Hi everyone!! Are you ready for today’s tip?

Today’s tip is about thinking outside the box -the Copic color chart box that is!

As you are probably well aware, the Copic color chart is a Copic artist’s best friend.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, here is the scoop! You NEED this color chart. Print it on your Copic paper (whatever paper you usually use with your Copic coloring projects). Then fill in the chart using the markers you have.

This chart is really nice because it helps you see the the actual color of your markers on YOUR paper of choice. Also, the chart keeps the colors organized with color families so you can see which colors you have for blending.

For instance, a good blending family would have the same letters, and same first digit, like shown below:

Notice all the colors that are highlighted start with B9 . That means they are suited to blend well together. B91 is the lightest color in this section, whereas B99 is the darkest.

My tip today is to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!  I want you to test out some blending using colors that aren’t in the same blending family.

All Copic markers will blend together because they are all alcohol based inks. That doesn’t mean all color combinations will look nice, but that does mean that you can experiment and come up with combos that you like.

See my example below:

For the boots (from the SP and Company Rain Boots stamp set), I used BG15 and BG34. Using colors from two different blending families created a two-toned, almost holographic type of look to the boots. You could even use two totally different colors, (maybe a yellow with a green?), to come up with a totally unique look.

Also, notice the stripes on the boots? I used a technique from a previous Tips and Tricks segment. Click here to go to that post.

I hope you enjoyed this segment. Please share if you have come up with some nice looking combinations. We would love to hear about them!

Hi everyone!!

This week, we have a cool blue combo for you all.

As always, to enter, follow these easy steps:
1. Become a follower of our blog, if you aren’t already.
2. Post your original creation with your entry and the link back to iCopic’s Color Challenge on your blog. You can make ANY type of project that includes the use of Copics: greeting card, scrapbook page, altered art, 3D project, illustration, etc. Anything goes as long as Copics are used!
3. The colors need to be as close to the challenge’s color theme as possible.

The challenge will end on Sunday, January 30th (Noon EST). The winner will be chosen by the True Random Number Generator.

Here is this week’s colors:

And the winner for Challenge #13 is Donna V (Card #7). Please email us (info@icopic.com) your shipping address so we can get the new 2011 Swatchbook to you.

Here is some awesome inspiration from the iCopic designers:

Wanda:

Linda:

Enter your project for the challenge here:

Hi all!  Alyssa here!  I’m back today with a saucy little number from the new Greeting Farm rubber stamp set, Naughty or Nice.  This is the Naughty girl – such a little devil!  ;o)

I was focusing on her red outfit using R27, R29, R39 and the new to Ciao marker, RV69.  Normally, I wouldn’t think to shade the R’s with an RV, but it really lends itself to a deeper, richer shadow. 
Her hair is colored with E15, E31, E33, E37 and a touch of E49.  The E15 is a more coppery brown, and gives her hair a more natural gradient. 

To add a little sparkle to this naughty girl, I went over her pitchfork and shoes with a Black AtYou Spica pen.  Her horns have just a hint of sparkle on the lighter areas with a Red AtYou Spica pen.  Sparkle is just so hard to capture, but if you click on the detail picture, you can kind of see the glitter on her horns.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!  :o) lyss

COPICS USED:
C1, C3, C5, E000, E00, E11, E15, E31, E33, E37, E49, R20, R27, R29, R39, RV69, YG63

Hi! It’s Linda here, and I want to share a tag I created using the new SP & Company stamp set, ‘Artsy Heartsy’. Here is the set.

I absolutely love the various textures of the hearts; I would have to say the ‘hounds tooth’ is my favorite. There also are five sentiments which make this a great set for creating valentines, gift tags, and decorative elements for scrapbook layouts. You can see SP & Company stamps HERE.

Here is my tag.

To make the heart flower embellishment for my tag, I stamped the ‘wavy’ heart four times on white cardstock. I cut the hearts out with a Spellbinder Nestabilities, adhered them to a circle, and then adhered the circle to a scalloped circle. I used Memento tuxedo black ink to stamp the hearts just in case I decided to color them with Copic markers.

The ‘dotted’ heart on the clothespin was stamped on pink cardstock and cut out.

This photograph shows the ‘cross-hatch’ hearts that I really like also. 
Well, I’m off to stamp more hearts and make more tags. Hope you have a creative day. Stay warm! Linda