Coloring Dumbo with a Glow Effect

There are a lot of really cool coloring trends lately. In her latest video, Sarah Renae Clark covers thirty (30!!) of the most trendy coloring techniques. Some of them look like so much fun! I've especially been wanting to try the neon effect, so I got out my Disneyland Parks Colouring Book (affiliate link here and below) and picked a Dumbo image.  However, as I almost always do when crafting, I ended up going rogue. Instead of following the easy steps for a neon effect that Sarah outlines in her video, I complicated things with a bunch of experimentation. I'm calling this a glow effect, because it definitely isn't the neon effect and it reminds me of the lighted inflatables at the zoo during the winter.    

I cut my coloring page down to a 7" square, then got out my black Ohuhu Honolulu. 

I colored the background, making sure i could still easily see the lines of the coloring page. I decided that I would just be coloring Dumbo, not the nephew riding him or anything in the background. I traced all the lines I'd be keeping in white using an Ohuhu Nahuku. In retrospect, I should have jumped in with color, not white. But we learn through experimentation. 

I started out trying to do a gradient kind of thing with the three blues in my set, but ended up coloring over most of that. I love how the Nahukus can just layer and layer and layer. As you can see, I decided to add some of the greenery back into the image. I (mostly) followed the lines on the right-hand side but made up my own design on the left. 

After I finished coloring, I used Ohuhu Halawas to add a soft glow around the outside edges. Finally, I added more black to the background. I kept the coloring page on the cardboard you see protecting my table, which is what gave the background that interesting mottled look. It helps disguise the original lines of the coloring page. 

I learned a lot while coloring Dumbo and had a lot of fun. I'm eager to try this glow effect again, but before that, I'm going to try actually doing the neon effect properly. Stay tuned!