Illustrations for Adult Coloring, Home Goods & Accessories
Illustrations created especially for coloring book enthusiasts
Reflecting on the creative process of designing and then coloring a hen. Enjoying the process and using watercolor and colored pencils to add layers and details.
I was hoping to have this little book finished by November of 2024 but, given the number of hurdles I was facing, I just couldn’t make it happen on time despite encouragement from those who kept reaching out to me about needing this year’s planner. To all of those fans of the book who emailed and messaged me⏤thank you for keeping after me and encouraging me to just get it done. I appreciate you! And a very special shout-out to Lora King (@dukewife on Instagram) who colored my line art for the book cover, inspired me, and made it fun. Her color palettes are always so bright and cheerful⏤perfect for the playful otters!
So yes, the Ruby Charm Colors Creative Companion 2025: Organizer & Coloring Art Journal is finally published and available to order on Amazon!
The semi-structured format of this compact book allows you to creatively journal and plan out your time, track projects, jot down ideas, create lists and even do a little coloring if you like. The concept for this book goes back to 2019 and was designed especially for those who love to color, but it is handy for all types of creative people. It’s small enough (6 x 9.25″) to fit in a bag for appointments, shopping or traveling, and while there are structured monthly calendars and sections for specific purposes, there are also plenty of blank, lined and dot-graphed pages for creating your own notes, lists, etc.. There are also 16 full page designs to color as well as little design bits worked into the calendars and other places in the book. One of the full page designs (mice in a Christmas bulb) is brand new to the Ruby Charm Colors collection and won’t be available anywhere else until the fall of 2025.
The calendar section of the Ruby Charm Colors Creative Companion 2025 includes monthly calendars for 2025, a yearly 2025 calendar, a look ahead to 2026 calendar, a compendium section with multiple pre-designed lists and plenty of room to create your own lists, an 80 page creative planner section that includes lined, graphed and blank pages for whatever you like, and finally, a color notes and swatches section for keeping track of your favorite pencils, pens, etc.
Because this is a paperback, you can easily deconstruct your journal to fit inside a binder. I use a 7.5″ x 9.5 x 2″ deep Franklin Planner and it works pretty well. Check out the tutorial if you want to see how that’s done.
Just a quick reminder that if you are looking for art supplies, I have a list dedicated to many of my favorites (and then some) right here on my website. I plan to be adding more brands soon as I have come across a few gems you should know about. If you order supplies from any of the links I have on that page, I might receive a small commission from Blick, but that does not add to your cost in any way, shape or form. But, that small commission (honestly, a couple bucks every few months) does help me continue to keep Ruby Charm Colors alive so thanks in advance if you bookmark the page and order from my carefully curated list!
That’s all for now! I am gaining momentum and trying hard to carve out time for more line art for a new coloring book I’ve been working on, plus a few other projects in the hopper.
Take care my friends and cheers to creativity!
Back in 1909, J. C. Tregarthen, author of The Life Story of an Otter, wrote that “the otter is a great wanderer, who not only traverses long stretches of coast and follows streams and rivers to their source, but crosses hills and even mountains to reach its fishing-grounds.”
As of late, I am feeling like an otter trying to get back to my fishing grounds.
I haven’t gotten lost but I have been distracted. Rough times over the past few months (okay, maybe a little longer) led to an exhausting creative slump and my mojo evaporated. It’s on the way back, however, and for that (and for friends who have been checking in and encouraging me) I am very thankful. It seems quite a few people are experiencing a slump of sorts (at least from what I can gather from comments in the coloring world) so I am here with a little encouragement. If you have something you love doing, keep doing it. No one is going to do it for you. Carve out a little time in your day to pick up your pencils (or whatever other media you like to use) and just play for a bit. It may not amount to much at first, but it can wiggle its way into your psyche like a little fish and eventually things will start to flow again.
About a month ago, I started playing with a new design on my iPad after catching the tail end of a nature show about otters. The sketch started slowly and I kept changing lines and shapes, but after a few days of playing around, I got it where I wanted it. And then I decided to color the design on my iPad since I was out at my dad’s place and didn’t have any art supplies with me (or a printed copy of the design). I used Procreate with a few different texture brushes (and lots of layers) to fill the design up with color and more patterns. I had fun working on the iPad but what I kept thinking that weekend was, I sure wish I had my pencils with me!
After a long period of not creating anything at all, it was a ripple in the water.
A week or so later, I decided to duplicate the otter and work it into another design. This one sat still for a spell since I had a few back-to-back shifts at my part-time job, but I finally printed out a copy yesterday and pulled out my pencils. I used a few Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils for the seaweed and the bodies of the otters, then worked in some Irojiten pencils and gel pens. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed having those pencils in my hands again, and though I felt rusty, it didn’t matter. I just had fun. Until it started getting too dark to see what I was doing and my shoulder started aching but that’s another story…
The thing is, I picked up those pencils and reconnected. Which leads me to community. After having been absent from social media for a good bit (and hibernating from just about everything especially now that it’s winter where I am and everything feels so dark and gloomy), I was reminded how most of us need community. It doesn’t have to be big, but it does need some common threads woven through the fabric to hold it all together. For us in the RCC community, the most prominent thread is coloring, but it extends to art supplies and, maybe most importantly, the connections we have made with one another. After being in touch with some very good humans this week, the sun peeked out and feel ready to follow that current back to my fishing grounds.
I’ll have added the otters to my website and Etsy shop and now have my new Bunny and Bird design listed as well. Also, if you don’t have my LinkPop address, feel free to bookmark it. Thanks for being patient with me while I wandered off into the weeds, and I hope to see you back in all the usual places before too long!
Best wishes and stay creative!
If you are looking for a creative way to journal and plan out your days, you might really enjoy the relatively unstructured format of this compact, creative planner and journal designed especially for those who love coloring, but handy for all types of creative people. The book is small enough (6 x 9.25″) to fit in a bag for appointments, shopping trips or traveling, and while there are structured monthly calendars and sections for specific purposes, there are also plenty of open pages (most lined, some dot-graphed) for creating your own notes, lists, etc.. Plus there are over 20 designs to color and a few blank charts at the back to swatch your colors.
New this year: the 2024 Creative Companion is available as a paperback book and as a hardcover! The paperback is great if you like to deconstruct your journal to place inside a binder, while the hardcover is sturdy and perfect for tossing in a bag. Both are available on Amazon!
Additionally, there is a companion blank lined journal (with matching cover art) if you need even more room to write, or just want a basic journal … also in paperback and hardcover.
Check out the video Paula Stone Leach created on her YouTube Channel to see the differences between the two versions.
Let your creative side fill this book up as you progress through the year. It’s up to you to turn the “Creative Companion” into a journal that best suits your own creative needs. Cheers to all things creative and meaningful!
It took me some time to come around to the idea of offering the Big Book of Color Charts as a downloadable PDF, but I finally took the plunge and am excited to offer it here on my website (with a discount) and in my Etsy shop. Since shipping the physical book has been prohibitively expensive for those outside of the USA, offering a digital version makes it more accessible and affordable for everyone, plus, you can print out as many pages as you like on your favorite types of paper.
The book, with a few notable updates, is split into 4 different PDFs (to help keep the file size reasonable), plus a “Read-Print-Me” PDF that gives a quick overview of how the digital version is organized and includes a “book pages to PDF pages” index so it’s easier to find what you need.
You can learn more about the contents of the original Artist Edition here. In addition to over 50 pre-labelled charts (some with needed updates and additions) for the most popular colored pencils, markers, watercolor pencils and more, there are blank charts and a ton of Ruby Charm Colors designs to color. Because why have an uninspired spreadsheet when you could have fun putting your pencils to work with some art to color?
You can make this book your own functional work of art!
Even if you already own the printed version of this book, the digital version can be handy if you want to make extra copies of any of the pages. I know a few people who are doing this already. Personally, my “master charts” stay in the spiral-bound book, but I have printed out additional charts that I keep folded in half in my zippered pencil cases for easy access and for travel.
Also, if you use the digital version with a 3-ring binder, you can add in manufacturer or other charts as well.
Printing Tips:
There are so many different printer brands and models out there it would be impossible to give instructions for them all, but there are a few general commonalities. Most all home printers have a print dialog box that pops up when you print something. Look at all the options in that box because you can customize the settings of your print jobs. In addition to telling the printer which pages to print (like 1-5, or 2, 4, 6, 8 or all, for example) you can adjust the size of the image (scale) by chosing a percentage like 100% (or 85% if you want it a little smaller) of, many printers have a “Fit” option which assures that all of the data on the page fits on your sheet of paper. You can also choose whether to print in color or black and white, double-sided or not (if your printer supports color and/or double-sided printing) as well as page orientation. This book should print in the horizontal or landscape format for best results. Some printers have additional settings and most will give you a thumbnail preview of what the page will look like before it prints. If you are not sure what your printer can (or cannot) do, do an online search for the User Manual using the name and model of your printer.
Different printers use different inks. Home-use inkjet printers typically use inks that are not water resistant (and I don’t think any of them are considered waterproof) but I do know that Epson inks are far more water-resistant than the others I have used. It’s always a good idea to let your freshly printed pages dry for a bit before coloring with pencils, but it is especially important to let them dry (maybe even overnight) if you plan on using any wet media. If you are struggling with smudging or bleeding with your printer’s ink, let the page dry, but also consider spraying a workable fixative over your page. That should lock in the printer ink and give you a nice surface to to work on. My favorite is the Krylon Workable Matte Fixatif but Blick makes a wonderful fixative as well. Just be sure to use spray fixatives in a well-ventilated area (away from people and pets) and don’t breathe in the fumes!
Laser printers use toner cartridges. A combination of heat and pressure fuses the toner onto the paper and the toner is considered permanent, so there should be less smudging. But, that depends on the paper you are using so you might have to experiment if you plan on using paper that is textured (like watercolor paper).
Paper:
There are lots of great papers to use when printing coloring pages or pages you want to use for color swatching. I like the Recollections Card Stock (65 lb) found at Michaels craft stores, but I am also fond of the Neenah Premium Cardstock (65 lb). There is a great selection of mixed media paper through Blick, but most of these specialty papers are not sized for printers. You will probably have to trim them down to 8.5 x 11″ (or 8.268 x 11.693 if using A4) if you want to use, for example, a special watercolor paper.
Some of this might seem a little over the top for printing a set of color charts, but if you are really into using certain types of paper for your coloring pages and artwork, having your pencils and watercolors swatched on the same paper you will be using will give you the most accurate results. The beauty of having digital charts is that you could print, for example, your Derwent Inktense chart on plain white cardstock, on grey or tinted cardstock (if you like working with tinted papers) and also on watercolor paper to see how the colors look and behave on each one.
A note about the black pages … there are quite a few! Originally, these black pages were put into the physical book purposely to help prevent colors from bleeding through to the back side of the page. It helped the book stay a little neater. I kept those pages in the digital version but you don’t necessarily need them. You can print your pages one sided only, then place them back to back inside plastic sheet protectors in your binder. If you do decide to print a few black pages (there’s lots of art plus a few black charts) just be aware that these pages will use a ton of ink/toner. Make sure you don’t accidentally print a bunch if you don’t need them.
Always pay attention to which pages you are printing⏤check (and double check) before clicking the print button!
That said, there is definitely use for a few black charts if you like coloring on black paper (which I do, and I know quite a few of you have my Black Magic coloring books and box sets). Black charts let you see which media and colors work well on black and which don’t. Markers are notorious for disappearing on black paper, but some gel pens (the pens advertised as opaque) and most colored pencils can look fantastic on black paper. So do the shimmery mica watercolors made by the lovely Karen Spencer⏤magical, in fact.
There is also a handy chart for comparing whites and blacks which we often use for shadows and highlights. You can see how the brands of white pencils I have look quite different from one another in the photo below. And black pencil brands are really interesting because some have a slight blue tint (like the Derwent Lightfast Midnight black), while others, like the Lightfast Mars Black, has a slight reddish tint. And the Chameleon Black looks more grey than black. The deepest blacks seem to be the Caran d’Ache Luminance and Holbein blacks … and this is partly why I find charting my colors so interesting (and very helpful).
That’s all for now! I’ve been busy trying to get back on track and will have a few new announcements in the coming weeks, so hang tight and stay true to your creative side!
It’s been a while since I posted (sometimes life takes us in crazy directions … and I have a daughter very close to graduation and getting ready for college so that’s thrown things into a very expensive, busy-tizzy time for this mom) but after making the Floral Coyote available on Etsy and my website as a downloadable coloring page, I colored a version on black card stock just to spend some time with my pencils. I haven’t colored much lately and really need to get back to it for my sanity and for some personal inspiration. And honestly, sometimes there’s no better way to chill out and regroup.
The slides below show my progress coloring this piece. I used a mix of Prismacolors to lay down my base layers of color (lots of very light-pressure layers) and then Irojitens toward the end for some burnishing and blending in areas, and for a few details. The Irojiten pencils are fairly hard and sharpen to a really nice point so you can get into small areas, and I like them for adding extra designs to a coloring (like the simple leafy vines toward the end).
In the slides, you can see the slow build-up of layers. I haven’t fully burnished this coloring yet so you will notice a lot of black speckles in the photos. Burnishing will remove them, but for now, I am happy with the coloring and it looks less speckled in person. My camera really picked up the texture of the paper!
I also used a few opaque Sakura gel pens for the embellished dots toward the end.
Here is a still shot of the finale piece, plus a picture of the coloring I did on white for the Etsy and website downloadable, printable coloring page listings. The coloring on white was done with Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils, Polychromos pencils, and the Caran d’Ache Buff Titanium pencil. I added extra leaves to that one as well, and used Sakura gel pens and a fine tip Molotow Liquid Chrome Marker for the embellished dots. The card stock warped a bit with the Inktense because I used a bigger waterbrubrush that spit out more water than I usually use. I was impatient … lesson learned (maybe).
That’s all for now, but I’ll be back soon with a few exciting announcements on my blog, as well as in our Facebook group and Instagram. In the meantime, I hope you find time to do a little something creative each and every day!
Best wishes,
Susan
Hello, coloring friends, it’s time for another shameless plug for my Artist Edition books, and an announcement about the 2023 Creative Companion coming out very soon on Amazon! Plus, I’ll have a few brand new designs coming out soon for Christmas. 😉
First, since my Artist Edition books are printed by a small press and shipped to me in big, heavy boxes, I only offer them a few times a year. I work alone (draw, create, and ship) and shipping is a really big, messy undertaking. My dining room becomes filled with boxes of bubble mailers, tape, books, rolls of stickers, thank you cards and shipping labels so I can process all of my preorders as quickly as possible. It takes me about 8 minutes to pack up a book, write a thank you note, and attach a label and stickers from start to finish (a little RCC trivia for you). Though the whole process can be a bit overwhelming at times, it is also very exciting to drop off all of those packages at my local post office (and the UPS store which is a bit of a drive) knowing that the books will be in their new homes in just a few days.
Why the Artist Editions? Are they better? If you don’t mind what everyone calls “Amazon paper” (which I don’t mind at all with certain colored pencils) then the Artist Editions might not be a big deal, but if you are picky about paper, the Artist Edition books are a step up. In addition to heavier paper, my Artist Edition books are also spiral-bound which helps them lay flat for coloring, and the Charts book has tabbed section dividers.
The Artist Edition of Birdy is a 9″ x 9″ square, spiral-bound, soft-cover book printed on heavier 80# / 120 GSM paper. The Amazon version has the same content, but measures 8.5″ x 8.5″ square, is not spiral-bound, and it is printed on thinner paper. If you have or want this version (it is less expensive than the Artist Edition) keep in mind you can always makes copies of the pages onto your favorite paper (for personal coloring use only, of course, since my work is copyrighted).
The Artist Edition of the Big Book of Color Charts has multiple upgrades from the original, less-expensive Amazon version. The Artist Edition includes tabbed section dividers, spiral-binding, and heavier 80# / 120 GSM paper. Pages with charts for watercolor pencils, inks and markers have a black backing which helps lessen bleed-through.
The Artist Edition also includes additional notes about the colored pencils (information about the sets), pastel pencils, watercolor pencils, inks and markers; revised color names for brands that have changed their color names & numbers (since the original book was released on Amazon); new designs to color; and the new Derwent Chromaflow colored pencils have been added as well. There are blank charts at the end of the book (for extra brands or sets you may have that are not in the book, or for organizing colors and color combinations the way you prefer) and expanded room for the color family charts. You can learn more about this book here.
This will be the last time I print the Artist Edition of the Big Book of Color Charts and the new Artist Edition of Birdy this year. Both books can be preordered here as well as here through my Etsy shop, and they will begin shipping this month – just in time for the holidays and gift-giving season! Both sell out fairly quickly, and I won’t be printing either of these books again until late spring, 2023, most likely.
My next big project is to focus on coming up with new artwork for a future coloring book (and downloadable PDFs, too). Plus, I need some time to paint! I’ve got two big empty canvases sitting in a lonely corner of my studio just waiting for splashes of color. I don’t know about you, but I need to do more art!
For those patiently waiting (thank you!) for the new 2023 Creative Companion … it’s almost here! I should be receiving my author proof tomorrow, and if everything looks good, it should be on Amazon by the end of this week. I am looking forward to taking mine apart so I can punch holes in the pages and insert them into my Franklin Planner.
Here’s a sneak peek at the cover (and spine) and a few pages from the book. It is the same 6″ x 9.25″ format as the 2022 Creative Companion (small enough to fit in a bag); has around 20 designs to color; monthly calendars for 2023; plenty of room to write, make lists, create and track special projects, and more.
It is a semi-structured Organizer and Art Journal meant to be personalized by the user, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.
I have a blog post about an earlier Creative Companion showing how it can be used, and a link about how it can be deconstructed to fit into a binder.
That’s all the excitement for now! I’ll be posting announcements on social media when the 2023 Creative Companion is available on Amazon, but if you can always peek at my Amazon Author Page to check for yourself. You might even see it before I do!
Happy coloring and cheers to all things creative!
Due to a flood of requests since the fourth run of books sold out, I opened up preorders for the Artist Edition of the Big Book of Color Charts. These books are printed in small batches just a few times a year. This is an exact reprint of the previous Artist Edition book and they sell out pretty quickly. To learn more about this book and see the full list of color charts, click here.
Please note that shipping starts at the end of May, 2023 in the order of which orders are received. Preorders are available here on my website and also here through my Etsy shop – whichever you prefer.
Have you ever noticed how different your actual pencil colors look on paper compared to what’s been printed on the tin or on the pre-printed color chart that came with your set? Sometimes it’s a big surprise, other times a disappointment. This is why I use my personal copy of the charts book every time I pull out my pencils to color. Swatching and using color charts isn’t for everyone (it can be tedious no doubt), but I find having exact color representations of my pencils and other media helps me get the results I want while coloring.
The Artist Edition of this book comes with 5 tabbed sections, but I added removable tabs on the right side of the book for specific pencils I use a lot. You can pick these up at just about any office supply store.
Since I had already filled out many of the pages from the very first edition of this book (which is not spiral-bound and on thinner paper), I removed them from the book and keep them as extra charts in some of my pencils cases as a quick reference. This less expensive version of the charts book is here on Amazon.
Finally, even if you don’t love swatching, or if you don’t plan on collecting all of the brands in the book, there is lots to color! Almost every page has a little something to splash some color on, and there are full coloring pages scattered throughout as well. I love the little designs when I don’t have a lot of time to tackle a new full size coloring page, but really want to play around with my pencils. The designs in this book are great for experimenting, too. All of the art in this book was drawn by me … no artificial intelligence (AI) generated art or cheesy clip art. A heartfelt thank you to all who support my work – I appreciate you!
That’s all for now. Hope you are finding time for creativity – it’s good for the heart and soul.
