Hey everyone, Elaineabella here to share some more colouring tips for Marker Geek Monday! It wasn’t planned in any way, but today’s post goes quite nicely with Sandiebella’s Stamp It Saturday post, so if you missed that make sure you check it out too.

Copics on Kraft!

Kraft cardstock remains a popular and fun alternative to colouring on white. If you have a nice smooth Kraft coloured cardstock you can use your Copic markers to achieve some beautiful colouring results. Today I’m going to show you a couple of comparisons so you can get a feel for the difference between colouring on white paper and colouring on Kraft, and also give you a few tips for working with it.

Source: What Is Card Stock Printing?

How Colours Behave on Kraft:

As I mentioned in last week’s post (Marker Geek Monday: Stretch Your Copics) Copic ink is translucent, and as such will give different results depending on the colour or tone of the paper you use.

I picked a few colours to show on both Kraft and my usual white cardstock for comparison. As you can see, the colours appear desaturated on Kraft in comparison to the bright white. This can give you a softer, more vintage feel to your coloured images. You may also find that you can use some of the much brighter shades in your collection with beautiful results.

Stamping Bella Cupid Chick on Kraft vs White:

I had a little fun colouring one of the chicks from the new CUPID CHICKS rubber stamp set on Kraft.

If you would like to see the full card I created and get all the supply info, you can visit my blog: Marker Geek – Stamping Bella Cupid Chick on Kraft.

I used exactly the same Copic colours on both images (the chick’s body is Y15,Y19,Y38,YR24). If you own this stamp set you can obtain a complete and free Copic Colour Map from Stamping Bella showing all the colours used. Click HERE to find out how!

Tips for Colouring with Copics on Kraft:

• Test your colours before committing! If you intend to use Copics on Kraft often, print out a colour chart on Kraft so you have a good reference for selecting your colours.
• Be prepared to go darker! Skin tones etc. may need to be somewhat darker than you would usually go on white paper in order to create contrast. Test this – you may not need to go as dark as you expect, or vice versa!
• Be aware that when you first lay down ink on the paper the colour will appear darker – as the ink dries it will give a lighter result. Again, test on scrap pieces to get a feel for how the ink behaves on Kraft and what to expect while colouring. Waiting for the ink to dry between layers will help you to avoid going too dark with your colours and allow you to maintain better contrast and achieve more vibrant results.
• For bright highlights, try using an opaque white pencil like Prismacolor or Luminance and/or a white gel pen.
• Not all Kraft cardstock is the same. Some are more textured and some are lighter than others. I tend to use a smooth Bazzill Basics Kraft cardstock. Neenah have a popular colour called “Desert Storm”, which is somewhat lighter than most other Kraft papers.

NOTE: these tips will also work with many other alcohol based markers.

Over To You!

If you try out the techniques shown in any of the posts with your Stamping Bella stamps, be sure to share! We would love to see the results and hear how you feel about them. Show off your creations in the comments below and even better, share your own favourite tips with us. Let’s talk colour!

If you are posting your images online, we would love to see them on Instagram and all the platforms mentioned above.  To make it easier for us to find you just use #markergeekmonday and/or #stampingbella as a hashtag. Even better tag me @markergeek and @stampingbella . We love it when you connect, so don’t be shy!

If you’re on Facebook join us in our private chat group Stamping Bella Sistahood to share your creations there and chat all things Stamping Bella related!

Until next time, HAPPY COLOURING!

MWAH

Elaineabella