Park Your Art Contest!

For the second year in a row, Copic is sponsoring an original art contest, Park Your Art. This contest is open to anyone around the world. This year's theme is "Dreams". The chosen winner will get their art proudly displayed very large on the side of a parking structure here in Eugene, OR. The winner will also receive a great prize. Deadline May 1.

For more details please visit the Copic blog post about this contest.

North American Papercrafting Certifications
If you are interested in classes, be aware that classes are filling very fast. Our Dallas class filled in 4hrs! So, don't delay to register.

It has been a few weeks since I updated our class list. Below are some of our upcoming classes. If you are interested in a specific location, please register as soon as you see an e-mail from us. Each time a class opens, we send out an e-mail to that region. If you have not been getting the new class e-mails, please register with Nancy, nancy@copicmarker.com

March 23, Phoenix, AZ taught by Lori Craig and Marianne Walker FULL

April 13th, Seattle, WA taught by Lori Craig FULL
April 19th, Milwaukee, WI taught by Debbie Olson only a couple spots left!

May, 6th, Toronto, ON taught by Sherrie Siemens FULL
May 11th, Kalamazoo, MI taught by Marianne Walker filling fast!
May 18th, Dallas, TX taught by Lori Craig FULL
May 18th, Minneapolis, MN taught by Debbie Olson filling fast!
May 21st, Hanover, MD taught by Lori Craig filling fast!
May 25th, Regina, SK, Canada taught by Sherrie Siemens Opens today

Applications have not gone out yet for:
June 5th, Portland, Maine Area taught by Marianne Walker & Cindy Lawrence
June 6th, Marlboro, Mass taught by Marianne Walker & Cindy Lawrence

North American Intermediate Certification Classes
Take your coloring to a new level with these exciting Intermediate Certification classes. You can now take these classes back-to-back with the standard classes. To apply to any of these classes, please visit our website and you will find an overview of the program.

March 24, Phoenix, AZ taught by Marianne Walker FULL

April 14th, Seattle, WA taught by Sherrie Siemens FULL
April 20th, Milwaukee, WI taught by Debbie Olson FULL

May, 5th, Toronto, ON taught by Sherrie Siemens FULL
May, 19th, Dallas, TX taught by Colleen Schaan FULL
May, 19 Minneapolis, MN taught by Debbie Olson almost full!
May 26th, Regina, SK, Canada taught by Sherrie Siemens Opens today

Applications have not gone out yet for:
June 7th, Marlboro, Mass taught by Marianne Walker

Winner and Events

Thank you all for participating in the blog hop this week. I finally got my copy of the Copic Coloring Guide Level 2: Nature. Even though Colleen and I worked so hard on it, and we knew every piece that went into it, it is still so amazing to see how beautifully the book came together!

From all the nice comments, the following lucky winner was chosen:

Leta said...

I would LOVE to win this book...thank you for the chance

March 5, 2012 8:14 PM

Leta, I know that you will love this book! Colleen and I are so happy to have been able to create a resouruce that will hopefully inspire thousands of people to be creative and build their coloring talent. Meanwhile, if you are in the Pittsburgh area, you can pick up your own copy of my new book on Monday...

Upcoming Events,

Monday, March 12th, I will be offering classes and demos and a fun open house at Art Tech Supplies in Greensburg, PA.

1 - 3pm, I will be offering techniques for cardmakers,

4-6pm, Art Techniques

7 to 9pm will be a drop-in open house/book signing event. This will be my first book signing for the new Copic Coloring Guide, so stop by for a wonderful time with the folks at Art Tech. I hope to see you there!

Copic Coloring Guide:Level 2, Bloghop

Good Morning!

I am so excited to participate this morning in the blog hop for my new book, Copic Coloring Guide, Level 2: Nature! Colleen Schaan and I worked so hard on this book. We wanted each of you to be able to learn as clearly and easily as possible, and we both feel that the step outs, blank images, and gorgeous finished projects will help you see each technique and be able to re-create it for yourself.

Annie’s Attic did an amazing job pulling this book together for us. We love how it came out, and we think each of you will love it too. Colleen coordinated a fabulous team of designers to contribute to this project.

I made one card project in the book...for those of you who have your copies, see if you can find it (Stamp: Our Craft Lounge)! However, I had the pleasure of drawing ALL the images that we step-by-step color in the book. You'll love how comprehensive and simple we make the coloring.

So, would you like to win your very own autographed copy of the book??

Please visit each of the blogs listed below and leave a little love. Each designer will be drawing from the comments on their own blog for the winner of an autographed copy. (Signed by Colleen, myself and that particular designer!) Commenting is open until Friday, March 9th. Winners will be announced on individual blogs.

Michele Boyer

Lori Craig

Jennifer Dove-Bonner

Sharon Harnist

Tammy Hershberger

Melanie Holtz

Michelle Houghton

Debbie Olson

Claudia Rosa

Collen Schaan

Marianne Walker ( don't forget to comment here for a chance to win my copy!)

Thank you, and Good Luck!!

Popular Skin Colors

Blank Skin Color Chart
When we go to Comic shows, people are always interested in our most popular skin colors. Today I want to share the chart that we fill out and have at those shows. This is free for your own personal use and not to be sold or used for commercial gain.

For other color charts provided by Copic, please visit our website. And, don't forget to enter your favorite skin color combo on Thursday's post for a chance to win two rolls of double-sided tape.

New Design Team Members

Note: Commenting has closed on this post
Welcome to the Copic Family!
It has been a while since we added anyone new to the Copic team, and so it is with great excitement that we are pleased to announce TWO new designers to the Copic Papercrafting Team:
Congrats!! We are so happy to have these talented ladies sharing their skills with those of you who are craving more wonderful projects and ideas for using Copic Markers.

And, if that news wasn't good enough, we are celebrating with some amazing giveaways...

Please visit Cindy & Michele's blogs for a chance to WIN a new Copic Carry Case! Read their blog post, leave a comment, welcome them to the Copic team, and you will be entered to win a case.

Cindy Lawrence
Michele Boyer

But while you are here on my blog, leave a comment on today's post and let me know:

What is your favorite Copic skin color combo?

I am giving to THREE lucky winners, two rolls of the popular XPress-It double sided tapes. Each winner will receive one roll of the unique 1/4" foam tape, and one roll of our regular double-side tape. (Contest only open to US and Canada). Please make sure I have a way to reach you, a valid e-mail address or blog site, as it is hard for me to find winners sometimes.

Winners from my blog will be announced Monday. March 5th

To celebrate, this weekend all of our other designers and instructors will also have giveaways, so check them out. Some will be celebrating today, some tomorrow, so check both days.

Sherrie Siemens
Colleen Schaan
Debbie Olson
Lori Craig
Sharon Harnist

Again, we are really looking forward to working with Michele and Cindy, and we thank you for helping us give them a warm welcome to the team!

Spring Pink Flamingo

Happy Springtime!
The other day my husband was joking about putting out a pink flamingo among our bulbs that are starting to sprout. While I didn't want one in my yard, it got me to thinking about drawing one, so today I am giving you your very own free digi pink flamingo, and some tips about coloring it.

Please enjoy this image for your own personal use, and not for publication. You are welcome to upload finished images to the Copic Facebook page :)

Green and Blue
This image has a beautiful row of tulips, and a lot of blue sky visible between the flowers. However, many of you who know me know that I am impatient and always looking for a faster/easier way of coloring. I wanted the sky to fade behind the flowers, but I didn't want to take the time to be picky about coloring the sky perfectly.

Many of you, in coloring this image, might start by coloring the leaves with YG05, as shown in A. However, that would be tedious once I went in and tried to blend out my pale blue sky.

So, I started by coloring the sky, as shown in figure B. I colored with my BG10 and blended it all pretty with my colorless blender, without worrying about the leaves, since there is blue in green. The BG10 is so pale I knew that it wouldn't really affect the bright green that will go over it. See how much quicker coloring is, once I didn't worry about the leaves? I tried to keep the bulb tops white, as those will be pink and the BG10 would not make the pink look as pretty.

Next, I colored my basic flat colors. I started with RV52 for my base pinks, YG05 for the leaves, N7 for the black beak, and E13 with E44 spotted on for the ground.

Then, I went back and added my first level of blending. What a difference it makes! I added RV55 to all the light pink areas. Then, I added YG63 to the vibrant green.

For my final layer of contrast, I added RV66 to the pinks, and a hint of Opaque white to the highlights on the plastic flamingo. I darkened the contrast on the leaves with G46. I also dotted in a few more spots of color into the ground with YG61 and some more E44.

Overall, a very simple image, and coloring was really quick (scanning and writing the tutorial took a lot longer than coloring the image!) I hope you have as fun and easy a time coloring it as I did.

On Thursday I have a great announcement, so stay tuned!