So we have talked a bit about Copic markers the last couple of weeks. I hope you now understand better what they are and why they are special. The fun stuff starts soon I promise! We will spend the next few weeks playing with techniques and experimenting with colours and styles.

But before you can colour, you need to get 2 very important things right first.

Ink and paper.

Get one (or both!) of them wrong, and you will be very disappointed in your results.

INK:

You probably have a black ink pad at home, and perhaps even a favourite black marker. They may have worked well for you in the past with other stamping and colouring techniques, but you will need to test them on Copics as well.

Not only will your colouring results be affected by the wrong ink, but you can also contaminate your Copic marker nib if you colour over a water based ink, so try this simple test before using your pens or ink pads with Copic colouring.

Stamp an image with your ink pad, or draw a line with your pen. Using a light coloured Copic marker, colour a ‘blob’ right next to the line, being very careful not to touch the ink line with your marker. Remember, if it turns out to be a ‘bad’ ink for Copics, you may contaminate your marker by colouring over it.

Get as close to the line as you can without touching it, and then colour over and over the same dot again and again, to oversoak the paper. When you oversoak paper, it starts to feather out at the edges, and this will push the colour up over the line without you having to colour right up to it.

The line on the left was drawn with a Copic Multiliner, and you can see that as the colour approached the line, it cleanly overlapped to the other side. The line on the right was drawn with another high quality pen, a Staedtler fineliner. It is a great pen, it just isn’t right for use with Copics. As you can see, the colour kept travelling past the line, but the green that ended up on the wrong side is dirty with spread ink.

You may find that your favourite black pen responds in this way at first, but you might be able to achieve an acceptable result by trying a few different papers, or heat setting your ink before colouring. Perhaps it just needs a longer drying time.

But if you want a perfect, reliable result everytime, without heat setting or clear embossing, we recommend Tsukeniko Memento ink, and you can get it in the Lime Tart store. For handwriting and touch ups, Copic’s Multiliners are fabulous. They come in many different thicknesses and are ideal for ‘fixing’ missed impressions on your stamping, or adding personal touches like backgrounds to your character stamps. These will be available in the Lime Tart store under Copic Accessories next week.

Printer inks need to be tested in the same way. Photocopiers or laser printers fuse toner to the paper, and your Copic markers will work well with these types of inks, but most people have inkjet printers at home. You will need to test the suitability of the type of ink in your printer using the same method shown above. Remember not to get untested ink on the tip of your marker.

PAPER:

Paper was something that I struggled with for some time. There are so many papers to choose from and some even say they are especially made for markers. But Copics are special. Their unique blending abilities depend on the right type of paper with the perfect properties.

Your ideal paper will not soak up too much ink, will allow for smooth blending of colours and with minimal ink spread.

Our suggested paper, X-Press it Blending Card, comes highly recommended by Marianne of Copic USA and is available from Lime Tart in individual A4 sheets as well as discounted packs of 10 and 20 sheets.

Here are a couple of techniques for testing if the paper you have on hand is good for copic colouring.

Using a pre-tested or Copic recommended marker or ink, draw a circle on the paper you are testing. (I used a Copic Multiliner) Colour it in using small, circular motions with a light coloured Copic marker.  Colour quickly, evenly soaking the paper for a smooth result. Colour up to the line, but not over it. Let it dry a moment.

Evaluate: After one layer of colouring, a good Copic paper will not yet be oversoaked (the colour will not have feathered outside the inkline) Your coloured circle should look like the one above.

If you coloured up to the line but your ink kept going by itself, then the fibres in your paper are too soft and you will not achieve good results with this paper. Do not confuse this with ‘colouring outside the lines’  Be sure to keep the colour inside the circle so you can properly evaluate the absorbency of your paper.

Your colouring may or may not show through the back of your paper. This does not relate to the paper’s quality or effectiveness with Copics.

Colour over your circle a second time to establish how much ink it takes to oversoak your paper. If your colour bleeds outside the inkline after the second layer, you may find it difficult to achieve the desired results with this paper, as once you start colouring with multiple shades and adding depth and shadow, you will quickly oversoak this paper. If you choose to colour with a paper that oversoaks easily, you may need to develop a technique that is very light-handed or uses minimal colour layering.

Next, take a darker colour and colour in half of the circle using a feathering stroke by starting from the outside edge of your circle and flicking the pen into the centre of the circle.

Take your original colour again, and colour in a circular motion over the join, where the 2 colours meet. On a good paper, this should close the gap between the 2 different markers, and result in a seamless blend from dark to light.

Highly absorbent papers such as papers intended for use with watercolours, will make it very difficult for you to achieve this blend as they soak up too much ink. Not only will you be unable to get the results you are looking for, but your markers will also dry out quicker.

When your paper and inks pass the above tests, you can be confident that you have the best foundation for developing a successful colouring style.

If you’re interested in getting started with Copics, why not grab the Lime Tart Copic Club starter kit? Save over 20% and benefit from our experience.

We have carefully selected the best paper and ink for use with Copics, combined them with 10 great co-ordinating colours plus a blender pen to get you started, and created a Resource Manual for you to store our series of fact sheets and tips and techniques cards. The Lime Tart Copic Club Resource Manual is an essential guide to building and maintaining your Copic Marker collection. From the absolute beginner to advanced papercrafters – join us in our journey to create your very own personalised Copic Marker journal.

You will receive new information cards as well as blank inserts for stamping and colouring practice and to record your favourite colour combinations and technique experiments each time you top up your copic collection.

Available in the Lime Tart store Tuesday 1 June, take your stamping to the next level and be part of the amazing Copic experience!