Copic Colour Journal

A little while ago I was inspired to start a Copic Colour Journal.  My inspiration came from Emma and you can view her blog "craftymummy2five" HERE and her copic colour journal HERE.

I actually plan to make my own SMASH book and then transfer what I've done in my 'temporary' copic colour journal to that.  In the mean time I keep working with what I've got.

The way I use my copic colour journal is I just pick three markers that appeal to me, usually within the same colour family and occasionally a fourth marker in a different colour family that I like and put them together to see what I come up with.  In essence, I don't follow the copic colour family rules all the time. As I am still learning, I figure the best way to find out what I like and don't like is to just see.

Over the past few months I have been practicing my hair colouring techniques.  I started out on straight hair and for this I purchased the digi Emo Lola from Simpy Betty Stamps (SBS).  As I didn't want to colour the whole image I cropped her head so I only had the hair to work with.  The inspiration for using a SBS came from Aeryn and you can view her blog "Creative Explosion" HERE and her copic colouring tutorial on straight hair HERE.

Recently, in the last month or two, I purchased the Colouring Long hair in fine detail e-book tutorial by Zoe from Make it Crafty (MiC).  The tutorial has a Saturated Canary digi called "Zoe" for practicing the hair colouring.  Well, today I decided to have a go at that tutorial. I'm not very happy with my results, but for my first attempt I can't really complain.  I read the tutorial completely before attempting it, and had it in front of me as I did it, but as I am a visual person I think I'm going to study the images in a bit more detail before having another go.  The tutorial is really easy to follow, so I know that I will improve with practice.

Now I'm going to share with you my progress to-date.

 My cheap $2 Copic Colour Journal

This is only a temporary measure until I make my SMASH book

 Page One

Various hair colour combinations

These were done prior to me getting the MiC tutorial

 Page Two

Various hair colour combinations

These were done prior to me getting the MiC tutorial

 Page Three

Various hair colour combinations

These were done prior to me getting the MiC tutorial

 My 1st attempt at Colouring Long Hair in fine detail

My written notes of what I didn't like and why

 Close up of my colouring and colours used

Close up of my hair attempt

I have found my copic colour journal to be a great source, even in the short time I started it and the limited techniques I have done.  If you haven't started one and you are wondering whether it is worth, I think it is.

I also agree with Zoe from MiC, the whole process should be FUN and at the end of the day, it is only yourself that needs to be happy with the result. It is not a competition, there is no prize at the end but the pleasure in accomplishing something that is visually appealing to you.

Cheers FiLoMa