gamra7]

❤