How to Tame 'and Hopefully Train' Your Little Copic Monsters!!

Starting out in the Stamping/Papercraft/Colouring World it doesn't take long before you here the word COPIC!! first mentioned... 

I don't know about you.. but when I first heard about these magical, mythical 'things' called COPICS I just assumed, probably like everyone else, that they were JUST some over priced marker that people who stamped got very excited about using!! :/ Though the whole thing was quite ODD to be honest!! I mean common.. ITS A TEXTA FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!

I was happy with my Distressed Inks and happily colouring along with my stamps, but sure enough, I'd see the words COPICS!!! again and again and again!!! and wondered what all the BLAH was over!! they were very expensive but I guess they did come in all sorts of pretty colours!! and so when I first encounter a COPIC at my mums (she had 100 and I didn't even know??) I had a play and I thought OHHHHH!!! that feel nice....*playing with the brush tip end* but once again.. thought very expensive for JUST a texta and left it at that...but my thoughts began to change. 

In my trolling of the Internet over the next coming weeks, I came across MANY sites, and suddenly saw all the wonderful things that could be done with these glorious markers... As my world of Copics grew, the sheer understanding of what COULD be done with this ELUSIVE markers astounded me.. I was like a deer in the headlights looking at all the PRETTIES!!!.. and so, when an opportunity came quite suddenly and out of the blue for me to buy a SECOND HAND COPIC SET!! (yes there is a COPIC GOD) LOL... 75 Ciao and 74 Sketches, for a bargain price, I used the rest of my savings and jumped at it...

Oh I was so excited!!! I had my very own set of these Mythical COPICS!!!, the Markers that people whisper about in hushed tones, in quite corners of every craft room in the WORLD!!! well not quite.. but you know what I mean!! Oh and of COURSE, I pick up arty things quite quickly and quite naturally, so I should be creating glorious pictures in a week.... 2 weeks max... RIGHT!! I mean.. I WATCHED YOU TUBE VIDEOS!! :/

So with my bag of Copic babies cradled in my lap, I dreamt of my life as an artist, making millions from the cards I would create!!

What I didn't realise at the time, and what I want to share with you ALL so you are fully aware of the situation PRIOR to purchasing these... is that Copics are SO MUCH MORE THAN MARKERS!!!
That's right... What you see when you stare at markers in the store is this!!!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! PURDY!!!!!!!!

And even when you get these little darlings home they look like any other 'non lethal' crafting item amongst your crafty belongings.. BUT BEWARE!! That's just them setting you up for a false sense of security!! "They" are good at that... Because lurking underneath all that shinyness and OHHH!!! and AHHHHS!!! is.... THE LITTLE COPICS MONSTERS!!!

Now I have been lucky enough to photograph these elusive little critters just to show you all what your dealing with... I won't go into details of HOW I did it.. but it took special lighting, fancy cameras,  late nights... and CHEESE!!! :/ LOL

 Oh the cheese was for me!! It was hungry work stalking these little sods!! :) 

Now your probably thinking.. these guys look HARMLESS!!.. They look CUTE and CUDDLY... But I warn you.. These Little Copic Monsters will have you spending hours slaving over drawings, wondering WHAT ON EARTH your doing WRONG!!! Crying and sobbing to the Copic Gods to JUST GIVE YOU A SIGN!!! that you have not invested all this money into a hobby you can never learn, and extricating said Copics out of your NOSTRILS!! After repeatedly banging your head into your "Latest" Skin Tone STUFF UP on your craft table!!

Yes.. You will be wondering Why Oh Why!! None of your pictures are working out the way that 60 second 20x speed video of the artist in Japan colouring her museum quality finished Copic Artwork looks!!! When you distinctly remember following all of her speed up You tube advice!! 

This my friends is WHY!!!

Because You haven't realised they are MORE THAN MARKERS!! They are Little Copic Monsters, That are EXTREMELY Temperamental and need to be Soothed and Subtly tamed and trained to get them to work WITH you, instead of against you!!!

Now I admit.. I am no Copic Monster Master!!! No... I am a learner like the rest of you...but I have been seeking training to tame my little critters from a VERY experienced Little Copic Monster WHISPERER!! Her name is Alyce Keegan from Kit and Clowder, and she runs a variety of classes to TAME YOUR LITTLE COPIC MONSTERS!! *giggles* So If your looking at some quality classes, Head HERE!!! 

So I thought I'd share some Little Copic Monster Basics that I have encountered over this past week of TERRIBLE colouring...in an effort to share with you, my mistakes!! so we can learn to tame our Little Copic Monsters together!!

 

Little Copic Monster Basic No:1

 Little Copic Monsters get EXTREMELY GRUMPY WHEN NOT FED and flatly refuse to play!!

When you are hearing a scratchy sound as you colour, and you notice each and every picture is getting worse than the previous, none are blending right, and you just want to punch yourself in the face because it shouldn't be sooooo hard when you were able to do it LAST NIGHT PERFECTLY!!! do not ignore these sounds your Little Copic Monster is making.. That's him SQUEALING AT YOU!! that he's hungry!!  If you ignore it, you'll have my experience where you'll waste a whole page of images, with not one face turning out ALL BECAUSE your E000 is empty... but only realising, when!!! You guessed it.... My Little Copic Monster went into Heart Failure!! and stopped working all together!! (No Ink came out at all!!!)...

So Scratchy sounds on your paper!!! Or washy lines of Ink!!! Inability to blend out your colours properly Or GOD FORBID!!! NO INK AT ALL!!! Means that Your Little Copic Monster is Hungry and needs to be fed. They eat INK!! :P 

If your unsure how to feed your Copic Monsters, You can look HERE!!!!

Once these little bad boys are fed your probably thinking your on plain sailing now!! Perfect colouring coming up!! Well probably not!!

Little Copic Monsters Basic No 2!!

Copic Monster are like most babies!! and regurgitate there food everywhere leaving a STICKY YUCKY DIRTY INKY MESS, all over themselves!!

and yes.. sure you can ignore this mess and colour regardless, but what you will find, like me is that your work will not blend, colours will not be true to form, your work will be sticky and if your REALLY unlucky perhaps your work might contract the dreaded BLOTCHINESS DISEASE!! 

 I would show you a picture of MY Blotchiness diseased colourings, but I'm afraid all evidence was burnt, along with the body, after my colourings fatal death!! :/ So you'll just have to trust me that is is NASTY!!! and not a sight you want to see again!! 

But a problem EASILY rectified with some simple steps to care for your Little Copic Monsters and there Poor Overactive Tummies!! 

You must regularly treat your Little Copic Monsters to trips to the dayspa!! They love it!! While it does not stop there endless upchucking of Ink... it does clean up the residual ink from the marker lids and barrels and helps prevent nasty STICKY INK BUILDUP!! 

The day spa treatment I'd recommend is getting Isopropyl rubbing alcohol and a makeup wipe and after a few dashes of alcohol, wipe off any sticky ink on the barrel on the marker and a few swipes over the nib to remove any sticky ink thats collected on there. Using cotton tips, dip into the rubbing alcohol and swish around the lid until all ink is removed from there as well.. Once clean and dry, (take a few seconds) replace lids... 

Your Little Copic Monsters will be greatly relaxed and refreshed after there dayspa treatment... and much more likely to want to work NICELY with you... Now remember!! The harder you work your Monsters!! the more trips to the dayspa they'll need!! ;)

So Now your Little Copic Monsters are fed!! and Cleaned and Relaxed!! and your like YAY!!! I CAN COLOUR!!! Well... we could hope that this would fix all of those pesky problems, and that your Little Copic Monsters were being more amicable towards you... but sometimes... they are JUST IN A MOOD!!!!

Little Copic Monster Basic No 3!!

Sometimes Our Little Copic Monsters need some extra love and affection to get them out of there grump... They need to be STROKED!! Now I find this to be particular to the Earth tones, the more red/brown the pigment.. So of Course, the Little Monster you'll use for your Skin tones!! They must just be more sensitive than the other Monsters!! :/ and sure.. we can get frustrated.. and ANGRY!! and THROW THEM!!!...........like I did........ but despite that not being very nice.. they get back at you by hiding until it's dark, and then jumping out at you so you stand on them and nearly roll your ankle in the kitchen in the middle of the night on a CHEESE RUN!! So I do not recommend offending the Earth Tone Little Copic Monsters!! They have long memories!! :/
Anyhoo!! So Stroking!! Sometimes despite cleaning your markers and nibs, you'll colour with your Little Copic Monsters and find that they are better, but they just won't blend properly still, or they are tacky still on the page, or where you colour looks SHINY???? WTFrug??  These are all signs that there is still some sticky ink build up in your nib, from there regurgitated INK!! and so you need to Stroke your nib across some paper!!

This extra Stroking soothes the Little Copic Monster into a calming state, and while your at it, uses up the yucky bit of sticky ink that's on the nib.. Now yes it might seem like a waste, but wouldn't you rather waste that yucky ink on a spare page, then waste all your efforts on a colouring that ends up blotchy at the end!!.

Little Copic Monster Basic No 4:

Now your hopefully ready to colour!!!!!!! Your Little Copic Monster is fed, cleaned, Stroked!! and now your colouring!!! and .... WHAT!!!! Something STILL ISN'T WORKING!!!
You've done all of this.. and your picture still doesn't look the way your wanting it too!??
Well now, it's cause the Little Copic Monsters need you to play with them OFTEN!!... They will ONLY do what you need them to do, if you play with them many many many times!! But I promise you!! If you play with them often, they will behave better and better each and every time!! They might make you smile.. they might make you cry!! they might make you, a grown woman of 32, chuck a giant child like spaz the likes of which no two year old has ever seen at 11pm at night because they have decided to play around on you and in the last sec of your PERFECT image JUMPED ACROSS the line into the background in a huge scribble that no amount of colourless blender will EVER be able to hide!!!
But you will get there!!! and if your having a day, where they are being stubborn!! and temperamental!! Sometimes Little Copic Monsters just need a break!!! to recuperate and regroup!! So pick yourself off the floor, it's not great for your son of 14yo's to see you in a ball, sobbing over a
Wee Stamp, because you coloured 'out of the lines'???!! and pack away your Little Monsters for the day or two!!
They like vacations!!!

Like visiting their COUSINS!! The textas!! :)

So have fun!! Play with your Little Copic Monsters... Care for their little precious, sensitive souls and I'm sure like me, you'll find that your colouring will improve greatly when you are working WITH them, and not AGAINST them!!

Little Copic Monster Help and Support!!!

Oh and of course! If you have extremely troublesome Little Copic Monsters, and need expert help, I do highly recommend Alyce Keegan (Kit and Clowder) as a Little Copic Monster Whisperer!! She has created a beautiful community for like minded people of "colouring nature" to converge and support each other and has wonderful courses available to help you Tame your Little Copic Monsters and get them working for you and not against you!!
I do not know where I would be without her help and knowledge!! Probably tied up in a corner of my lounge, mouthed gagged, with 157 Little Copic Monsters marching around me with pitchforks and brandishing fiery torches!! 

Kit and Clowder Community can be accessed via the web
http://kitandclowder.ning.com
Kit and Clowder Open Facebook Group can be accessed via
/https://www.facebook.com/groups/kitandclowder/
and to check out Alyce Keegans AMAZING person work, check out her personal blog on
http://kitandclowder.blogspot.com.au/

I hope you have enjoyed this little bit of mischief!!
If you like these Little Monster please follow this link HERE!! to the talented Michelle Houghton who designed them and download your own free printable Monsters. :)

Happy colouring and caring for those Little Monster Copics!!
Xo