2 User Questions!

Two of our CMC followers had some questions which Kim & Amy kindly answered:

Question #1
I have some fantastic Geisha stamps that I'd like to color. As you know Geishas wore white face powder. What colors could I use for the white faces?

KIM:
Two things I would suggest... as for 'Edward's' face I used the lightest fruity colour E000, it's just a hint of colour which will give the contrast to complete white,
If that's too dark for you, you could try using E000 as the shadow and soften the colour further with your 0 colourless blender. E000 would also make a light tint for the cheeks.

AMY:
I use E40, E41, and plenty of blender 0 when I want a dull 'white cotton' kind of look. I'm thinking this could work for face paint as well especially if you are trying to mimic the older lead based face paints that were used before people realized they were poisonous. The only other combo I can think of that might work is W00, W0 maybe some W1 for stronger shadows with lots of blender 0 too.

The trick is going to be keeping it warm and natural looking and that is why I think combo choices that include B0000, G0000 or C00 will come out looking kinda otherworldly.


Question #2
Although I have followed all the tutorials, I am getting very "grainy"/"pixellated" results when using the techniques and colour combinations suggested, especially with skin where I am using E00,E11, R20.
I have tried; Copics own smooth card, Stampin' up Whisper White card, Bristol Board and Fabricano Artistico Hot Pressed/Satinata watercolour paper and have the same problem on all the different types of card.
Are the results meant to be "grainy" like this or is it possible to get a smooth result like the effect with promarkers?

KIM:
I think it would help to see the finish you're getting, I find sometimes the grain of the paper itself can materialise a few white dots on my coloured images.
Maybe you could try altering the order you are using the colours, start with the lightest and work up to darkest, or try darkest colour and work to lightest.
It might be you could try layering the mid tone colour again until the paper is evenly coloured.
If the pens are a little dry they may cause some streaking, but I have not noticed any grainy results unless I use a lighter colour over a dark and not blend them properly. some ink colours simply clash on the paper, E000 will not blend as smooth as E00, E000 lightens the base colours much more.
I don't know the true result from pro markers, my cousin has a few which I tried but I personally found the copics are better for me at blending. Do you colour with the pro markers in a circular motion or in lines? Do you colour with copics the same? Some will use the copics in a circular motion to saturate the paper. Maybe creating a few tester images, applying various techniques, would show different results!

AMY:
My first suggestion is Paper Trey Ink cardstock. I know the pixel look she is talking about and had to deal with it back when I was using Georgia Pacic. Since making the switch to PTI it is much less problematic. But the biggest fix to that problem was getting an E000 and adding it to the mix... for me it smoothes everything out so much nicer between the E00 and E11 giving those two a more gradual blend into each other.

Kim's ~ Grass Colouring Tutorial

Hi well here it is... my step by step on how I colour my grass... Hope it inspires....

First I stamp my image then cut out the desired shape, it's so much easier for me to re stamp then recolour an image if I didn't cut it properly, also it's easy to realign the die on the image to ink the border edge.

I have coloured the main figure with copics and given a soft shadow around the edge of her...*Skin: E000, E00, 11, 13 & R20, Hair: E50, 51, 31, Outfit: R22, 24, B91, 95, E41, and a little colourless blender!!!

Here are the varying greens I've chosen but by no means do you have to use these as any greens will work, I have a light, medium, darker and the darkest for shadows. The yellow will be the flowers but again any colour which suits your project will work!

I start by colouring my grass area, you can have this any size, maybe a mound, or small grassy verge... I have used YG93 and just coloured... you really don't need to be neat with this bit as it's going to be covered with LOTS of grass!!!

Next colour I've used YG17, now just flick starting at the bottom of your blade of grass flick the pen up, it will naturally tapper for you and try not to go straight up either and few stray directions make a more realistic grassy look!

I have covered the whole base colour with YG17 blades of grass, notice I have flicked a few strand directly over her shoes and trouser hem! This gives a more earthed impression of her standing in the grass instead of on top! You won't want any on the tops of her trousers though (unless the grass is super long and tall).

Right my next colour YG67 is a darker tone of green and this will give depth to the finished look... simply follow the previous grass flicking instruction with this colour, you will not need to cover as much area so you won't cover over the lighter blades. To really ground her I have taken my darkest tone BG96 and dotted around the base of her shoes and continued out a little to create a shadow!

The flowers are so fun... using Y08 dot directly onto the grass, hold the tip there for a little bit, the green will bleed out and the yellow will remain... continue this all over it is a very random colouring!

Don't forget the top of the flowers too, you won't need to hold the tip there this time as there is no colour to move. In fact a very gentle dab will produce a lovely tiny dot.

Ooh finished, just check now if I think there's enough shadow and contrast maybe add a little more to the shadow under her feet. You might have noticed I didn't need to use one of the colours I originally chose.

This is where I will replace the nestability die and blend a little distress ink to the edges.

Here is the image placed on the card front!!!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Echo Park - Sweet Summertime Collection Kit;

Stamps: SCACD: Go Green; little suzanne(from the last release);

Ink: Memento: black; Copic: markers*; Distress inks: antique linen;

Dies: Spellbinders nestabilties: circles; MS: butterfly punch;

Other: Flat Backed Pearls - 3mm - Golden Yellow; Flat Backed Pearls - 8mm - white; brad; scallop scissors; stitch tracer; 3D foam;

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope you get the chance to be creative with your copics, BiG HuGs Kim :)

Kim's Hair tutorial ~ Flapper Anya

I hope you enjoyed the video I have to say sorry there's no talking or music I will change it one day (when I know how... ha ha ha)!!!

Here's the finished card, I made flapper Anya spin in her aperture, but also used the same colouring technique for the back of her hair! You can click here for some details on creating the back image!

Thanks for looking, have a great day, HuGs Kim :)

Image: The Greeting Farm (Flapper Anya)

Color Me Copic Team - Meet Kim!

Kim

My Blog : www.paperbabe.blogspot.com

I can't remember now what I used before my copics ha ha ha, I think I actually didn't stamp then, I was very into die cutting! But I did have a collection of dried up alcohol markers from way back when I used them at college. Called magic markers I think, I also tried promarker brush pens that you filled with ink, slightly time consuming and you could never get the same colour tone twice.

When the stamping bug finally caught hold of me I went straight for a large set... yes!!! the only thing I wanted was a good range of different colours so bought a 72 sketch marker set D all the way from Japan ha ha ha, I think I waited over a month for them to arrive! THAT was over two years ago... I haven't got my certificate yet but I certainly intend to this year as I have found a contact here in UK now WOO HOO!

For me I think it's about practice really, I couldn't begin to tell you the amount of images I have coloured in, I think also having an arty background has helped me with shadows and highlights. I can see improvement in my own copic colouring all the time, my copic family are growing too and still totally LOVE them.

Thanks for stopping by HuGs Kim :)