...and Action!
You can do WHAT with
Various Refills?!!?!!? Yes, mad scientist at work again!
This is take-two of the original piece of artwork my 2 year daughter and I were making. The glossy white tile below was created by dropping drops of the
Various Refill randomly onto the piece of tile and then using air from the
airbrush system to blow it around (you can simply blow on it as well but don't get too light-headed). Once we were happy with it we spritzed it with the
Various Blender Solution and watched the magic happen. Yes, you could leave it as is and it is a beautiful piece of artwork. If you want to use it as a coaster you will want to seal it first with a UV varnish.
So I was challenged to do something creative using the
Various refills and could have stopped there...but NO that wouldn't be me...I MUST take it a bit farther. So I decided to play.
Filling my (new) "
water-brush" with
Colorless Blender I began to brush in (or remove ink) to form a design. Can you see where i am going with this? As these tiles are extremely slick and glossy the ink just runs away with no place to go. Gets crazy really fast. I haven't played with Yupo paper yet but wonder if its similar.
Next comes the scary part. Oh yes, I just did that! Look at the red drops of the
Various Refill dropped onto the art piece, is it savable? Well worst case scenario I wipe off the whole tile and start over. So heck what is there to lose.
Using the
Alcohol brush I started to daub the color into place. Remember the ink has a mind of its own on glossy tiles so you kind of have to be okay with whatever happens. I showed this to my husband and he said "hey thats a nice squid"...errr, ummmm, yah okay...not what I was going for. I keep working at it until I was okay with how it looked. If you just move the ink around and don't clean off the alcohol brush tip the color is richer. If you wipe off the
alcohol brush in between stroke it will be more of an eraser with attitude.
I called it quits when the shapes were clear enough to say that I see a rooster, or a cock-a-doo as I daughter calls them. At least it doesn't look like a squid! Please tell me it doesn't look like a squid.
I will be sure to seal this before too long to protect it from scratching. I might actually cover it with resin but that will be take-three. Wouldn't this be a fun thing to do multiples of for a gift set for a friend? How about a holiday set? I would love to see what you create with
Various Refills or tiles.
Products Used:
If you missed my last post you will not want to miss this one. YES...juicy news!! Copic now has another
nib for the Sketch marker! You asked for it and you got it...a fine nib!
I created this card for Imagination International Inc using the
Copic Sketch Fine nib for an advertisement in a magazine. I think it was used in Cardmakers magazine. Does anyone have a copy? Take a look and tell me if it's in there...better yet can you send me a photo of the advertisement?
I drew this design using a
Multiliner and then colored it in using the new
Copic Sketch Fine nib. Some of the details in the orange slices were created with the
Fine nib. I thought I would would get creative and with a ruler I created the design in the background with the Imagination International Inc logo. I thought it would be a subtle way to do a background design and incorporate the logo. Did you know the logo was an iii?
If you want to create this card, or something else, here is the drawing and sentiment I created. If you print it twice you can use some of the slices popped up to create dimension.
Please do not share but rather point your friends to this post so they can enjoy the info as well as the image. - thank you
You have got to try these
new nibs! If you already have them you know they make dotting super easy. Show me what you have created!
Copics:
Background - YR23 B02 YR09
Oranges - YR09 YR07 YR04 Y13 Y15 Y38
Orange Shadow - B0000 B000 B00
THE MADNESS! Okay I am really...no, I mean REALLY stepping out of the box here. You know that empty marker that Copic has in their lineup of markers? Well I thought I would do some experiments with it. I know it's there to make your own colors or creating an existing color just using the various refills. I thought I would put my imagination to the test and see what other wonderful things can be done with this marker.
Image - Jim Henson Muppets
The first experiment was a slight failure. I will only say failure because i didn't have more time to really play with the idea, I still think there is a way to make this work. I wanted a brush tip to "paint" with coffee. Paint with coffee you ask? Yes, taking instant coffee and adding water and painting with it to give an old vintage, earthy look. I have done this before with a paint brush and it's yummy. Well why not use a
Copic Sketch Empty? The consistency was just too thin and would just blob out of the marker tip. I haven't given up on this idea. I think if i can thicken it up a bit it would work...maybe add glycerin? My science beakers are all put away at the moment...mwahahahaha. Maybe some day....so off to the next experiment.
The next thing I thought of was...wait for it....
How about creating my own white pen. We are always in search for that perfect white pen. I can not say this is it 100%...yet...but its a work in progress and a good start. The good news is it works!!
I had some Copic Comic Super White (similar to the Copic Opaque). It is a water-based product that can easily be applied using a paint brush or stylus. But I wanted something I could just uncap and go. The Copic Comic Super White I had on my shelf has sat for a long while, so when I opened it up I discovered it had dried out. But that was okay because it's water-based and by adding water and stirring it was just as good as new. The challenge is getting it to the correct consistency to pour into the marker end and not be too thin that it pours out the other end and thin enough to allow it to flow to the nib of the marker. At first it was too thick with the initial pour into the marker. I added a few drops of water to thin it out an then it just wanted to come out of the brush tip end in drops....I let it sit on its side a bit and then BAM it started working for me. I was able to create this small 5 x 7 mini artwork.
So for this artwork I colored on a piece of the new
Sketchbook paper with a
black (100) Copic Wide marker. Then I started to create!
Now my next concern was that it would dry out in the marker as it's not good with being exposed to air....I was right. It started to clog the nib a bit but I wasn't going to be defeated! I gently massaged the brush nib with water and it started to work again. Although a bit more thinned out it has continued to work even on day 4 of this experiment. That's great news. I will continue to work with it some more in hopes I can get the white to be a little less opaque. I do notice that the more layers I apply using the "white" marker, that darker and less transparent the white areas get.
I do love the end results. What do you think?
Okay, that is the full story of my moment of madness (which are frequent)....I hope you give this or another fun idea a try with the
empty Copic Markers! I want to see what you do.
Supplies:
Copic Comic Super WhiteEmpty Sketch MarkerCopic Wide MarkersCopic Sketchbook
Thought I would share another card using the
Copic Sketch Fine nibs. I used it to create the sand and the clouds for this card. I love the consistency of the dotted patterns they produce. They are quite easy to change it out. If you want to be frugal and just pull out the chisel nib
(Medium Broad nib) and place it in a baggie, you can replace it with the fine nib and then when you need the chisel end again you just pull out the fine nib and put place the chisel in again. Simple as that.
I use my chisel tips quite a bit for the airbrush system. If you don't use an airbrush system and don't feel its in your immediate future then this is a perfect permanent tip replacement. Whatever you do though...do not try the
airbrush system because you will want one!!! I love mine and use it a lot!!
Image from Saturated Canary (discontinued)
E50 E51 E21 BV20 BV23
B000 B00 B0000
E42 E43 E44
YR31
B91 B95
R24 R29 R59
Y15
How many of you have already tried the new nibs? How much do you love them? I would love to see what you have created!
I got to play with the new Copic
Sketch fine nibs....and what fun I had. I can still hear the sound in my head of me repeating to myself, "dot, dot, dot, dot" as I placed dots on this card. The fine nib will give you small dots that are a slight bit more even then if you were to use the Copic Brush nib. So for all those that were waiting for it...IT IS FINALLY HERE! See, Imagination International Inc. does listen to your pleas!
I will tell you though...I still love my brush nibs for flicking. I also prefer to not change out my nibs as I use both the brush and the chisel on a regular basis. So what am I going to do? Well buy some Copic's specifically for the Fine nibs. I will most likely do some for earth tones. So if you are looking for a
nib replacement option...look no further!
For this card I specifically used the fine nib for the shading of the clouds and the earth beneath this little cuties feet. Easy and had a very cool effect!
You can replace your
Sketch chisel nib with the fine nib if you do not use the
airbrush system then this might be the perfect thing for you. Remember to pick up the handy-dandy
Copic tweezers though so it makes it easier to pull out your nibs when it comes time to refill.
I would love to hear what you think of the
Copic fine nibs after you have had a chance to play with them so make sure you come back and let me know!
Copics:
YR02 04 07 09
E42 43 44
YG03 17 67
E50 51 21 93
BV20 E04
YG23 27
E25 27
B91 95 97 99
W3
