Marianne’s Note: When I mention a color combo whatever color I put first is the color I put down as my base color, then I blend in the second color. Also, these colors on the screen are NOT accurate and are for comparison only.

B66, Clematis
Story Behind B66: B66 is a relatively new color. Back about 7 years ago, Too Corporation developed B69, a very bright, deep blue to partner with B60 & B63. I remember when B69 first came into the warehouse. It was a neat color, but it was all by itself. The jump from B63 to B69 was pretty big. Then, in 2007 they introduced B66 as a partner for B69. To go darker than B69, you need to add purple, or jump to B79 and then to BV08.
Available in these styles:
Sketch, Various Ink
Natural Blending Family:
B60, B63, B66, B69
Simple Blend:
B66, B69, B79
Similar intensity, other families:
YG67, R85, BG75
Marianne’s Unusual Combos:
B66 + B99, B66 + BG78, YG17+ B66

Advanced Color Rules for B66*:

Complimentary: B66, Y28
Triad (simple 3 color combo): B66, E08, YG95
Tetrad (simple 4 color combo): B66, RV19, Y28, YG07
Pentagram (simple 5 color combo): B66, RV19, E09, YG95, G09
High Contrast: B66, B99, 110, E79, E29
Compound: B66, FV2, C10, E44, R17, E79

*Advanced color rules are generated by Adobe Illustrator CS3 based on the digital representation of the Copic Color Spectrum set into a special color wheel. I generate these as suggestions for color combos to try when you are looking for a nice change, or you have a paper that matches this particular color and you want help picking other unusual colors to go with it.

The project I made for B66: Barn Swallows

Recently I had to make another project and it incorporated an old Victorian cut out of a barn swallow. I have had that cut out sitting on my desk for a while, and this color seemed perfect for coloring a bright blue barn swallow. You can visit my blog for a step-by-step post of coloring the male barn swallow.
This image is of a female barn swallow, sitting on a mossy twig in the cold. Her feathers are all puffed up to keep her warm. Females have a lighter colored chest than males, so her belly is a paler color range.
Twig colors : E44, E77, YG91, G12, YG67, G09,  Swallow: C3, BV23, C7, B60, B63, B66,B69, YR30, E11, YR12, YR18, 0. Airbrushed Sky: B91, B63, G12

Reference photos for coloring barn swallow courtesy RickCameron http://racphoto.com/Birds/Swallows/BarnSwallow.html

Reflecting objects are difficult to render in any medium.  With a transparent medium like Copic Markers, you need to be thinking a few steps ahead, to know where to leave your lights, or where a different color will be laid down. Working with reflections is a good lesson in local color versus perceptual color, ergo, what color is it really versus what color does it look like.

Take time to study your reference, whether it’s a photo or real life.  This sort of observation is handy when rendering things like Christmas ornaments (as you’ll see below), the surface of water, chrome bumpers, so on and so forth.

For the sake of this tutorial, I’ll only talk about rendering one of the ornaments.  I used Copic Sketchbook Bleed Resistant Marker paper for this tutorial.  For this ornament, I used Y17, Y32, R02, R08, R17, R59, RV21, B39.

I start by carefully looking at my reference and the colors that are actually reflected in the ornament.  Laying down a quick layer of Colorless Blender, I layer Y32 and Y17 for the lights reflecting on the edges of the ornament.  Using R08, I lay in the base, local color of the ornament with a little R17 to help soften some of the edges:

Using R02, I knock down some of the yellows, before breaking out the BG45 and B39 for the reflected blues.  Afterward, I choose RV21 for the lighter reflected pinks, and a little more of the Y17 and B39 to reflect the swirl:

Next comes the R59 to add in some of the darker reds, with some B39 layered over for more depth.  Much of this is push and pull, using the Colorless Blender, to achieve the softer edges and shifts in color:

One trick is to keep layering the same color over itself to achieve a deeper, richer tone that doesn’t drastically change, like switching to another color.  For example, I layered R59 over the darker portion of the ornament to deepen the tone without completely shifting it, as I did where I added the B39.

It takes a little experimenting to see just how the colors play together in layering, as well as utilize that Colorless Blender to soften transitions from one color to the next.  But once you get the hang of it, your reflections will knock people’s socks off!  Have fun and play!

36 different colors were used.  Check out my Copic Color page for the complete list:
http://copiccolor.com/BrandiYork

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Visual Journaling

The importance of keeping a sketchbook can never be emphasized enough. If you can get in the habit of sketching every day, you will undoubtedly see great improvement in your drawing. According to Walt Stanchfield, who practically wrote the book on Disney-style animation, “Quick sketching is the shortest route to training yourself for capturing those spontaneous gestures and poses that are so essential to good drawing”. It is important to keep in mind that visual journaling is the capturing of events in your sketchbook as you perceive them, in your own experiences. Draw your breakfast, draw your lunch. Draw your clothes wrinkled on the floor as you threw them just as you got home, and record your thoughts about the event.

Last year, I traveled to Hong Kong and Indonesia where I experienced many things that I had never before known. Everything interesting that I heard, saw and read I recorded in my sketchbook as I explored these new places, and today I have a collection of images that tell a story far better than any photograph because every line that I drew came from my own personal translation of the event.

I call this process ‘visual journaling’ because it is the combination of expressive sketching and in many ways you assume the role of reporter, sometimes I like to imagine that something I am currently sketching is something I have never before seen, like a visitor on a distant planet or far-away land.

Try and make a sport out of sketching, call it a mental exercise. You can use these sketches as reference for later finished pieces or allow them to be their own works to serve as reminders or a chronicling of the past. Feel free to write all over the page, try to use text as a graphic element; after all, letters are graphic symbols that we have trained our brains to ‘read’.

Resist the tendency to worry what others will think of your drawings or writings, these can be completely private, this is your own personal diary as an artist!

You don’t have to visit some far-away land to make interesting drawings in your sketchbook. Simply take a walk and find a street you’ve never gone down before, explore your neighborhood, have fun, and keep it loose!

Copic products used in these images: Sepia Tone Kit, warm gray Sketch markers, Multiliner SPs

Find Jackson on the web:
Web Site: http://www.jacksonroot.com
Copic Color: http://www.copiccolor.com/Jackson

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For Veteran’s Day, we’re happy to be a part of the Operation Write Home 11.11.11. blog hop!

The Operation Write Home cards below were designed by Copic Design Team Member, Sharon Harnist.  These cards use the Strength and Hope stamp set manufactured by Gina K Designs and illustrated by Theresa Momber.  For the entire month of November, Theresa is donating all of her proceeds from the sale of this set to the American Cancer Society!

1.   To create these backgrounds, airbrush a piece of Copic X-Press It Blending Card with BG53, B45 and YG03:

If you don’t have Copic’s Airbrush System or want a more graphic look, you can lightly draw a grid on X-Press It Blending Card with a pencil, then color in the grid with markers (I used the same colors as above):

For either background, the next step is the same: 

 2.   Place Copic Colorless Blender solution in a mister bottle.  Using a solid/chunky rubber stamp and working quickly (the Blender will dry quickly, once exposed to air), generously mist the stamp and quickly stamp onto the background.  Wait a few seconds and you’ll slowly see what happens — the Blender will create a ghost image, by pulling/removing the colors from the background:

3.   To finish the cards, the sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the backgrounds added to black card bases (with white interior).

4.   On the grid card, the ribbon was stamped with Memento Dandelion ink onto X-Press It Blending card and then shaded with Copic Y08 marker:

These cards were kept to two thin, flat layers so they would not require additional postage for mailing.

Sharon Harnist
www.PaperFections.com

{Thank You Card Supplies}
Copic Products: B45, BG53, YG03, Y08 Sketch Markers, Airbrush System ABS-1N, 0-Colorless Blender Various Ink, X-Press It Blending Card
Stamps: Strength and Hope by Theresa Momber for Gina K Designs.
Paper: Memory Box Licorice Notecards & Envelopes
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Dandelion ink pads
Accessories: Ranger Mini Mister, WR Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, yellow narrow grosgrain ribbon 

Your turn! Create your own Operation Write Home card, and share it with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Now hop on over to SRM Stickers for more Operation Write Home inspiration!

I’m honored to be back with you this month, to share a Christmas card — before you know it, it will be time to start sending them out!

After stamping the Wagon of Toys image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto X-Press It Blending Card, I colored it with these Copic Sketch markers and Atyou Spica Glitter Pens:

Next, I die cut and embossed the image with Spellbinders Classic Square Nestabilities dies.  While the cardstock was still in the die, I airbrushed Y23 around the outer edges of the image:

To create the background paper, I airbrushed R39 and YG95 directly onto a background rubber stamp:

After airbrushing, I spritzed the background stamp with a mister filled with Colorless Blender solution, to reactivate the airbrushed colors:

Working quickly after the Blender Solution is sprayed, stamp onto X-Press It Blending Card (image on the left above is the stamped image).  The background paper was trimmed, the edges sponged with Distress Ink and machine stitched to a dark blush card base.

The ribbon was custom colored, to match the image — it started out white!  Simply color the ribbon (I used rayon seam binding) with the chisel end of a Sketch marker. The color doesn’t have to be uniform for this technique — we’re going for a vintage/shabby, mottled look:

Then place the ribbon into a baggie and add a few drops of Colorless Blender inside the bag.  Scrunch the bag around, working the Colorless Blender into the ribbon:

Remove the ribbon from the bag and place it onto tissues or paper towel, blotting the excess ink.  I like to scrunch/wrinkle the ribbon quite a bit, to achieve a wrinkled vintage look:

Here’s the final result — a wrinkled ribbon, variegated in color:

I ended up adding a few additional drops of R29 Various Ink Refill to my ribbon so the color would match the wagon and card base a little better.

Happy Christmas card making! ~ Sharon

You can find more Copic papercrafting inspiration from Sharon here:
Blog: www.PaperFections.com
Copic Color Gallery: http://www.copiccolor.com/SharonHarnist

Christmas Card Supplies:
Copic Products: Sketch Markers-YG93, YG95, R22, R24, R29, R39, BG10, BG13, E41, E42, E43, R83, R85, Y23, Y26, V12, V15, V17, W0. W1, C1, C3, C5, C7; Atyou Spica Glitter Pens-Clear & Lemon; Colorless Blender; R29 Various Ink Refill; Airbrush System; X-Press It Blending Card
Stamps: Lockhart Stamp Company – Wagon of Toys, JustRite Stampers – Vintage Wallpaper Background Stamp
Paper: Hero Arts – Hero Hues Blush Mixed Folded Cards
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink
Dies: Spellbinders Classic Square Nestabilities dies and Grand Calibur die cutting machine
Accessories: Sparmax AC-101 Windstorm Airbrush Compressor; Winter White Hug Snug Rayon Seam Binding; Ranger Mini Mister & Ink Blending Tool; sewing machine; foam tape

Steampunk Donkey Horse Original Art
More steampunk.  More Copics.  Another progression photo post! As you can see, the colors are somewhat more subdued than they have been, which was a conscious choice in an effort to replicate a little bit of the flavor of older, maybe even colorized, photography.  This horse is not living in modern times, after all!

Figure One: Steampunk Donkey Horse Ink

I was referencing a photo of a donkey, the narrowing of the face seems to have made a horse instead. I added a pipe but I was not sold on it yet, so it isn’t actually inked in Figure One.

Initial ink with a 0.1 multiliner SP. I actually had to replace the nib in my 0.1 after using it for about a day, but I learned my lesson! It seems I’m rather hard on all my pens and markers, which seems to be part of my style, but I don’t recommend it.

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Figure two.  Initial application of Copic color.  I don’t own as many greys as I would like (are you a “gray” or a “grey” person?). This will be N1 and N4, and the browns and blues are Y26 (Mustard, love it!), Yr24, E35, B04 and BG000. The peachy color is E93 (Tea Rose, another favorite).

More of the same colors, with a couple more greys, C-3 and C-5. I started using the Colorless Blender.

Added some YR12 and YR23 to the E93 try to capture that strange reddish, yellowish tinge to a donkey’s face.  Yes, I’m still working with a photo of a donkey for my horse.

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One of my favorite parts is the initial outline with a 0.8 multiliner when the drawing begins to come more to life. Also 0.3 and 0.1 for some details – and inked the pipe so now I’m stuck with it! It’s a little too low in the frame and I wish I had more space for more of the barrel of the pipe.

Additional browns added: E08 and E53. Although I always do the swirl pattern, I often add some flowers.  I decided to forego the flowers this time and see about doing only swirl patterns – the idea being that the eye piece, the goggles, the pipe and the tubing would be enough in the way of finer detail. Started adding even finer detail with the 0.05 multiliner SP.  You can see the 0.05 in the horizontal lines on the goggle lenses and on the eyepiece.

Went a little swirl-nutty.  One effect I particularly like is a colored multiliner over marker from the same color family, like on the bird’s body of the eyepiece.  Also used some sepia multiliner on the goggles. I added a little B02 (Robin’s Egg Blue) to add a little depth to the blue. Tightened up some more details, then did the swirl thing with the 0.3, 0.1 and 0.05. Sometimes in the same place, if the color effect wasn’t as dark as I wanted. And though I usually leave some light spots with no swirls, the swirl-nutty fever was on me and I swirled the whole thing up (with the minor exceptions of the goggle band and metal tubing.)

I like the effect of the subdued colors. As usual I am not sure about whether I want a background. At one point toward the end, I had actually sketched out a stripey design for the background, intending to use only black multiliner detail for the entire background, but then I decided against it. Holy cow, long post. Thank you for sticking around! What do you think, compared to my others (if you’ve seen them)?

Find Cindy on the web:
Web Site: http://www.theslumberingherd.com
Copic Color: http://www.copiccolor.com/cindyd

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For this tutorial, I’m going to focus on achieving the lights and shadows on the face. I like to keep a black and white print out of the photo I’m doing along with the full color version. I find this helps to push the values as well as the color.

All of the markers used are Copic Sketch, brush tip side.

Starting with a R000, I lay in the general tones of the skin, followed by E00 to beef up the shadows a little:

Using an E02, I deepen up the shadows a bit more before breaking out the BV31, adding into the shadows of the face. I go back over the BV31 with the R000 and E00 to warm the shadows back up a bit. Using the side of the brush tip, I pull the BV31 across the cheek, letting the shadow naturally fade out, instead of it having a hard edge:

Pulling out the E34 and E35, I start to hit the really deep reddish-brown shadows of the skin. I use the R000 to smooth out the colors, creating a softer transition, instead of the 0 Colorless Blender, which often lightens the area you’re blending (although that can often be useful, it’s not the look I’m going for here.) Next, I use the BV23 and BV25 to deepen the shadows of the neck, lips, eyes and nose, again feathering them out with the lighter colors I’ve been using:

I go over the face again with the E00, knocking down some of the redness from the R000, adding a touch of R20 into the cheeks and nose.

I finish out the eyes with a stroke of BV25 and E29 around the lashes and a dot for the pupils, then E29 for the darker portion of the eyes. I use the 0 Colorless Blender and just hold it down for a moment where the lightest part of the iris (not the highlight itself) is to get the two colors to blend, giving the look of the light reflected in the iris.

Using R59 for the deepest part of the lips and R46 for the lighter, I finish out the lips, touching the highlight with R20, then the 0 Colorless Blender. I use a little YR82 and E31 to yellow down the skin a little, taking out some of the red:

Much of the rest of the face (and whole piece) is played with, pushing a little here and there with the markers, until I find the balance I like. Experiment and have fun! That’s what it’s all about!

All colors used to complete the piece: 0, R000, R20, R46, R59, YR82, E000, E00, E02, E29, E31, E34, E35, E49, E50, BV23, BV25, BV31

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Marianne’s Note: When I mention a color combo whatever color I put first is the color I put down as my base color, then I blend in the second color. Also, these colors on the screen are NOT accurate and are for comparison only.

BG10, Cool Shadow
Story behind BG10: BG10 was another color Copic included in the first 72 colors they released. This marker is available in all 4 marker styles and it has long been one of my must-have colors. BG10 is the first color in it’s blending family and is very versatile. It is very pale, and can work as a base tone for just about any blue, green, or BG blend you wish to make.  For a color lighter than BG10, you have to jump to another blending group, like B0000, BG000 or BG0000
Available in these styles:
Copic, Sketch, Ciao, Wide
Natural Blend Family:
BG10, BG11, BG13, BG15, BG18.
Simple Blend:
Highlight BG000, Midtone BG10, Shadow BG13
Similar colors, other families:
R20, YG00, Y000, G40, BV000, E000
Marianne’s Unusual combos:
BG10 + G12, BG10 + C2, E00 + BG10

Advanced Color Rules for BG10*:

Complimentary: BG10, R30
Triad (simple 3 color combo): BG10, RV00, YR000
Tetrad (simple 4 color combo): BG10, Y00, R30, BV000
Pentagram (simple 5 color combo): BG10, BV11, V15, E21, G82
High Contrast: BG10, FBG2, B39, E18, R46
Compound: BG10, C4, BG78, RV34, T5, E18

*Advanced color rules are generated by Adobe Illustrator CS3 based on the digital representation of the Copic Color Spectrum set into a special color wheel. I generate these as suggestions for color combos to try when you are looking for a nice change, or you have a paper that matches this particular color and you want help picking other unusual colors to go with it.

The project I made for BG10: Boy with Fish
BG10 has always been one of my favorite colors to use for coloring sky. The other blue-greens made me think about water, so I had to draw something incorporating sky and water. A little boy getting ready to catch a live fish came to mind, as I thought about what could be happening on the banks of a quiet stream.

I mostly stuck to colors suggested in the advanced color  rules, but I needed a BG that had more gray in it and was light, so I used BG72. I used G12 because I currently like that color- it seems like a nice Summer color. I colored his skin with YR0000 and E21 with hints of BV11 and  other colors.

Drawn with a Gray 0.05mm Multiliner.

Colors Used: BG10, BG72, BG78, G12, G82, YG67, YR0000, E21, E18, Y00, W1, YG91, C4, 0.

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