My very first COPIC marker experience!

My very first experience with copic markers and I LIKE THEM!

ONE YEAR AGO, I bought the 72 Copic markers set A for Papercrafting.  At the same time that they arrived, my husband got a new job in another town and we had to begin the process of decluttering our home, fixing it up and selling it, then packing up and buying and moving and unpacking.  Once we were moved, there was the whole process of getting kids ready for the school year and then these past several months have just been a whirlwind. So the markers got set on a shelf or packed in a box since then.
When I set up my craft room last September, I got my markers all prettied up in a little wooden holder and they have been in front of me ever since.  I've not been able to sign up for a copic certification or coloring class for the past year, which is part of the reason why I was holding out even trying them.... I was a little skeptical to dive into it, afterall, not knowing what I would be doing.

Then for my birthday this year, my husband planned a surprise party for me, by which I was surprised with, and many of our new friends showed up and even bought me presents from my amazon wishlist... one item of which was the special Xpress Copic blending paper. Yippee!  I said to myself, "I have no reason to put this off any longer!"

So today, I needed to make a birthday card for a soon-to-be 9 year old, my daughters friend.
I immediately decided that I would pull out my copics and TRY to use them on this card.  Might be bad, might be OK, but I was going to try!
I printed 4 of the image out, since I was planning on messing up at least once, LOL.

I used the digital images as follows: Dizzy Dachshund, the hat and balloon from Birthday Accessories, and the sentiment on the inside from Celebration Sentiments.

(Card supplies are listed at the bottom of this post.)

Now I am not going to try to "tutorial", since I of course, really don't know exactly what I am doing with copics yet.  To an experts eye, there is probably much lacking from my copic coloring on this hot-diggity-dog.
But to my untrained eyes, I actually think he turned out kinda cute and not too bad.  I did mess up on the dog's back though, you can see a faint "line" across the side of his back... haha, I tried to use the copic #0 colorless blender to make shiny highlights like I always see on those "professional" cards.... LOL, that was a mistake.  Don't try to use that feller without having done some research first or taken a copic class on the colorless blender.  I messed the doggie up badly and tried to "save" it by using the browns over it again a few times to reblend it brown.... I think I saved him enough for a 9 year old's card. If I was giving the card to someone who I know would "notice" stuff like that, I would have started over.
I was trying to make the fur on the dog look like fur... I didn't much succeed, but hey, this is my first attempt ever, so you know it isn't perfect.
Here's my final card:

For the body, I used the browns E31, E35, E37, E29.
For the tongue I used R20, R32, R02 and E04.
For the cheek E04
For the hat BG10, BG16, BG49
For the balloon, hat fringe and collar V12, V06, V09
Around the body and on the bone on the collar is a little W1 and W3
I used a micro fine liner to draw the string to tie the balloon to the tail

For the balloon, I wasn't even going to try to use the colorless blender again, I just left two spots without any color to make the highlights.
I am not sure if I even used the right groups of colors together... I just played it by eye and picked ones that looked like they were matching in tones.  Afterall, I only have the A set of Papercrafting Copics so the color options for each color group aren't many. But it is enough for a beginner like me.
Here's the copic colors I used:

I have not tried the copics on any other paper yet.... I do have some Neenah Solar Crest smooth cardstock (#04701) which I was told worked ok with copics, but today, I wanted to try the Xpress paper first.
Here's a close up of the image:

I am SO impressed with the Xpress cardstock, that I don't think I even want to try copics on anything else!  The only problem I had was the cardstock seemed to have some watermark type spots in it, even after the copic ink went in there.  You can see if you look at the close up of the dogs body and on the balloon... not sure if that is a defect or if all the paper is like that. My paper has been in it's package since I got it, so I doubt anything was spilled on it.  I might try buying another package to see if there is a difference in the paper lot.

To finish off the card, I did the inside too:

So that's all!  I really LOVE how the copics look, even though I couldn't blend very well and don't know too much about the #0 yet.  I am going to keep at it.  Now I can't wait to color again!

Card Supplies:
Digital Images: Dizzy Dachshund,  Birthday Accessories,  Celebration Sentiments
Papers: PTI plum pudding, PTI wisteria, PTI hawaiin shores, My minds eye Penny Lane Katie Lou
Embellishments: SU mini brads, Linen thread, PTI buttons, PTI ribbon, EK deco scallop edger punch
Tools and adhesive: Piercer, foam Dimensionals, ATG adhesive, Sewing machine, White Gel Pen, ZIG black .35 pen