Copic Marker Tutorial

As many of you know I'm a huge fan of Copic Markers and have been using them for a few years now.  I've never taken a class instead have just taught myself how to use them by viewing online videos, a DVD that I purchased from Copic, magazine articles, and a variety of books but the other night I had a chance to take my first Copic class from Wendy Jordan and had a good time.  It was good to be able to know that I was on the right track and to share my love of Copic Markers with other enthusiasts.  I took the class through my favorite local scrapping/stamping store Memory Lane www.missoulamemorylane.com/.  I love this store as it isn't just for the scrapper but for stampers and paper enthusiasts of all kinds. They usually carry the newest and greatest products and the owners are two amazing woman who welcome everyone into their world.  They greet most customers at the door and even for those of us who only come in once in a while feel like we are old friends.  We colored a darling stamp that is called Tutu Cute from www.sarahkaystamps.com. 

On one of my online painting groups I was asked for more information about Copic Markers and thought that I would post a step by step using this stamp for any of you who are interested in learning more about these amazing markers.  I usually use them for coloring my own designs but like many of you, enjoy using darling stamps from other artists as well.  At a later date I will post additional photos of some of my designs that I've colored using my Copics and you can search through my older blog posts to see other posts about Copic Markers. 

For those of you who don't know a lot about Copic Markers they are an alcohol ink marker that is used by Anime Artists, graphic artists, used in illustration work, altered art designs, just to name a few.  I can see how they would be easy to use in Decorative Painting as these markers can be blended just like you would blend your paints.  In my opinion that is the beauty of Copic Markers as well as the fact that they are refillable, so once you purchase your markers in theory you will never need to purchase another and many of the retail stores that sell them also allow you to refill your markers for a cost as well as replacing the nibs when they wear out.  Copics are designed to make your coloring experience easy for anyone to use, the number on each pen represents the color family, the color tone, and the color value for example BG05 tells you that it is from the Blue Green color family, the 0 is the tonal color, and the 5 tells you that this is a midtone value.  This helps you choose your colors to use to get the fantastic blends that Copics are know for.  If you go to www.copic.com you can learn more about Copic Markers. 

I will be honest when I say that I do try to use the system that Copic has developed but frequently find myself using my own color combinations and because of Copic's amazing ability to blend colors find that my own color combinations are as easy to blend however when I took the class the other night Wendy used her markers as they are designed to be used and the colors were spectacular so I may need to rethink that.  LOL.  Probably not 100% of the time though.  I will admit that I have quite a few markers but do not have them all and because of that use different color combinations.  These markers are an investment and because of that have collected my set slowly but once you get the Copic fever you might find yourself collecting quite a few of these amazing markers and then as is the case for many of us then you need something to carry them in and purchase the bags and wallets as well as an interest in their other products.  LOL.