Intermediate Class? What's it about?

There has been a bit of confusion about the Intermediate Certification classes. I'm hoping to clear that up with this post. If you still have questions, please ask, and either myself or one of our regional instructors will be happy to answer your questions.

Have you ever spent hours working on a card project, just to step back, look at it, and hate it? You don't know why it doesn't work, you just know that it is missing something. This is what the Intermediate Certification is all about: Taking your hard work to the next level so that you can have fewer failures and recognize better what your project needs to make it POP!

• Who can attend Intermediate Certifications?
Anyone who has taken a standard certification. Not just store owners or people who would usually get first priority in a Standard Certification, but ANYONE is eligible as long as they have already completed Certification before they apply.

• Is the application hard?
Not really. The one tricky place is where we need to see an example of feather blending, but if you follow the directions in this post you should do just fine. Don't be afraid to apply simply because you need to work on feather blending! If all your other examples are great, then I may look over imperfect feather blends.

• How often will these classes be held?
There will probably only be one Intermediate class per quarter, so if a class comes up in your area SIGN UP! We won't have a second class in the same area if we don't get enough applications for the first class.

• What is discussed at the Intermediate Class?
The day starts with a discussion on light and shadows. Then we work into the color of shadows, color theory, and on to types of lighting. From there we move on to composition and layout- making your whole project look better together- and on to coloring hair, faces, etc. We finish the day with a coloring project that ties all the concepts into each other, and tie in self-critiques along the way.

• But I'm not an Artist, I don't think I'm good enough.
You don't have to be an artist to enjoy these classes. These concepts are taught specifically to papercrafters, not artists. If you love reading the tutorials on light and shadow here on my blog, you want more, but are still confused, then these classes give you the hands-on opportunity to learn and have someone explain it one on one. We want to help EVERYONE feel more artistic and creative, no matter what their background.

• Is the class worth it?
Yes! You get a full day of instruction that continues into the evening from one of our top-notch instructors. A 48 page manual that has a blank copy of every image colored throughout the book that you can go home and practice with, as well as lighting guides and a mini-portfolio. You get a lapel pin and a badge for your blog once you have completed the class. Best of all, you are learning concepts that will help you time and again, not just in papercrafting, but in any creative field.

So what are you waiting for? Download an application today and apply! You'll learn a lot more than you think, and the content is totally different than what is covered in a standard certification. If you still have questions, or think you're not good enough to attend then send me a note and we'll see what we can do to help you.

There are currently still spaces open for the L.A. class. Classes are limited in size so attendees get more time directly working with the instructor. Register early to make sure you can get in. Sherrie and Debbie are ready for an exciting L.A. class. We are expecting the Phoenix class in April with Colleen and Debbie to fill quickly once applications are sent out, so register early!

Click here for applications. Meanwhile, we've got an exciting blog hop coming up this weekend, with new releases for 2011, so stay tuned!

Certification Updates

Standard Certification Classes 2011, North America
There are a few Papercrafting Certification classes in the next two months, but you won't see March or April classes on the calendar for another couple weeks. If you have questions about the program you can e-mail Nancy, nancy@copicmarker.com for more info.

Jan. 16 Phoenix AZ taught by Jennie Black Open to Public
Jan. 28 Los Angeles, CA (CHA) taught by Jennie Black Open to Public

Intermediate Certification Classes 2011
We still have plenty of space in the Intermediate class, so don't be afraid of applying, as that is bound to be a great class before CHA. These classes are for people who want to take their coloring to the next level. We discuss shading, composition, and coloring more realistically. However, it is important to have mastered basic marker techniques, like blending and feathering.

The purpose of the application is to make sure that we don't have to slow down the class for those who have not mastered basic concepts. However, most people who have been coloring for a couple years and taken the Standard Certification should have no problem passing the test. If this sounds like you and you think this is some great stuff to learn, then go ahead and fill out the application! You probably will make it in.

Jan. 27 Los Angeles, CA (CHA) taught by Debbie Olson & Sherrie Siemens subject to approved application

April, date TBA, Phoenix, AZ taught by Debbie Olson & Colleen Schaan Applications are not available yet

Click here for applications and class details (time/location/fees) for each session. Also, there are lots of classes coming up internationally as well:

International Certifications

UK Certifications
Wendy Kadzidlo, the instructor for UK Certification classes will be teaching a couple classes in the upcoming months.

March 4th – Stevenage, Herts, taught by Wendy Kadzidlo
May 27th – Warrington, Cheshire taught by Wendy Kadzidlo

For information on these classes, please e-mail Wendy: wendy@stampsandmemories.co.uk

Australian Certifications

5 March, Melbourne Beginner Certification - Taught by Mandi
12 March, Sydney Beginner Certification - Taught by Mandi (click here for Australia class info)

Other events
If you are attending Winter CHA in Los Angeles, CA then stop by our booth and check out the new releases. I'll be in the booth the whole week, demoing markers, as will many of our instructors. Next week we'll tell you what some of those releases will be, so stay tuned. Also, each of our instructors teaches classes of their own. Go to their blogs to find out more about their classes in your area and how to register for events. Have a Happy New Year!

Faux Tea-dyed flowers

Searching in my blog
Before I jump into today's tutorial I just wanted to explain something about this blog. I have tons of things archived over the last few years. You can approach this site by starting at the beginning, back in June of 2008 and reading through, or you can search topic by topic.

People occasionally ask me how to search through my blog. To search by topic, just type a word in the search bar up at the top of this blog. This will limit your search to only things on my blog.

If you are looking for information on a specific product line, then you can search using the glossary in the left sidebar. I hope this helps you find some hidden tutorials that you may have forgotten.

Faux Tea-dyed flowers
I made my own Christmas cards this year, and since I had to make so many, I kept the design VERY simple. It takes too long to color a cute little image on that many cards, so instead I used some hand-dyed paper flowers. You can use this same effect on wide ribbon to make it look tea-dyed as well.

These flowers are very easy to make with Copic markers, and look really cool when you are done. Before you start, be sure to have plenty of clean scratch paper under your work, as this gets messy.

First, take your paper flower and scribble on it with a middle/dark color. For this flower, I used R59. The final color will be both lighter and darker than this color, so test a few colors to find the one that will end up matching your project the best.


Next, you need to add a lot of colorless blender. I like using an empty water-brush that has been filled with colorless blender. If you don't have a water-brush, then you can accomplish the same thing by dipping your colorless blender straight into the big refill bottle, then dripping the blender on. This will make the flower very wet and make the inks flow around similarly to if you were actually dying the flower.


Wherever you drip the blender, the color on the flower will start to bleed away from that area.

If you drip in the middle first then the color will run out to the petals more. If you drip a small drop onto each petal then it will push the color out to the edges of each petal. The second flower was soaked evenly all over, see how the colors muted more and ran together more? If you like this look then go for it.

Once you get the look you want, let the flower dry completely before touching it. If you have a drop of ink on your finger and touch the wet flower, then it will pick up that color. If there is color on the scratch paper under the flower it could pick up that ink as well.

Here are some variations on the effect. The small pink/purple flower has a nice 2 tone feel, with purple added to the edges only, pink in the middle, then blended from the middle out. The little brown flower was the same, just with one color. The larger flower was scribbled more randomly so the white spots are more irregular.

Here is one of my finished, simple Christmas cards. I hope this has given you some ideas. Tomorrow I'll post about upcoming Certification classes. Next week we have some exciting announcements for 2011, so stay tuned!

Shadow Color & Certification

I wanted to share something that was recently shared with me by Ken O'Connell, the president of Imagination International, Inc. (Copic USA) and one of my former art professors.
He was recently in a bookstore, saw this book, and wanted to share this tidbit on lighting and shadows and snowmen, as we have been spending so much time on this blog discussing light and shadows, and many of you have seen my snowman coloring tutorial at the end of a Certification class. Sometimes it helps to hear a concept a couple different ways, from different people, so, from Ken...

Color in light and dark
The first mistake most people make in shading light and dark areas of an image is to think the light areas are white or whiter and the dark areas are black or blacker. This is rarely the case. Both Light and Shadows have color. Look closely. It is easier to see it in the light as it allows us to see the color better than dark shadows, but if you lighten the shadows you can see it clearly.

Basically Sunlight is yellowish and shadows are bluish. Why? Because the sun lightens ares that it shines on and the blue sky illuminates the shaded areas that block the sun. Sometimes the surface for a shadow has color and that combines with the shadow color to mix another color. Grass in the sun will be yellow green and grass in the shade will be blue green. The deeper the shade the deeper the blue color.

So light sources are often warm and shaded areas often cool but, the opposite is also true. In snow at night the moon light is quite blue and often the shadows are warm, especially if there are street lights to lighten up the shadows.

If you go to a bookstore this season, look a the children's book SNOWMEN AT NIGHT by Caralyn Buehner. It features lots of illustrations of snow people in moonlight with shadows of warm orange. It shows the light source of the moon (bluish) as well as the street lamps (yellowish). These two sources of light play a role in the light and shadow on the color of the snow, which we always think of as just white....

We will try to post more of Ken's discussion on light and shadow on the official Copic website blog sometime in the future.

Upcoming Papercrafting Certifications
2010 is winding to a close, and I want to thank everyone who attended a certification this year. We had a total of 52 classes in North America! Wow! Which means, that we are gearing up for a busy 2011, with more Intermediate classes and we are trying to hold Certifications in cities that have not had classes yet. Keep looking for more classes opening in the next month in your area. Remember, if you want to take the Intermediate class you need to take the standard certification first.

Standard Certification Classes 2011
Jan. 16 Phoenix AZ taught by Jennie Black Open to Stores & Designers
Jan. 28 Los Angeles, CA (CHA) taught by Jennie Black Open to Stores & Designers


Intermediate Certification Classes 2011
Jan. 27 Los Angeles, CA (CHA) taught by Debbie Olson & Sherrie Siemens subject to approved application

Click here for applications and class details (time/location/fees) for each session.

Upcoming Events
I will be teaching workshops this Saturday, Dec. 4th at Art Supply Warehouse in Westminster, CA. For teenagers, I will be offering a How to Draw Manga class, then for anyone who wants to attend I will be teaching a coloring class. Both classes require preregistration through the store, as space is limited. As this class is being held at an art store I will be focusing the discussion on art papers and inking supplies, though papercrafters are welcome to attend. Friday afternoon, Dec. 3rd, I may also be doing in-store demos, if time permits.

I hope to see you there!

Events This week

Today and Thursday I will be down at the University of Oregon bookstore, downstairs in the art department doing Copic demos and illustrations from about 10am to 5 or 6pm each day. Come and visit me and bring your Copic questions! This annual event at the bookstore has been going on for more than 25 years, and has many artists demonstrating all sorts of techniques, in conjunction with the annual sale. It's really inspiring to see so many talented people at work.

Thursday evening, Nov. 11th I will be teaching a Copic Marker Rendering Basics class at DIVA, at 110 W. Broadway in Eugene. To register for that class call 541-344-3482. This class is geared for artists, illustrators, professionals, and students who want to learn more about how to use Copic Markers. All supplies are provided.

Saturday Nov. 13th, I will be teaching a workshop at a fantasy convention in Portland. www.orycon.org

Meanwhile, here is a picture I drew and colored this week. It was for a client who decided they wanted a different image, so I can share this rendering with you.

She was drawn with a multiliner, then photocopied onto color laser copier paper. Her pants are colored with about 6 different shades of pink, from RV00 to RV21, and tiny hints of V12 and V17, with some C1 thrown in for good measure, then colorless blender was dabbed on to make the texture.

The Rabbit was colored with W1, W3, W7, E31, (these were scribble on to create the fuzzy look) and some hints of C1 and C3, with RV21 for the ears. The shirt was colored with RV00, V12, V17, BV04, RV13, and C3, then blended together with the colorless blender. Her skin is colored with E000, E11, E13, E33, and BV00. Her hair is all shades of Cool grays, with some hints of V17 thrown in to subtly match the hair to her shirt.

The final image is about 6 1/2 inches high, and took just over an hour to color. I hope you have a great day and get a chance to come see me this week, as you can see this final colored image in my example book.

Certification Updates

The intermediate class in Chicago was a great success! I am so excited about the subjects we covered in that class, and I know you'll love the suggestions for making your work look more lifelike. The manual for that class is overflowing with great suggestions for adding shadows and depth to your work, so if you love coloring and get a chance to attend an Intermediate class I strongly suggest it. In a few months we will post a list of upcoming 2011 classes, as well as a list of locations for Intermediate classes, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, the year is winding down, and we have a few standard Certifications coming up in North America.

Nov. 6th San Antonio, TX taught by Jenn Balcer Open to the Public
Nov. 8th Richmond, VA taught by Colleen Schaan Open to the Public
Nov. 14th Halifax, Nova Scotia taught by Sherrie Siemens Open to the Public
Nov. 16th Detroit, MI taught by Debbie Olson Open to the Public
Nov. 20th El Paso, TX taught by Jenn Balcer Open to the Public
Nov. 20th Denver, CO taught by Marianne Walker Open to the Public
Nov. 21st Tampa, FL taught by Colleen Schaan Open to the Public

If you need an application for a Standard Certification, you can download one here.

Future Intermediate Classes (applications have NOT gone out yet, this is for planning only). More will be added to this list in the next couple months, so stay tuned:
January, 27 (Before CHA) LA, CA taught by Sherrie Siemens and Debbie Olson
April, Date TBA, Phoenix, AZ taught by Marianne Walker

Have a great week!

Coloring around tiny details

Sorry I couldn't get this post up earlier, but I was having blog problems. It's all fixed now, so here's the tutorial for the Just Rite Blog hop. If you look at the ornament I colored a few days ago, you'll notice that I was very careful about coloring the main ornament green and the tiny details yellow. I did not use the blender to clean up the areas, rather, I was very careful in my coloring.

Coloring Around Tiny Details
First, you want to start with the main color that you are working around the details. In this case, it was the light green. I stamped my image with Memento and made sure it had dried really well before coloring, since tiny details would show bleeding more than usual.

Carefully color with the base color, G12. I used the very tip of the brush and had no problem working around even the smallest of shapes. At this point, if I had made mistakes I could still clean out the white areas with my colorless blender, but I don't really need to on this image. When cleaning up you need to have a lot of patience. dab a tiny amount of blender on, let it dry, dab another tiny amount and so on. You can't scrub in the blender like usual to clean up areas.

Next, I lightly scribbled in the dark green, G17. I scribbled because I had to be careful to not oversoak the areas I want to blend, as it could easily bleed into the surrounding details.

Now I can ever so carefully go back with the G12 and lightly blend the darker green out. I want the areas where the darker green fades into the lighter green to be as smooth as possible to keep the dimensional illusion to the ornament. It's OK if I lose the darkest areas of the darker green.

Once the blending is dry I went back with the dark green and touched in my deepest contrast again. The base colors need to be dry in order to keep the edges crisp. Now you can really see the dimension on the ornament. I like the high contrast between the G12 and the G17- this is what makes the ornament look so round.

Finally, I colored the yellow details- lighter on the light side, and Y17 in the shadows. I was not as worried about precision, since the yellow would not show up if I accidentally colored over the green areas.

The paper I was coordinating with was very orange-red, so I used YR09 and RV29 for my base red tones on the bow. Then I darkened it with R59. This helped pull the reds together. Again, I was careful to keep all my highlights and shadows consistent with the main ornament so the whole image looked better. Then I colored a middle gray around the outside of the ornament, since I knew I would be cutting it out and I wanted some contrast between the ornament and the background paper, but I didn't want to cut two pieces of paper.

One detail that you might not notice right away on the final bookmark is that on the base papers, I wanted to coordinate the colors a little better, so where the light gray paper met the red I blended in a very light layer of C1 and C2. Then, under the area where the ornament is sitting I added some of the reds, again, feathering them out until it created a darker halo around my ornament that smoothly blended out to the reds of the paper. I also did this along the bottom edge of the red paper. Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend, and I'll see some of you in a few days in Chicago!!