Tuesday Tutorial: Coloring Hair with Copic Markers

Hello hello! If you're joining me today you're in for a treat: the very first post in my new lineup of tutorials! I've had a mental list going of tutorials I've been asked to do or have wanted to do myself, and the time has finally come to start them. I won't have one every week, but when I do have one to share I'll be posting them on Tuesdays and calling them my Tuesday Tutorials (original, I know).

I thought I'd start off with a bang and show how I color hair with my copics. I know that there are several different ways and techniques to color hair, and I don't claim to be an expert; this is simply a sample of how I choose to color my images. I prefer to use 4 color tones, but it's possible to use three or even two. My sample uses the copic colors E09, E15, E13 and E11. This makes a nice, reddish-brown hair color.

**It is important to note that your cardstock has a huge effect on how your colored images will turn out. Certain cardstocks will lend themselves better to blending than others. I have tried Georgia Pacific, Papertrey, Neenah, Gina K and Stampin' Up!, and my personal favorite is Neenah - I use it for all of my personally stamped images.**

• First, stamp your image in your copic-friendly ink of choice. I prefer Brilliance Graphite ink, or Memento Tuxedo black if I'm in a rush. (the Brilliance I let dry overnight) For this tutorial, I used the stamp WS-Eric from The Greeting Farm.
  
• Start with your darkest color - in this example, it is E09. Color the center part as shown, followed by the areas of deepest shadow. Your strokes should always begin at the darkest part of the hair and brush outward.

**When coloring hair, it is best to use a "feathered" stroke. This means to lighten the pressure near the end of the stroke to leave a smaller, fainter tip of color. This makes blending easier and results in a more natural look.**

•  Take your next darkest color (in this case E15) and stroke from the darkest edges toward the "highlight" of the hair, covering the strokes already colored.

• Your next shade will be your main hair color, in this case E13. Once again, start at the darkest portions of hair and color toward the highlight, coloring over previous strokes (this helps the colors to blend). This color should "fill" most of the hair on the stamp.

• Take your lightest shade (E11 shown here) and sweep up through all previous strokes to the center of the highlights, leaving only small areas of white showing.

• At this point, you may be finished! But I usually make additional strokes to blend the layers using my two lightest shades. Sometimes I'll go back and add deeper shadows with my darkest color - whatever your personal preference is.

And there you have it! I apologize for the wonky white on my photos - the automatic white balance on my camera was being difficult. But I hope you were able to get the gist of how I color.

Have a great day, and happy coloring!