To be continued...

Some of you ( hopefully) remember my post from November, in which I presented the drawing " Equipped" that I drew with the Prismacolor markers. That drawing was made on a post card size ( 5x7) and I swore to myself I'll redo it once I get my Copic markers.
Here is the second version of that drawing, made with Copic markers and larger size of course- 8x11 this time.

Here is some detail of the drawing too

And here it is in a 9X12 frame on the wall

Even with this bad quality of the pictures you can tell the difference between the first drawing with the Prismacolors and the second drawing with the Copic markers:

1. Prismacolor brush tip markers- 5x7

2. Copic Sketch brush tip markers- 8X11

Absolutely incomparable, look at the shading on the second one, and this is my second drawing with them. The paper is Papertray by the way. I highly recommend it for Copics, since it's heavier than the bleed proof paper Copic made. It is a real pleasure to work with these markers! I hope I can show you more of the new things I have been working on soon. 

Happy Holidays everyone!

Annie

Copic markers

Many of you know what Copic markers are but for those who don't, you can take a look at the official Copic website. There is a lot of information about the way they are different from regular markers, the different styles of markers Copic offers, some tips and tutorials too. It's a great resource if you are planing to buy some or you already have a set.

 ( My Copic Sketch Set A)

I have been thinking of getting myself some Copics for a while, and I would have tried them much sooner if it wasn't for their price. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree they are worth the money and in the long run they come up cheaper than other brands, but let's face it- it's a large sum  if you want to pay upfront for a decent selection to start with.

(The colors in my Sketch A Set)

 I had trouble deciding which kind I want to get. I have been working with brush-tip markers for a while and although it was difficult in the beginning, now I feel they are the right markers for me. The drawing comes more natural and it has the "brush" feeling, as the regular markers just lack that. That's why after a long deliberation I decided that the best option for me are the Papercrafting Sketch markers and  I chose Set A . It was important to me that the set has all basic colors, although I must say it's quite addictive and you want to buy more and more to fill in all the shades.  That's how I got the Multiliner set and the Original Cool Gray Set. :-)

( The Multiliner Set )

I must say I'm quite impressed with the quality of these markers and they are absolute delight to work with, however even the best markers depend on the quality of the paper used and THAT gave me some trouble. 

Initially I got the Copic Bleedproof Marker Pad and I thought that since it comes from Copic it will be perfect for the markers. Wrong! The paper wasn't bad-bad...but it wasn't good either. Much thinner than what I expected ( you can almost see through it!) and it didn't blend as well as I wanted it to.  Once you start blending there is this pattern that comes through that shows the structure of the paper and I really don't like that. So, I did my homework and read online what other people had to say about the perfect paper for Copic markers and tried couple of different brands.

 ( My Copic color chart)

A lot of people were recommending Papertray cardstock and I decided to order it and give it a try. I received less expensive and very nice quality paper that worked wonderfully with the Copics. The markers didn't bleed on it, but blended very well. I must say for now this paper is my first choice to work with.

In the next couple of days I'll show you what I worked on with the markers, but here are my first couple of drawings that I did on the Copic paper when I first got the markers. I was just exploring the mixing of colors and color blending, so don't expect DaVinci here :-)

    

Once I have my Papertray drawings uploaded, I'll show you the difference in the paper too.


Annie

Rudolph- Red Christmas

 My daughter LOVES Rudolph and to be honest I think the song is quite catchy too. 

So there it is, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for you and a some cards to go with it too!

Here are the red Christmas cards I made:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.


9.


10.


11.


12.



Most of the cards are with handmade poinsettia flowers again, the rest are with Copic markers illustrations.



Enjoy,


Annie

I'm dreaming of a ...BLUE Christmas!

I have been working like mad to finish my Christmas cards and let me tell you, with a clingy 4 year old on your lap it ain't fun and games, people! Well, what is done is done so I can just go ahead and show you what I've been working on. This is only half of the cards ( hopefully in the next couple of days I'll post more).

A couple of words about the cards of course, they are decorated with handmade poinsettia flowers .  I got the idea for the flowers from a friend's blog - Ra4eto and although I didn't see a tutorial or anything, I figured out it can't be that hard to make them, so there they are:

I like the green-blue-white-silver combination for Christmas cards, not very traditional, but in my opinion nice enough!
I don't know if you can tell from t he pictures ( not a very good job with them this time, sorry it was gloomy and I had to take pictures inside the house), but the actual leaves of the poinsettia flowers are shimmery.
 
Come back tomorrow for more RED poinsettias!

I'm dreaming of a ...BLUE Christmas!

I have been working like mad to finish my Christmas cards and let me tell you, with a clingy 4 year old on your lap it ain't fun and games, people! Well, what is done is done so I can just go ahead and show you what I've been working on. This is only half of the cards ( hopefully in the next couple of days I'll post more).

A couple of words about the cards of course, they are decorated with handmade poinsettia flowers .  I got the idea for the flowers from a friend's blog - Ra4eto and although I didn't see a tutorial or anything, I figured out it can't be that hard to make them, so there they are:

I like the green-blue-white-silver combination for Christmas cards, not very traditional, but in my opinion nice enough!
I don't know if you can tell from t he pictures ( not a very good job with them this time, sorry it was gloomy and I had to take pictures inside the house), but the actual leaves of the poinsettia flowers are shimmery.
 
Come back tomorrow for more RED poinsettias!

The 12 days of Christmas

    Ah, don't you just love when you have been outside the whole day, doing errands, raking leaves ( or shoveling snow) or simply enjoying the cold weather, and when you get home, sit down on the sofa a blanket warming up your feat, reading a nice book and drinking a cup of steaming cocoa with marshmallows? Yeah, that's me... when I'm dreaming, because the only think I've seen next to a cup of steaming cocoa is a cup of steaming Teraflu, the blanket was necessary I admit, because I've been having chills allover, and the nice book was substituted with a box of tissues, which although made from the same material as books ( different form of paper) are not nearly as much fun to go through!

   I've been sick, sick and sick again these 3 weeks and I thought it will never end! I'm just happy that I'm feeling better now and I can share with you the million things I did while I was sick. Don't be surprised, you should know by now that probably I'll have some "work" to do on  my deathbed too! :-)

So here I go:

...On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- one woodburned holder for my keys...

...On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- a star-shaped box and a woodburned holder for my keys ...

...On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- a wall art spatula, a star-shaped box and a woodburned holder for my keys...

 

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- pen or tissue holder,  a wall art spatula, a star-shaped box and a woodburned holder for my keys...

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- two Gingerbread men notebooks, pen or tissue holder,  a wall art spatula, a star-shaped box and a woodburned holder for my keys...

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- three Christmas tree notebooks, two Gingerbread men notebooks, pen or tissue holder,  a wall art spatula, a star-shaped box and a woodburned holder for my keys...

On the seventh day of Christmas  my true love gave to me

- five notebooks with snowflakes, three Christmas tree notebooks, two Gingerbread men notebooks, pen or tissue holder,  a wall art spatula, a star-shaped box and a woodburned holder for my keys...

 

On the eight day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- two sleigh picture frames, five notebooks with snowflakes, three Christmas tree notebooks, two Gingerbread men notebooks, pen or tissue holder,  a wall art spatula, a star-shaped box and a woodburned holder for my keys...

On the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

- a looong and deserved naaaaap....

Annie