Friday, October 14, 2011

Still coloring with copics...less is better

Some of this post was shared on the MB.  It may sound
familiar but it's actually very different.  And I have swatches
to share. 

This is why you don't saturate your paper with the colorless
blender when trying to clear up oopsies.  It makes it so
much worse.   Less is better.  You clean up a little bit, let it
dry, and then come back.  You can always clear it up some
more later, as many times as it takes to get it clean.  If this
was a project, I would have tossed it and started over. 
Since I'm learning how to work with the copics, I stayed
with it.
Another reason why the paper you used is so important.   I
used a textured paper which gave the paper "channels" for
the ink to run into.   Makes it much more difficult to push
the ink back into the color.   
Especially on curved outside areas. You have to work it
from all angles.  If there were no "channels" you could
simply push it back with the tip of your pen in one
direction.   I love to use textured papers, so I've got to stop
with the oopsies, especially with the darker colors like reds
and browns.
 
Patience pays off.  These are close ups after the clean up.  I
worked with the side some more because if you look close I
lost some of the color.  I had to go back and add some color
and then try to finish cleaning it up. 

It's a lot of work, but the only difference between skilled
and unskilled is that the skilled continues to practice.    Do
you think Venus and Serena Williams hit every ball
perfectly every time?  Of course not.  Anything you want to
do well requires practice and occasionally you're rewarded
with something like this:

This little fellow is a Gruffies stamp.   I love pizza so I was
glad to get this stamp and had a lot of fun coloring this
little guy. The boxes did not come out quite as white on this
one.  There's an article in Cardmaker magazine in the
current issue on coloring white and some good videos on coloring white on
 YouTube.
 

I love templates.  This green flower below was made from a
template from Paper Wishes.   Sometimes I find it relaxing
to cut out a template by hand and put it together.   What
does this have to do with copics or coloring? 
 
I have several papers that I don't use with my Cricut because it's white on one side.  You can see the white back in the top picture.  Even if I print with the Imagine I will still have a white surface that I would prefer not be visible.  I traced and cut out the strips for these flowers, matched the color with one of my markers, and colored the backside.


All markers my not work, though.  Some of them are  too
"wet" and could bleed and make a mess on the other side.  I
used a copic to match the lighter green.  It dried fast, didn't
bleed, and there's no hint that this paper was once white.  I
used the same one to color the brad (it was yellow)  and gave it
a marbled effect, making it much prettier.


Well,  I'm off to practice.  Thanks for stopping
by.  Hopefully you've found something useful.  Feel free to
leave your comments, suggestions, or advice. 
They are all appreciated.  HTHS