Classes and Events Update

Local Events and More!
What a busy time of year! You saw the neat blog posts from images I've been coloring at demos and events. I love going out and meeting people, letting them see what I do, and helping them take their coloring to new, exciting places. I love seeing how excited you get when you learn something new!

First of all, I want to update you on some upcoming local events that I will be demoing at. 

This Saturday, April 26 from about 2-4pm, I will be demoing at the Ben Franklin Crafts in Springfield, OR. You don't want to miss it!

Then, Sat. May 17th, in the afternoon, I will be hosting a drop-in studio event at the U of O Bookstore, Eugene, OR.

This summer: I will be teaching free teen and adult workshops for the City of Eugene Library, from July 15-18th. More information will be posted on the Eugene Library website as it gets closer to event time.

Save the Date: I will be hosting some awesome workshops at Anime Expo over the 4th of July weekend, down in Los Angeles, CA. You don't want to miss those workshops.

Certifications and Workshops
Have you taken one of our live classes yet? They are jammed full of great stuff! Register today for a class near you! Visit the Copic website for registration and class details. Note: If you are in Pittsburgh, there are still openings available in those classes, so email nancy@copicmarker.com or register online today!!

Our classes are jam-packed with useful tips and tidbits. We encourage you to retake Certification classes if they come to your area, or if you see one taught by one of our other instructors, as each teacher brings their own skills and flavor to each class. Our workshops are great, whether you have taken a certification or not. Each class covers basics, but goes into further depth than we have time to cover in our main Certification classes.


April 29, Pittsburgh, PA  Airbrushing for Papercrafters taught by Colleen Schaan
April 29, Pittsburgh, PA  Whimsical Faces & Hair, taught by Colleen Schaan

May 1, Pittsburgh, PA  Tracing Memories  taught by Marianne Walker
May 1, Pittsburgh, PA Alcohol Ink Painting taught by Colleen Schaan
May 2, Pittsburgh, PA Standard Certification taught by Cindy Lawrence
May 2, Seattle, WA Standard Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
May 3, Pittsburgh, PA Intermediate Certification taught by Cindy Lawrence
May 3, Seattle WA, Intermediate Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
May 10, Salt Lake City, Whimsical Faces & Hair cancelled
May 10, Salt Lake City,  Tracing Memories workshop, cancelled
May 16, Minneapolis, MN Standard Certification, taught by Debbie Olson
May 17, Minneapolis, MN Intermediate Certification, taught by Debbie Olson
May 24, Dallas, TX Whimsical Faces & Hair workshop, taught by Lori Craig
May 24, Dallas, TX Airbrushing workshop, taught by Lori Craig

May 31, South Chicago area, IL, Whimsical Faces & Hair, taught by Marianne Walker
May 31, South Chicago area, IL, Tracing Memories, taught by Marianne Walker

June 6, Ottawa, ON, Canada Standard Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
June 6, Houston TX, Standard Certification taught by Cindy Lawrence
June 7, Ottawa, ON, Canada Intermediate Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
June 7, Houston, TX, ntermediate Certification taught by Cindy Lawrence
June 7,  Hanover, MD Whimsical Faces & Hair, taught by Lori Craig
June 7,  Hanover, MD Airbrushing for Papercrafters, taught by Lori Craig
June 20, Grand Rapids, MI Standard Certification, taught by Debbie Olson
June 21, Grand Rapids, MI Intermediate Certification, taught by Debbie Olson

Coloring a Whimsical Pirate

Coloring a Pirate Ship
A week or so ago I posted a pirate picture that I had drawn and colored while at a demo in Canada. This week I figured before I left town again, I'd better share some of the photos I snapped of it in process, and talk about my techniques a bit. I did not write down colors, but I used about 50 colors in total.

I started with a rough pencil sketch, and traced it with a Comic Master LED Light table onto nice, smooth piece of Copic Illustration paper, Natural White (both are available on the Copic website or can be special ordered through your local Copic dealer). I didn't have access to the right paper for copying onto, so I actually printed my outlines onto regular copier paper.

I started with a base, light brown on the boat. Probably an E11, but I don't remember. Notice that I colored lighter on the parts of the mermaid closer to the light, but, otherwise, it is just one base color.

Someone commented about the soft, watery look in the sky and sails. This look is much easier to achieve on copier paper, as the paper is so soft, ink flows easier. I started with a light blue and feathered out from the ship, then I came back with a colorless blender and pushed the blue back towards the boat. You can see an older blog post on this technique here. Then, using a darker blue, I added the blue shadows and dots in the air.

Here is a closeup on the mermaid. I added depth using a range of darker browns, and a pale blue/gray overlay to make the wood look weathered. This is the same treatment that I will use on the rest of the wood. I was careful to keep the highlights light.

This next photo shows the wood finished. Look at how different it looks having grays, blues, and darker browns streaked in. All browns I layered on in the direction of the woodgrain. I tried to make the wood look grayer/bluer closer to the water, where it would be more weathered by the elements. I was tempted to add barnacles and stuff, but I got sidetracked, so it stayed plain wood. I added a hint of pale yellow to the sunny side to warm up the mermaid face. On her tail, I dabbed my brush tip from the colorless blender to make the texture.

Look close at the sky under the sails, along the bottom right side. Do you see the rope ladder I drew in with a light gray marker? As this is not an important part of the picture, I didn't want black lines to draw attention to it, so I left it soft and subtle.

Next I worked on the closer sail. I wanted it to also have that weathered, faded canvas look. So, with a pale yellow, pale warm gray, pale earth tone, and pale cool gray, I streaked in colors, leaving the middle of the canvas open. I took a colorless blender, and started in the middle of the white area, pushing all the color back towards the seams and edges.

Again, the strong weathered look has a lot to do with how soft the paper is. Sometimes I purposefully choose a soft paper if I know I want my final result to be very soft. Because I layered a lot of colors, the blender will pick up each tone unevenly, also accenting the mottled, natural faded look.

I colored his coat with Boo, B26, B39 and C9. I was careful to not overblend, as I didn't want to lose the highlights, but I wanted the deep, rich blue to stand out. Then, I colored his pants in cool grays, with hints of the blue from his coat thrown into the shadows for good measure. The sword is also cool grays, with a pale yellow overlay to warm up the highlights. His beard is BV20 and pale yellows. Skin is E00, E11, E13, E15, E17, and pale blues and light yellow highlights.

On his feather, I started with a yellow base, to warm up the sunny side of the reds. Then, I pulled a dark brown into the red shadows. The parrot I also colored with yellow first, then layered on my darker greens. Notice I did not blend the brass looking glass, but kept those color streaky as I wanted it to appear more shiny. I colored the cannon and anchor in grays a couple different gray families.

Here is the final picture, scanned in for better color representation. That's the trouble with phone photos I take while coloring during a demo...if I even remember to take step-by-step photos. The colors are never accurate because demo lighting is always funky.

Notice my treatment of the waves. I used BG01, BG13, and the same blues from his coat. I left a lot of areas white, then hit them with a pale yellow to pull out the sunlight.  I used our new opaque white to add  the final highlight/streaks into the waves and on his sword/cannon.

Coloring this took about 4-5hrs. Drawing and inking it took just over an hour. I really love how it came out!

Earth Day Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the 2014 Copic “Earth Day” Blog Hop

Earth Day, April 22, marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.  Over 40 years later, Earth Day has become a global event with over 200 million people in over 141 countries getting involved in the fight for a clean environment. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Did you know that Copic markers and inks are a lifetime investment? Reuse and refill them again and again, without filling landfills. Of course you did! That's why you use them!


• Back in December of 2000, I received my first Copic Markers. Just last week I was teaching a church group at my house and the attendees were using those SAME markers I got almost 14 years ago!! They were my Copic Originals (this was back before they printed barcodes on the markers). I have refilled them many times, but never had to replace the nibs. Talk about a lifetime investment!

• When I first started working for Copic, we used to offer a mail-in refilling service, so we had a bottle of ink for each marker color, and we specially marked them. Do you know that we are still using some of those same bottles of ink 12 years later?? One bottle of ink lasts for many many refills. Talk about Economical!

• On the side of each various ink bottle is the Japanese recycling symbol. This means that when we do finally use up a bottle of ink we can recycle it.

Now, I guarantee that I didn't buy Copic markers way back when because I was thinking that I could bequeath them to my grandkids in my will when I pass from this life. I just thought that they were the most awesome art product I'd ever used. That's what makes it doubly special. Not only do they help my drawings look amazing, but I never worry about having to replace them, that my investment is still paying off. Quality means you buy it once. That's better for everyone.

Since Copics have given me so much, I want to give back a bit myself. Here's a fun free digi image you can download and color. Once you've colored it, upload it to instagram, the Copic facebook page, your blog, anywhere really, and share it around! With your post, please let us know how many years you've been using the same Copic markers.

Here's my simple colored version. I used YG11, YG13, YG17 B23, B37, B41, 0, Y11, N1, N4, R43, R59 and Y15.  I don't want you to color yours to look like mine...make it your own!! Add doodles, use strange colors, be creative!! Copic markers have brought me years of creative inspiration, and I want you to explore your creativity as well.


In celebration of Earth Day 2014, the Copic Education Team and Design Team has gotten together for a hop.  Visit each person’s blog to learn personal tips and tricks for refilling and caring for your markers… and possibly some pretty eye candy along the way. Be sure to let them know how much you appreciate their contributions.

Michele Boyer

Lori Craig

Sharon Harnist

Cindy Lawrence

Debbie Olson

Colleen Schaan

Sherrie Siemens

Copic Blog

(please note: Typepad has had some issues, so if some of the links don't work, it is just a technical glitch, and we will try again later)

When you’re done hopping, head on over to the Copic blog and sign up to be entered in the Earth Week Giveaway!  5 lucky winners will each receive a 3-piece Blending Trio or Color Fusion set, one Various Ink refill, and a 5x7 sketchbook.  

Demo Tomorrow, Winnipeg Canada

I realized that I forgot to mention to all my blog friends that this week I am in Winnipeg, Canada demoing at Artist's Emporium. Tomorrow evening you can come see me from 7pm-10pm at their AMAZING annual open house.  Food, Prizes, posters, freebies, and more await you!

Today I drew this fun pirate picture and colored it at the demo. Sometime next week I will try and post a few step-outs of the coloring process, though I may forget the colors I used.

Meanwhile, if you are in Winnipeg, I hope to see you there! If you aren't in Winnipeg, come take one of my upcoming classes in a city near you: in a few weeks in Pittsburgh and Salt Lake, or in the Chicago area at the end of May.

Vellum Sketch and Upcoming Events

I have a lot of events and classes coming up, but before I leave town, I wanted to share a quick sketch and process with you.

Coloring on Vellum
It's been a while since I posted something made on vellum. I had a drawing in my head, and I thought this would be perfect for a vellum sketch. I'm using a deluxe, heavyweight drawing vellum, so it has a slight grayish cast to it, but takes marker ink beautifully.

1. I started with a pencil sketch and overlaid a piece of vellum. I taped it down with masking tape to keep it in place as I colored.

2. Next, I work back to front. I begin by laying down some solid swatches of B45.

3. With my colorless blender, I went back over all the blue, to soften at the edges. I colored in the same direction as the original streaks. I want some streakiness to remain, just not as harsh on the edges. Then, I use my colorless blender to clear out the inside of the vase. Because marker ink does not soak into vellum, the colorless blender can completely remove ink, if you soak it enough. I was careful to wipe my blender marker tip clean on scratch paper after each stroke over the blue. 

4. Then I added E33 and E27 to the pitcher. I left the white area clear, and did minimal blending. Blending on vellum can turn streaky quickly.

5. Next I added the YG17 and G99 right over the top of any other colors. Although the greens are lighter, they will simply push other colors out of the way.

6. I added R43 as my pale pink. If you notice, all colors appear a little lighter on vellum, so go darker than you regularly would when coloring, or colors won't show up.

7. I touched up the pinks with RV29, and minimally blended it with the R43.

8. I finished up by pulling the sketch out from underneath and looking at areas that needed cleaning up. I darkened the brown with E49 and touched up a bit more RV29 and G99 to add details.

I love how soft and simple the finished image looks. And, it was very quick, as you can't go back and blend without causing streaks. If you don't color on vellum much, I strongly recommend trying it sometime.

Upcoming Classes and Events
This weekend I will be teaching  a couple classes in San Diego. I still have a few openings in my upcoming classes in San Diego, Salt Lake City, and Pittsburgh. We have other copic classes coming up in Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle, and Minneapolis, so visit our website to register or get more information. You can also email nancy@copicmarker.com for more registration information. 

Just this week we added a bunch of new classes:

May 31, South Chicago area, IL, Whimsical Faces & Hair, taught by Marianne Walker
May 31, South Chicago area, IL, Tracing Memories, taught by Marianne Walker

June 6, Ottawa, ON, Canada Standard Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
June 7, Ottawa, ON, Canada Intermediate Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
June 7,  Hanover, MD Whimsical Faces & Hair, taught by Lori Craig
June 7,  Hanover, MD Airbrushing for Papercrafters, taught by Lori Craig

Local Demos:
If you are in Oregon, I will be hosting a free drop-in studio event at the U of O Bookstore on May 17th. Click here for more details.

Ongoing: $5 Wednesdays, 4:00-5:30pm Tracing Memories drop-in dinner classes at Sheldon Park Assisted Living, Eugene. Call 541-344-1078 to RSVP.

Coloring a Goose, Part 2

New Opaque White
Final touches make all the difference in my opinion. Yesterday I showed you my goose, at the 95% done stage. Today I'll show you what I did to complete the image.

Contrast is the key to a well balanced image. When you have nice crisp whites, and rich dark colors, your image looks much more complete. But, fine areas are tricky to leave white when coloring with markers, so artists use Opaque white, a thick white waterbased paint to add white highlights back when coloring.

For a couple years, I have been working with .Too, the manufacturer for Copic products, to create a different version of our Opaque White paint. Because the Opaque White is so thick, it won't flow through traditional paint markers in a way that we were happy with, but we've wanted a better way to apply fine details with it.

So, we developed this new bottle with a built-in, super-fine brush. These are now available and very handy. I use mine for everything, and it has a spot right in the middle of my desk. I love it!

As you can see, the brush is very fine. It is perfect for all the little white glints on the goose feathers, the white around the beak, and any other fine highlight areas.

Whenever you apply opaque white, be sure you are completely done coloring with markers, as you can't color over the top of the of Opaque white without risking damaging your marker nibs.

I love how fine the details are! The brush tip is perfect for very precise detailed areas, much finer than the detail you can get with a white-out pen or white paint marker. The long handle fits your hand perfectly, giving you enough length that you feel more like you are using a traditional paintbrush. The white paint is very thick, meaning that even though strokes are fine, they are very opaque.

Here is my goose, with the final touches of opaque white added, and color-corrected on the computer. 
We will be using the new Opaque White with built-in brush at our upcoming workshops and classes. For those of you who want to use your own applicators, you can still purchase our larger bottles of traditional Opaque white.

Meanwhile, we encourage you to register for one of our classes. They are filling fast and are a great way to get a chance to experiment with our products.

Upcoming Classes
New classes just opened on our website!

I will be teaching a Whimsical Faces & Hair class along with a Tracing Memories class in Salt Lake City on May 10th. You can now register for those classes here. Either of these classes is perfect for beginners, no Copic experience needed!

There are many classes that still have space in them, so check this list carefully for upcoming locations near you. Register soon, as classes are filling quickly. Register on our website under each class type Standard, Intermediate, or Workshop

March 22nd, Portland, OR Whimsical Faces & Hair workshop  taught by Debbie Olson FULL
March 22nd, Portland, OR Airbrushing for Papercrafters  taught by Debbie Olson FULL
March 28th, Calgary, AB Standard Certification  taught by Sherrie Siemens
March 29th, Calgary, AB Intermediate Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
March 29, San Diego, CA  Whimsical Faces & Hair workshop, taught by Marianne Walker
March 30, San Diego, CA  Tracing Memories workshop, taught by Marianne Walker

April 11, Chicago, IL Standard Certification taught by Debbie Olson
Filling Fast!
April 11, Dallas, TX  Standard Certification, taught by Lori Craig
April 12, Chicago, IL  Intermediate Certification taught by Debbie Olson Filling Fast!
April 12, Dallas TX  Intermediate Certification taught by Lori Craig Filling Fast!
April 12, Phoenix AZ Whimsical Faces & Hair taught by Cindy Lawrence Filling Fast!
April 12, Phoenix, AZ Airbrushing for Papercrafters taught by Cindy Lawrence
April 29, Pittsburgh, PA  Airbrushing for Papercrafters taught by Colleen Schaan
April 29, Pittsburgh, PA  Whimsical Faces & Hair, taught by Colleen Schaan

May 1, Pittsburgh, PA  Tracing Memories  taught by Marianne Walker
May 1, Pittsburgh, PA Alcohol Ink Painting taught by Colleen Schaan
May 2, Pittsburgh, PA Standard Certification taught by Cindy Lawrence
May 2, Seattle, WA Standard Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
May 3, Pittsburgh, PA Intermediate Certification taught by Cindy Lawrence
May 3, Seattle WA, Intermediate Certification taught by Sherrie Siemens
May 10, Salt Lake City, Whimsical Faces & Hair workshop, taught by Marianne Walker
May 10, Salt Lake City,  Tracing Memories workshop, taught by Marianne Walker
May 16, Minneapolis, MN Standard Certification, taught by Debbie Olson
May 17, Minneapolis, MN Intermediate Certification, taught by Debbie Olson
May 24, Dallas, TX Whimsical Faces & Hair workshop, taught by Lori Craig
May 24, Dallas, TX Airbrushing workshop, taught by Lori Craig

Coloring a goose, Part 1

Monday I was at the park, on a rare sunny spring day (it usually rains in Oregon this time of year). The park was covered in geese, so my daughter and I tried to get them to come close enough to photograph, but without any food, they really weren't interested. I was able to snap a quick shot of one, and today I wanted to draw and color it.

Today's tutorial is the first half of coloring the goose drawing. Tomorrow I'll show you the final touches.

Coloring a Goose
Recently, I've shown you a lot of photographs the computer has converted to outlines for me. Yesterday, I drew the duck with a 0.3mm multiliner, then photocopied the drawing onto nice paper.

The overall tone of this goose is a warm gray, so I start by blocking in the basic W1 to define shadows. I didn't soak the paper too thoroughly, as I knew I would be blending more colors in. I left his white belly alone, as in the photo, you can see that is a very cool gray area, whereas the rest of the goose is warm gray.

Next, I layered in W4 for the shadows. Always look at the photo for reference on the shadows and details. On the neck, I added a few rough feathers with the W4 as well. At this point, I haven't blended anything.

The next step is to blend the W4 with the W1. Any areas that faded out too much, I let them dry and added more W4. Contrast is the key to having a believable image.

Next I added W7 for the darkest feather areas. Again, I blended it with the W4, but in areas that became too soft, I let them dry and added more W7 over the top. I was careful to keep the cheek and the top of the head as light as possible, to match the coloration from the photograph. If you look close, you can see that I applied the W7 in small, irregular strokes on the wings to simulate the edges of feathers.

For the yellow/orange beak and feet, I used Y32, Y38, and added deepest shadows with W4. I know I can shadow the yellows with Warm grays, since yellow and orange are warm colors.

 On the white belly, I colored the edges with BV20, as that is a nice, gray blue-violet to contrast the warm grays on the rest of the goose. I threw in a few hints of Y00 and W1 onto her belly, to warm up those tones as well.

Next I begin on the grass. I added YG03 as a base coat to the grass. This was applied as lots of short, irregular strokes, in kind of a scribbling pattern. Without any other colors, it already begins to look like grass. This is a great texture to practice. For best results, hold the brush more upright, as you will get finer lines.

I didn't feel like overwhelming the picture with green, so I stuck to creating a basic ground-plane for the goose to be waddling across. Even though the photo shows the whole area green, it is my artistic choice as to how much green to include.

Here is the final goose, with a few more details. I added YG09 and G28 to the grass, again in the short, crisp brush strokes. I added hints of E27 to deepen the shadows on the feet, and on some of the darker feathers. By adding brown, it gives a hint of color variety to the shadows. I also added a tiny bit of YG03 very lightly to the edge of his white belly. Although it is not in the photograph, I did this to suggest a reflection of the green from the grass.

Tomorrow I will show you a few more final touches to this goose. I hope the step-out today helped you see my process.