Showcasing AJ

Hi everybody!

It's Sheena here with this week's edition of Showcase Thursday at Yumi & Fumi Handmade.

When I was looking through my Y&FH stamps, I realized that our beloved AJ doesn't get nearly as much face time here on the blog as he could. So I figured I would treat you all to a little tutorial on how I colour this cutie-pie!


Here's the finished card, featuring AJ from the Back to School series.

And, for those who are interested, continue to scroll on down a step by step photo tutorial on how I coloured his skin and hair.


First off - I grab darker tones for his skin (Copic E11, E13, E15, E93, R20) and my usual combination for darker brown hair (Copic E55, E57, E59, E47, E49). Then I get to work layering on the colours.

Apologies for all the photos but you REALLY don't want to watch an hour long video of me colouring. Trust me!


Step 1: Base layer of E11. Don't be concerned about getting the colour all even. The layers of shading will all work out in the end.

Step 2: Add a bit of shading around the edges with E13.

Step 3: Add a little MORE shading around the edges with E15.

Step 4: Add a bit of glow in his cheeks with R93. Since AJ is being coloured with a little darker skin tone, I actually went back and added a bit of R20 on top of the R93.

Step 5: And here is where we start to smooth out the sharper lines on the shading done so far - with E13.

Step 6: A little more blending with E11.

Step 7: Switching between E11 and E13 to get just the right amount of blending and his face is done.

Step 8: Moving on to his hair, I lay down a base of E55. Again, not concerned about evenness as  I will be layering on the colours.

Step 9: To get the curly/kinky look in his hair, I add my layers of colour with random squiggles - first with E57.

Step 10: Then with E59. Remember to use a light hand!

Step 11: Add some darker squiggles with E49.

Step 12: A little more E47

Step 13: And back again with E49 and E47 to add the final touches

So, for those of you who might be a little unsure or nervous about colouring our sweet AJ, I hope that this tutorial has shed some light on just how easy it is to do darker skin tones and curly hair!

If you find yourself inspired to ink up AJ anytime soon (or have done so in the past), feel free to leave a comment with a link to where we can check out your creation OR post your creation on our Facebook page or, if you are on Splitcoaststampers, tag your creation with yumifumi so it shows up in our company gallery! We would love to check out how everyone is colouring up this sweetie!