Tag Archives: zander

Learning Copic Markers

Our dear friends are here this week and Stephanie is a big crafter. She makes amazing and beautiful cards. She does stamping and has used Copic markers for years and years.

Several years ago I got a set of gray neutral copic sketch markers for Christmas. They were suggested in a book by Eni Oken on shading Zentangles. I got them and was intimidated by them and have never used them. (I didn’t get that book back out and see what Eni suggested.) So on their second day here she gave me a bit of a training session on using the copic markers.

I grabbed a 3.5 x 3.5 bristol vellum tile (one I cut from a larger sheet of vellum), put my corner dots, border, and then drew in a quick string without thinking about it. I decided to use several different kinds of tangles to try out some different methods of shading.

I was so focused on learning how to use the markers that I completely forgot about taking a before scan or picture. :D

I used Shattuck, Umble, Zander, and some Tipple (?) or at least that is what I think the tangles were.

The first shading I did was on the right hand side on (straight-line) Shattuck.

Here’s part of the scanned tile.

I was pretty happy with the shading there. Then I decided to try something a little different with Umble, there in the white center section. I did the overlapping areas and then decided to try shading the top most parts to be rounded. It didn’t work so good. Then I added a line of white and that only made it worse. Then I shaded the curved zander on the side and it was okay.

The last thing was the orbs on the top and I wasn’t too sure about them. I figured they were going to be the hardest and I wasn’t expecting much.

I was amazed! Here’s the whole scanned tile and then the picture I took outside in natural sunlight. :)

As usual, the scan is a bit harsher and shows all the flaws. ;) But it looks pretty good from a normal distance. :D This was definitely something that was worth doing and I will try it again in the future.

It’s not easy trying something new, but it is very rewarding. I encourage you to take time for yourself and do something artistic, even if the first results are as nice as you’d like. Go easy on yourself and let it help you de-stress from your day. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Zander, Meer, and Betweed

I’m still amazed that Betweed and I are friends. :D I actually enjoy tangling it.

This past week was another catch-up week for the Zen-Untangled project 2020. I took it as a breather instead. On catch-up weeks seven strings are provided to keep us full of tangling ideas. I was busy trying to finish up a book that I’d been reading for a while, The Robot of Dawn by Isaac Asimov, and playing Super Mario Odyssey again from the beginning. :) So, I didn’t take any time to tangle this week until yesterday when I needed to do it for this post.

I chose one of the easiest strings and then some very simple tangles from the last four weeks to put in those sections. Meer is a favorite, so that was a simple choice for one of the sections. As I said, I’m liking Betweed since we became friends last year, and so I decided to add it in a section.

The trouble I have with Zander is the highlight spots on it. I never seem to get them in the right places but it’s an easy enough tangle, so it won the last section. ;)

Here is the scan and natural light picture of my tile before shading.

Here is the same tile after shading in both a scan and a picture in natural light.

Well, that’s all for me today. Thanks for stopping by. If you have any tips for Zander and it’s sparkle, please let me know.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº