More than luck

Proof that I always get around to things eventually: I finally did the free Copic class by Amy Shulke of Vanilla Arts. Admittedly this does stretch the definition of “eventually” considerably further than my usual “I bought this a couple of years ago” — I just checked my email and I signed up for this class in September 2016…

Amy’s approach to Copic colouring is different from the usual three-colour smooth blends that prevail in the card-making world (nothing wrong with that, an awful lot of my colouring has been done in that general style). Instead, she aims for a more realistic feel in her work, using complementary colours to underpaint shadows and generally relying more on observation than assumption when it comes to picking colours. She also doesn’t rely on Copics alone, always adding detail with coloured pencil.

In one of her newsletters earlier this year, she linked to a short “basic leaf colouring” video which, of course, I cannot find now — I suspect it was an unlisted video somewhere — I did that one and that prompted me to go back and complete the free class.

If you would like to try colouring some lucky clover in Amy’s style, hopefully quicker than I did, you can sign up for the “More than luck” class.

Even if you don’t fancy the class, there are tons of useful resources on Vanilla Arts (have a browse through the article archive) and the related site Marker Novice, where they are working their way through all the markers in detail in Copics Uncapped.