Greetings friends. Today the IO team is revisiting some of the older stamps that we absolutely love. I am sharing a design that I find to be perfect for practicing your Copic coloring. The goal is to color the berries so they are darker around the edges and lighter in the center to give them a more "rounded" appearance.
Here is a closeup of the coloring:
The first step is to stamp the
Strawberries image onto white cardstock with black Memento ink. Now it is time for the coloring!
Impression Obsession Items Used
Strawberries D2200
I used these berries in one of my Copic classes, so I thought I would share the extensive notes with you. I hope it helps you with your coloring!
Blending Three (or More Colors).
- This
techniques works better with colors in a natural blending family. In other words, the markers are from the
same color family (B, R, E, etc) and are a few numbers apart form each
other (B01, B04, B07).
- Color
the entire area with the lightest color.
Make sure that you really saturate the area with ink. This will serve as your base color for
the entire piece.
- While
the base layer is still wet, add the mid-tone color to your picture using
a flicking motion. By this, I mean
to press your pen to the paper, color, and lift the pen up at the end of
each stroke. Do not cover up all of
your light/base color.
- Blend
the two colors together using the lightest color. Circular motions will really help with
the blending..
- Add
your darkest color to the piece using a flicking motion. Do not cover up
all of your light or mid-tone color.
- Blend
the darkest and mid-tone colors together using the mid-tone pen. Again, be sure to use circular motions
to help with the blending.
- Finish
with the lightest color if necessary.
**Note..if things aren’t blending really well, you can
repeat the whole process again.
Step 1- Light color
Step 2- Add mid-tone
Step 3- Blend with light color
Step 4- Add dark color
Step 5- Blend with mid-tone
Remember, light colors are easier to blend than dark colors,
so practice with you light pens first.
However, for this card, we are moving on to reds!
Working With Reds:
- Reds
can often be tricky, and people sometimes experience them bleeding more
than other colors. The particles of
red dye are denser and larger than other colors and therefore they fill up
space faster than other colors. It
is therefore much easier for these colors to bleed past the lines. Here are some tips to help with reds:
- Work
on an surface such as scrap paper or even a paper towel. The extra absorbency will help pull the
colors down instead of sideways.
- Use
less ink than you might use with other colors. Don’t try to saturate the images or you
will end up with a lot of bleeding.
- Avoid
using circles when coloring. This
technique works well for getting rid of lines, but it saturates the paper
with even more color. Instead, use
more feathering with your brushstrokes.
- Let
the paper dry a bit more in between colors. The wetter the surface is, the more your
color will bleed.
- Don’t
color directly up to the edges.
Give yourself a little space around the edges until you get a feel
for how much the color is going to bleed.
- Remember
that the blender pen doesn’t do much to get rid of mistakes. Reds tend to bleed into the wet area instead
of back towards the image edge.
Other colors can be “pushed” with the Blender, but not the
reds. You can try putting a paper
towel under the piece of you use the blender to absorb some of the extra
die. Just remember to move to a dry
piece on the paper towel every time you add more of the blender pen. It will take many attempts to get rid of
the extra red (if you can at all).
- Always
remember to add your reds first.
That way you will have a chance to fix any mistakes before you
spend a lot of time coloring the rest of your image.
Instructions:
- Stamp
berries onto white cardstock using black Memento ink.
- Decide
where your light source will be.
For this particular card, the light will be shining straight on the
berries.
- Color
the centers of the berries with the lightest (R20) marker. Do not color all the way to the edges of
the berries. Allow the piece to dry
a bit.
- Add
some of the mid-tone marker (R22) from the edges of the berries towards
the center. Again, don’t go all the
way to the edge. Also, remember
that you do not want to cover up where the light would be hitting the
berries. Let that area remain
light. It will act as the highlight
of each berry. Allow the piece to dry a bit.
- Blend
the two colors with the light (R22) marker. Allow the piece to dry a bit.
- Add a
touch of the darkest (R27) marker to the edges of the berries and feather
the color in towards the centers of the berries. Allow the piece to dry a bit.
- Blend
the mid-tone and darkest colors with the mid-tone (R22) marker.
- If you
are not happy with your blends, allow the piece to dry and repeat the
process. Just remember that you are
working with reds and don’t want to overdo it!
- Color
the leaves with the green marker.
- Outline
the berries, leaves, and stems with the grey marker to get some dimension.
- Stamp
the saying on the inside of the card.
