Step by step: Brighten your life ACEO

I still remember two months ago, I am surfing the net for info of creating ACEO, as I have some doubts such as what kind of paper should I use? what paper color is suitable for oil pastel? Should I use pencil for sketching before painting it with OP? What are the additional tools do I need to create this mini size of art.

Today, I have done more than 30 pieces of Art trading card, I have my doubt answered, and continue to accumulate more experiences on creating Oil Pastel ACEO. While enjoying the weekend and waiting for more cards to reach the destination for the exchange project, I created another card and take photo shots my work in progress.

This is my first ACEO WIP post, I would like to do it as details as possible. I welcome any comments and suggestions regarding where to improve as well as tips and tricks.

For creating ATC, the card size is important, it must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I couldn't find any ready made ATC size paper from the art suppliers, therefore I bought a large black color mounting board and cut them into pieces myself.





I realized that, graphite pencil may blend with OP and produces dirty color, and also it is hard to see on black color mounting board. Therefore I bought a white pastel pencil.



I can't draw something from nothing, well I always need a photo for a reference. Fortunately I can get the photo of the object I wanna draw from the net. Here is a good site that finds me a series of images from flickr based on the tags I specified.

Study the image I picked, the color tone, the shades, the focus point and the beauty. This is important, I may have to love the painting before I start the painting. After that, I sketch it with white pastel pencil.



Next, I picked out the OP from the box to another container, those are all the important colors I need it for the painting.



I am quite new to cray-pas OP, although I have using it for quite sometimes. Still, some of the colors doesn't blend well on black mounting board, which I have yet to discover. Therefore, I usually trying it out for a small portion to build up my confidence.



Alright! It seems to goes well, so I continue ...


I like to use white a lots, I find it blends well with any other colors.



Yellow is always a headache for me, because of the opacity it gives, it looks dirty on black. I don't have any other materials for underpaint, I heard acrylic is good for underpaint, but I am yet to try.


This is not yet final, I will come back for the details. But at the moment, its time to go goes for the background.


My intention is to create a blurry background where some how you can feel the flower is surrounding by other flowers.

I have mixed various colors at various portion by circling it, then I blend them together, with the help of grey color OP.

After done on background, I come back for the details of the main object.


This is the secrete tool for details on a mini card. It is call tortillon, but I call it color blender, which I helps me blends colors to produce the intended textures.


I come back for the background, adding white color at certain portion.



Finally it is done, I hold it with my hand to feel the size as I always do.



Lets have a closer peek!



Alright, hope you enjoy my step by step walk through. I hope this will brighten your life as well as my life too.