G43 Pistachio, G46 Mistletoe, BG57 Jasper, BG90 Gray Sky, E84 Khaki, E89 Pecan,
BV34 Bluebell, V22 Ash Lavender, V28 Eggplant, RV52 Cotton Candy, R56 Currant, YR27 Tuscan Orange

In February 2012 these carefully chosen colors will be available in the Sketch Marker style, as well as Various Ink, bringing us to 358 total Copic colors. 

Let us know which color you’re most excited about on Facebook and Twitter!

Marianne’s Note: When I mention a color combo whatever color I put first is the color I put down as my base color, then I blend in the second color. Also, these colors on the screen are NOT accurate and are for comparison only.

B66, Clematis
Story Behind B66: B66 is a relatively new color. Back about 7 years ago, Too Corporation developed B69, a very bright, deep blue to partner with B60 & B63. I remember when B69 first came into the warehouse. It was a neat color, but it was all by itself. The jump from B63 to B69 was pretty big. Then, in 2007 they introduced B66 as a partner for B69. To go darker than B69, you need to add purple, or jump to B79 and then to BV08.
Available in these styles:
Sketch, Various Ink
Natural Blending Family:
B60, B63, B66, B69
Simple Blend:
B66, B69, B79
Similar intensity, other families:
YG67, R85, BG75
Marianne’s Unusual Combos:
B66 + B99, B66 + BG78, YG17+ B66

Advanced Color Rules for B66*:

Complimentary: B66, Y28
Triad (simple 3 color combo): B66, E08, YG95
Tetrad (simple 4 color combo): B66, RV19, Y28, YG07
Pentagram (simple 5 color combo): B66, RV19, E09, YG95, G09
High Contrast: B66, B99, 110, E79, E29
Compound: B66, FV2, C10, E44, R17, E79

*Advanced color rules are generated by Adobe Illustrator CS3 based on the digital representation of the Copic Color Spectrum set into a special color wheel. I generate these as suggestions for color combos to try when you are looking for a nice change, or you have a paper that matches this particular color and you want help picking other unusual colors to go with it.

The project I made for B66: Barn Swallows

Recently I had to make another project and it incorporated an old Victorian cut out of a barn swallow. I have had that cut out sitting on my desk for a while, and this color seemed perfect for coloring a bright blue barn swallow. You can visit my blog for a step-by-step post of coloring the male barn swallow.
This image is of a female barn swallow, sitting on a mossy twig in the cold. Her feathers are all puffed up to keep her warm. Females have a lighter colored chest than males, so her belly is a paler color range.
Twig colors : E44, E77, YG91, G12, YG67, G09,  Swallow: C3, BV23, C7, B60, B63, B66,B69, YR30, E11, YR12, YR18, 0. Airbrushed Sky: B91, B63, G12

Reference photos for coloring barn swallow courtesy RickCameron http://racphoto.com/Birds/Swallows/BarnSwallow.html

Reflecting objects are difficult to render in any medium.  With a transparent medium like Copic Markers, you need to be thinking a few steps ahead, to know where to leave your lights, or where a different color will be laid down. Working with reflections is a good lesson in local color versus perceptual color, ergo, what color is it really versus what color does it look like.

Take time to study your reference, whether it’s a photo or real life.  This sort of observation is handy when rendering things like Christmas ornaments (as you’ll see below), the surface of water, chrome bumpers, so on and so forth.

For the sake of this tutorial, I’ll only talk about rendering one of the ornaments.  I used Copic Sketchbook Bleed Resistant Marker paper for this tutorial.  For this ornament, I used Y17, Y32, R02, R08, R17, R59, RV21, B39.

I start by carefully looking at my reference and the colors that are actually reflected in the ornament.  Laying down a quick layer of Colorless Blender, I layer Y32 and Y17 for the lights reflecting on the edges of the ornament.  Using R08, I lay in the base, local color of the ornament with a little R17 to help soften some of the edges:

Using R02, I knock down some of the yellows, before breaking out the BG45 and B39 for the reflected blues.  Afterward, I choose RV21 for the lighter reflected pinks, and a little more of the Y17 and B39 to reflect the swirl:

Next comes the R59 to add in some of the darker reds, with some B39 layered over for more depth.  Much of this is push and pull, using the Colorless Blender, to achieve the softer edges and shifts in color:

One trick is to keep layering the same color over itself to achieve a deeper, richer tone that doesn’t drastically change, like switching to another color.  For example, I layered R59 over the darker portion of the ornament to deepen the tone without completely shifting it, as I did where I added the B39.

It takes a little experimenting to see just how the colors play together in layering, as well as utilize that Colorless Blender to soften transitions from one color to the next.  But once you get the hang of it, your reflections will knock people’s socks off!  Have fun and play!

36 different colors were used.  Check out my Copic Color page for the complete list:
http://copiccolor.com/BrandiYork

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Enter by November 7th for a chance to win 12 markers from your Copic Color wish list and an empty 36 pc wallet.

How Do I Enter?
- Email your costume photo to contest@copicmarker.com by midnight PST on Monday, November 7th.
- Please include your Copic Color user name in the email (You must be a member of www.copiccolor.com to win. Markers will be selected randomly from your wish list).

Rules
- You may submit one photo per day.
- Submitted photos may be shared on Copic Marker web properties.*
- We’ll select our favorite costume (bonus points for being colorful!), and announce the winner by November 11th.
- Everyone may participate, but only residents of the United States and Canada are eligible to win.*

Good luck!

*Web properties include Copic Marker, Copic Color, the Copic Marker Facebook page, the Copic Marker Twitter page, and the Copic Marker Tumblr page.

*This contest is run by Imagination International, Inc., the distributor of Copic Markers in the United States and Canada. We are legally prohibited from sending product to other countries.

Tell us a bit about yourself!
I am Arturo Elena, a normal and down to earth person that has the amazing privilege of working within my passion, Illustration. I am completely self-taught and I always liked to draw so have been practising since I was a little boy. My mother even remembers me recreating and painting Walt Disney characters as a small child!

When I finished my studies in high school, I had to make the decision of what to do next and I decided to apply to the Design School in Barcelona. The director of the school told me that I had this gift and such a talent that the best ‘school’ for me was going to be the day by day work, developing my own style & technique, and working and following my intuition. This time is also when my drawing skills began combining with my absolute admiration for the fashion world.


When did you discover that fashion illustration was your passion?
After five years working with design teams in Barcelona and Sevilla, I realised that what I liked the most was to draw fashion that others produced rather than to produce fashion myself.

The definitive jump to illustration came when I got the request from Spanish designers, Victorio & Lucchino, to illustrate the press folder for their collection and perfume ‘Carmen’, presented in Madrid Fashion Week in 1992. When this reached the press it opened a lot of doors to collaborations with fashion magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle and Telva. They started to request my illustrations and I decided to dedicate my professional life to it, something that helped me to get consolidated as a fashion illustrator.

What are your biggest sources of inspiration?
Photography in general is my main source of inspiration but specially fashion photography as I look through many fashion magazines to recreate and obtain realistic effects, light, shadows, textures, the movements of the figures and perspectives in my own images. Also, I have to say that at the beginning of my career, I was strongly influenced by illustrators like René Gruau and Stefano Canulli.

What’s the most satisfying part of your job?
Without a doubt, when I present the final piece to a client and the result is better than what they were expecting, this feeling of getting what they wanted to transmit with my illustration is the most satisfying.

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What’s the most difficult thing about your job?
I work only upon request and this is something that can give me limitations. For each of my requests, I always have to consider the direction that has been stated by the client. I have to find out about each of my client’s style and philosophy. Then, depending of the purpose of their request, I try to visualise all those aspects in my mind before I put them together in the final piece and on paper.

So, for me the most difficult part is to come with the final image that will cover the client’s requirements.

Why do you prefer Copic markers for your illustrations?
Since I started to be a professional illustrator, I have tried different pens, but I use Copic for several reasons: Their huge variety in colours, quality and precision. With Copic, I can blend the colours to get the results that I’m looking for.

Do you have a favorite piece or project that you’ve created?
There are many pieces that have been very gratifying. To mention a few, the series “Heroinas” (Girls-Hero) produced for Custo Barcelona and used as pattern for some of his garments are one of my favourites, along with some of the illustrations that I produced for the spanish designer Lemoniez that were used for his catwalk invitations in Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week.

Any words of advice for aspiring fashion illustrators and designers?
I think they need to be honest with themselves, to think very well if they have the skills, vocation, perseverance and if they are ready to work very hard. They need to believe in themselves and never get down, tenacity is something very important in this profession. Nobody has ever given me anything for free, but I got advantages from all of the opportunities that I found on the way. I understand that many times, people associate the fashion industry as a cold and materialistic world, but it is a field as difficult as any other and if you want to get far you just need to work hard.

Any announcements to make – exhibitions or shows coming up?
My latest work, I just finished the sketches, is an image for an event that will take part in the city where I live, Zaragoza (Spain) to promote the products of one of the most important wine cellars in Aragon, “Viñas del Vero” (Somontano). At Christmas time, once again, I’m working for Moët Hennessy Spain (Grupo LVMH) producing their Christmas-Cards Image.

When those two pieces are finished, I need to continue with the last 6 out of 12 images that I have produced for the Swish luxury watches brand Audemars Piguet. The first 6 images were launched in an exhibition that took part in the past Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week. I can’t say anything about what is going to happen with the other 6… The brand will tell all when the project is completed as it is part of the deal and I have to keep it secret

There is a lot more to come, but until all of it is closed and sealed I don’t like to reveal anything…

View more of Arturo’s work at www.arturoelena.com
Follow Arturo on Facebook

Arturo Elena is represented internationally by FACTORY311
For Bookings and Inquiries, please contact arturo@factory311.com / +44 (0) 207 836 5610

Share your fashion illustration work with us on Facebook and Twitter!

For this tutorial, I’m going to focus on achieving the lights and shadows on the face. I like to keep a black and white print out of the photo I’m doing along with the full color version. I find this helps to push the values as well as the color.

All of the markers used are Copic Sketch, brush tip side.

Starting with a R000, I lay in the general tones of the skin, followed by E00 to beef up the shadows a little:

Using an E02, I deepen up the shadows a bit more before breaking out the BV31, adding into the shadows of the face. I go back over the BV31 with the R000 and E00 to warm the shadows back up a bit. Using the side of the brush tip, I pull the BV31 across the cheek, letting the shadow naturally fade out, instead of it having a hard edge:

Pulling out the E34 and E35, I start to hit the really deep reddish-brown shadows of the skin. I use the R000 to smooth out the colors, creating a softer transition, instead of the 0 Colorless Blender, which often lightens the area you’re blending (although that can often be useful, it’s not the look I’m going for here.) Next, I use the BV23 and BV25 to deepen the shadows of the neck, lips, eyes and nose, again feathering them out with the lighter colors I’ve been using:

I go over the face again with the E00, knocking down some of the redness from the R000, adding a touch of R20 into the cheeks and nose.

I finish out the eyes with a stroke of BV25 and E29 around the lashes and a dot for the pupils, then E29 for the darker portion of the eyes. I use the 0 Colorless Blender and just hold it down for a moment where the lightest part of the iris (not the highlight itself) is to get the two colors to blend, giving the look of the light reflected in the iris.

Using R59 for the deepest part of the lips and R46 for the lighter, I finish out the lips, touching the highlight with R20, then the 0 Colorless Blender. I use a little YR82 and E31 to yellow down the skin a little, taking out some of the red:

Much of the rest of the face (and whole piece) is played with, pushing a little here and there with the markers, until I find the balance I like. Experiment and have fun! That’s what it’s all about!

All colors used to complete the piece: 0, R000, R20, R46, R59, YR82, E000, E00, E02, E29, E31, E34, E35, E49, E50, BV23, BV25, BV31

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Here is a cute girl heading back to school. To color her, I used only 6 colors. V20, V25, E00, E13, Y13, and R59.

It is easy to see that I colored her shirt and skirt using only V20 and V25, but not all areas are easy to tell which colors I used.

For her skin, I used E00, E13, and V25 with touches of R59. Her hair is a blend of the Y13, E13, BV25and a tiny bit of R59.

R59 is a very dark red. To get the R59 to not be so strong in her hair, and to deepen the shadows in her skin, I applied the R59 by using the brush tip of the E13 and pulling color directly from the tip of the R59. This is called tip-to-tip blending. It is great when you have to shade in tiny areas, or if you have a limited color range.

CONTEST! Download the blank image here and color it with only 6 colors. Share your creation on our Facebook wall by September 25th for a chance to win a marker from your Copic Color wish list. Be sure to leave your Copic Color user name with your work, along with a list of the 6 colors you used!

For more ideas on how to color this girl with a limited range of colors, please visit the ilikemarkers blog.

Don’t have a Copic Color account? Get started today! Copic Color is the place to track your marker collection online, access it from your mobile phone, share your artwork, and connect with other artists.

UPDATE! (9/19)
Our product specialist (and resident artist) Marianne was inspired by how many submissions we were getting, so she colored the piece with only 5 colors (shown at left). Give it a whirl, you can submit as many entries as you’d like!

Colors used:
BV23
BG01
YR000
E13
R85

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UPDATE! (9/23)
Marianne colored the piece with only 3 colors (shown at left). Give it a whirl, you can submit as many entries as you’d like!

Colors used:
BG34
E0000
E15

No colorless blender or Photoshop were used.

To be eligible to win, you must reside in the U.S. or Canada. You must have a Copic Color account at the time of entry, with at least one marker in your wish list. Deadline is September 25th, 2011.

1st place will receive a marker from her Copic Color wish list and an “I <3 Copic” bumper sticker!
2nd and 3rd place will receive “I <3 Copic” bumper stickers.

1st place: http://www.copiccolor.com/Bonneauh

2nd place: http://www.copiccolor.com/stampinmindy

3rd place: http://copiccolor.com/evb

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
We had a hard time choosing the winners, so here are a few more awesome entries!

http://copiccolor.com/missmaggiejoxoxo

http://copiccolor.com/jefcompton

http://www.copiccolor.com/LysaQ

http://copiccolor.com/knittingnonsense

You can view the full album of entries on our Facebook page.

Thanks again to everyone who entered, stay tuned for more contests!

Why does it look so bad?
Your black lines disappear and your area looks totally flat if you color with black. Black is a monster that sucks in all color, especially color around it. If you have large areas of black it can be very overpowering.

So how can we make something look black without coloring it black?
This is why Copic makes so many grays. There are 44 shades of gray, which seems like a lot when you only use a few of the lightest grays every now and then for light shadows. The darker grays are what you would use to get black.

Note: In this post I am about 1 or 2 shades lighter than you will want to work, mostly because I needed to make sure my scanner would pick up the subtle differences between blacks. You may like these blacks as they are, or you may want to go a couple shades darker. That’s a matter of personal preference.

Look at this shirt. The black shirt is just a black shape. It has no life. Next, we have a t-shirt colored with two shades of toner gray, T6 and T8. The shirt still looks black but now we can see the black lines around the shape.

Now look at the last shirt. This shirt has been through the wash too many times and looks faded. This was an easy effect by going over the shirt with the lightest gray of the same family T0. I could have used the blender but it would have been too much and too harsh.

Usually you can get a good “black” by using the 6 or 7 in each gray family as the base color and shadowing with the 8 or 9 from the same family. Sometimes you may need to use the 10 in that color family, but rarely do I reach for a black.

So why are there so many grays?
Each gray has a slightly different feel. If you look at this sequence you can see that the W’s are warm, almost brown, the T’s are a little less brown, the N’s are truly neutral, and the C’s are sort of blue.

I’d use the Warm grays for warm feeling natural things, trees, dirt, etc. I’d use the Toner grays if I didn’t want the grays to be quite so brown but not cool or neutral. The Neutral grays are really that- neutral. If you look the Neutral circle looks more black than the others when you see them in this sequence. The Cool grays are more for metal and cold things.

The shirt above is a fabric that I wanted to be sort of neutral, so I used the Toner Grays, since the warm grays were too brown. I could have used Neutral gray, but I didn’t feel like it at the time. I drew the circles with lines through the light area so you can get an idea of how the black lines compare to the blacks of the shape. (Note: the T4 you see in this picture is one of the first two markers I was given over 8 years ago- it still has the original brush tip).

What about the black markers?
First, never use the black 100 or 110 for drawing a shape you’re going to color in with other colors of Copic markers. These markers are meant to blend, so the lines will just get blurry and look bad. Use these if you need deepest shadows in your artwork. If you want black lines draw them with a multiliner. The lines will be crisper and they won’t bleed with other marker colors.

What’s the difference between 100 and 110?
Have you ever worn a black shirt with black pants and it’s not the same shade of black, yet each piece of clothing by itself looks black? That’s the difference. You can’t really see it unless you’re on certain papers and the two are next to each other.

100 is equal to a C11, or a cool, deep blue black. This is what most people consider true black.
110 is equal to a T11, or a slightly warm black.

Coloring black shiny things
Black metal you can color in exactly the same way as other black things, but where a t-shirt is fabric and has a matte finish metal is shiny and will reflect light back. This is another case where you need to use opaque white. No way can I leave the white areas white when I’m working on such a small shape and with such dark colors.

However, a little dab of thick opaque white covers up the black nicely and makes our little ball look like dark, shiny metal (it’s cool gray so it’s supposed to look like metal or hematite, my favorite stone).

Your turn! Share your gray-as-black work with us on Facebook or Twitter!

Marianne’s Note: When I mention a color combo whatever color I put first is the color I put down as my base color, then I blend in the second color. So Y17 + E25, the E255 was layered over the Y17. Also, these colors on the screen are NOT accurate and are for comparison only.

Y17, Golden Yellow
Story behind Y17: This was among the first colors Japan created over 20 years ago. This is a very bright Yellow, hovering on orange. Because the yellows are so bright, there is very little color difference in this blending family, especially as you get darker. Y17 has a touch more orange to it than Y18 or Y19 in my opinion. To get a good shadow for Y17 you would have to jump to another blending group within the Y’s (Y28 or Y38) or into another color family – YR or E.
Available in these styles: Copic, Sketch, Ciao, Wide
Natural Blend family:
Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17, Y18, Y19
Simple Blend:
Highlight Y15 Midtone Y17 Shadow Y19
Similar colors, other families:
B16, R17, V17, E17, BV17, G17, YR16
Marianne’s Unusual Combos:
Y17 + E25, Y17+ YG25, YG21 + Y17

Advanced Color Rules for Y17*:
Complimentary: Y17/V09
Triad (simple 3 color combo): Y17, B05, RV29
Tetrad (simple 4 color combo): Y17, BG18, V09, YR09
Pentagram (simple 5 color combo):
Y17, G19, B79, RV29, YR09
High Contrast: Y17, YR16, B37, B06, R89, R29
Compound: Y17, E37, E59, V06, R39, V09

*Advanced color rules are generated by Adobe Illustrator CS3 based on the digital representation of the Copic Color Spectrum set into a special color wheel. I generate these as suggestions for color combos to try when you are looking for a nice change, or you have a paper that matches this particular color and you want help picking other unusual colors to go with it.

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The project I made for Y17: Summer Sunflowers
I had been waiting to spotlight this color until my sunflowers were in bloom, because that is the flower that instantly comes to mind when I think of Golden Yellow. Here I’m showing the original photo I based my drawing from, and then my artistic interpretation of it with the color Y17.

The evening I took this photo the sun was just about to go down, and the next few photos got dark quickly, so I am showing my drawing with a darker sky than the photo. I also drew the outlines very loose, so my coloring style is loose as well. Notice how things close up have more vibrant colors, while things off in the distance have less contrast, less detail, and muted colors. I chose to make the foliage and blossoms brighter than real life. Looking at it now, I think it still needs deeper shadows for more contrast. Good thing I can always go back into my picture and blend more colors, even if it’s been sitting for a week.

Drawn with a Multiliner 0.05 on Color Laser Copier paper

Colors used: Y11, Y13, Y17, YR16, YG00, YG41, YG67, G14, G17, G28, G85, BG10, B04, B24, E35, E57, E59, 0, W3, W5

Your turn! Share your Y17 work with us on Facebook or Twitter!