GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Copics + Colored Pencils w/Emily Midgett

Good morning! Emily Midgett here from Sixth Street Sundries, back today for a guest post for Wplus9! For today’s post, I wanted to show how you can get a little extra mileage from your coloring supplies.

I recently made the mistake of selling off a good chunk of my Copic collection (silly, I know), so I’ve been doing some improvisation in order to achieve my shading goals until I can get my collection built back up. For today’s post, I combine my somewhat limited Copic collection with my full Polychromos collection to create dramatic contrast, shading and depth on the gorgeous Hibiscus Bouquet stamp set.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

The technique demonstrated in the video uses Copics as a base layer for my Polychromos pencil shading. You can use this technique whether you have just a few Copics or an abundance… it really is great for stretching your supplies.

I start by stamping the Hibiscus Bouquet on some white card stock with Copic-friendly black ink, then coloring the image with Copic markers to lay down that base layer of bright color. After the Copic coloring was completed, it was time to go back in and add layers of color using my Polychromos pencils. (You could absolutely achieve similar results with Prismacolor pencils.) Because these pencils require many layers of color to achieve a smooth, saturated finished product, adding that first layer of Copic coloring really helps cut down on the amount of time spent coloring. Another bonus: the super sharp points of the colored pencils allow you to get in every nook and cranny on a more intricate image like the Hibiscus Bouquet.

After I had finished coloring the gorgeous Hibiscus Bouquet image, I fussy cut it with some very sharp scissors, then turned my attention to the card base. I used Wplus9’s Little Piggy ink to stamp that fantastic geometric background from Tropic Fever onto a white card base. I then used the Fierce and Fabulous stamp and die set to create the greeting, using the negative portion cut from navy blue card stock for a fresh, preppy color combination of pink, white, and navy. The hibiscus flowers with that bold geometric design reminds me of Lilly Pulitzer!

After I’d adhered everything to the card base with foam adhesive, some of the foliage from the Hibiscus Bouquet was still hanging over the edge a bit, so I trimmed it off and added it to the bouquet. After spending so much time coloring, I wasn’t about to let any part of it go to waste! I filled in the bouquet, helping to slightly alter the shape of the bouquet so that it curved around the edge of the greeting. The final touch was to add some Midnight Blue Nuvo drops.

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you enjoyed this project, and maybe will try out adding some colored pencil to your own Copic colored images. Thanks again to Dawn for having me as a guest… such an honor

If you liked this project, be sure to check out my blog for lots more flowers colored in many different mediums! Have a marvelous day! ~Emily

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Little Piggy PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Tropic Fever Shop at: WP9 | SSS | EH	Fierce And Fabulous Shop at: WP9	Fabulous Die Shop at: WP9
Hibiscus Bouquet Shop at: WP9