Copic Monday-Installment #2

It’s time for Copic Monday again! I hope you’re ready to move on to Blending! I just want to say a quick thank you to those of you that left comments on this Blog. It means so much to me!!

This Monday we’re going to start on Blending. Once you get the hang of it, it’s so simple. There are a few ways to blend, either coloring darker to lighter or lighter to darker. I find it much easier to blend lighter to darker and that’s the technique we’ll be using today.

I do have a story to share with you. I have a friend who is 18-years old that comes over to visit me every so often and looks at my scrapbook/stamp room like I’m out of my mind. You all know what I’m talking about. People wonder why in the world we would spend money on paper and accessories, let alone have a separate room for our hobby. Right? Well Adrienne came over one night to find me coloring. After explaining what I was doing and what Copics were all about, she asked if she could try coloring. In my mind I’m thinking “this 18-year old, that has no crafting experience, is going to ruin my Copic markers!!” I caved. I stamped the image for her so that it was straight, etc. and set her off to coloring while I worked on something else. I showed her how to blend on a scrap piece of cardstock. That’s when I got a telephone call from a former co-worker that was in the hospital. I left the room. I kept checking in on her, amazed at what she was doing. She was even picking her own colors using the color-picking technique I taught her. I must have been on the phone for 30 minutes (I know, that is rude, isn’t it?), and when I was done, I came in to find this:

She did everything except put the ribbon and flowers on. Those I helped her with. But she had colored everything on her own and had the paper picked out. I was just floored. There is no reason that your coloring and blending can’t look like this either. All you really need to know in blending is how to pick your colors and where your “light source” is coming from.

These are the Copic markers we’ll be using to color in our stamped image. You’ll find at the end of this blog entry a list of my favorite colors, which are great for beginners.

Before we get started coloring, you’ll need to know where your “light source” is coming from. Here’s an example…if you have a light on the ceiling, and you take a look at yourself in a mirror, you’ll notice your hair highlights are on the top of your head. Now look at yourself in a mirror where you have lights in front of you. The highlights will be in the front of your hair. We’ll need to pick a “light source” for our image. I’ve decided to have that “light source” come from the top, as if a light was shining down on our monkey. You’ll see the marker pointing down on our light source.

Okay, first off, how to pick your colors. You’ll remember in the last Copic Monday Blog Entry we discussed the Copic Color Wheel. I went to my copy of the Copic Color Wheel and picked out my favorite Brown color. I then looked across the Copic Color Wheel grid and found a lighter brown and a darker brown. I did the same for the other two colors that I chose to use to color this image.

This is the stamped image we’ll be coloring in today.

I’m going to start coloring in part of the monkey with my lightest brown (E53) using the brush tip. We’ll get to the chisel tip in another blog entry. With the brush end, you’re going to start coloring, in circles, or at least trying to, in your image. When you get to smaller portions of the image, it gets harder to color in circles. We’re going to work in small areas, doing the face first. You do not want to color in ½ and image and then expect to come back in a few hours to blend. I like to blend in small areas.


Once we have the face completely colored in with our lightest brown color (E53), we’re going to move to the second darkest (E25). We’ll shade in his neck area, ears and forehead, where shadows would be. Remember, this doesn’t have to be neat. Then we’ll go back with our lightest brown (E53) to blend the color, again blending, coloring in small circles. We’ll move our brush tip and move the darker brown (E25) into the lighter color.

After we’ve blended the two colors, we’ll come in with our darkest brown (E29) and add some of our darkest shading, again in a very small portion of the neck area, ears and forehead. We’ll then move back to our lightest brown (E53) to blend. We’ll blend the same way we did before. Moving the darkest brown into the medium brown. Remember to use your circles. If you feel that the color isn’t moving enough, you may not be blending enough.

After you’re done with the face, you can move to the stomach area, or to the arms. I do each separately. Also, you’ll notice if you turn the cardstock over, you may see some bleeding. This is normal.

At this point, I’m going to move on to coloring another section of the image. I chose to color in the tree branch. I decided to use the same colors, just omitting the lightest brown (E53) and chose to use the medium and darkest browns (E25 and E 29). I’m going to color the entire branch the lighter brown (E25) and then I’m going to make the underside of the branch the darkest brown (E29).


Now I’m going to move on to coloring the face and belly of the monkey. I’m going to use B91, B93 and B97 the same way we did above.

I’m going to continue to color in the hearts using V000, V12 and V15, again, starting with the lightest shade and blending darker.

I decided that I loved Adrienne’s card so much, I’d copy her card, except I added some Glossy Accents (which you can find HERE) and glitter. Who ever would have thought that I would be copying the design of an 18-year old, who had never stamped or colored in her life!! Now she can’t wait for the next time!!

I really hope you enjoyed this Blog entry of Copic Monday. The next Copic Monday which will be March 1st, we’ll be working with a crazy little Copic marker called the Colorless Blender Pen, otherwise known as Kryptonite! You are going to be amazed by this marker!

Before I forget, make sure you head over to Cutters Creek. Cutters Creek is offering the readers of the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog a wonderful Copic Monday Special!! Purchase the Copic Markers I used in this weeks blog entry (B91, B93, B97, V000, V12, V15, E25, E29, E53, along with E000, E00 and R20, which are great for face and blush tones) and receive a FREE Copic Colorless Blender Pen. Again, purchase 12 markers and receive the Copic Colorless Blender Pen FREE! Woo Hoo!! (*NOTE* Due to the tremendous amount of snow in Maryland, deliveries to and from Cutters Creek could be delayed.)

And as I promised earlier, here is a list of my favorite color combinations.

Favorite Color Combinations


Reds - R22, R24, R29

Blues - B91, B93, B97

Green - G40, G21, G24

Violet - V000, V12, V15

Brown - E53, E25, E29

Yellow - Y00, Y11, Y21

Orange – YR21, YR23, YR24

Pink - RV04, RV17, RV19

Skin Tones - E000, E00, E11, R20 (Blush)

Thanks again and I’ll see you March 1st! Remember, if you have any questions at all, please free to post in the comment section. Have a great Monday!!!!

~Wendy Petrie