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Im brand new to this forum but am very glad I found it, I haven't been able to find the answer to my question and if anyone can help me it's you guys!
So, I've been scrapbooking for a few years now and just recently (like this past month) got into card making. I've noticed that many people are filling in and coloring their stamps on their cards and I really like the way it looks.
What I want to know is what are they using? I've seen some people say some brands (copics, prismacolor, aquamarkers, promarkers). I can't really afford the copics right now (especially if I end up deciding that cards/coloring in stamps isn's something I want to do) and Im wondering if anyone out there can tell me what markers can do the blending thing and would be good for someone just wanting to test it out. So any info you have for me would be great! Thanks so much!
I really love using pastels (like Stampin Up's) and watercolor crayons. Pastels are great for a beginner--they are erasable-- and can also be easily used for watercoloring as well. Blender pens and aqua painters make it super easy. They're affordable, too!
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If you don't want to invest just yet in copics, you may want to try colored pencils such as prisma pencils. You can get a set at Michaels or Joanns (wait for a coupon) and you can blend colors by using odorless mineral spirits - which is found in artsy section at those craft stores (michaels sell it under the Mona Lisa brand name).
Pencils are a much less expensive way to start and you can get a feel for what it takes to blend and shade.
Watercolors are also a good alternative, although they work best with watercolor paper and you may not always want to use that type of paper,
Hope this helps!
If you like the look of the markers, BIC Mark-Its are the cheaper way to start. A 36-pack will get you every color they put out, but a 24-pack would be just as good to start with. You can find a great selection of individual pens at most Staples stores, if you run out of a particular color.
I started with BICs and haven't yet seen the need for Copics. To each his/her own!
If you already have a good selection of ink pads, you can water color with those. Just press the ink pad onto a piece of plastic or acetate to transfer some color, get a paintbrush, some water and color away! There are tons of tutorials available on You Tube, or here on SCS, that will teach you to color in every way imaginable!
If you already have a good selection of ink pads, you can water color with those. Just press the ink pad onto a piece of plastic or acetate to transfer some color, get a paintbrush, some water and color away!
thank you for the links Im about to go watch the tutorial now.. but ur cards are so beautiful I think the rose one is my fave... and this might be stupid but what is a "blender pen"? lol sorry im just really lost on this whole subject lol
To answer your question about blending, I just blend with the markers themselves. The general idea is to blend a darker color with a lighter color (using the lighter color marker). The alcohol in them is what makes them special, so Sharpies work, too. (I just happen to prefer the feel of the BICs.)
Do check out the BIC blending tutorial that was posted. It's a good, basic tutorial and should help!
thank you for the links Im about to go watch the tutorial now.. but ur cards are so beautiful I think the rose one is my fave... and this might be stupid but what is a "blender pen"? lol sorry im just really lost on this whole subject lol
Don't feel stupid, we learn new things every day in the stamping world. Early on when I started stamping, my demonstrator introduced me to blender pens. Until then, I had no idea what they were.
Blender pens are pens filled with a clear solution. They allow you to pick up ink (or other coloring mediums) and apply it to the image. Here is one example, sold by Stampin Up. Blender Pens - by Stampin' Up!
I know other companies make them too. If you have a local scrapbook store in your city, you might be able to buy them there. They might have them at Michaels or Joann's too, I just don't know because I buy mine from SU.
I like blender pens because they are not as wet as standard watercoloring, but they still let you blend. Also, I get darker color than with a brush, standard watercoloring gives me very light color that doesn't suit my taste. Also, I think blender pens are easier for a beginner to use. Some people prefer watercoloring with a paint brush or Aquapainter (a brush that holds water so that it stays wet). It's just a matter of preference.
Whatever you try, remember that it takes time to master. Don't be frustrated if you don't like your first result, just play around with it until you learn what works for you.
I used copics for almost 2 years, then I discovered derwent coloursoft pencils. I haven't really used my copics since then. Love these pencils. It's so easy to blend them using a blending stump and baby oil.
Here's a couple of my cards using these pencils.
So many choices, so little time. LOL When I started and didn't know what I was doing, I used my kids colored pencils, because we had tons of them left over and that was an era where I was doing some stamping on tissue paper and the decopaging the images onto other things, like those large flat clear marbles and wire wrapping them for a large drop on a necklace, or cabinet knobs, which Decopage glue highlighted my pencil colored images wonderfully and I loved the results.
I got my blender pen from Michael's Arts and Crafts, based on another shopper's opinion (LOL) but I don't really like it. I don't like that I have the clean the ink off of it everytime I need to change colors, it seems so wasteful and uses up the liquid in the pen iteself. She also talked me into an Aqua Painter, I used it for a while with my Marvy Stamp markers, by scribbling the color onto an acrylic block and picking it up with the wet Aqua Painter. Oh my Goodness!!! This was so quick and easy and it gave such beautiful water color results. I love water color images on manufactured of Hallmark Card Program cards and I was so Giddy. LOL
I eventually invested in some Stampin Up dye reinkers @ $2.95 each(they last foreeeeeever), very basic colors, real red, crushed curry(yellow), 2 blues-tempting turquoise and night of navy, 2 greens-old olive and certainly celery, orange-pumpkin pie, 2 browns-close to cocoa and choc chip, lovely lilac and pixie pink for cheeks and blush blossom for faces. I put them in an artists palette plate, one of those cheapie little white ones with about 10 divits to hold your colors. I put 2 drops of each color in each divit plus a drop or two of water. I bought the cheap set of Aqua Painters from Hobby Lobby, 3 different sizes, but I find that when you squeeze them for more water, the color sucks up inside the pen and I was having to clean them out constantly. So I just keep a cup of water next to me while I'm painting for rinsing and adding more water. I like to scribble out some of my colors on a ceramic plate or a large acrylic block---when I want a more diluted color. Like when I'm making shadow around my stamped and colored images, I dilute the Night of Navy way down to a very light grey. I prefer the smallest aqua painter, it holds just the right amount of diluted re-inker and goes forever. I do assembly line painting, where I stamp many of the same image and do one portion/paint the same portion of each image, by the time you do the last image, the first image is dry and you are ready to paint the next thing on your image, say your images have feet, I will paint the feet of each image first. Then I can move on. This allows the water enough time to dry so I don't get any bleeding. I did this on Calendars for the women in my family last year, I stamp images for all of the holidays and color them in and they all loved it!! People are so easily amazed at my minimal efforts. Aqua painting is so forgiving, and goes so quickly. I have some neck disc issues, a compromised T-8 vertebrae and I've had carpal tunnel in my right hand repaired years ago, but I love this type of filling in for my stamped images. My hand doesn't like having to firmly hold a marker. I do on occasion use the Bic Mark its, but because I got a huge set at Wal-mart for $10.00, and they are okay but paper absorbes them fast, so you can't linger near the outline of your image for very long at all. My hand doesn't like the constant grip I have to have to do controlled coloring, if that makes sense. With the Aqua painter it's more like smearing on the color with a very light touch. LOL If your kids have any water color or washable crayola markers you can try this at home with very little cost and see how you like it. Just scribble out some of the marker colors onto a dinner plate, get a small paint brush and add some water to your scribbles and you're in business. I can't afford Copics right now, and I bought a huge Crayola 50 marker set at W-Mart for $8.00 and it's okay. Gives a darker color if you just want to use a marker, but not as dark and out of control as the Bic permanant markers.
I've never done the Mineral spirits or Baby Oil, which I think would probably be very interesting, but I just don't like the idea of adding "oil" to paper. Oil stains things or seeps, Like if you're eating pizza and you get a drop of oil on your book!! so maybe I'm being totally silly about it and should just try it. I did purchased some chalks and so I could easily use them there too and I have some old pastels from my kids stash too. I will likely go for the mineral spirits because it was made for artistic purposes.
I only used white card stock from Wal-mart to begin. It does make your CS a little bit wavy, but not too bad. You can bend it back into shape before glueing to your card. I have since purchased some inexpensive pad of Water Color paper at Wal-mart and what a world of difference. The water color paper is, of course made to accept the water and indeed it does, and you don't get the warping.
I use StazOn permanant ink. But it dries out quickly on the pad, which I have purchased reinker for, but I will be looking at an alternative.
So I would play around with some inexpensive options, it will at least get you leaning in the direction that you want to go because you will know right away what works best for you and what you really like the results of.
I wish there was a place to get a small basic set of copics, just good old primary colors to get started with and not have to spend and arm and a leg. LOL
thank you all so much for all the great info and sharing the examples of your beautiful work! I guess Im gonna try out some blending pens.. with my ink but Im also thinkin maybe I'll try some colored pencils.. which brand of pencils do u guys suggest? Also.. Michaels is having a sale right now on the prismacolors markers.. they're like $60 and then they also have an additional 40% off your entire art purchase that would make them like.. $36 do you guys think that's a worth while deal?
thank you all so much for all the great info and sharing the examples of your beautiful work! I guess Im gonna try out some blending pens.. with my ink but Im also thinkin maybe I'll try some colored pencils..
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which brand of pencils do u guys suggest?
Also.. Michaels is having a sale right now on the prismacolors markers.. they're like $60 and then they also have an additional 40% off your entire art purchase that would make them like.. $36 do you guys think that's a worth while deal?
I love derwent coloursoft. You can get them at michaels with coupon. Not sure what sizes they have, I first bought a smaller size (24 pencils).Loved them so much, my art store let me return those because I decided to get the largest size (72 pencils). I got them from dick blick for around $66.
I love these because they are soooo easy to use the the results are so nice. All I do is apply some color then take a blending stump, dip it in baby oil and blend it using circular strokes. Then I add a little bit of a darker shade and blend it with the lighter shade. I sort of use the same technique I used with my copics, I just don't have to worry about bleeding over the stamped line anymore.
I did notice though that I get much better results when working with couture card stock instead of georgia pacific. I am sure there are many other card stocks that work great too.
Prismacolor markers are a great alternative to copics. I started with them first because hubby already had some for his artwork. They are very similar to the original copic markers, but the reason why I decided to start buying copics was that I wanted to get more colors from the same color group for blending. But like I said, I now use mostly my derwent coloursoft pencils because I find them much easier to use.
If you like the look of the markers, BIC Mark-Its are the cheaper way to start. A 36-pack will get you every color they put out, but a 24-pack would be just as good to start with. You can find a great selection of individual pens at most Staples stores, if you run out of a particular color.
I started with BICs and haven't yet seen the need for Copics. To each his/her own!
I recently won a starter Copic set, but it doesn't have enough colors to blend. I was thinking about trying Bics, but what type tip do you get? I see mostly they say "fine tip", is that good for coloring?
Thanks,
Anne
I use SU watercolor pencils since I am a SU demonstrator.
I really like the Prism watercolor pencils though. I used to use them all the time.
If you go with pencils be sure and get watercolor pencils not just colored pencils. WC pencils are made for blending and shading. You won't get the same effect from just plain colored pencils.
I want to thank those who have posted about using the baby oil with colored pencils. I have used the Goo Gone and baby oil, and I like both methods. At first I thought I liked the Goo Gone best, but have discovered I also really like using the baby oil. At least with the baby oil, I do not have to worry about my kitties getting into it. I've used all different sorts of pencils, and like all of them also. Some just require using a little more pressure and goo gone or baby oil. Thank again!
This is a great tutorial for using Bic and Sharpie markers to get the Copic effect.
Thank you for posting my video : ) I need to do another one, just haven't had the time to get it together. I still use the bics and sharpies, but have bitten the copic bullet and have lots of those as well.
Colored pencils and distress ink are another great way to go, very easy to use and very inexpensive.
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Coloring in stamps?
Thanks!
