Saturday, April 18, 2009

Copics and a Few Other Tidbits

Hi everyone. I don't have a project for today, but I do want to share a few tips and answer a question or two.

A bit about watercolor paper...

The other day, I was asked about what kind of watercolor paper I used on this card. I used Arches 140lb cold press watercolor paper. It is artist grade paper that I use for watercolor painting. It is probably not the best choice for card making because is is very heavy and thick. I used it because the cheap pad of watercolor paper I had purchased for cardmaking, didn't work very well.

This (pic above) is the paper that I found to be difficult to use.It is made by Canson and was only $2.50 at Michaels. I guess you get what you pay for. The color soaked right in and would barely move.

I have since picked up some new w/c paper. I purchased this pad at Michaels for about $6 dollars. It is made by Strathemore, and is a much better quality than the Canson I had tried before.


Here is a little comparison of the two watercolor papers. The paper on the left is the Strathemore and the stuff on the right is the inexpensive Canson. I used two Memento markers, applying the orange right at the base of the petal and coming out further with the yellow. Then I used my water brush to blend them out to the tip of the petal.

On the Strathemore paper, I was able to pull the color out quite easily in just a few strokes and probably could have kept blending. On the Canson paper, I went over it several times and never did have much success blending.

A bit about Copics...

A few days ago someone asked me to share what my favorite Copic colors are, so I snapped a few pics and here goes...

I think everyone should have the colorless blender, of course, and I use mine all the time. It's really more of a color pusher (Marianne's verbage, not mine) or a color picker-upper. I like to use it to push the color back into the lines when I make a mistake (I make a lot of mistakes) and to lift color to add highlights.

I also love the two cool grays above, C1 and C3. I use those a lot for shading and shadowing. I have two warm grays, W1 and W3, but find I hardly ever use them.

I have a total of 6 markers in the yellow/greens, but find the YG93, YG95, YG03 and YG05 are the ones I go to the most. I really love them for foliage of all sorts. I have 5 in the solid greens but they rarely get used. I think it likely that I will go to them more in the summer and holidays, but for now they are virtually un-used. I don't have any of the blue/greens.

I have 4 in the E50's color family, E51, E53, E55 and E57, but E51 and E55 are the ones I use the most. The E51, Milky White, is a great marker and works as a base color for a lot of things, especially skin tones.

I have 4 of the E30's, but these three are the ones I mainly use from those. These tones are a bit warmer than the E50's, so I go to them more often.

I have 6 yellows, but Y21, Y23, and Y17 see paper the most. I love the buttery, golden hues best among the yellows.

Of the five violets I have, V01, V04 and V06 are my favorites. I can get a good range of colors from just these three markers.

I only have three red/violets, RV21, RV23 and RV25. I am very happy with these three, but would like to add another group of three in a slightly different hue, just to broaden my selection.

I only have four reds and R22, R24 and R27 get used a lot. I think I probably need about 6 more reds.

I love my blues, but don't use them a lot. My favorites are B00, B21 and B23. Boo is like E51 and can be used in a lot of different ways.

Out of the six yellow/oranges I have, YR04, YR12, YR14 and YR16 get used the most. I combine these with the yellows listed above quite often.

I love my Copics and next week I am attending a Copic certification class in San Francisco with Marianne from I Like Markers. She has the best blog for picking up Copic coloring tips.

One more thing...

On that Sketchy Owl card the other day, I was asked to include the photos showing the Copic colors, so if you are interested in that you can find the updated post here.

That is all for today. I will be back with my first preview of the new Gina K Designs sets tonight! Have a great day!

6 comments:

Stampin_melissa said...

Thanks for all the info! I was going through my Copics comparing what colors you listed and which ones I have. We share some favorites. You're lucky to get to attend one of Marianne's classes!!

craftimamma said...

What a useful informative post Theresa TFS!

Lesley Xx

Rhonda Langley said...

I guess sometimes you really do get what you paid for. I just purchased some cold pressed watercolor paper from Dick Blick. I haven't tried it yet. It was a really good price because I bought it in large sheets and just cut it down so I hope it is good paper. I don't have copics but I am going to try an aquapainter & SU inks.

Patti J. said...

Very good post - thanks for all of the wonderful information! What is the difference overall between Copics and Memento markers? Also, in looking at your colors, I don't see skin white. I happen to have two of them - do you want me to send you one? I'm happy to share! Email me your snail mail, and I'll get it out this week....

Elena said...

Thank you for sharing this useful information, Theresa!

Shirley said...

I know very little about htis, but I have used watercolr papers of most weights and I have found that Neenah Classic Crest, Solar White, 80lb. Super Smooth works the best for me. It doesn't ball and dowsn't spred out unless I prewetthe surface. It's actually the SU Whisper White before SU buys it from them. LOL Their Very Vanilla is The Classic Crest same weight and super smooth, but as Natural on the Neenah site. I buy by the ream, so it makes it cheaper.