Kristy Dalman is the talented owner/artist/designer of Some Odd Girl digital stamps and co-founder of Created from Color. Read on as Kristy demonstrates how to add a special touch to your gift wrap this wedding season!

Whether you are putting on a wedding or attending one, you know that presentation is EVERYTHING. I’ve seen people try to outdo one another at the gift table for that reason – the bigger the better! But that’s not always true. Why not put a smidge more thought into your gift packaging and coordinate the colors? Brides can do it for gifts to their bridal party or guests can do it for the happy couple. Since Copic has 358 colors, the chances are really good that you’ll find that matching hue. I’m going to show you one way you can coordinate your gift box:

To complete this project you will need:

- Copic ABS
- Copic Various Ink refill and Sketch marker of the same color (I’m using BG11)
- White glitter
- Paper doily
- Box with resist printing (you can see how I made the box at my blog www.theoddgirl.com)
- Colorless Blender Various Ink refill and marker
- Stamps appropriate for the occassion (To/From and sentiment)
- Acrylic block
- Sheer white ribbon
- Wet adhesive
- Paper towel
- Sandwich baggie

One of the great things about Copic markers and the refills is that the Various Ink will adhere to any nonporous surface. We are going to use that to our advantage by color coordinating everything we need.

The first thing we are doing is to take our glitter, BG11 Various Ink and our baggie for some prep, as this needs to dry. Pour some of the BG11 Various Ink into the baggie and add in a small amount of glitter. Knead the glitter and ink together to get a nice coating on the glitter. Once this is done, pour it onto a piece of paper towel and allow to dry. Next take the baggie, place the ribbon inside and repeat. I didn’t say we could color anything

Next we are going to take our Copic ABS and BG11 Sketch Marker and spray our box, giving it a liberal coating. An even coat is not necessary, though you don’t want it blotchy. Remember that our box was made with a paper that has a resist pattern (make your own pattern with clear embossing!). After your box has been colored, the magic happens! Pour a little of your Colorless Blender Various Ink onto some paper towel and wipe off the ink that was sprayed onto the resist pattern. This is going to give the box a fun pattern, move that color off the resist and onto the paper, and give it a soft look too. If your color isn’t dark enough, you can go back and repeat these steps as many times as you need. Let it dry between to prevent the paper from warping.

We are going to use our paper doily to put our sentiment and our “To/From” on. Instead of stamp ink we are going to use our BG11 and 0 Sketch markers to ink up our stamps. First place your stamp on the block and color over the stamp with BG11. The clear stamps are great for this as you can easily see the color being added, especially lighter colors (make sure your stamps are clean of old ink before hand). Once you get a good coat, take your Colorless Blender and give a coat to the area on the doily where you want to stamp. Soaking the doily in Colorless Blender “reactivates” the ink, allowing it to transfer. Now we have the perfect ink color too!

Every wedding needs a little glitter, so next we are taking our wet adhesive and the now dry glitter we prepared earlier to add a little extra touch to our doily. Trace a circle around the inner edge and press it into the glitter. Pressing rather than sprinkling gets the glitter in the adhesive more securely (and makes less of a mess ) Once the glue is dry, write your message and adhere the doily to the center of the top of our box and tie with our colored ribbon. Make sure you put your gift inside before tying it though!

Ta-Dah! Our gift is wrapped, gorgeous and coordinating! What more could a bride ask for?

Materials Used:
Copic ABS System
Colorless Blender Marker and Various Ink
BG11 Sketch Marker and Various Ink
Stamps – Some Odd Girl (Gifty Gwen and Celebration Mae sentiments)
Resist Paper (that the box was made from) – Heidi Swapp
Glitter – Doodlebug Designs
Adhesive – Ranger Glossy Accents
Ribbon – Celebrate It (Michael’s)

Find Kristy on the web:
Copic Color: http://www.copiccolor.com/SomeOddGirl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SomeOddGirls
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomeOddGirls
Blog: http://www.theoddgirl.com/
Some Odd Girl Shop: http://www.someoddgirl.com/

Kristy’s Copic classes:
Created from Color: http://www.createdfromcolor.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/createdfromcolor

We are now very pleased to announce the second and third place winners in our Park Your Art contest! The Grand Prize winner announcement is happening June 2nd.

Without further ado, congratulations to second place winner Jessica Thomas and third place winner A.J. Reinhart – enjoy your new Copic prizes!

2nd Place - Jessica Thomas

3rd Place - A.J. Reinhart

If you’re in the Eugene, Oregon area, be sure to join us on June 2nd for the Grand Prize winner announcement and unveiling!

Tell us about yourself!
I love to draw!  In an age when most forms of art are becoming digital, I prefer the intimacy of hand-drawn art.  I am happiest curled up on the couch surrounded by art supplies with a pen in my hand and a sketchbook two inches from my nose.

I traveled quite a bit in my youth, and I was fortunate to meet creative people who motivated me to pursue work as an artist. I began work in the fashion industry in New York in 1995, gleaning information about garment construction as a fit model for various designers.  As an adult, my experience includes work as the assistant designer and house fashion illustrator for Miosa Couture, a Northern California custom bridal boutique.  I currently find work as a freelance costume and bridal designer, and as the owner of The Illustrated Bride.

The concept for The Illustrated Bride came about while I was designing at Miosa Couture.  A custom bridal design session at Miosa usually consisted of quickly sketching out designs for technical use in the construction of the gown.  Many designers provide illustrations for their celebrity clients as a keepsake, and Miosa’s brides would often express an interest in purchasing my sketches.  

Where are you from?
I am from Northern California, but most of my high school years were spent in Los Angeles, New York, and Athens, Greece.  I had a crazy childhood, but I think it offered me exposure to other ways of life– I was able to meet many artistic people who made a living doing what they loved.

What is your earliest memory of drawing or making art/illustrating or designing?
Around age five I won my first art contest with a drawing of a princess in an elaborate gown – illustrating and designing wedding dresses seems to be a natural transition!

What inspires you to create?
Blank paper and new art supplies!

How did you develop your particular style?
Illustrating custom wedding gowns caused me to pay special attention to the way a dress would be constructed, which meant that I was always sure to include all the elements required of dress construction. Though now I mostly create illustrations as keepsakes, I still pay special attention to details and try to illustrate the dress as structurally accurate to the actual dress as possible.

Can you briefly describe your process?
If I am illustrating an actual bride, I review every image I have of her wedding dress in order to get a sufficient understanding of the design.  I kind of deconstruct the dress in my head, and make little illustrated notes as I go.  This helps me to be sure that I am illustrating her actual dress- one missed seam throws off the entire visual intent of the designer, and the illustration no longer looks like the actual gown.

How did you happen upon Copic Markers?
I have learned a lot from other artists. I love to collect anatomy books, as well as books about comic and manga artists. I found that many of my favorite artists only used Copic Markers, so I headed on over to my nearest comic book store to test them out.  I have been a diehard follower ever since!

What inspired you to start using Copic for your business?
I had always used them when I doodled for fun, so when my doodles turned into a viable business opportunity, I knew I would never use anything else. I loved all the colors available, the non-streaky finish they gave my illustrations, and the control and comfort I felt using them.

Who are some of your favorite artists/illustrators/designers?
Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, and Julie Bell for anatomy and movement in figure drawing, fashion designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig of Marchesa, and Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen (and the works of the late McQueen himself) for fashion.

What comments from a teacher or mentor have you received about your work that helped you develop?
My high school art teacher, David Branstetter, was very supportive.  He hung some of my ballpoint pen doodles up in class. At that age it meant a lot to have an adult find value in something I created.  All of my other teachers were not too happy to find the same type of doodles in the margins of my homework.

What’s your favorite part about being an artist/designer?
When I am in creative mode, its fun to kind of become lost in it. The world around me kind of disappears as I focus.

What is the worst part about being and artist/designer?
It’s hard to put your work out into the world, its always been a part of you, very personal. Constantly fighting insecurity can be hard.

Do you have any advice for others looking for artistic inspiration?
I thought I wanted to be a designer.  I hated to sew, which you kind of have to love to do as a designer. I realized that pen and paper was my passion, and even though it was hard to let go of the dream, I decided to focus on the part of the dream that made me really happy. My advice would be to find out what it is about creating that you really love, and find a way to focus on that.

Find Jennifer on the web:
Portfolio:  The Illustrated Bride
Etsy: The Illustrated Bride
Facebook: Fan Page
Twitter: @illustratebride

This week, New York City-based fashion illustrator Brooke Hagel shares her bridal illustration process. Enjoy!

Hello, I’m Brooke Hagel, a freelance fashion illustrator with two successful Etsy shops, Brooklit and BrooklitBride, that I run from my home based in New York City. The vast majority of my custom commissions are bridal illustrations that friends and family give as wedding and/or anniversary gifts to brides.

For the past few years my marker of choice has been Copic and I was thrilled when Copic contacted me contribute to their blog. I also author my own blog about fashion illustration called Fabulous Doodles. Here’s a breakdown of how my illustration process and how I use my Copic brush tip markers.

All my artwork starts off with a detailed pencil sketch. Here I decide what the bride will look like, determine the pose that best flatters her gown silhouette and add all of the appropriate details and accessories. The pencil sketch is the ground work that I build upon with my markers. Once the sketch is perfected I take a kneaded eraser and basically erase the whole thing to color. I leave just faint lines so I can see where to apply color. I keep the whole under-sketch light because any dark lines that are there will just be intensified once the marker ink is on top of it.

The next step is my favorite, this is where I take my Copic markers and apply the color and shading. I pretty much solely use the brush tip end of the marker. With this tip you can create a heavy saturated look by pressing hard, pulling the color up and releasing it for a painterly effect. You can also create shadows by adding second coats of the marker. The layers of marker ink work as though it’s a second coat of paint and the color becomes significantly more saturated. Besides multiple coats of the same color, I also use varying shades of a color to create more depth. You can see examples of this in how I rendered the hair and wedding gown. For the hair I used two different browns (E59 and E49), and with the dress I used two different gray values (C1 and C2) to create the folds and shadows.
Once all the color and shadows have been rendered with my Copics, I finish off the illustration with a white charcoal pencil to add some highlights and a cool gray 90% colored pencil to outline.

Now the illustration is finished and ready to ship out to clients, be added to my bridal print shop or framed! I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. Have a happy wedding season, and hopefully you can try out some on my illustration techniques on the brides in your life.

For this bridal illustration I used the following Copic markers: 

C1 Cool Gray No.1 (dress)
C2 Cool Gray No.2 (dress)
100 Black (sash)
E53 Raw Silk (skin tone)
E59 Walnut (hair)
E49 Dark Bark (hair shadows)
BG93 Green Gray (leaves)
RV000 Pale Purple (flowers)

Find Brooke on the web:
Blog: Fabulous Doodles
Etsy Shops: Brooklit & Brooklit Bride
Facebook: Fan Page
Twitter: Brooklit

Share your fashion illustrations with us on Facebook and Twitter!

Terryl is considered the foremost creature designer in the world and is known for her work on Star Wars, The Katurran Odyssey, Jumanji, The Polar Express and more.

Her latest Star Wars project, Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side was released in February.

Interested in learning creature design with Terryl from the comfort of your own home?
Sign up on the Tales of Amalthea site for first access to an upcoming free lesson!

Features:
- Step-by-step instruction with professional creature designer Terryl Whitlach.
- In-depth lessons for drawing real and imaginary creatures according to anatomically accurate zoological references.
- Color application techniques and rendering tips using Copic markers.

Join the journey. Sign up today!

Read more about Terryl in our interview with the famed illustrator.

TIPS
Monday: In the typical American home, 10% of all electricity is wasted on “vampire power.” Calculate how much energy your household is wasting, then make a plan to unplug devices and chargers or purchase “smart” power strips that stop the flow of vampire power.

Tuesday: Reduce your power bill by installing an energy-saving LED lighting system in your art studio or workspace. The Studio Slim Light uses 50% less power compared to traditional fluorescent bulbs, and provides smooth, even LED lighting for at least 50,000 hours. If you left it on for 12 hours a day every day, it would last over 10 years!

Wednesday:  Cut down on paper waste by opting out of direct mail and credit card offers at DMAchoice.org and OptOutPrescreen.com. Have some junk mail around the house? Use it as scratch paper or a protective barrier between your paper and work surface before tossing it in the recycle bin.

Thursday: Don’t forget that your Copic markers are refillable! One recyclable bottle of Various Ink  will refill your marker up to 15 times. No need to throw that empty marker away!



Friday: Skip the plastic shopping bags. If you’re only purchasing a few items, it’s easy to carry them out without a bag. For larger purchases, bring your own reusable bag. Learn more about the pollution caused by plastics at GlobalStewards.org

GIVEAWAY

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED, AND THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN CONTACTED VIA EMAIL. CONGRATS!

In celebration of Earth Week, we’re giving away Copic Sketch markers to 5 lucky winners! All Copic markers are refillable, and Various Ink refill bottles are recyclable.

Two Ways to Enter:
1) Fill out the entry form on our Facebook page!
2) Share an Earth-friendly tip in the comments below!

You can enter once per day, so come back each day this week for a new tip and another chance to win! 

Rules:
- You may submit one entry per day through April 27th, 2012 (giveaway ends at 11:59pm PST).
- Entries may be shared on Copic Marker web properties.*
- Winners will be randomly selected, contacted via email and announced by May 4th, 2012.
- Prize colors will be selected at random by Copic staff.
- Everyone may participate, but only residents of the United States and Canada are eligible to win.**`

*Web properties include Copic Marker, Copic Color, the Copic Marker Facebook page, the Copic Marker Twitter page, and the Copic Marker Tumblr page.

**This contest is run by Imagination International, Inc., the distributor of Copic Markers in the United States and Canada. We are legally prohibited from sending product to other countries.

The Copic 25th Anniversary Set includes 36 of our most popular colors.

Coming Fall 2012: Limited Edition Copic Sketch 25th Anniversary Set!

- 36 colors
- Special black marker bodies
- Super brush nib
- Standard fine nib (previously available for Copic markers only)
- Pre-order at your favorite Copic retailer today! 

Commemorate Copic’s 25th anniversary with this limited edition 36-marker set, available Fall 2012. A limited number of these sets are available, so contact your favorite Copic retailer to place your pre-order!

Flowers and botanical images are my favorite things to color and one of the most requested tutorials, so today I’ll show you a few tips for achieving realistic coloring, shading and shadows for flowers and leaves.

Roses:

1.  Stamp image with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card.

2. Choose a 3-color blending group (here I used R20, R22, R27) and quickly base coat the roses with the lightest color.  You don’t need to be concerned with taking your time and coloring in small circular motion; you’ll be doing enough blending later!  You can even leave the a few areas white, like the very tip ends of the petals. Here, I’m using R20:

3. The illustrator will usually give you an idea of where the shading, or deeper/darker colors should be; those areas will usually be cross-hatched or indicated with lines or stippling. Color those areas with your mid-tone color (R22):

4. Go back with your first, lightest marker (R20) and blend the colors together:

5. Also, keep in mind that areas/petals that are closer to you will appear lighter and petals that are towards the back or bottom of the flower will naturally appear darker; color those areas with either your mid-tone or your darkest color (I used R22 and R27):

The rose on the left has the darkest R27 color added, while the rose on the right does not — you can really tell the depth this adds, can’t you?

6. Go back and add some depth to your mid-tones and deepest recesses of the flowers with your darkest color (R27). Also, where some petals cast a shadow on other petals, use your darkest color to indicate shadows. Blend with your mid-tone color, if necessary.

Leaves:

7. Again, choose a 3-color blending group (I used G21, G24, G28). Quickly base coat the leaves and stems with the lightest color in your blending group (G21), leaving a few white spaces as highlights if you wish:

8. Use your mid-tone color to add depth to the areas indicated by the illustrator (usually on the lower half of the leaf) and on leaves that are further away from you or towards the back of the plant (G24):

9. Go back and use the lightest G20 to blend the two colors together, if needed.

10. (Above) – Use the darkest color in your blending group (G28) to add depth to the leaves and where any leaves might be turned away from you, showing the bottoms of the leaves (where they would naturally have less sunlight cast on them). Do the same on the stems and other leaves, where some leaves might cast a shadow on the stems and leaves below them.

Note: White seam binding ribbon was custom colored with Copic R22 and R24 Various Ink Refills. Roses were cut out and popped up on Copic High-Tack Foam Tape.

Find more Copic papercrafting inspiration from Sharon:
Blog: www.PaperFections.com
Copic Color Gallery: http://www.copiccolor.com/SharonHarnist

Supplies:
Copic Sketch Markers: R20, R22, R24, G21, G24, G28
Copic Various Ink Refills: R22, R24
Stamps: JustRite Papercraft-With Sympathy clear stamp set
Paper: Copic X-Press It Blending Card; Lily Bee Design-Head Over Heels 6×6 Tiny Tablet;
Gina K Lipstick Red Heavy Base Weight cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic Double-Sided Foam Tape; Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles die; white paper doily; white seam binding; sewing machine + thread

Come see us at Anime Central, April 27th-29th in Rosemont, Illinois! You can find us at Booth 35.

We’ve provided prizes for Doujinshi Central and the Art Show. Prizes include:

Doujinshi Central
One Grand Prize
Two 1st Place Prizes

Art Show
One Grand Prize – Awarded by Anime Central Guest Judge
Three 1st Place Prizes – one awarded to each category (Traditional Media, Digital Media, Non-Traditional Media)
Three 2nd Place Prizes – one awarded to each category (Traditional Media, Digital Media, Non-Traditional Media)

Anime Central Prizes Sponsored by Copic

Grand Prize

First Place

Second Place

We hope to see you there!

Last time, we covered unusual, fantasy skin tones with our little goblin.  This time, we’re going to look at her blue hair with ringlet pigtails.

As always, I’m using the Bleed-resistant Copic Sketchbook and Copic Sketch markers.

Unusual hair color, like unusual skin tones from our last tutorial, take a bit of experimenting to find the right combinations.  Take some time to layer various colors together to find the right combination of lights and darks before starting on your actual piece.

I start with B45, laying in the basic pattern of her hair, my strokes following the direction of the hair.  Remember, draw every direction, not every hair.  With the brush tip of the Sketch markers, this is much more easily achieved.  Go back over it once or twice to help create a bit a definition in the chunks of hair and value as the hair rounds around the head and the ringlets.  Start big and work down to smaller chunks. You’ll notice it’s pretty rough, but that’s okay.  Our next colors and layers will help refine it down.

Switching to BV23, I lay in some simple shadows, again following the direction of the chunks of hair.  Use that brush tip to your advantage.  You can get thick and thin lines in one stroke, breaking up the areas nicely.

Next comes the BV25, emphasizing the darker spots of the hair, around the curls and in the deeper chunks of hair.  I also go back to the B45 to soften the edges and tie it all in together.

I use a bit of BV17 to add a bit more depth and color into the shadows of the hair, stroking in the direction of the hair.  Sometimes adding other colors in the shadows can help create a sense of depth, as well as tie other colors from the piece in, making everything work together.

With a bit of practice, patience and of course, the right paper, the layering will all come together and you’ll have a lovely rendering of whatever your subject, whatever the strange and fantastical skin and hair color may be!

See more of Brandi’s fantastic illustrations on Copic Color, and add your own work while you’re there!