Coloring Bears with Copics

I was asked by a few people to show them how I colored my bears from PPbN bears with my copics so I made this simple tutorial.  I hope it helps.  Please become a follower of my blog and leave me feedback to let me know if this helped you!  If you click on the top right widget it will take you to the Paper Piecing by Nikki website where you can find this cute digi stamp, or acrylic stamp.  It is called the Kiss This Bear.  You can also find this bear, along with four others, in the Beary Beary Fun Bears paper piecing and digital cutting file.  I know a few of you have had trouble finding copic markers at a store near you.  My copics were purchased at Scrap Happy in Clarion, PA.   The store also sells items online at www.scraphappypa.com.  I'm not sure what all is listed online because I just go to the store, but I know Jen will ship and even special order anything you need.  She carries the copic ciao, not the copic sketch.  I like these markers a lot better, and they are half the price of the sketch ones.  The shape is easier for me to hold and use, as they are shaped like a regular round marker, not oval.  The copics I use for my bears are number E35 Chamois & E37 Sepia.  If your numbers are within 10 in the same color group they should blend together well.  (Thanks for that tip Jen! I use it a lot!)  I also use a black and white gel pen when I am finished coloring my bears to add accents, and I also use pink Pebbles Chalk to add a little pink blush to their cheeks.

I tried to capture each step of the coloring process in the below picture:

Step 1 (pic 1) I use the lighter brown E35 Chamois to color the tail, muzzle, and the inside of the ears.  You have to go over the color a couple times to get a nice smooth solid color.

Step 2 (pic 2) I outline the areas that I want to have a darker edge with the darker brown E37 Sepia.  As you color more you will get to know how thick you want your outline.  The thicker you make your outline the more space it will take to blend it smoothly with the lighter color.  I also color in the outside of the ear solid dark brown since there isn't much room to blend.

Step 3 (pic 3) I make a thin single coat of the light brown where it will be.  Don't worry about lines in it, because you will be going back over it multiple times as you blend the dark into the center.

Step 4 (pic 4) I have blended most of this bear but I left areas on the butt and face hoping that you can see some of the stroke lines showing how I just use small strokes from the outside towards the middle and blend the color from dark to light.

Step 5 (pic 5) This bear is complete now.  He can be used on your projects as is, or you can add more details like I did in the next picture.

 

If you look at the picture of these 2 bears you'll notice the one has a lighter muzzle, tail, and inside ears. I colored these with number E31 Brick Beige. The rest of the bear was colored with E35 & E37 just like the other bear was. I used a black gel pen for a small line down from the nose, and blushed the cheeks a little bit with pink chalk, and added white accents with a white gel pen.

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