Anyone Can Color: A Copic Marker and Prismacolor tutorial

Hi everyone! At last....another coloring tutorial. I KNOW a lot of you have been patiently waiting for me to tackle another tutorial. I apologize that it took so long to get it done but I made sure to fill this one with lots of information. So many people have been asking what I mean when I say I colored an image with Copic markers and prismacolor pencils. So today's tutorial is focusing on that. I also used one of my favorite stamping techniques--paper piecing.

(I apologize for some of the wonky shadows that are in some of the pictures. I colored and photographed these early this morning and the sun was not cooperating. The pictures do show the colored steps just fine though. Just disregard the shadows!!!)

Let's get started:

First...I had to select an image to color. To me..the answer to this was pretty easy as I had several requests to show exactly how I colored these kittens after posting some cards with them.

I stamped my image three separate times in Memento ink. The cardstock colors I used are white, ivory and ocean mist. (Since I knew I was going to use the blue to paper piece the cup, I only re-inked that part of the image before stamping on the cardstock.)
Then, I got my colors together to color the kitten on the white cardstock. The Copic markers I used are: E50 Egg Shell, R20 Blush, E31 Brick Beige, E37 Sepia, B 95 Light Grayish Cobalt.

The Prismacolor pencil I used is raw umber.


First, I took my Egg Shell marker and colored the kitten. I colored most of the kitten but left a few white spaces around his nose/mouth area. There will be a lot of blending of colors and I just wanted to make sure these areas remain the lightest so I didn't bother to add ink there yet.

Next, I took my beige marker and added that around the edges of the kitten's face and body. You can see the contrast of the colors because I didn't blend the color yet.

Then, I used my Sepia (I think my "favorite" Copic marker of all) to add some darker, shaded areas. Note: I still didn't blend the colors at all yet. Just adding color at this point.

After I put down enough darker brown color, I went back to my beige and blended the Sepia using small circular motion. Do not blend it all across the image. After you blend the Sepia in...then you can go back to the Egg Shell and blend some more.


The key to lots of dimension is different shades of the same color. You want the shades you select to be in sharp enough contrast to each other so that when you blend you can create the hues in between. I chose to color the kitten using Egg Shell (as my lightest color); Brick Beige (as the midline color) and Sepia (as the darkest color.) Because they are definitely a few shades away from each other...the colors look strange when you first apply them but after you BLEND...they create wonderful dimension.

I always blend using the next lightest colors I used. For example, If I used sepia...I blended it in with the Beige...If I use the Beige...I blend with the Egg Shell.

Next, I used some Blush to add some pink to his nose, ears and cheeks.

I blended some more using Beige and Egg Shell. (Keep playing and blending until you are happy with the results!) Then, I used Light Grayish Cobalt for his eyes.

When I am content with how the copic coloring looks....I can then use my Prismacolor pencils to add more dramatic shading. For this example, I am only using my brown pencil to add some more shadows to the kitten.

After I lay down the color, I blend it with odorless mineral spirits by dipping the blending stump in the mineral spirits and moving it over the colored pencil in a circular motion. (Remember: only do this step after you are finished coloring with Copic markers. You can damage the tips of your markers if you get the residue from the pencil or mineral spirits on them.)

The kitten is DONE!

You may notice that I stamped the kitten a few times. I wanted to use ivory as my base for this image (because it will go better with the paper I am using on the rest of the card.) So....I take my stamped kitten on the ivory and go over the outline with G00 Jade Green and BG0000 Snow Green. I only used Jade where I wanted darker shadow (like under the saucer and by the handle.)

Next, I took the blue kitten image and added some shadows to the teacup using the same markers. (I tested these colors first on the blue to make sure they looked ok.)

I cut out the teacup from my blue cardstock and the kitten body from the white cardstock that I colored in the steps above and assembled them on the ivory cardstock. (Note: I did lay some beige color on the kitten on the ivory cardstock so that when I popped the kitten on top, you would not see white underneath.)

And here is what my assembled kitten looks like.

I didn't color the flowers because they will be hidden once I create a card from this.

Stop back tomorrow to see how I use this image on a card! HERE it is!

Materials used: stamp image-Purrr-fectly Delightful (Gina K Designs); cardstock-Pure luxury white, ivory, ocean mist (Gina K Designs); Memento tuxedo black ink; Copic markers; Prismacolor pencil.

I hope you like this tutorial and if you have any questions feel free to post them or email me and I will get back to you as soon as I am able to.

Thanks for stopping by!