Image Tracing on Gelli Arts® Gel Printing Plates with Copic Markers

Hi there and welcome
to the Gelli Arts® blog. It’s Birgit here today and I have a fun new technique
for you that allows you to trace images using your gel printing plate.

You need:

A Gelli Arts® gel printing plate (any size that suites you), a brayer, Copic markers in a variety
of colors, acrylic paint (I’m using Gelli Arts® Premium Acrylics) and some
images. These can come from a magazine but why not use your own personal photos
(copies)?

Place the gel printing
plate on top of your image and start tracing the image with a Copic marker. You
can take your time, the ink has to dry on the plate anyway.

You can use a variety
of colors to blend or color in certain parts.

Let the ink dry
thoroughly (a couple of minutes) to be sure they don’t reactivate.

Then apply a really
thin layer of acrylic paint on top of your drawing. When you use the right
amount of paint you will see the image shine through.

Place a sheet of paper
on top while the paint is still wet and rub firmly, then carefully remove the
paper from the gel printing plate.

To have a better
background to work on with additional products I like to apply a layer of clear
gesso on top of the printed image. The easiest way to add a nice and even, thin
layer is by rolling out some clear gesso on the gel printing plate, then pull a
print covering the whole image. When the gesso is dry it will be a perfect
background to use, for instance, water-soluble crayons like Neocolor II.

This is a great
product to add color to your print.

Simply apply a little
bit of color, then use your fingers to blend.

Of course you can also
add other things like stamping. You can work on the prints like you would on
any other art journal page.

I hope you enjoyed
this tutorial and we are looking forward to see your “Image Tracing Prints,” so
please tag us when you post on Instagram and Facebook! 😀

Happy printing!

Birgit

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