Copic Tutorial - Sexy Lady - Big Heart

I have been asked to do a copic tutorial showing how I coloured the sexy image by Sassy Design Studio, on my valentine card and achieved the see-through negligee. Amanda this is for you!

The image on the valentine card was printed quite large at 8cm x 12cm, this made it easier to colour and get better results with the blending. For the purposes of this tutorial I have printed my image very small at 4.5cm x 7.5cm. It's not impossible to work with just more care is needed to stay inside the lines!

All the colours used are from the copic ciao range except one which is E000. This colour is only available in the sketch range. If you don't have this colour it doesn't matter you can use E00 as your lightest skin colour.

I always start with flesh tones when colouring. This is just my choice as I like to see the image come to life quickly.

There are a lot of pictures to this tutorial in the hope it will be easier to follow the steps.

Picture 1 - 1st skin colour - E000

1. Using the lightest skin colour first, colour your image leaving it white where the light will hit. Include the stomach area and legs.

Picture 2 - 2nd skin colour - E00

2. Next add a darker shade to cover a smaller area of skin than before. Do not colour the parts covered by the negligee. I have used E00.

Picture 3 - Lips & Cheeks - E02 & R20

3. I have used E02 for the lips. Colour from each edge to the middle of the lip leaving a very small white spot.

3a. Add a few spots of R20 to form the cheeks. If you don't have this colour try R11 or E02. I have used E02.

Picture 4 - E000 - Blending the skin

4. It's usually at this point I think what a mess so I blend everything together by going back over the face, arms and legs with the lightest colour (E000).

Picture 5 - Adding shadows - E21

5. Start to add shadows. I have used E21 but E11 works just as well.

Picture 6 - Blending the shadows & adding eyeshadow

6. Once again using your lightest colour (E000) blend in the darker colour so no lines can be seen. I lightly sweep the tip of the nib over the darker area only because I do not want to darken the rest of the skin.

6a. At this stage I add the eyeshadow. I've used C1 making it darker on the outside of the eye getting lighter moving in in the shape of a triangle (much like you do to your own eyes if you wear eyeshadow).

6b. Colour the eyebrows. I have used E47 but that is because I will be colouring the hair brown!

Picture 7 - Colouring the negligee - C1

This is when everything starts to look different.

7. Using C1 (cool grey) I use very light strokes to cover the stomach and the tops of the leg. I do the same for the knickers. Don't worry if there doesn't seem to be enough colour at this stage. Its easier to add than take away.

Looking at the image at this stage I think she would look really good with silvery/white hair or black hair, but I better stay with my planned colour scheme!

Picture 8 - Adding shadow - C3

8. Using C3 (cool grey No3) I add shadows to the top of the negligee, sleeve, stocking tops and I colour the suspender belt.

Picture 9 - Blending C1 & C3

9. Blend in the shadows using C1 using lighter strokes where you want the light to catch.

Picture 10 - Removing colour - Colorless Blender

At this stage the grey on the top of the negligee seems a little dark and flat. To correct this I have used the colorless blender (0). I have also used it on the knickers, stocking tops and a small patch behind the knickers.

If you need to do the same, be warned, use this pen sparingly and with a very light touch. If you let it saturate your paper too much you will get a splodge and find it difficult to blend.

Picture 11 - Colouring the hair - lightest colour

The pens I am using to colour the hair are E31, E35, E29 and E57. 11. Starting with the lightest colour (E31) I colour the entire area.

Picture 12 - Hair colouring - 2nd lightest colour - E35

12. Using E35, roughly colour the area leaving small amounts of the first colour to show through.

Picture - 13 - Hair colouring - darkest colour - E29

13. I now add my darkest colour (E29) because I want to be able to blend it in well but without going over the other areas too much.

Picture 14 - Hair colour - E57

14. I now want to blend my darkest colour and add a few darker highlights? Not sure if that's the correct way to say it but you get the idea from the picture!

Picture 15 - Hair colour - blending - E35

Normally I would now say use the lightest colour to blend everything together. STOP. If you do it on the hair it will take too much of the colour away and you will loose the different tones you are trying to create. 15. Using E35 colour over the area. Try to keep it light over the very lightest colour so as it looks like the hair is shiny.

Picture 16 - Heart, Shoes and Suspender belt

16. Colour the shoes. I have used C7 with a thought of adding black stickle glue to make then shiny.

16a. The suspender belt looks a little boring so I have made it darker by using C5.

Red bleeds like you wouldn't believe and this is where things could go wrong if you are not careful.

Tips: Use the very tip of the nib, with light pressure and do not colour right to the edge initially. Give the colour a few seconds to sink into the paper and spread. The colours I am using for the heart are, R17, R27, R37 & R59 16b. Starting with the 2nd from last darkest colour (R37) colour the area that will be in shadow.

Picture 17 - Heart shadow - R59

17. Using R59 add the darkest shadow. Again not going right to the edge initially.

Picture 18 - Heart - blending the shadow

18. I now want to blend my colours together and colour the biggest part of the heart. To do this I use R27. Remember to leave a white area. (This is slightly too big) When blending the edge of the dark red you may need to use small circular motions and go over the area a couple of times to get it to blend well.

Picture 19 - Heart - adding the highlight R17

19. Colour the rest of the heart with R17, blending it with the other red.

Picture 20 - Heart

20. I left my white patch too big and don't like the finished effect. To rectify this I have used R27 to make the area darker and then blended it in with R17.

Picture 21 - Negligee on heart

21. Using small circular motions lightly colour the negligee with R17.

Picture 22 - Removing the colour

22. Colour C1 over the top. You may need to do it a couple of times to get the desired effect.

Be warned this can bleed so be careful.

Picture 23 - Finishing touches

23. Colour the hearts going down the side.

24. If you want the negligee to appear more see-through you can add another light stroke of E000. I have left this until the end to see if it was needed once everything was coloured.

My original image on the card was finished off by colouring the edge with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Phew!!

Finished at last I hear you shout! As you can see I spend a long time colouring my images. I don't know if there is a better way of doing this but this is how it works for me.

I hope this helps you in some way and I will love to see what you create yourself, so drop me a line so I can visit your blog.

Thanks for looking and enjoy the week.

Jenny