Copic Questions?

Happy Thursday!

I want to thank everyone for all your compliments and pointers about my Tilda that I colored with my new Copics. That card was definitely a labor of love for me! LOL!

I have received a lot of emails asking me how I chose the colors....where I learned how to blend...how come mine isn't streaky...etc....

I am new to these fancy smancy markers. I can only offer you my newbie advice.

Let me start off by telling you that I research EVERYTHING. Always. I love my computer and I love the internet! LOL! If I am going to invest more than $50 on something you can be guaranteed that I am reading online reviews and finding out as much as I can about a product before I ever get to that store. I do not want sales people selling me things I don't need and I do not want 6 months after I buy something to wish I had bought item XYZ instead of just the YZ model because I didn't know about the difference. If you check out our adoption blog you will see that after 6 months of research on the ins and outs of actual adoption and agencies...I then started to research new luggage before I purchased that. I learned about the materials that luggage is made out of and why that matters. As I type this I am shaking my head at myself because I am not kidding! LOL!

This past weekend my friend Mary and were talking about Copics and she asked me if I read about "XYZ" on the I Like Markers blog...and another friend, who we shall call "Suzy" said "you people spend way too much time online!" . Suzy said this as she used my carefully chosen Copics all weekend and cast her own mish mash of Copics aside. (because her markers were random colors that she bought because they were pretty.)

So that leads me to the first thing everyone should pay careful attention to when choosing your Copics: Buy GROUPS of colors. For example B21, B24 and B29. These are going to blend and shade. A general rule of thumb is that they should be at least 2 numbers apart. Do not randomly pick out blues like B16, B52, B79....these 3 will not work together.

Speaking of blending, the next thing you need to know is that the colorless blender is not a blender. I did learn that in the class I took at the LSS. It's name is extremely misleading. Think of it more as an "ink picker upper". :) Mostly I have used it to go over small areas where I went outside of the lines. I also used it on the previously posted Elf cards to make the dots on the presents. I colored the present in green and dotted my colorless blender/ink picker upper on the green.

So if the colorless blender isn't for blending than how do you blend?! I have learned that you blend with the lightest shade. For example, when I colored Tilda's dress I used YG93, YG95 and YG97. YG93 is the lightest shade and YG97 is the darkest shade. I colored YG93 over the entire dress. Then I colored YG95 over 2/3 of that. Then YG97 over 1/2 of the area that I colored YG95. Then I went back and colored YG93 over the entire area dress again until it was a smooth transition from darkest to lightest.
I was also asked if doing this ruined my marker nibs: NO. I forget the technical answer of why the dark ink doesn't end up on the light marker....but it just doesn't. You don't have to clean it in any type of way. Just put the cap back on and continue on your merry way.

What paper did you use? I have been using Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80# Cardstock for several years because it was comparable to SU's Whisper White, but I could buy it in bulk. I bought it in so much bilk that I have not had to buy for several years! YIKES! so don't ask me where I bought that because I cannot remember. :) But I was happy to read that was one of the suggested cardstocks for using Copics because it did not pill. I don't know if the type of paper also makes a difference on whether or not you get a streaky look when using Copics. I really don't know. If I got a streaky look I just went over it again and that usually solved the the streaks. I have also heard that Papertrey's White Cardstock is fabtastic for using Copics.

Where did you go to see tutorials on blending? I can't direct you to one source. I picked up something here and there over the past few months from reading others' blogs. Someone mentioned video tutorial...I did watch a couple on You Tube. They weren't always cardmakers...some were Manga artists...but the coloring it the same.


What colors did you pick? This was the question that most everyone who emailed me had. I can and will give you a list of my colors. BUT, this is what works for me and my style of coloring and stamping. You may use a lot more blue than I do in your cards and may need more or different shades of blues. You may need more burgundy colors...you may hate green and wonder why I needed so many. I love greens! :) Also, I like to use Riley Moose stamps and color alot of animal stamps...so browns were also important to me. So I can give you my list, but it may not be suitable for you at all.

As I mentioned I spent alot of time on Debbie Olson's and Sharon Harnist's blogs. Debbie, particularly is really good at listing what Copics she used for almost every project/card on her blog. So I sat there with a list of Copic Colors in front of me and checked off color combos I liked that she used. I noticed that she used several combos over and over again. And I noticed that I liked over and over again several combos I saw. Sharon has a few pics of some of her favorite combos and the #'s they are. You can click HERE for that.

After all that I still needed to pick colors for skin. This was an important choice for me, because as you know I have recently become a Magnolia-holic. :) So who better to ask than my Magnolia Yahoo group. And as I mentioned that is how I hit the jackpot of getting one on one help of Suzanne. She said she uses Eooo, Eoo and E11 for skin. And she has a great skin coloring tutorial on her blog! Right down to how to make the perfect rosey cheeks. Suzanne was able to give me great color combos and tell me which markers I didn't need immediately, because they were similiar. For example I didn't need to buy both Y21 and YR21...they are almost exactly alike. That way I could use my money to buy another color.
I bought most of my markers from Jerry's Artarama. I bought them here because a friend had emailed me a coupon code for 20% off the entire order. That meant that each marker was $3.74 each. Two problems with Jerry's: 1. They don't have the copics listed by the Copic codes...no YG93...Only the name "Grayish Yellow". It was just kind of a pain. Problem 2: not a probleam....but just an inconvience...they were out of stock on some of the colors I wanted. So I went over to Carpe Diem ($3,95 each) and ordered a case and some more markers! My goal was to order 40. That was about $150. Because I then went over to Carpe Diem I ordered more than I intended. About another $60 worth. It just didn't seem so bad in 2 orders like that! yikes!

I chose to order the SKETCH style markers. I liked the idea of the brush nib and it gave me the most color options.

So here's the list. (I will group them into my suggestions of buying a group) I have just received the Carpe Diem order so I have not gotten a chance to use them (I will put an asterick next to those that I have not tested yet)...and some I forget why I ordered them. I'll have to go back and look at my email from Suzanne. LOL! (don't forget that many of the groups I chose were from the suggestion of Suzanne or I saw them on Debbie's or Sharon's blogs--I am not claiming fame to these...lol!)

• 0-Colorless Blender/Ink Picker Upper
• 100 black
• Eooo, Eoo, E11 (skin tones)
• E13
• E25, E27, E29 *
  
• E33
• E53, E55, E57, E59 (I like this one)
• R20--nice pink. (Good for blushed cheeks.)
• R22,R24, R29*
• R81, R83
• V12, V15, V17
• BVoo,BV02, BV13*
• Boo (suppose to be a good skyish/background/blue-ish glow color)
• B21, B24, B29
• B91,B93, B97*
• BG72, BG758
• G20* (Good for blending the green family... I think?)
• G24, G28
• G29* (I added this one in at the last minute to my Carpe Diem order...very much the same as G28)
• G99
  
• YG93, YG95, YG97 (LOVE THIS! See Tilda's Dress)
• YG99* (another impulse buy and is very close to YG97)
• YR12, YR14, YR18 (I haven't use this together, but did use them for my fall tree...has great potential!)
• Y21 (MUST HAVE)
  
• Y32, Y35

It is my opinion that you really have to have a good selection to start with. You really aren't going to get that far with 8 or even 18. But the selection that you need is a personal choice that you need to take the time to decide.

As I mentioned in a previous post I was not so quick to jump on the Copic Bandwagon. These are a pretty big investment. But I have to say that it was worth my time to do some reading BEFORE buying them. Am I some kind of Copic Queen? HAHA! Far from it. But I knew enough to give me some results that made me want to keep on trying them. It is a learning process that I am eager to try. And so far I don't have buyers regret!

I think I addressed all the questions that I got. And I am sorry that I couldn't give better answers or some great tutorial...but I am new to the Copic world.

Have a Jovial Thursday!!