Just finished another wild, crazy and slightly chaotic class at Photo Scraps. Did we go into overtime? Well of course we did! But as one of my students noted, at least I finished before the store closed!
We covered a lot of techniques and hopefully I gave you a lot to think about. I want to pause for a moment here to talk about marker selection. When you are just starting out, the array of Copic colors is overwhelming. Before you go shopping, take a moment to get a basic understanding of the Copic color system. Then think about what you want to color. If you’re going to be coloring flowers, you’ll need at least one green or yellow/green combination for leaves and foliage as well as yellow, pink and/or red combinations for the flowers. If you going to color people, you’ll need markers for skin tones, hair color, and clothing. I started off with the intent of making Christmas cards, so my initial collection included lots of reds, greens, and yellows.
When you first start out, everyone buys all the pretty colors and if you look at your markers, I bet you have a lot of pretty pinks, blues, and greens. But if you want to have some depth in your coloring, you need to buy the muddy colors, the colors that you think that you might never use.
To get you started, I’m going to make it easy for you by telling you flat out that if you don’t own Copic markers BV20 and BV23, you need to drop everything right now and go out and buy them. These markers magically add depth and dimension to your coloring and you need to have them in your collection. If you don’t believe me, take another look at those snowman in the first card. They’re not all standing shoulder to shoulder. Some are stepped a little forward and some are stepped slightly back. To be honest, I used BV20, but I could have added BV23 for a more dramatic effect.
(P.S.: I don’t work for Copic – I just love these markers!).
Just a note: The supplies listed below reflect those used for the original class models. In class, we substituted Nuvo Glimmer paste in Moonstone in place Tacky-When-Dry Gel Medium and Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Clear Rock Candy.
Below are the supplies I’ve used for today’s project. All items were personally purchased except those marked with an asterisk (*) which were provided by a store or design team. I never share a product I do not like. All opinions are my own. Read more.
Supplies
Paper: Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth Cardstock; Bazzill Cardstock in Blackbird
Stamp: Frozen Fellowship by Newton’s Nook
Inks: Memento in Tuxedo Black; Versamark; Distress Oxides in Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, and Cracked Pistachio
Stencil: Snow Flurry by Taylored Expressions
Embellishments: Embossing Powder in White by Lawn Fawn; Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Stickles – Clear Rock Candy; Tacky When Dry Gel Medium by The Crafters Workshop; Nuvo Glitter Drops in White Blizzard; Wink of Stella in Clear
Copics: BV000, BV20, RV14, RV17, RV19, Y38, YR09, R59, BG0000, BG000, BG11, BG15, BG32, C1 C3, C5, C7
Paper: Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth Cardstock; Bazzill Cardstock in Blackbird
Stamp: Frozen Fellowship by Newton’s Nook
Inks: Memento in Tuxedo Black; Versamark; Distress Oxides in Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, and Cracked Pistachio
Stencil: Snow Flurry by Taylored Expressions
Embellishments: Embossing Powder in White by Lawn Fawn; Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Stickles – Clear Rock Candy; Tacky When Dry Gel Medium by The Crafters Workshop; Nuvo Glitter Drops in White Blizzard; Wink of Stella in Clear
Copics: BV000, BV20, RV14, RV17, RV19, Y38, YR09, R59, BG0000, BG000, BG11, BG15, BG32, C1 C3, C5, C7
Paper: Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth Cardstock; Bazzill Cardstock in Blackbird; POW Glitter Paper in Silver by American Crafts
Stamp: Frozen Fellowship by Newton’s Nook; Hand Drawn Snowflakes Bold by Hero Arts
Inks: Memento in Tuxedo Black; Versamark; Distress Oxides in Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, and Cracked Pistachio
Dies: Triple Tear Die by Spellbinders; Standard Circles Large by Spellbinders
Embellishments: Embossing Powder in White by Lawn Fawn; Wink of Stella in Clear
Copics: BG0000, BG000, BV000 (snow); BG11, BG32, BG15 (vest); C1, C3, C5, C7, RV14, RV17, RV19, R59 (hat); Y38, YR09 (carrot); BV20 (shadows)