
Coloring fuzzy white polar bear fur (3 mediums)
Welcome to my stop on the Sunny Studios Stamps bloghop!! Mendi’s celebrating the 8th birthday of her business baby and I’m so proud of her!!
In honor of her milestone, I’ve got some fun ahead for which I hope no one needs a wintry coat or scarf like I did – but Holiday Hugs Stamps will be used to make a chilly snowy card perfect for a winter celebration card! 🙂
Tutorial: Coloring fuzzy white polar bear fur
The first few seconds are jarring…watch out! ha!
Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!
Bear coloring
Start with marker, add pencil, then soften with marker, then more pencil as needed – layer away! The secret to getting it to look fuzzy is partially in leaving tufts of fur white (see above the eyes, top of the head and ears, lighter snout…) in comparison to the other greys. The PUNCH of color in the reddish dark color will make all that grey start to look lighter, along with that dark nose and eyes.

Colors
Colors used include these Sketchmarkers, and a Prismacolor 936 bluish gray color, and a Polychromos 133.

Contrasting background
Creating a big dark shape for all that white fur to bounce off of gives two benefits – “hiding” the lighter stamped line, and all that dark value lightens everything else. Then the white gouache snow also has something to show up on that’s dark enough.
Around the eedges of the bear, pencil only went so far in creating a soft edge – a little gouache also helped whiten places where the stamp line still showed.

Something to hold, no masking!
Then it’s a matter of what your bear will hold, if anything! I hadn’t thought about it in time, but you could take these easy steps to stamp it without ANY masking:
- Stamp the cupcake or other item to be held. No masking.
- Stamp the bear so that the paws cross over the cupcake.
- Definitely color nice dark mittens before coloring the cupcake. That will cover the light stamp lines of the cupcake.
- Color the cupcake richly enough to cover the scarf stamp lines. Either dark colors, or add glossy accents and glitter as shown here.
- Then color the scarf and bear.
Something to hold, the way I did it
Since I hadn’t thought of what I’d put in his paws, here’s my steps:
- Color the bear, adding mittens.
- Stamp and color the cupcake or other object and fussy cut.
- With an xacto knife, slice around the top side of the mittens. You might need to curve around to the bottom depending on the size of what’s being tucked in.
- Put a little dimensional adhesive on the back of the cupcake and tuck it in.
- Add glossy accents and glitter!

My glitter problems of the past stemmed from sending cards overseas to heroes in war zones; glitter gets all over everything, as we all know, and it gets on them when they get something from us too! And glitter can make them visible to the enemy’s night vision goggles. If you send anything to a hero serving abroad, be respectful of your desire for twinkle and shimmer, and settle for the simple pretty shine of something like glossy accents alone – that won’t twinkle in enemy gunsights. 🙂
Bloghop sale, prizes, & hop links
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
- Sunny Studio Stamps Holiday Hugs Stamps
- Fadeout No Line Ink, Ink On 3
- Sketchmarker Brush Pro Alcohol
- Sketchmarker hex chart
- Neenah Cardstock, Solar White 250pk
- Prismacolor pencils
- Prismacolor Hex Chart
- Polychromos Pencils
- Polychromos Hex Chart
- Daniel Smith White Gouache
- Glossy Accents
- Hero Arts Glitttterrrrrrr