Mini Copic Marker Tutorial by Niki Estes

Hello, everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! It's hard to believe a new year is almost upon us. I thought I would share a mini tutorial today showing the steps I went through to color this adorable little Henry Mouse hugging heart image that I used on my card today.

The first thing that I always do when coloring my images is to get out copic marker chart. (It's a blank chart that I printed and filled in with the copic marker colors that I own. I can't remember where I downloaded my particular chart, but you can print a very similar one here.) I use the chart to choose copic markers that coordinate with the patterned papers and colors I have chosen for my card. I am using some patterned papers from the Irresistible line by My Mind's Eye.

First, I colored the heart in using R27. Then, I added a little shading using R29.

Then, I blended the two colors by going over the heart again with the R27. Since these two colors are very close in hue, I went back over my shading a little more with the R29 also to darken the shading.

Next, I colored in Henry's tummy using E43 and shaded with E44.

I blended again with my lighter copic marker, E43. Again, these two markers are close in color so I added a little extra shading with the E44.

Then, I used the same steps (color entire area with light color, shade with darker color, and blend with light color) to color Henry's body using E44 and E47.

I colored Henry's tail using E43 and E44.

For Henry's ears, I colored the area with R30. Then, instead of using a darker marker to shade, I lightened the area using a blending pen. Blending pens don't actually blend the colors. Instead, they move the color around. So, I used the blending pen to lighten the tips of the ears and move the color down to the interior of the ear. Then, I used the R30 to add some more shading to the interior part of the ear.

Next, I added some shadows under Henry to help ground my image. I used W1, W3, and a blending pen. I started by adding some shadows with W1. Then, I added a darker area very close to my image using W3 and blended with W1. I went over the area with my blending pen to lighten it and push the color in close to my image.

For the next step, I needed a mask for my image. So, I stamped the image on some eclipse tape (a slightly tacky paper tape). You can also use a sticky note for this step.

I cut the mask out using scissors and adhered it over my colored image.

Then, I used a B02 marker and my air compressor to spray the image a blue shade that coordinates with my patterned paper. You could also sponge ink around your image.

When I was done, I removed the mask and my image is done. I save my masks so that I can use them again.

And here is my completed card. I added some rhinestones to the center of some buttons and lots of stitching on my patterned paper layers. I hope you enjoyed my mini copic coloring tutorial.

Have a great day!

Niki

My Blog

Edited to answer some questions: You can see what the copic air compressor looks like here. You can download a blank chart to fill in with your copic colors here. I personally use Papertrey Ink's white cardstock for all of my copic colored images.