Have a Happy Day - Colouring with markers

I've wanted to try Copics for a long time - ever since seeing the nicely shaded effect on someone else's card. I still don't have any Copics (they're a bit too pricey for me) but I've bought a couple of similar markers from an art and craft shop in a shopping centre near where I live - Shinhan 'Twin Touch' markers. They're only a few dollars cheaper than Copics but I've read they're comparable in quality and that few dollars cheaper could save me a bundle if I decide to buy more.

Together with my bic mark-its and sharpies I've got a range of colours now, which has allowed me to finally dabble in some proper shading using a blending technique.

I've taken some photos and made a little tutorial which I hope helps someone out there. Give it a go, it's such a fun and easy technique!

First, select some thick or cartridge-style art paper. I like to use the Eraldo di Paolo Field Pad which is suitable for a wide range of mediums including watercolours, pencils and ink. I folded it in half and then stamped my flower stamp with Versafine "Black Onyx" ink a few times (I'd like to say 'strategically' but it was really quite haphazard) and then added the sentiment using the same ink. I cut about 2" off one end to make it square-ish as my 'strategic' placement of stamps didn't suit the rectangular shape and there was way too much white space.

I then coloured the flowers with my Twin Touch marker in "Bareley Beige" (sic). As these markers bleed a bit I'm always careful not to go right up to the outline, just slightly inside and the paper wicks up the rest.



Using the "Peach Parfait" bic mark-it I very lightly drew lines on the flower where I wanted the darkest shade of colour.



Then I blended the darkest shade in with the light using the Twin Touch "Bareley Beige" (sic) again, going over the whole flower, making sure to keep within the lines!



I've added the photo below to show the difference between the final wash of the lighter colour and without (the blended one is on the left)



To finish the flowers I added a touch of "Pink Parfait" to the centers and then the card was done! Here's the finished product:


I hope you enjoyed this tutorial - it's a first for me so if you have any questions or comments please let me know!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Eraldo di Paolo A5 Field Pad
Ink - Versafine "Black Onyx"
Stamp - Tiffanys "Flowers" by We R Memory Keepers, sentiment from Sullivan's
Embellishments - Twin Touch marker "Bareley Beige" (sic), bic mark-it "Pink Parfait"
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer

Thanks for looking!