Coloring progress

Hi… today I want to just post a few snap shots I took while I was working on a image. I am aware the photo quality is poor and I really did not spent any time getting the photos lighter.. I was not intending to actually write a coloring tutorial.
The process of this specific image was a bit different, so I would just like to share a few thoughts or remarks on it.

The images you see are by Hanglar Stanglar.. the focal point image is going to be very large – therefore I had to choose a patterned paper that gives me on very small areas enough colors so I can tie them in together with my image. I liked with this image along with the “Get Well” sentiment a rather vintage look. The pad I decided on is a old one from Basic Grey called “Sugared”

Usually I would start with the face and move from there on clothes, hair etc. etc...if I have a larger image I want to make sure that I distribute my colors in the right spots – by example the pinks… what happened to me in the past was that I would neatly color a image in.. just to notice at the end when it came to the last few areas that I ran out of colors or the balance was not even.

Most of the time I think you will be told that Copic ink needs to be wet in order to be blended out. This is of course correct, I have found … if I just lay one shade of my medium colors onto the image – it gives me an idea if the areas with the colors work together and I can still move on adding my shades. It does take time and work but it will be smooth and there are not going to be harsh lines.

I always color the face in first, it is just the start for me and it helps my eye to get used to the image and the vision I have of my image. Next I colored the frame of the window in brown – still leaving lots of white space. The inside of the window frame became grey.. from there I went to the shoes, I wanted them to be grey as well.

I decided on a piece of Design paper to see where the colors of my pattern would be.
From there I decided that the curtain needed to be pink (large area), trim in green and than small areas like socks, bows and shirt pink as well. Since the large area on the curtain was pink, the next larger area is the dress and I would need to be the second dominant contrast color. Hope this makes sense? To this point I did really not spent much time on the coloring process… it is just laying colors down to see if I like it, i would not mind at this point to start all over again.

Next you see a little more color come to the image. I like to color with the YG91 range however.. there are not the colors available that I would love to have so it takes me a bit to blend those colors out. Usually what I have to do is add deeper or richer colors to my other areas.. as you can see the balance on the curtain does not fit quite right with the greens. The green is too heavy. Window frame, wood.. has not depth to this point.. Just added a few shades of browns to the hair.

a little bit more blended moving on to add more colors to shoes, curtain etc.. I let the ink dry in between and just carefully add more color over it with a light hand.

Still not finished…adding my background to the image.. the wall in French Grey and the Window in Slate Grey. Now that I have all my colors on my image I can see where the image needs more color or depth. Adding the backgrounds to my images PRIOR to working on my shades on clothes makes a big difference for me. It just helps me personally to find the balance of each colored area – sometimes I might used a too dark background and I need to adjust all over the image again and make it darker, so it works over all.

On my finished card you will see that I worked with greys, black and darker pinks to create my shadows and folds – I went much darker around her legs and on the window bench.. her hair becomes more shades of brown and the folds on her bows get defined.

Here are the colors I used on this image:
Face: E000/000/00/13/R21 (Henna)
Greens: YG91 I always use this color for the first base moving up to 93/97/ W5 blending with YG0000
pinks: R81 blending with RV000 adding R85 blending with R81 and RV 0000 – it is a constant progress of adding colors and keep blending it out to create the folds
Window: First base is E31 adding E34/33
Hair : E50/ E37/25 black
shoes and window: W2/3/5/6/7/ 8 E44/42
accents on curtain: Y23/E99

Multi pen in 0.1 to connect lines after masking, white gel pen,

How I make my cards from start to finish

Hello friends..today I want to explain and offer some help for my readers who are just starting out or maybe are not making as many cards as I do.
I do get here and there emails asking for the Colors iam using .. but fact of the matter is… most of the times I do not take them down because I scribble a lot during the card making process on scrap papers to see how they look and blend with other colors. Of course I do have my favorite combinations and I am going to share all of those tomorrow in a blog posting. For today I thought I would explain on this cute card sample how I would get started with a image like this. I would say this is an easy image – 1 person and a few small items to color in.. it gets more challenging if you have 2 people where coats and clothing connect and you need your colors to make them stand out to each other.

1) choice of papers. I pick a paper pad I think looks nice with the image and I feel drawn to at the moment.
now.. in this specific case I wanted the card look “cold” but my favorite papers of this pad were gone.. the only one left with icy cold blue papers were the one with the people as pattern. I almost never like to combine this kind of pattern with people images. I think we all have lots of papers left with the ones we do not like as much. You can get good use of them if you pick these papers for the bottom layer of your card and choose a sketch with 2 more layers and add your embellishments over those things you do not want to show. See what I mean on my sample? the blue still shows but almost no distracting other “people” images. Try to combine patterned papers like the snowman patterned paper on my recent eskimo card with people images. Lili of the valley has snowman images.. but I think its more interesting if you try not to go too matchy matchy .. if your paper does have flowers on.. the image does not have to be a girl with the same shape of  flowers. You are just creating for yourself borders right from the start which makes it harder on yourself especially if you just start out.

2) I cut my image with a large circular spellbinder – for 2 reason.. I want to cover the blue paper (as said ) and I wanted to be able to add zick zack stitching to my focal point image to give it extra texture. If you look at the original LOVT image you will see that mine has some extra snowflakes falling down and I extended the snow ground with my multiliner pen to fill in some of the empty areas, I have created by choosing this shape.

How I start coloring my image in.

1) I always start with skin first.. it does set the image off the white background

2) I color the background in with either blue or grey.. blend with Gamsol. This makes it easier if you go in later with other Prisma pencils.. you will not smear the color into the background

3) I now decide which color needs to be the most dominant on my card –  here it was pink and I colored her coat in pink. I could have done also all the trims of her coat in pink and maybe color the base of her coat brown

3) I colored her purse and shoes in brown – so I have 2 small elements on the image in a darker color

4) the leaves of the poinsettias must be green – so I look on my image what else I can color in green that would balance this color naturally out.. I would look to the right side of the image, so the scarf had to be green and the holly leaves on the basket or container she is carrying
5) the flowers had to be red, so I added a bit of this red to the chests of the birds to pick up on that color
6) the birds got each a different shade of brown
7) I colored the white areas in
8) all what was left was the main area of the container.. You will almost ever end up with one item on your image that has this “problem” for those areas I use neutral colors – since my trim is done in cool grey I picked warm greys for this area although my card is in the cool color scheme.

At this point I can see which areas need "more” color.. the brown of her shoes is pretty dark so I added more blue to the sky area and some more pink to her dress until the contrast of all the color areas work.

I think I try to have my most dominant color in the center of my image and than work my colors outwards always trying to balance them out evenly to the left and the right or top and bottom of my image. I used to have a set of markers in my hand by example pinks and I would color all the pink areas first.. than when the areas became less I noticed that it’s just not right or I ran out of colors. So I recommend to take a few more minutes more.. close your first set of markers, start with the next color scheme and so on and than go back to your pinks and set your other accents with this color. You will notice problems like this also with stripes on scarves and tights

oh an additional tip.. came to mind while reading Ann’s message in my chat box

try to stamp your image fist onto a piece of computer paper – it gives you an idea what shape you want to use on your card.. just roughly cut it out with a scissor and scribble some basic colors on the areas and than use your good paper. This gives you the option to move your image on your layout around and you might want to change your basic shape to something else. I do this almost 80% of the times when making a card.. it does save me time and cardstock.. it is especially helpful with digi images.

Than it is time to assemble all the layers… I picked one of my very wide soft pink colored silk ribbons to soften and brighten the red brocade pattern. Then I choose additional shapes to copy the shapes that are already going on, on the card. In this case I added over the silk ribbon a crochet lace in white with triangle to mimic the ice.  The large snowflake was added as embellishment and of course to hide some of the “people” images of the paper but it still lets the “blue” I was going for shine through. You can of course do this with your flowers or a larger sentiment as well. I like to use in this case the Whimsy seal stamps. They are nice and large and work for this matter very well.

and the rest is pretty much just digging through embellishments bins and containers. Usually I like to combine with a circle a horizontal sentiment. It is rare that I would combine too many circular shapes on my cards.

Stamps: Lili of the Valley “Pretty Poinsettia”

Additional embellishments are: Twinkles on the ground, Stickles on the round snowflakes. Some white dots in the center of poinsettia and scarf
Punches: Martha Stewart icicle punch, Spellbinder grand circle – remember you can use your Big Shot with the large dies!
gems to sparkle things a bit up.. every girl likes bling   on and the flakes are by Marianne Design – I got them at Cute Stamps and Cards

well I hope I was able to help some of you. the experienced “card making girls” out there who read my blog probably grin over this posting

You Tube – Coloring backgrounds 1

Poppy by Krista Smith

Hi ladies,

today I have just a small video for you to share. Debbie asked me a while back how I color my backgrounds in. She purchased a few of my cards but had trouble to recreate the effect.
I hope this one helps a bit.

hubby said I was chatty today

Image is by Krista Smith – her name is Poppy and can be found here.

You got to check it out.. she just uploaded on Friday new images… bummer now I saw many more I want.

Candy winner & a card

Today I would love to show you a sample made with sweet Milli – just for you - she can be found in the latest girl release. The sweet sentiment is also by Lili of the Valley. I picked the papers cause the flowers on the Design Paper looked shape wise just like Milli’s flower… unfortunately I colored the flower in yellow and it just did not work once I put the card together. Adding the the mulberry flower was just something to help me cover up that “boo-boo”.

Papers: by Magnolia Sweet Rainbow Collection can be found at Sir Stampalot, UK
Tools: Martha Stewart and Grand Spellbinders through Cute Stamps and Cards
Ribbon: The Ribbon Girls, UK
Embellishments and lace butterflies are by Martha Stewart found at Joann Fabrics

Sorry for not posting yesterday – with no further delay…. Petra from the Netherlands.. you won my blog candy. Dear Petra, congratulations, can you email me your post address please?
Thank you to all of you who participated. I very much appreciate it!

There was a question from Ann about Copic Markers vs. Letraset ProMarkers in my chat box the other day… I remembered that I did once a product review. You could read about it here. Hope this helps some of you
Luv

Copic Coloring Tutorial Part 2 - Limited Markers

Hello and thank you for visiting me today.
I would like to show you with this tutorial that if you just start out to purchase/collect your Copic markers that you don't need 3 or 4 shades of a color by example R81, R83 and R 85.. however it is nice to have. On my picture here i have 3 markers pictured please ignore E34 every single step on my card is colored with only 2 markers out of one color section brown (2 colors E31 and E39), yellow (2 colors), red (2 Colors R22 and R39), green on sweater 1 color.

When i start coloring i have my Designer paper on the side of my white paper and i start scribbling. Once i have determined the correct base color lets say R27 i would pick R29 to add my shades. You would always pick a number that's about 2-3 shades darker than your base color. From you base color you can lift highlights out with the blender pen. All my supplies here seen can be purchased at 7KidsCollegeFund. Tab has a wonderful selection of Copic markers, Airbrush system and most don't forget about the right ink and paper. I love Memento Ink and Neenah Solar White Classic Ultrasmooth paper!!!!

I am using on my card today Sarah Kay's "Precious Moments" by Stampavie can also be found at 7kids College fund. This picture shows you the first base of color. Knowing that you can add darker areas with the same marker by drawing multiple times over one area - i made sure that i have just one layer of color to the overall.

Now i use the lightest colored pen E31 to pick up some ink with the brush of the tip of the E39 marker. NOTE: THIS IS TOTALLY SAVE FOR YOUR MARKER!!!! just don't do it with your Blender pen.

Now i use this ink that's on the tip of my brush to add the shades to the pants. I add the dark color from the top to the bottom. As the ink comes off the tip of the brush i am getting a nice blend of the color between the light brown and the very dark ink. I can use this to brush the ink out towards the center of the pants and even the two colors out.

On this picture you can see how i "feather" the brush from the left to the right, smoothing the lines between the darker line and light E31 base out.

This is a close up and shows you the colors a lot better. See the part underneath the patch? On this spot is currently only a second layer of E31. You can now use the blender pen to lift some color out or smoothen the ink layers.

Next is the hat. Only one color of yellow - making sure that especially on the top is only one layer! I try when i add the color to color in movements how the fabric would lay or flow. Look at the area where the band of the hat is and the hair... this gives me later on an easier guide to add highlights and i don't have to work too much with the blender pen to erase lines that point not in the right direction.

now i add some more ink with the same color to areas where i want shadows or structure. i can do this up to 3 or 4 times.

Same as with the brown color.. i use my lightest yellow marker to get from a really dark maker some ink to the brush.

And add even more shadows.

Lift some color out on the top of the hat using 0 Blender pen.

To color the skin i use E00 and use R20 to add shades (here underneath the arm)

Some R20 to create the rosy cheeks (unblended color in R20 still on arm)

and now i "rub" in circular motion with E00 the R20 color to blend it.

on the bow you see the first layer of red, i pick with the lightest pen from a very dark color some ink to the brush.

working my shades with the mixed color right off my brush tip. You will have to pick up color multiple times off your darker pen. Once your darker color is off the tip of the brush use this moment to use the light colored pen to smoothen the layers out!

and here my husband stopped taking pictures lol.

however.. i used the very dark color E39 to color the hair in.

Thank you for reading! I know my english is not very good but hopefully the pictures helped a lot to show the way i colored this image in.

Copic Coloring Tutorial Part 1

Copic Coloration Tutorial (fuer Hautfarbe / for skin)
Hier auf dem Foto sehen Sie Copic Sketch Marker in den Farben E00 SkinWhite, E000 Pale Fruit Pink, 0 und R20 Blush (E01Flamingo Pink - ich benutze diese Farbe wenn ich 2 Figuren im Hauptmotiv habe. Z.b. Edwin in E01 und Tilda E00 das ergibt einen natuerlichen Kontrast)
R20 ist eine sehr schoene Farbe die man nicht nur fuer die Wangen benutzen kann - in meiner
heutigen Karte habe ich den Pullover damit ausgemalt.

On this picture you can see Copic Sketch Markers in E00 SkinWhite, E000 Pale Fruit Pink, 0 und R20 Blush and also E01 Flamingo Pink. I do use Flamingo Pink usually if i have 2 people in my image to make them look different not only with clothes also with skin tones R20 is a very pretty color and can not only be used to give people rosy cheecks. On my card i used this color on Tildas sweater. Das Motiv muss mit einem Stempelkissen gestempelt werden welches man mit alkoholbasierten Stiften benutzen kann. Ich empfehle Memento Ink (ich moechte auf dieses Posting mit generellen Basis Informationen hinweisen - STAZON funktioniert nicht - sie werden die Pinselspitze ihres Markers ruinieren)
In order to be able to color with Copic Markers you will need a certain inkpad for that. I do reccomend Memento Ink. If you have missed this posting - you might want to read this for some basic information. You can NOT use STAZON to stamp your image.

Grundsaetzlich ist noch zu wissen das sich die Copic farben veraendern je nachdem wie oft man mit dem gleichen Marker ueber eine Stelle Farbe auftraegt. Sprich.. ich kann bestimmte Stellen dunkler machen mit dem gleichen Stift. Ich fange mit dem Gesicht mit Marker E00 an. Hier trage ich die erste Farbauftragung vom Haaransatz nach unten auf und male das Gesicht grossflaechig aus. In diesem Schritt lege ich noch keinen Wert darauf ob alles gleichmaessig ausgemalt ist. Ich versuche zu vermeiden, zu oft ueber eine gleiche Stelle mit der Pinselspitze zu malen.
Okay lets get started. I take my E00 marker and start to color in from the hairline down. I do not pay too much attention at this point how evenly the color is in the area however you don't want to color too often over a certain area because you will darken your image on those spots. Keep this in mind because you can use EVERY marker also on purpose for this matter. If you just start with Copics you don't need all the darker colors - i did not start like that. Simply add several layers of one color over each other and you can also archive shadows.
Danach coloriere ich die Arme. Wenn Sie genau schauen dann sehen Sie am obern Teil des Arms die dunkle linie die bis zum Daumen laeuft. Ueber diese bin ich mit dem Stift 2. mal ueber die gleiche Stelle gefahren. Auch das Gesicht ist noch sehr unebenmaessig und fleckig.
Next i will color the rest of the body parts in. As you can tell - the face's skin color is unevenly. You can also clearly see a darker area on the top of the left arm along to the thumb. This is a spot where i added 2 layers of E00.

Jetzt moechte ich Schatten und Dimension zu meinem Motiv geben. Ich benutze dafuer R20 und trage eine duenne Linie mit der Pinselspitze unterhalb des Armes auf oder ueberall wo natuerlicherweise Schatten liegen wuerden. Es ist wichtig, wirklich keinen Druck auf die Spitze zu geben damit die Linie recht duenn und gleichmaessig bleibt.

Next you want to add add shadows to the places they would naturally be - like at the bottom part of the arms. I use for that R20 and draw with almost no pressure to the marker a thin line along the bottom of the girls arm.

In den naechsten Schritten zeige ich wie man die Copic Farben blenden kann. Ich nehme wieder meinen Copic E00 Stift und verreibe nun die R20 Farbe (markiert mit "c") mit der Pinselspitze bis ca. zur Mitte des Armes (line B). Auf diesem Bild habe ich mit meinem Fotoeditingprogramm kleine Punkte als Anhaltsmarkierung eingezeichnet. Ich belasse die obere Haelfte des Armes mit nure einer Schicht E00 Farbauftragung. Wenn Sie sich das Foto in vergroessert ansehen, koennen sie erkennen, dass der Teil des Armes bezeichnet mit "B" einen graeulichen Unterton hat. Sie werden das vermutlich schon aus eigen Versuchen festgestellt haben - bitte nicht extra mit Farbe drueber gehen und versuchen das "grau" zu uebermalen. Der graue Unterton verschwindet sobald sich der Alkohol vom Papier verdunstet hat. Sie koennen nun mit ihrem Blender Pen 0 noch einige Stellen hier und da etwas auflichten wenn Sie moechten. Ich habe dies seitlich am Arm gemacht - die Stelle ist mit "a" markiert.

To blend this colored line I use E00 and "rub" R20 (part C) color with the tip of my marker but only until about the middle of the arm (part b). The top part of the arm i leave with just one layer of ink untouched. You are going to see some greyish discoloration to your paper. At first you might be tempted to add more ink to it - but just let it sit for a minute and the alkohol will vaprotise and you can see your wonderfully blended result. You can always use E000 to blend some more. If you like you can now add some more light to the top part of the arm by using your blender pen. I have don that on the side to the arm marked with the letter "a". If you feel like your arm is still a little blotchy you can "streak" with your blender pen once fast over those areas. Be careful and don't rub - just lift the color out.

Nun zum Gesichtchen der suessen Tilda. Ich nehme R20 und tupfe vorsichtig die Farbe an die Stellen die ich rosig haben will. Normalerweise sind meine Tuepfchen enger zusammen - ich habe es nur etwas uebertrieben weit auseinander fuer das Tutorial aufgemalt. Wenn ich an diesem Punkt mit meiner coloration bin, arbeite ich recht zuegig. Ich moechte vermeiden, dass die R20 Farbe zu schnell trocknet.

Now to Tildas cute little face. I pick up R20 again and carefully dot some color to the cheeks. Usually i have them sit closer togehter but i was not sure if it would show otherwise on my picture thats why they are far apart. Once on that point of my coloring i work farily fast - i like to avoid that the color R 20 dries too fast. I dont really know if it would make a big difference :-) it is just the way i do it.

Ich nehme wieder meinen E00 Stift zur Hand und verreibe mit der Pinselspitze in kreisenden Bewegungen die R20 Farbe hoch zu den Wangenknochen und zur Mitte des Gesichts. Sie koennen hier ruhig "etwas" Druck auf die Pinselspitze geben. Bitte denken Sie daran - je oefter sie darueber reiben - desto mehr E00 Farbe tragen Sie auf und verdunkeln die Flaeche.

I pick up E00 and rub with the brush in circular motions the R20 color up to the cheeckbones and towards the middle of the face. You really can use a little pressure by doing that. Dont be scared :-) Please keep in min tho.. you are using color and the more you go over an area the darker it will get.

Alle Unebenheiten gleiche ich nun mit E000 aus. Ich gehe wirklich grosszuegig ueber das ganze Gesicht und trage die Farbe auf und "verreibe" mit der Pinselspitze die Uebergaenge an den Wangen.

The basic skin tone is still very uneven. I use now E000 to smoothen the skin and make it look even and smooth. I work generously with this color all over the face only in one direction and maybe again on the arms to even out the colors.

Ich habe hier mit einem Bleistift die Stellen markiert die ueblicherweise nach dem Prozess in grau erscheinen. Diese verschwinden aber nach einer Weile. Lieber 5 minuten warten und dann nochmals mit E000 Unebenheiten ausgleichen.

On this picture i want to show you the areas that usually when i color the cheeks appear in some sort of grey tone. Those will fade after a while. Wait a few minutes and if you are not happy with the result - do "rub/belend" with E000 again over the area that needs to be fixed.

Schatten entlang des Haaransatzes lege ich mit einer 2. Schicht Eoo auf. Mir persoenlich gefaellt es nicht mit einer 4 dunkleren Farbe im Gesicht zu malen. Es wirkt meiner Meinung nach unnatuerlich. (Geld gespart fuer eine andere Farbe, weil man wirklich nur 3 Stifte benoetigt)

If you like to lay shadow along the hairline you can do this with almost no pressure to the brush of your E00 color. I personally do not like to do that with a darker color! But this is my personal preference. I rather use the same color and just draw over the area a couple of times, i think it looks the most natural. This also saves you on purchasing an additonal marker.

Mit E000 die Uebergaenge nochmals leicht ausgleichen. use E000 to blend the color in.

Letzter Schritt... Mit der Spitze des Blender pen schnell und zuegig zwischen Baeckchen und Stirn streichen und so etwas Farbe ausheben um Lichtpunkte zu setzen. Ich fahre aber wirklich nur 1x schnell ueber die bestimmten Stellen.

Last step to finish up your skin is to use the tip of your Blender pen with no pressure and use it on the indicated area. This will carefully lift some color out and give your face light and dimension. I know it is is tempting, but i really only do this step once :-)

Voila, das ist es schon fuer's die Hautfarbe. Danke fuer's lesen und nun viel Spass beim ausprobieren.

There are many ways to color in images - this is just the way i do it - i hope i could eventually help the ones who are beginning with Copics and the ones who are experienced maybe to give an option to try out.

Thank you so much and i hope you will stay with me for my other Copic postings :-)

NOTE: Iam not a certified Copic Instructor!

Part 1 Copic

Hello,
today i would like to start to answer some questions i get quite often via email about Copic supplies or about Copic Colors

If you like to start using Copic Markers you will need to purchase the right ink for your markers.
The following inks will work wonderfully and i have had the best results with them:
Memento Tuxedo black from Tsukineko
Adirondack from Ranger ( i have used this in the past but i now have Memento and like the Tsukineko a tick better)

Some colors in the basic colors to start with. The most questions i have is what colors i prefer in certain groups. There is no clear answer to that because i match my colors to the designer paper i am working with. Sometimes i don't even have the just right color but there are ways to work around with the markers you might have - i will show you this later this week there are two ways to work around this.

However here are MY suggestions on the colors i love the most - what Copic Marker you are going to purchase is your preference i do have Copic Sketch markers.

faces: E 00 Skin White, E000 Pale Fruit Pink and R20 Blush
hair: E31 Brick Beige, YR20 Yellowish Shade and eventually Y23 Yellowish Beige
Clothes: R81 Rose Pink, R83 Rose Mist, R85 Rose Red,
Wings/Halo: B00 Frost Blue OR BG000 Aqua - C 1 Cool Grey 1 for Halo alternate color
Shoes/Animals: E 31 Brick Beige, E34 Orientale or E39 Leather with Blender pen
good colors to make shoes black: C3, C5 and C7 with a tint of black 110 Special Black
Yellow: Y38 Honey, Y35 Mainze
Blues: B21 Baby Blue, B 23 Patalo Blue (those are wonderful for airbrushing later on)
Greens: YG23 New Leaf, YG05
and a blender pen 0
if you have those colors you should be all set for your beginner colors (due to the juicy greens i would say for Spring colors)
additional nice colors i pick all the times are
RV11 Pink, RV02 Sugared Almond Pink, RV21 Light Pink
YR 15 Pumpkin Yellow (wonderful to mix with)
G40 Dim Green, G12 Sea Green
Copic Multiliner Black 0.05

if you like to pick up some more colors please take a peek at this posting from April 29:
COPIC FAQ

Papers:
you will need good CS to get the best results (the rankings are my personal preference)
rank 1) Neenah Solar White Ultra smooth (ABSOLUTELY wonderful paper!!!)
rank 2) Papertrey Ink's Stampers Select CS
rank 3) Stampin up Whisper White CS / Copics do not work with Very Vanilla colored CS
rank 4) Walmart's Georgia Pacifica CS

If you start collecting the Copics i highly recommend that you download Sharon Harnists wonderful Copic Color Chart. You can download it here: Copic Color Chart
make sure you use the CS you are going to use for your images and add your colors to the field - it will be a wonderful fast reference when you start coloring your images to match with your Designer Paper or if you go to your local store to pick up some more markers.
The only "problem" i personally have with the chart is that the fields are really small. Since you can archive with your Copic Markers several different shades by layering the same ink over and over you soon will find out that the square is quite small and if you color once in and others you have two layers. I just did not want to miss giving you this link and mention it.

Please also read this posting: Copic FAQ
Tomorrow i will have a picture tutorial up on how i color faces in.

Thank you for still reading I know it must be hard because my English is not very good - but iam trying hard to make myself understandable :-)

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you still have some unanswered questions after this weeks Pretty Pressings Copic tutorials.

Chic

This card is sold to Crissy. Thank you so much! xxx

Hello and happy Sunday. Today i would like to show you a card which i was able to make last weekend. Usually the more time consuming cards i can only make on weekends when my hubby takes the boys to his favorite store "Home Depot".
I always loooved the Eiffel Tower stamp with "Tilda in Paris". Iam native from a small town in Germany, close to Stuttgart and we used to go often for weekend trips cross the border to France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Sounds funny but every time when i use those stamps i think about one trip i had to Paris in Spring. Now if i talk about "time consuming" i am not only referring to the detailed inside of the card.. i also heat embossed the Eiffel Tower with black detail powder and than carefully colored it in. I used on both of the towers (card and envelope) my favorite "silver/clear" glitter pen to give it a metallic look.

Yes, I embellished A LOT lol :-) but i love it on this card :-). Usually on weekend when i have made the challenge cards i don't really know where to get started, so as i told dear Carole - it is TRUE - you are my stamping inspiration! I went to her blog and i found this gorgeous card and i went from there.

Stamps: Tilda in Paris and the Eiffel Tower for the sentiments i used Stampin up Sets: Carte Postale and Mon Ami (i use both of the sets regularly because of the wonderful sentiments), Grundge Swirl set used with going grey to the front and inside
Paper/CS/Embellishments: Making Memories
Copics: C1,C3, C5, C7, 110, R20, r81, r 83, r85, y23, yr20, e00, eooo, o

If you consider the Eiffel Tower but are quite sure about it you can take a look at to more card samples of mine using this wonderful stamp: Spring in Paris and Bonjour in Paris. If you like to find ANY kind of samples for a stamp you have - simply use my "search this blog" field on the right hand side in my blog roll. Type in the name of the stamp you have or a Collection and it will show you card samples.

Quick Copic Tip: be careful by using your Copic markers around any embossed area's you can discolor the tip of your pen. I like to use in those areas either my Prisma Color pencils