Ivy Lily Creative

Want to create a double exposure effect for your art, design or photo, where you'll have a silhouette of one image and another image inside it? I'll show you how to make three different versions of the same artwork or design for your print on demand shop using Photoshop: a silhouette, a double exposure effect combining two images and adding a gradient overlay. You can watch the Photoshop tutorial video or keep reading.   If you don't have Photoshop, you can start a * free 7 day trial , which you can cancel at anytime before the 7 days are up. Adobe also has student discounts and different bundles and offers, which I'll link to below, if you want to buy a Photoshop subscription. Disclaimer: Links marked with * are affiliate/referral links that let you support the blog / YouTube channel at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through them. * Start Free 7 Day Photoshop Trial   * Students Save over 60% on Adobe Creative Cloud   * Start Free 7 Day Creative Cloud T...

Want to remove the background of your artwork, design or photo? I'll show you how to turn the background of your artwork transparent using Photoshop, so you can use it as a sticker or a t-shirt design or a repeating pattern for your print-on-demand shop, such as Redbubble. You can watch the Photoshop tutorial video or keep reading. If you don't have Photoshop, you can start a  free 7 day trial , which you can cancel at anytime before the 7 days are up. Adobe also has student discounts and different bundles and offers, which I'll link to below, if you want to buy a Photoshop subscription. Disclaimer: Links marked with * are affiliate/referral links that let you support the blog / YouTube channel at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through them. * Start Free 7 Day Photoshop Trial   * Students Save over 60% on Adobe Creative Cloud   * Start Free 7 Day Creative Cloud Trial Select the background I showed you how to edit a scanned or photographed artwork by ad...

Want to fix up your traditional, scanned or photographed artworks for prints or your print-on-demand shop? I'll show you how to edit your artworks in Photoshop. We'll go though how to brighten up the colors, spruce up the contrast, make the art look sharper, crop and rotate, fix any small errors like dust particles from the scanner or paint brush bristles and see what's the deal with RGB and CMYK color modes! You can watch the Photoshop tutorial video or keep reading.

A quick tip on how to save acrylic paint for later! If you mix too much acrylic paint or pour too much paint out of the tube, do you know what to do with the leftover paint? If you're planning to continue painting the next day, you can't just leave it, cause acrylic paint will dry by then. You can watch the  video on how to keep acrylic paint wet  overnight and longer or keep reading. Mixed too much acrylic paint? You know how you sometimes mix too much acrylic paint or pour too much paint out of the tube? What do you do with the leftover paint? If you're planning to continue painting the next day, you can't just leave it, 'cause acrylic paint will dry by then. How to save leftover paint for reuse Here's one tip! Instead of pouring and mixing paint on a palette, use little containers you can close. The paint won't dry out when the lid is closed. That way you don't have to waste the leftover paint. And if you've mixed a good color and...

Do you really need to prime cardboard with gesso before painting? I previously made a blog post about how I prepare cardboard for painting by priming it with gesso and why you might want to do that. This time I'm testing, if you really have to prime it by showing you a comparison of painting on primed and unprimed cardboard with acrylics. Let's see if the primed vs. unprimed cardboard painting results look different or not and whether I'll be contradicting what I wrote in that post. You can watch the video version of the primed vs. unprimed cardboard comparison or continue reading below. Cutting the cardboard I cut up the cardboard into two pieces, so you can get a fair comparison. It's the backing of a watercolor pad, so it's quite thick. So, I had to use a utility knife to cut it in half and then a nail file to smooth out the cut, because I couldn't get a clean cut. Then I used little nail scissors to clean off the rest. I've used up a ...

Want to paint an abstract splattered or smokey looking background with acrylics? I'll show you how to create it with sponge and splatter painting techniques I used on a Holi elephant watercolor and acrylic mixed media painting.

Have you ever wondered if you can mix charcoal and acrylic paint by painting acrylic over charcoal or drawing charcoal over acrylic? I tried it and here are the results. Read on to find out how to combine charcoal and acrylics into a mixed media painting without smudging the charcoal lines and the paint colors.

How can I make acrylic paints opaque, vibrant and bright? Let's go through a few problems with acrylic painting and how to fix them. If you have issues with acrylics not being opaque enough or the colors not being vibrant and bright, you might be making some of these mistakes. I don't really like calling them mistakes, though, but nevertheless, you might find these quick acrylic painting tips helpful to solve those issues.

One of my favorite things to paint with acrylics are female portraits and I thought I'd share with you how I paint a face with acrylics including tips for the sketching stage, mixing skin tones, blending with acrylics, working in layers and painting eyes, eyebrows and lips. You can also watch my tutorial video on painting a face . My art style is maybe somewhere between realistic and semi-realistic and this is just my method for painting a face in acrylics. It also changes from painting to painting, but hopefully the tips in this tutorial will help you in painting a portrait with acrylics. How to Sketch for a Portrait Painting Portrait sketch on grid paper. When I'm painting a face I usually start by finding a reference photo. It might be from a stock photo site or a photo I've taken myself. A free stock photo site I like to use is pexels.com . Then I use the grid method to sketch the face and get the proportions right. Here's a blog post on the grid ...