How to Color Planner / Journal Stickers

If the adult coloring book trend was any indication, I'm not alone in loving the satisfaction of coloring stuff. It's even better if the stuff I color is useful, like these stickers!

I personally really like the black and white stickers we have (characters designed by my dear sister Amy). They're great in color, but in black and white, I can use a single sheet to represent anyone.

If I'm doing something with someone, I like to include them in my planner/journal in sticker form too. However, most of my stickers have black hair (because of Asian genes). With the black and white coloring stickers, I just color them in and BAM stickers for everyone!

I also use them in if I'm doing a planner / journal spread and don't have character stickers that fit the color scheme.

In the video below, I show you how I color stickers with colored pencils, gel pens, markers, and watercolor paint.

Materials Used:

Stickers
3 Years Apart Coloring Stickers (nearly every character has them)

The ones I used in the video are:
Sunglasses Girl Cocktail Drink Stickers - Perfect for these hot summer nights
Selfie Girl Stickers - Otherwise, how will people know you were actually there? =P
Mopping Cleaning Chore Stickers - I still need to do the kitchen...
Touch Yo Toes Stickers - I used to not be able to. Now it's not a problem! Sticker motivation?

Colored Pencils
Prismacolor Colored Pencils
Prang Colored Pencils

This is by far my favorite way to color stickers. Easy to sharpen, no need to worry about anything bleeding anywhere. Just make sure the pencils are sharp if you're going for details.

If I'm feeling excited and really want the colors to pop, I'll use my fancy Prismacolors. But if I'm just getting something down real quick, I use the Prangs. I usually have those sitting on the top section of the cart next to my desk so it's easy-peasy just to reach over and use them.

Gel Pens
Sakura Gelly Roll White
GelWriter Gel Pens

I use the white gel pen ALL the time for everything from highlights in watercolor/gouache paintings to writing white on black. I even used them in the video for hair and eyeshine! Love it!

I'll also be really honest. I haven't owned gel pens for many years, so I had to borrow these ones off of some friends (Thank Justina and Corina!). This is probably my least preferred way to color anything purely because gel pens dry out so fast. It makes them unreliable. Otherwise, they're pretty decent. I found it funny that I had to use a metallic pen for the skin. It's like she has a shimmery lotion or something.

Markers
Brea Reese Water-Based Markers

I actually like these markers quite a bit and they work well for flat colors. The ones I used are waterbased, but I think alcohol-based markers are better for blending. Anyone wanna get me some Copics? =D

Watercolor Paint
Sakura Koi Watercolor Paints
Love love love this set! This is my second favorite way to color my stickers. When painting with watercolor on sticker paper, you want to be careful with how much water you use. The less the better. If you use too much, the sticker paper will start curling and your stickers will peel themselves off (speaking from experience). However, I really love the look of watercolor so I still do it. Also, make sure to let the paint dry before applying another color unless you're looking to blend it.

You could also use gouache. Please let me know if you try it!

Thanks for coloring with me!

- Kim

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