Copic Obsession

Yes—I have fallen under the Copic fever that everyone seems to have! At the last stamp show I attended I saw some at the Lost Coast Designs Booth. She had a sample pack for us to test and I could tell how much I liked them. I decided to splurge on myself and got both sets: Earth & Air and Fire & Water. This gave me a nice collection of muted tones; the kind of colors I love to work with. I used them in the card above; supplemented with some of my Prismacolor Alcohol markers for the bright yellow, red and black colors. I also had to use some of my Stampin Up! water based markers for the lighter grey and stone tones.

This made me decide to supplement with some more Copics from Ellen Hutson's store. I also got a blender pen which I highly recommend.

Then, since I am obsessed I decided it wasn't enough so I found this great bargain at Dick Blick. Click on the image to see more. This was a fabulous addition because it has all the primary colors plus black. It came with a pad of paper, which is almost a thin, tracing paper, but it shows off the colors so well. I have just used it to practice so far. The kit has a litle carrying case (for all my singles I bought!) and a great book on Manga & Anime. Even though I can't draw a stick figure, I have always wished to be an artist, so I read the book completely to get ideas and learn coloring techniques. I do recommend the book—even if you are just a crafter like me. It gave lots of tips on shading and coloring and some images you can photo-copy to use for coloring practice if you like.

So, here's my Copic Tip for you that I learned from the book and haven't read anywhere else. When you are coloring, put a layer of the blender pen first and lay it down on the paper like a primer. This will help the colors to blend together easier. It really does help. You can, of course, also use it on top of the colors once you have colored your image.