Christmas Challenge Winner!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

I am so sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the Christmas Challenge.  I have been away and had some technical difficulties posting onto the blog.

Nevertheless, here I am.... and before I announce the winner I'd like to say a couple of things!

Firstly, I hope you had a very merry Christmas and that you are enjoying the holiday season.

Secondly, I was absolutely blown away, firstly by the number of entries for this challenge....and secondly, by the quality of entries!!!! Your creations were simply amazing!

Thank you ALL for sending in your gorgeous creations.  I wish I could give a prize to each of you!

So now, without further ado, the winner this month is......#37-FIONA!!!

Well done!!! ... 

FIONA, please email us your address so we can mail your prize to you!!!! 

Thank you again for ALL your entries!

I wish you all a very happy New Year, and a healthy, colourful and creative 2012!!!

Lots of love .... Mandi-Lee
xxx

Summer Challenge!

Here in Australia, Summer is well and truly upon us, so what better time to have a SUMMER CHALLENGE!!!  What does Summer mean to you?  Do you think of hot days at the beach, swimming in a pool, camping, bold blooms or just generally being outside and playing with the kids?  For our friends in the Northern Hemisphere who like to play along, perhaps this is just the challenge you need to escape from the cold and snow that you are experiencing right now?!

For my feature card, I've chosen to go with bright, happy colours and this adorable Beach Marci stamp by La La Land Crafts!  You can find the recipe for the card and the instructions on My Blog!

Copic Colours used - 
Hat/Float Ring/Swimmers - G20, G21, G24, Y21, Y35, Y38, RV55, RV63, RV66
Hair - E50, E51, E53, YR31
Skin - E000, E01, E11, R20

What's the Challenge?: Create a project (card, layout, off the page) using your Copic Markers to create a Summer  Project!!! Doesn't matter what image you use - let's see what Summer inspires in you!

Is there a Prize?: YES!!!  An Acrylic Block and pack of A4 Blending Card!!

Who can play?: This challenge is open to EVERYONE, including international!

How do you enter?: Use the inlinkz below to connect to your blog or online gallery and upload it prior to 6pm Monday 23th January, Australian EST (4am USA EST)!!!

I can't wait to see what you create!!!

Happy Colouring!!
Kathy

Working With Reds

Hello Everyone and welcome to another CopicOz Tutorial!  Today I'm going to be talking about working with Reds.  Many people find working with reds challenging as the dense and intense colours have a habit of bleeding where you don't want them to!  I find that having a lighter hand and not over blending makes a big difference and also using a paper that is able to handle more ink helps a lot too.

Lets have a look at what I would do with reds.....
I've used Berry Sweet by Flourishes for my tutorial and have imagined the light source is coming from the upper right hand side.

First I lay down my base colour of R32, it really doesn't have to be very wet to saturate the paper, remember reds like to bleed and also, the colourless blender will not work well with reds, so you don't want to go outside the lines!

Next I've flicked in some R35 (I'm showing this before blending).  I find that using a Feathering action means not as much ink is laid down and therefore less likely to bleed! Then very lightly flick out with R32 to blend. 

Next I've added some R37 where the darker shadows would be, once again before blending.  If you are finding that your colour is starting to move where you don't want it too, leave it to dry for little bit so the paper isn't so saturated.

I like a lot of contrast in my images, so I've added a little R39 to make the berries look rounder.  Once again I've just flicked in a little bit and very lightly blended.

If you really want to deepen those shadow areas, try adding a little RV99 - look how much deeper those shadow areas are now!

One thing I always do with my images, is colour the red areas first.  Why? Well, if it does bleed and make a mess, at least I haven't spent a lot of time working on the rest of the image and can simply start again.

If you are struggling with your reds, here are some tips you may like to try.....

• Work on an absorbent surface, but putting clean scratch paper or paper towel under your work.  This will help absorb some of the excess ink.
• Try different paper!  A soft paper is much more likely to bleed.
• Use less ink - it doesn't matter if the back isn't looking smooth, focus on the front and don't over soak your paper.
• Feather blend or flick your colours rather than circle blend.  This made a huge difference for me.
• Let your layers dry before adding the darker colours as your paper can only hold so much ink before bleeding.
• Stay away from your edges so that a little bleeding will not go outside the line, remember due to the intensity of red, the colourless blender won't work to correct your mistakes.

I hope you've enjoyed today's tutorial and make sure you leave us a comment with a link to all your creations colouring with reds!!

Happy Colouring!
Kathy  :)

Springtime Challenge WINNER

Oh My!!!  What an assortment of gorgeous cards I had to drool over this month!!!  From flowers, bears and little girl images to even little girls aged 5 showing us that they too are Copic lovers!!!  :)  A big thank you to everyone for playing along in my challenge this month, I wish I could give a prize to you all!!!

The lucky winner this week is number 6, CRAFTDEE DONNA!!!!

Congratulations, you've won 2 La La Land Stamps and an Acrylic Block!!!  Please Email Sascha with your postal details so we can send your prize to you!!!

There are even more chances to win by playing along with the December challenge, can't wait to see what you create next!!!

Happy Colouring!
Kathy  :)

Copic Oz Christmas Challenge

Can you believe it is already almost December !  Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!  Well at Copic Oz anyway!

We have an unbelievable challenge for you this month.... with an even more unbelievable prize!

So....this brings me to the challenge.....

What's the Challenge?: Create a project (card, layout, off the page) using your Copic Markers to show us your best Copic Christmas creations!

Is there a Prize?: YES!! This month the prize is a 12 pack of SPICA!!!!  Woohooo!

Who can play?: The challenge is open to EVERYONE, including international!!!

How do you enter?: Use the inlinkz below to connect to your blog or online gallery and upload it prior to 6pm Monday 26th December 2011, Australian EST (4am USA EST)!!! The winner will be announced on Tuesday 27th December 2011.

Happy Colouring....Mandi-lee
xxx

Colouring Pleats Tutorial

Today, I wanted to show you how I colour pleats, when the pleats are already drawn into the image.

Here is the image that I have used.  This little cutie is Fancy Marci.

I wanted to show you exactly how I coloured her pleats.....so I have made a little step by step movie for you to watch.

Let me know what you think .... and please be sure to leave some LOVE!!!!!

Happy Colouring ..... Mandi-Lee

xxx

Copic Girls Night In Update

For those of you in the papercraft community who have been following the journey of fellow blogger and talented papercrafter – Katie Renz, today is indeed a very sad day as we share in the loss of Katie, who passed away this morning. Our thoughts and sympathy are with her young family and friends.

So many precious lives are lost each year to cancer which is why Copic Australia chose to support Girls Night (an initiative of the Cancer Council) in 2011. We are pleased that with the support of our Copic retailers and the loyal colouring community, we have so far raised over $10,000.00. We are still waiting on a few final collections (so if you have not sent your forms and collections back please do asap). We once again want to thank you all for your support of this worthy cause which touches the lives of so many.

In honour of Katie (and all of those strong and courageous woman who have battled Cancer) Copic Australia is will be adding to our tally by donating an additional $1,000.00 to Girls Night In.  

Trick or Treat?

Happy Halloween from everyone at Copic Oz! We thought you might like a little bit of blog candy... Leave us a comment telling us what you are doing to celebrate this fun time of the year! The best 31 comments with will be sent a trick or treat... you have until midnight tonight 31/10/11... (AEST, sorry Australian and New Zealand residents only.)

Springtime Challenge!

Hello Everyone!!  Spring is here (although sometimes that is hard to believe considering how cool it has been lately), so let's celebrate by using your Copics to create a SPRING themed project!!!  You could focus on Spring flowers, or perhaps Spring showers, pastels or even Spring Cleaning!!!  Let's see how Springtime inspires you!!!

For my feature card, I've chosen to go with soft pastels, butterflies and flowers (yes, I know you are all shocked that I've used flowers LOL!!!).  The stamps I've used are Botanical Butterflies by JustRite Stampers and you can find the recipe and details on My Blog!

Copic Colours used - 
Flowers and Butterfly - RV000, RV32, RV34
Leaves - G20, G21, G24
Script behind flowers, flower centres and butterfly body - E50, E51, E53


What's the Challenge?: Create a project (card, layout, off the page) using your Copic Markers to create a Springtime Project!!! Doesn't matter what image you use - let's see what Spring inspires in you!

Is there a Prize?: YES!!  2x La La Land Stamp and an  Acrylic Block!!

Who can play?: This challenge is open to EVERYONE, including international!

How do you enter?: Use the inlinkz below to connect to your blog or online gallery and upload it prior to 6pm Monday 28th November, Australian EST (4am USA EST)!!!

I can't wait to see what you create!!!

Happy Colouring!!
Kathy

Copic Oz Challenge Winner!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

It's that time again when we announce the winner of this month's CopicOz challenge!!!

Thank you so much to all the people who joined us for this Challenge!!!

Your creations were simply amazing!

Without further ado, the winner this month is......Julie Price!!!

Well done!!! ... and thank you for ALL your entries

Julie, please email us your address so we can mail your prize to you!!!!

Bubbles and Pebbles Tutorial

Hello Everyone!!  Today I'm going to show you how much fun it is to create bubbles and pebbles!  It's always fun to add a little scenery to your images and bubbles are easy to create for your water scenes and pebbles for under buckets and park benches or even pebble pathways!  It's easy and yet so effective!

Bubbles are EASY!  Simply take a blue Copic Marker and add dots of various sizes.

Let it dry for a bit (this way your Colourless Blender will give a stronger effect) and then take your Colourless Blender and add dots to the centre of your blue dots.  Because the Colourless Blender moves colour out of the way, the blender will move the the blue to the outer edges - just like dropping detergent into greasy water!

Keep adding dots of blender to your bubble until you get the effect you are looking for.

By using the same method, we're now going to create pebbles!!  How often have you coloured an image, looked at it and thought it's just sitting there in space, that it just needs something???  Here I've coloured a bucket of apples (stamps by JustRite Stampers - Autumn Blessings), but it's just floating in space and could use something to ground it.

 Start by colouring under the bucket with a little C3.

Then add dots of YR24 and YG95 to it.

 Once again, let this dry a little so the blender effect is stronger.  Take your Colourless Blender and dot it all over until you get the look of textured pebbles!!  I felt that I added too many coloured dots, so I've added more dots of C3 to tone it down a bit - keep going until you get the look you want.

Cut out your scene and create your card!!

Two quick, fun and easy ways to add a little extra to your projects - hope you have fun with them!!! 

Happy Colouring!!!
Kathy

New Product- The Copic Full Colour Case

Copic Marker Australia is really excited to announce the addition of a new product to the Copic Case range- The Copic Full Colour Case! 

This soft-sided, zip up carry case is will make sorting and transporting your Copic Markers a breeze! It is sturdy, with reinforced sides, yet holds the markers compactly. It has 6 removable inner baskets which can hold a total of 380 Copic Sketch.

The Copic Full Colour Case will be available in Australia Mid November, so place a pre-order with your local Copic Stockist NOW!

Happy Colouring!

complementary colours challenge

Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are considered to be complementary colors (example: red and green).

The high contrast of complementary colors creates a vibrant look especially when used at full saturation.  This color scheme must be managed well so it is not overpowering or uncomfortable to the eye.

Complementary color schemes can be tricky to use in large doses, but work well when you want something to stand out.

Complementary Colours also work perfectly in your shadow work.   Be bold and brave and give it a go...add some R59 or R89 to shade your green trees!  You will be very pleasantly surprised by the outcome!

Here are two exaples of images that have been coloured using complementary colours.

 

Red and Green ( I have also used G29 to add some shadow into her dress!Yes thats right....G29)

 

Purple and Yellow/Orange 

So....this brings me to the challenge.....

What's the Challenge?: Create a project (card, layout, off the page) using your Copic Markers to show us your best complementary colour creations!

Is there a Prize?: YES!! This month the prize is a copy of the SHADOWS and SHADING BOOK.

Who can play?: The challenge is open to EVERYONE, including international!!!

How do you enter?: Use the inlinkz below to connect to your blog or online gallery and upload it prior to 6pm Monday 24th October 2011, Australian EST (4am USA EST)!!! The winner will be announced on Tuesday 25th October 2011.

Happy Colouring....Mandi-lee
xxx