A Merry Copic Christmas!

This morning I drove out to Langley to take a Copic Colouring Christmas card class at Precious Memories.

These are the cards that I coloured:

I've included these close ups of each card so you can see the different coloured shading and also how bad a "colourer" I really am (it's hard to stay inside the lines when you're trying to get used to progressive lens glasses!).





Tara Gove was the instructor and let me tell you she is a firecracker! She has great energy and is very knowledgeable about Copics (even though she is self taught!).

I learned a few new things:

1. The original Copic markers hold the most ink - which translates to less refilling.

2. The original Copic markers fit the best in the air brush system.

3. Images coloured with Copics WILL fade over time and exposure to light.

4. Use a white gel pen to cover up mistakes like colouring outside of the lines that cannot be covered up with other colours. Wait until your copic ink is dry.

5. Use your Blender marker sparingly as it pushes the colour around and can take out ink where you don't want it. It works well to erase some mistakes - again using it sparingly and wait until you other colours have dried.

6. When colouring with different shades use LOTS of ink so that blending will be easier while the ink is wet. You should see some saturation on to the back of the paper when you are colouring correctly!

7. In Tara's opinion the best ink for stamping images to be coloured in with Copics is the Ranger Nick Bantok series - Lamp Black. Of course I bought one and I'll be testing it out myself. I've been using the Palette Noir Black ink pad and thought it was pretty good.

8. It's cheaper to refill a Copic than to buy a new one and you can buy refills and new NIBS at Precious Memories.

9. The Copic markers at Precious Memories are $7.69 and are on sale now for 20% off.