My Copic Announcement - Woo Hoo!

I'm so excited! I finally got Copic Sketch Markers into the Paper Garden Projects store!! Its no secret I love these babies - so I'm thrilled to be carrying them!

I'm so excited that for a limited time, I'm selling them at 20% off!! You can see the selection HERE.

In honor of this exciting news, I thought I do a little post on how I pick colors. I'll apologise now for how long this post is (...there might be a prize at the end.........). But, maybe my thought process might help you pick your own colors.

The first thing to point out - the computer rendered pictures of the colors are NOT a perfect match for the actual marker colors. Reading my attempt at a color description might help, and if you have any questions about a color you can always E-mail me.

I always work in color pairs - 2 shades that I blend together. I have arranged the markers this way in the store. If you look in the descriptions for each marker, you'll see my recommendation for color partners. Often they are the same color line but several shades apart, but not always. Now, the possibilities for blending are practically endless, but I tried to describe the blends I use most often to help you get started. Once you get started - you'll be blending all over the place!


Here is an example of a red color pair. I'm going to pair R-14 (light Rouge) with R-27 (Cadmium Red). I stamped Strawberry Pair from Odd Bird Planet in Memento Tuxedo ink. I colored both strawberries in solid with R-14.





While the R-14 was damp, I added R-27 to the areas I wanted to be more shadowed. I wanted the strawberries to look "round-ish" so I kept the areas that "stick out" the farthest lighter and added darker color mainly around the base.




Last, I took my R-14 Copic and blended in small circles the seam between the R-14 and the R-27 to smooth the color transition.

I did something similar for the leaves. I colored the entire leaf area with YG-03 (Yellow Green). While it was still damp I added YG-63 (Pea Green) to the base of each leaf. Then I took the YG-03 and blended from the base to the tips.

The last step was to add a shadow under the berries with B-60 (Pale Blue Gray). B-60 is one of my favorite markers for adding shadows.

One of the tricks of blending is to work while the the previous layer is still damp. The markers are self cleaning - so you never have to worry about a darker marker staining a lighter one.

Here is an example of using the colorless blender for blending to white. Generally the colorless blender is used more for removing color than actually blending. But it can also be used to blend to white.

This is a measuring cup image from Odd Bird Planet. I wanted to make it look like glass and full of water. I took BG000 (Pale Aqua) and put a very thin line around the outer edge of the glass. Then I took the blender and colored in small circles from the pale aqua line towards the center of the image.


Then I colored in the "water" area with BG-000. The last step was to add a shadow with B-60 (Pale Blue Gray).

BG-000 is a very useful color for glass, water, snow, etc. I use this color often.





Here is may last example for today (told ya I was long winded!).

Here is a flower from the Stampendous Fresh Blossoms set. It is colored in 2 colors, RV-21 (Light Pink) and YR-21 (Cream). Its OK, pretty colors.... but....




If I use color pairs, I can get more dimension. In this picture, I added RV-23 (Pure Pink) to the base of the petals and blended the seam between the RV-21 and RV-24. Then I added a line of YR-24 Pale Sepia around the outer edge of the flower center.




Here, I used YR-21 to blend the YR-24 towards the center.

The last thing was to add a line of B-60 around the entire image. Since this flower is so cartoon-ish, I decided not to do realistic shadowing, I just used the pale blue all the way around to make the image pop a little. I think this flower using the color pairs is much more interesting than the first.

So.... given all this, what colors should you pick? It depends on what you like. Hee Hee!

As for first markers, I would get color you like for shadows. I'd recommend B-60 (Pale Blue Gray) or C-1 (Cool Gray #1). These can be used to create shadows for other coloring methods. (But keep in mind that using these markers on very adsorbent paper, like watercolor paper, will drain the ink more quickly. They perform better on smooth cardstocks).

I would also get a colorless blender so you can fade any of your other colors to white and do special effects. The colorless blender can also be used to fix "goofs". See THIS POST.

Then, go back and take a look at some of the projects you've made. What color families do you use most? For example, I use a lot of green, browns and blues - but rarely use purples. Then you can start with the color families you use most often.

And of course, I would recommend buying color pairs. The ability to do shading with color pairs will make working with the markers so much more fun. Then as you add more markers you will discover more and more blending combinations you love.

Whew.... that's my first post on color picking. I hope is was at least a little helpful.

I LOVE these markers. They are tools designed to last a lifetime and I never get tired of playing with them.

So.... still with me???

About that prize....

Leave a comment here with your favorite Copic Marker color and on Friday, August 1 I will randomly pick someone to win:

• a B-60 Pale Blue Gray Copic Sketch Marker,
• the Fresh Blossoms Stamp Set, and
• a coupon for $5 off a purchase from the Paper Garden Projects store.