2016 #22 Delicate Colouring {by Kay Carley}

2016 Topic 22: Alcohol Inks and Pens

Hi everyone Kay Carley here. Tonight I'd like to share with you this evening a post about colouring with Copic alcohol ink markers.

I have used Copic markers for many years now as I love the depth and vibrancy that using alcohol ink markers brings. For this project I chose to combine using Copics with a Distress Ink background. In the past I have used Copics over a Fresco Finish Chalk Paint background but when doing this you need to stamp and emboss your imagery as Archival ink will bleed when used with Copics being that they are both alcohol ink based.

I really like the finished result when combining Distress Inks with Copics. Personally I find having a muted background of Distress Ink allows the vibrancy and cleanness of the alcohol ink markers to 'really sing' but that might just be me!!

Tonight I am sharing a 7x7" finished card using my newest stamp sheet EKC03. This sheet was designed to work alongside my previous two flower based stamp sheets (EKC01 and EKC02). Once again I designed the majority of the components with straight stems so that they can be bent either way when placing them onto acrylic block to allow for different types of movement to the flowers.

Step One: Begin by stamping the flower three times onto a 148mmx148mm Smoothy White panel using black Memento ink and then stamp the bobbly flower into some of the gaps. (Hopefully this illustrates what I mean about being able to bend the stems of the flowers when placing them onto the block so that each time you stamp out the same flower it looks a little different - I love to do this!!)

EKC03.

Step Two: Begin colouring the flowers with your chosen Copic colours - I used V000, V01 and V05 here for my first layer of colour. When colouring with Copics (or indeed any alcohol ink marker) I always like to apply light layers of colour thus gradually building up the depth and vibrancy. I also work from 'dark to light' meaning that I begin by adding my shadows first with my darkest marker (V05) then apply my mid tones with the next lightest shade (V01) and then blend into the white space with my lightest shade V000. Below shows the flower with just one layer of this colour combination.

Step Three: Continue colouring the flowers using this method of colouring. The flower on the left has now had two layers of V000, V01 and V05 along with a light layer of RV52 and RV55. Compare this to the flower on the right side of the panel which has so far only had one layer of V000, V01 and V05. This shows what I mean about being able to gradually build up the depth and vibrancy of colour by adding colour in 'light layers'. The middle flower has been coloured using two light layers of V000, BV00, V12, and V15.

Step Four: Continue colouring the panel using YG11, YG13, YG63 for the stems and lightly add accents of Y06 to the swirls on the pink flowers and B02 to the swirls on the middle purple flower. Stamp a couple of images of the smaller butterfly and lightly add colour to them using B02, Y06 and Y38. Next add shading around all the imagery using W5, W3 and W1 blending out into the white space with the blender pen. (This is something that I tend to do a lot - add shadowing around my main imagery as this really adds 'depth'.)

Step Five: Once I'm happy with how my 'main imagery' looks it is time for me to start adding in the 'supporting' imagery' and sentiment. The sentiment here was stamped with black Memento and then I lightly traced over the letters using some of the Copic colours that I'd previously used to colour my main imagery with. Then I drew a box around the sentiment using a 0.3mm multi-liner. To start filling in some of that white space I stamped and embossed the grassy sprig several times using VersaMark and Crystal embossing powder. (I must admit that I was quite tempted to then stop at this stage as I really liked the clean, fresh look!!)

Step Six: But as you can see I went ahead and added Distress Ink to the panel which then really pops that embossing out! I used a combination of Iced Spruce and Pumice Stone which were both applied with a blending tool. I then added some stamped grasses with Iced Spruce around the base of the flowers. Up until now I hadn't touched the bobbly flowers themselves - I had just coloured the stems - this was because I knew that I wanted to paint them with Fresco Finish Metallic Glaze to make them shine! I also carefully added this to the white frilly bits of the pink and purple flowers. 

To finish I edged the panel with a black Copic marker before adhering to a white 7x7" card then doodled around the panel with a 0.3mm black multi-liner. Of course I then just had to add some more sparkle and shine using Crystal glitter glue!

Below you can see a couple of close ups where I took photos of the card at an angle to try to capture the shine of both the Metallic Glaze and the glitter glue but although you can see the sparkle of the glitter glue I didn't do so well at capturing the beautiful sheen of the Metallic Glaze!!

Combining Copic colouring with Distress Ink backgrounds has been one of my favourite things to do for a long time - I just never seem to get bored of it as I love how these two mediums 'sit together'. Quite often I will also incorporate stencils into my backgrounds as I love how stencils can immediately add depth and interest to a background. What I particularly like though about using Copics is not only the depth and vibrancy of colour that they bring to a project but that they 'play nicely' and 'sit well' with so many other mediums and of course as they are alcohol ink based it means that they can be used on all sorts of surfaces. 

Anyway I hope that you like my clean and simple looking card - being primarily a 'card maker', working with card is still my preferred medium although I must admit that I am itching to try out stamping onto acrylic..................... maybe next time!!

Love Kay x

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Fabulous Kay, thanks for sharing your colouring process, many people are scared and confused by the variety of pens out there, but you make this look so easy. The flowers are beautifully delicate and the shading does add real depth. ~Darcy

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