Happy Easter card with Di's Digistamps Bunny stamp and how to shade a white bunny rabbit with colored pencils

Happy Easter to everyone celebrating today! One thing about the holiday being later this year, it gave me more time to make cards.

I've saved this card – my favorite, I admit – 'til last. This Di's Digi Stamps Bunny image is so cute (and for just $1.00, too!!!). I like Di's images; if you search the blog for Di's Digi Stamps you can see where I've used her bears, bunnies and mice often, as on this soccer Father's day card, or this Cheesy Mice anniversary card. They're cute, without being cutesy.

The sentiment is die cut from a Cuddly Buddly Barbara Anne Williams Punny Animal Sentiments Two sentiment sheet (love these, they give such a nice touch). The floral paper is a freebie from Flow magazine and the bottom check print is from Joy! Crafts Summer Lovin' paper bloc. Embellishments are simple (thus light, thus cheaper to mail) with a little crinkled paper ribbon, La Cabina lace border die cut and a sprinkling of enamel dots.

*Crafty Tip* How to shade a white bunny rabbit with colored pencils – you can find excellent shading guides all over the internet for skin tones, but not white bunny tones so I thought I'd do one for you. You could always leave your bunny white, with no color at all, but let's say you're considering a more realistic bunny look (and I'm assuming you are or you wouldn't be reading this), in which case you need to add a bit of shading.

Most of your white bunny will still be white and uncolored, it's important to keep that in mind. The very FIRST thing you want to do, that you always want to do when shading, is determine where your light source is coming from (see my coloring tutorial for more about that).  I tend to like my light coming from the upper right corner. Pencil in a little sun up out of the image area to remind you.

Ask yourself where would the light hit this image? Consider physical features, like round cheeks and the shadow under a neck, that sort of thing. Basic white shading will use three colors: a very pale silver gray, a medium gray, and a darker gray. Begin shading with the lightest silver gray coming in a bit farther into the image, next use the medium gray, but not so far in, and finally the darkest gray near the very edges of your shadow, blending between layers. A light hand is called for here, unless your bunny is sitting in full sun or has a very bright light over his head. If you go too dark, try lightening it up with a pure white pencil. Pure white can be very good for blending, but you have to be careful. Too many pencil layers can give a shiny build up.

Consider drawing a few circles and practice shading with those. The scan below shows the Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 colors I use:

Supply List

Paper – cardstock, Flow magazine freebie, Joy! Crafts Summer Lovin' paper bloc

Digital stamp – Di's Digi Stamps Bunny, Barbara Anne Williams Punny Animal Sentiments Two

Color – Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 pencils

Die – Die-namics circle stax, La Cabina lace border die

Embellishments – paper ribbon, enamel dots

I'm linking up with: Di's Digi Designs Challenge – Spring and/or Easter, Crafting with Dragonflies #78 – Easter, Crafty Calendar Challenge April – April Showers or Spring, Crafty Friends #55 – Animals or Birds, and Inkspirational #132 – Spring.