Guest Tutorial: Taking your Comic Art to the Next Level Using Copic Multiliners
In this guest post, Copic-loving artist Alex Heizer explains how to use a range of Multiliners in various nib sizes to create patterns, texture and tone in your comics. Check it out!
Recently, reading a collection of popular Japanese ghost stories called Kwaidan inspired me to create a comic based on the work. Since these stories were collected and translated over a century ago, I wanted to use traditional illustration techniques and media to honor its rich history.
With the help of Copic Multiliners, the lettering, background textures and shading tones have all been hand rendered using pointillism and hatching. By mixing simple techniques and rendering them using multiple pen sizes in the same element, I’ve added greater levels of depth and subtlety to these pages while keeping the style personal and unique.
COPICS Used: Multiliners of the following sizes: 0.05, 0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1.0 and Brush-M
To begin my project, I create a storyboard on standard copy paper folded into a half-size booklet (4.25″ x 11″). This allows me to read it like a finished comic. I can see how things flow and make changes before spending too much time working on the details.
From there, I sketch rough pencils on Bristol board at 1.5x the finished printed size. I work them until they’re ready to be inked. For this step, I prefer hot press (sometimes called “plate finish”) Bristol board due to its smooth surface, heavy weight and durability when erasing and inking.
I use non-photo blue guidelines to mark the comic’s live area and trim guides. Turquoise colored Multiliners are perfect for creating guidelines when preparing your own custom boards. These blue lines will disappear when scanned, leaving only the black ink ready to be printed.
Figure: For basic line-work, I use the 0.05 Multiliner SP due to its precise nib that gives me really fine detail which stays razor-sharp at the reduced, final comic size. Before adding shading or texture, I complete all of the figures on the page. Once the outlines are finished, I move on to the shading and texturing of the figures.
Background Basics: At this stage, I only add basic texture and shading to the backgrounds. Leaving the backgrounds until after all of the figures have been finished lets you shade and texture them appropriately so they don’t overpower the characters.
Fabric: By combining pointillism and hatching, I create a smooth base shading with only 0.05 on areas like this kimono, followed by pointillism layers using 0.3 and 0.5 to create shadows and folds in the fabric. This is a great low-tech way to do your own shading screens (screen tones) directly on your artwork. By varying your lines and point density, you can simulate different materials, indicate the draping of fabric and create the illusion of volume through light and shadow.
Backgrounds, leaves: Once the figures are shaded, move to the backgrounds. I did the leaves using the Brush-M because its flexible tapered brush nib allows me to create that classic leaf shape with just a gentle press on the board. For each leaf, I held the pen at an angle and dabbed at the paper lightly, compressing the brush tip only hard enough to leave as large a mark as needed. To get a more realistic look to the leaves, I rotated the direction of the pen so the leaves weren’t all pointing in the same direction and varied the brush angle and pressure to vary the size or shape. The shallower the angle, the longer the leaves. I also created perspective by making the leaves smaller on trees that were farther in the background.
Grass: I rendered the grass with three sizes of pens, beginning with 0.05. By pressing the pen to the paper vertically and quickly flicking the pen upwards by rotating my hand backwards, I created random tapered lines. By flicking the pen, it caused the tip of the pen to lift in an arc from the paper, naturally tapering the tip of the line. For a more natural, grass-like look, I added in 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0, especially when creating the shadowy area and repeated the process a few (thousand) times! To get a smooth texture on this stone wall background, I used 0.05 for crosshatching.
Crosshatching: This is one technique that Multiliners excel at because of their consistent line thickness and ink density which is why I recommend them for anyone wanting to achieve this style of shading. By filling an area with an even layer of parallel hatches, the shading looks smooth. To create different shades or a gradient, I hatched in one direction and then again at a ninety degree angle. I repeated this in a third direction, or as many as I needed to achieve the darkness level I was looking for. For the textured surface of earth and rocks at the base of the wall, I used 0.05, 0.3 and 0.8 to create multiple layers of pointillism with a random placement of points. By intentionally building up 0.3 and 0.8 points in certain areas, I was able to simulate peaks and valleys which either caught the moonlight or were in shadow.
Lettering: Even though this page has no standard lettering on it, I wanted to show an example of lettering using Multiliners from a different page. Drawn at 1.5 times the finished comic size, I laid down parallel nonphoto blue lines 3mm apart for the lettering and 2mm apart for the leading (the vertical space between each line of lettering). Since I was going for a clean, mono-weight lettering style, I simply drew out the letters using a 0.3 for standard text and a 0.5 for bold. In this case, the Multiliners beat a traditional nibstyle pen and ink’s varied lines.
As you can see below in the finished page, basic illustration techniques can be taken to the next level simply by using a variety of Copic Multiliners. By switching between pens, you can add as much depth as you need to set the mood for your piece.
What Multiliner techniques do you use? Let us know in the comments, below.
For more from Alex, visit him online. Enjoyed this post? Feel free to let him know.
Website: http://AlexHeizer.com/
CopicColor: Alex Heizer
Twitter: @AlexHeizer
Facebook: Alex Heizer
Google+: Alex Heizer
Guest Post: Art Paper Testing with Copic Markers by Colleen Schaan
This week, Colleen Schaan shares her technique for testing paper to determine what works best with her artistic style. Enjoy!
Traditional marker rendering ranges from using large areas of color with streaking to show motion, to smooth gradient blends and minute detailing. The paper you choose for your rendering is important, as each type gives different results and has different capabilities.
I personally like a paper with easy blending and visible special effects, so that is what I test my papers for and how I rate a “good” paper. Each artist has a different style, purpose, and technique for using their Copics and therefore should test a number of papers themselves.
I’ve gathered a variety of art papers from some popular brands. Here are my results separated into paper types:
SKETCH/DRAWING PAPERS – Typically sketch papers aren’t recommended for markers, but I wanted to include them in my testing as I know a number of artists who like to use them for marker work.
Canson Sketch 50lb
• Easy color lay down, smooth surface
• Feathers only with a lot of ink
• Darkens only slightly with layering
• Soaks through the back
• Very easy blending
• Colorless Blender gives soft but bright effects on wet surface
• Colorless Blender gives crisp and subtle effects on dry surface
• Overall Thoughts – I like this paper. The soft surface gives very easy blending and I get very little feathering. Blender effects aren’t spectacular, but they are okay when wet.
Canson Sketch
Strathmore Sketch 60lb
• Easy color lay down, smooth surface
• Saturates quickly to give smooth coverage
• Feathers with more than one layer
• Darkens slightly with layering
• Soaks through the back quickly
• Very easy blending – but beware of feathering
• Excellent colorless blender effects both wet and dry.
• Overall Thoughts – I wouldn’t pick this paper unless I want to use limited layers. I do love the crisps and bright colorless blender effects though.
Strathmore Sketch
Borden & Riley Sketch/Drawing 90lb
• Has a lot of tooth – snags at marker during inking
• Saturates quickly for smooth coverage
• Feathers with more than one layer
• Darkens slightly with layering
• Soaks through the back very quickly
• Soft and easy blending with not a lot of ink (can be controlled)
• Excellent colorless blender effects both wet and dry
• Overall Thoughts – another paper I wouldn’t use… unless I really wanted great colorless
blender special effects. I do like the blending, and with patience, could learn to use this
paper with a very little ink.
Borden & Riley Sketch/Drawing 90lb
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BRISTOL
Canson Bristol Vellum
• Smooth color lay down
• Saturates very quickly
• Feathers slightly with multiple layers
• Darkens with layering
• Very little soak through to the back
• Super easy blending – beware of the feathering though
• Soft and subtle colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – this paper is pretty good. I like that it blends beautifully and gives some colorless blender effects. The only drawback is the slight feathering.
Canson Bristol Vellum
Strathmore Bristol Smooth
• Slight yellow tone
• Very smooth and easy color lay down
• Saturates quickly without a lot of ink
• Feathers slightly with lots of ink
• Darkens nicely with layering
• Some soak through to the back
• Blends beautifully
• Great colorless blender effects – nice and bright and crisp
• Overall Thoughts – A great paper for someone wanting to use a Bristol. Super easy
blending and vibrant colorless blender effects. The slight yellow tone isn’t an issue for
me.
Strathmore Bristol
Borden & Riley Bristol Vellum
• Slight tooth and really grabs at the marker during inking
• Saturates very quickly
• Feathers even with just one layer
• Darkens with layering
• Lots of soak through to the back
• Blends very well
• Neat colorless blender effects – but feathering
• Overall Thoughts – this reminded me a lot of a watercolor paper. Way too soft for my
taste as it feathers excessively. I do like the colorless blender effect and this paper might
be neat for a mixed media inking project.
Borden & Riley Bristol Vellum
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MARKER PAPER
Canson Marker Pro Layout
• Super smooth surface – easy color lay down
• Color sits on top of paper
• Saturating creates mottled look
• Very light even with layering
• No feathering even with multiple layers
• No bleeding through the back
• Streaky with more than one shade
• Traditional blending methods tend to lift color when wet
• Colorless blender effects subtle on both wet and dry
• Overall Thoughts – The paper is good for more traditional marker rendering techniques
where brush strokes are used to create movement and texture. Colorless blender effects
are too soft and subtle for my taste.
Canson Marker Pro
Strathmore Marker Pad
• Super smooth color lay down
• Color sits on top of paper for quite a while
• Can easily saturate for a smooth look
• No feathering even with multiple layers
• Very light – even with layering
• No bleeding through the back
• Streaky if not evenly saturated
• Traditional blending is difficult
• Excellent colorless blender effects on both wet and dry
• Overall Thoughts – The lighter colors pull off the darker colors since they sit on the top
of the paper so the blending is rather difficult. I do like the crisp colorless blender effects
that I can get.
Strathmore Marker Pad
Borden & Riley Marker Layout
• Super smooth color lay down
• Darkens only slightly with layers
• Need to fully saturate for a smooth look
• No feathering even with multiple layers
• No bleed through to the back
• Streaky if not fully saturated
• Traditional blending is good if fully saturated
• Excellent colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – I love this paper! The best of both worlds for me… like a soft card
weight paper for blending (as long as it’s saturated) and vivid colorless blender effects.
Borden & Riley Marker Layout
Copic Marker Pad
• Noticeably two sided
• Smooth color lay down
• Darkens only slightly with multiple layers
• No feathering
• Slight show through to the back but no bleeding
• Ink sits on top for a moment and then saturates
• Traditional blending techniques are difficult as the ink sits on the top
• Streaky blending unless very careful
• Very subtle colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – For my coloring style, it’s not my preferred marker paper. The blending is more like a vellum technique and the colorless blender effects are extremely subtle.
Copic Marker Pad
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OTHER PAPERS
Borden & Riley Bleed Proof Paper for Pens
• Super smooth surface and color lay down
• Soft like Bristol but not as absorbent
• Darkens slightly with layering
• Very slight feathering only after 3+ layers of ink
• Bleeds through the back slightly
• Blends well if saturated
• Amazing colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – Another great paper! This reminds me of a thinner card weight paper
with the ease of soft paper blending and outstanding colorless blender effects.
Borden & Riley Bleed Proof Paper for Pens
Copic Manga Illustration Paper
• Very light color
• Darkens only slightly with multiple layers
• Ink sits on top and then soaks in
• No feathering or bleed through
• Traditional blending techniques are difficult
• Can be streaky if overworked
• No colorless blender effects on wet and only slight effects on dry
• Overall Thoughts – Tough to get smooth blends on, but a good paper for more traditional marker rendering where streaks and brush strokes are wanted for texture and movement.
Copic Manga Illustration
As you can see, each type of paper gives a different result, even between brands, so make sure to put marker to paper and test a number of them to find your favorites.
Interested in Colleen’s posts on testing card stock? View Part 1 and Part 2 on her blog.
Guest Tutorial: Creating Patterns with Colorless Blender by Kristy Dalman
Kristy Dalman is the talented owner/artist/designer of Some Odd Girl digital stamps. She has teamed up with Melissa Andrew (Melissa Made) to start Created from Color, where they will teach online Copic classes. Registration for their first class is now open, check it out!
Read on to learn Kristy’s technique for creating patterns on digital stamps with Copic Various Ink Colorless Blender:
One thing I really love about copics, besides the gorgeous vibrant color, is the versatility of the product. Something that seems under utilized but really fun to experiment with part is the Colorless Blender. So today I have a quick tutorial on how to add pattern to your stamped images using the Colorless Blender and stamps.
To complete this project you will need the following:
- Colorless Blender Various Ink Refill
- Stamps (1 image and 1 pattern or shape)
- Small Sponge
- Copic Markers
- Xpress It Paper
- Memento Black inkpad
First thing to do is to stamp out your image and color JUST the area that you want to use this technique on. This is because if you accidentally get the Colorless Blender into areas you don’t want it, well you don’t want to ruin your hard work.
So I have colored just her dress as that’s what I’ll be focusing on using BG11, BG13 and BG49. For this technique you’ll want the base to be a color that 1) will easily move when used with the colorless blender and 2) will clearly show the area you’ve stamped. So a rich color, maybe not red though as that could be tough, is what you’ll want to use.
Let the image dry completely.
Next take your Colorless blender and pour a small amount on to your sponge.
We’re using a sponge to give the stamp you’ll be using an even coating of Colorless Blender without it being too wet and drippy. Take your shape stamp, in this case a heart, and use the sponge like an ink pad and pounce. NOTE: Make sure the stamp you’ll be using for this is completely free of ink from previous uses. It will ruin your work if its dirty. I’m using a clear stamp to be able to tell but you can pounce and try a scrap paper before going to your image just to make sure.
Now just use your stamp inked with Colorless Blender like a regular stamp. I used a heart and followed the line of her skirt across, starting slightly off the edge to make it look like the pattern goes all the way around. Now let it dry. You’ll see that the Colorless blender has pushed the color out from the area that you’ve stamped!
If you need to you can go back in with your Colorless Blender Marker and, letting it dry between, push more color out to clean it up until your happy. After its dry all that’s left is to fill your pattern back in with color. I’m using R24.
Now her dress has a super cute pattern and the colors are all nice and bright! Take your time and experiment with different pattern and color combinations and see what you can come up with. There’s a lot of fun to be had with florals, dots, flourishes and more.
All that’s left is to finish coloring your image and a fun card to go along with it.
Thanks so much and I hope you have lots of fun with this technique!
Materials used:
Colorless Blender Various Ink
Copic Sketch Markers – BG11, BG13, BG49, R24 (for the tutorial)
E00, E01, E11, E13, R00, R01, R02, E50, E51, E53, E55, V93, V95 (for the rest of the image)
Stamps – Sweet Thinkin Mae from Some Odd Girl, Lovey Tobie set (heart) from Some Odd Girl
Pattern Papers – October Afternoon, Crate Paper
The Twinery Caribbean Blue twine
Crate Paper Stickers
misc buttons.
Find Kristy on the web:
Copic Color: http://www.copiccolor.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Blog: http://www.theoddgirl.com/
Some Odd Girl Shop: http://www.someoddgirl.com/
Kristy’s Copic classes:
Created from Color: http://www.createdfromcolor.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Guest Tutorial: Coloring Hair by Brandi York
This week, illustrator Brandi York shares how to color realistic hair with Copics. Enjoy!
Rendering realistic hair with Copics is not especially difficult with a little practice. Copic Sketch markers, with their brush tips, are ideal for rendering varied line widths to help represent the hair. My high school art teacher once told me, “Never try to draw every single hair. You’ll go insane. Just draw every direction.” This is just as true in Copics as any medium.
Once I have my skin tones in, I keep in mind my light source and go from there. With marker, you have to keep your light areas in mind, since you can’t go back and lighten areas very easily or very much.
With that in mind, I start with the color I want the highlights of the hair to be. Since her hair is a deep auburn, I start with E70 and lay in where the light will be hitting her hair. I keep the strokes loose and light-handed, moving with the direction of the hair, letting the brush trail off. Most of the ends will be covered by the darker color once finished, but I like the effect as I’m playing. I repeat the process with E71, filling in the rest of the area. At this point, it’s starting to get the effect of hair, but is still pretty rough.
With that in mind, I start with the color I want the highlights of the hair to be. Since her hair is a deep auburn, I start with E70 and lay in where the light will be hitting her hair. I keep the strokes loose and light-handed, moving with the direction of the hair, letting the brush trail off. Most of the ends will be covered by the darker color once finished, but I like the effect as I’m playing. I repeat the process with E71, filling in the rest of the area. At this point, it’s starting to get the effect of hair, but is still pretty rough.
Next, I take E74, and flesh things out a little more, adding some more depth and control to the hair, followed by E77, using the same light-handed brush strokes.
To bring out some of the red in the auburn hair, I switch to RV99, to bring some reddish hue into the hair, fading it out with E74 and E77. I follow that up with BV29 for the deepest darks of the hair. I also decided that the lights were too light (her hair was looking very shiny and that wasn’t exactly the effect I was going for) so I used E71 and E74 to knock down the lights a little bit.
As always, there’s a lot of back and forth, fading out the strokes to allow for reasonably smooth transitions, giving the overall illusion of hair. Practice your strokes beforehand to get a feel for the loose movement of hair.
Colors used:
Face – R000, R20, E01, E04, E49, E57, BV20, BV23, BV31
Hair – E70,E71, E74, E77, RV99, BV29
Guest Tutorial – Airbrushing Comics by Jayleen Weaver (Marker Guru)
Comics creator Jayleen Weaver (Marker Guru) runs Gurukitty Studios with her sister. They’re self-described as the craziest little comics and animation studio to ever try to hash out a living. She’s been kind enough to share a bit about skills using the Copic Airbrush System (ABS) in comics production, below. Check it out.
Leaellynasaura by Jayleen Weaver (Marker Guru)
Colours
E00, BV0000, E0000, BV31, BV23, BV25, Y11, Y0000, BV29, G40, E21, YG01, YG93, YG03, YG91, B000, RV02, E71, YG11, Y13, G85, G82, G99
Materials
Copic Sketch markers, Copic Multiliner .3 cool grey, Zig 2 way glue, X-press It blending card – 8.5 x 11 (image size 6×8), Copic Airbrush System (ABS), Iwata SmartJet Compressor
About the Project
I’ve been working on a Dinosaur Calendar for a while as a compliment to my Comic book I‘m working on called “Hello, Albertosaurus”.
This one is a Leaellynasaura, which is a small dinosaur that lived in the Conifer forests of the south Pole. It lived in a time when there were two seasons in the south pole – warm summers and freezing winters – so I went with a early spring setting for this little dinosaur. I thought this would be a nice January image.
I like using the Copic Airbrush for some nice atmospheric effects and free form background elements in areas where line art might be too much.
Steps
Layout & Planning
I start each piece of art work with a sketch and some colour planning. I scan the sketch and print it out a few times on a couple sheets of X-Press It blending card (whatever paper the final will be on). My inkjet printer seems to be OK with having Copics go over top. I do a few different versions of colour schemes and lighting and find the one I like best and run with it.
Planning thumbnails
Inking
Next I ink the image in whatever colour is appropriate. I used a cool grey .3 Copic Multiliner in this instance as I thought black line art would be too bold for the look I was going for. I used a light pad and place my sketch below my good paper, and ink onto a new sheet. I made sure to leave no ink where the out of focus foreground elements would be.
Inked image
Base Colours
On to the colouring! I first choose my shadow colour and my light colour. They’re usually complimentary colours. In this case Blue Violets were my shadow colour and pinky yellows were my light colour. I start blocking in where all the shadow and light areas will be. I used BV31 and BV23 for the shadow areas, and E00 for the light areas. I also used BV0000 for the foreground ferns that are going to be out of focus and a bit lighter than the mid ground. I make sure that anywhere I want the intense glows I leave white or almost white.
Light and shadow placement
Shading
I then work out some more detailed shading in the overall image and pick where my darkest and lightest areas are going to be (BV29). I also go in with a little bit of yellow in some of the areas where the light will be most intense (Y11).
Colour shaded image
Colour Washes
I start doing some “washes” of colour over the image now, giving each area just a hint of colour. I make the main areas mainly muted colours or pale colours, and the foreground leaves I made intense Yellow Green (YG01), the conifers on the side are a combination of G85, G82 and G99, and the forground leaves are BV0000 and some G40.
I made the foreground appear out of focus by keeping them lighter colours, and every time I went to colour in the little gaps I soaked the paper with lighter colour first. Then the darker colours had a diffused look. I went over and over the leaves around the edges with the lightest colour and let it push the darker colours away. I also used a gradient of colours around the edges, instead of one, and let them blend together.
Marker coloured image
Stencilling
Next I photocopied my image, and then cut out the background area. This is going to be used an airbrush mask. Mask off the important areas before airbrushing.
Photocopied image cut to be used as an airbrushing mask
Airbrushing
The last step was to airbrush, and this is where it really comes alive. I used BV23 to darken up the right side, and to give the hint of some forest in the back ground. I then took Y13 and airbrushed in the sun area and around the Leaellynasaura. I took off the stencil, then free hand airbrushed in more glowing yellow around the trees, and the rocks; Just to punch it up a little. I then took RV02 and did a little bit of pink in the side to make the yellow to violet transition a little easier on the eyes.
Airbrushing the image with stencil in place
That’s all there is too it!
Finished image
Try your hand at this technique and post your results to our Facebook wall, or share with us on Twitter.
If you liked her tutorial, let her know – connect with Marker Guru, here:
http://copiccolor.com/markerguru
http://facebook.com/gurukittystudios
http://guruubii.deviantart.com
Gurukitty Studios is currently accepting submissions to a Comic Anthology: http://gurukitty.com/wordpress/category/once-upon-a-time/
Guest Tutorial: Acrylic Skins by Colleen Schaan
Papercrafting designer Colleen Schaan is one of our Design and Education/Instruction team members, and this week she’s sharing a unique project that utilizes Copic Various Ink. Enjoy!
While I like to use my Copic markers to color images in the traditional way, I also like to experiment a bit and see what other fun ways I can use them. I’m really excited to share one of my favorite “non-traditional” Copic coloring methods with you today.
As a mixed media artist, I’m always trying to… well… mix my media! I did just that, combining Copic Various Inks and acrylic gel medium to create funky, colored skins which I then used to “color” an image.
You will need:
Non-stick craft sheet
Various ink (2 of each color)
Palette knife
Gel medium (glossy was used here)
Canvas board
White acrylic paint
Paintbrush (flat)
Copic marker(s) (not black)
Scissors or Xacto knife
First, you need to make your acrylic skins. Typically, thin layers of acrylic paint are used for this. I wanted a very vibrant yet transparent mix of colors, so I used Copic Various Inks to create the color for each skin. It’s imperative to use a non-stick craft sheet when making your skins.
Apply 3-6 drops of Various Inks onto the surface of the craft sheet. This can be all one shade or a mixture of 2 different shades or colors. Here I am using YR15 and YR18.
Using a thin palette knife, slowly spread the ink across the surface of the craft sheet. Initially, the ink will condense and reform beads. As it dries, it will stick to the surface and remain spread out. Blowing lightly on the ink as you spread it helps to speed up this process.
Once the ink is completely dry (no longer sticky), apply a layer of gel medium over the ink with a palette knife. Spread the gel medium gently and try not to “mix” the ink into the medium. The medium should be approximately 1/8 – 1/4 “ thick. I like to leave stoke marks in the medium for added texture.
Repeat the previous three steps with the additional colors necessary to “color” your image.
While the skins are drying (typically overnight), draw an image onto the canvas board (try this technique first with simple, open images and move onto more complex and detailed images as your experience with skins progresses). Outline your image with a dark Copic marker (do not use black as the pigment in black sometimes feathers when combined with acrylic mediums). Apply a thin layer of white acrylic paint over the drawn image. This gives a nice bright base for your skins and the Copic ink of the drawing will become visible once the paint dries.
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Once the skins and the drawing are dry, you can move on to the next step in “coloring” your image (if your skins have “cracked” during the drying process, the layer of gel medium was too thin. You can apply another thin layer over the cracks and let dry before proceeding). Carefully remove each skin from the craft sheet by sliding a large palette knife under the edge and gently lifting. The Copic ink will be pulled from the craft sheet and “stick” to the bottom of the skins. Do not let the skins fold or touch each other as they will stick together.
Place a colored skin over the area of the image that you want “colored” and trace around the outlines of the image.
Using an Xacto knife or scissors, cut along the lines of the image.
Once you have all of the pieces cut, the “coloring” begins! Apply a thin layer of gel medium to a section of the drawing and then place the corresponding skin over it. Press down gently to adhere. Continue gluing skins into place. Layer individual colors to create more depth and texture.
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Once the colored image is dry, outline the image and add final details with a dark Copic marker.
While this obviously takes much more time and effort than traditional coloring, it also gives a completely different look. The mix of texture, translucency and depth create an almost stained-glass effect – perfect for an array of mixed media projects.
Products Used:
Golden Glossy Gel Medium
Golden Titanium White Fluid Acrylic Paint
Copic Sketch Markers – RV09/RV19/RV69/G17
Copic Various Inks -B12/B18/YG13/YG25/G03/G09/YR15/YR18/Y35/Y17/V04/V05/R43/R46/RV66/RV69
Find Colleen on the web:
Web Site: http://www.distinctivetouches.com/
Copic Color: http://www.copiccolor.com/cschaan
Share your mixed media projects with us on Facebook and Twitter!
Color Spotlight: B66
Welcome to our Color Spotlight feature! Every so often we’ll showcase a different color and give ideas of color combos that will work with it.
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
Guest Tutorial: New Year’s Project by Sharon Harnist
Papercrafting designer Sharon Harnist is one of our Design and Education/Instruction team members, and she’s back with us again this month to share a New Year’s project that utilizes several Copic products and a great background/custom paper technique.
Hello, I’m excited to be back again and to share this fun background/custom paper technique! A new year for me means a new calendar, so I hope you will enjoy this project, too.
To create the custom background my calendar is printed on, I started with an acrylic stamping block and scribbled several Copic marker colors onto it:
(Note: I ended up using a larger block than is shown in the photo above, so it would cover the entire surface I would need for my background).
Next, place Copic Colorless Blender Solution in a mister bottle and generously spray the scribbled marker color. Working quickly, before the Blender Solution dries, stamp onto X-Press It Blending Card. I love the speckled, snowy (or rainy!) effect:
Then I used the background paper to print my calendar, trimmed it down to approximately 4.50′” x 5.25”, and backed it with black cardstock. Alternately, you could use one of those tear-off calendars companies send you through the mail as their annual marketing this time of year, and place it on this prettier background!
The Lockhart Stamp Company Snowman With Checkered Hat was stamped onto X-Press It Blending Card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with these Copic Sketch markers:
To bridge the gap between two shades of colors, I used the Tip-to-Tip technique: Use lighter marker to pick up color off the darker color marker tip and then use lighter marker to color with. Color will start out darker and then gradually fade to the lighter color as the darker color comes off the lighter marker tip, automatically creating a mid-tone of the two shades:
To make the snowman’s face appear cold and icy, I used B0000 around the edges of his face. I used C1 to shade underneath his hat and around the edges of his face to make it appear more rounded, and for shadows underneath his eyes, nose and mouth:
The snowman was cut out and adhered with foam tape to an Inchie Arts Black Twinchie (2”) Square, for stability and contrast. The final snowman image has Pitch Black Atyou Spica Glitter Pen accenting the snowman’s coal mouth pieces, Melon accenting the holly and stripes in his scarf, and Clear accenting his ear muffs and eyes:
The die cut snowflake pieces were accented with icy B0000 by coloring the raised/embossed areas of the X-Press It Card while it was still in the die:
The snowflake pieces were layered together with foam tape and accented with glitter glue. The calendar page is sized to fit into a clear plastic CD holder, with the lid bent back and used as an easel:
I hope you’ll have fun using this background/coloring technique!
You can find more Copic papercrafting inspiration from Sharon here:
Blog: www.PaperFections.com
Copic Color Gallery: http://www.copiccolor.com/Shar
Calendar Supplies:
Copic Sketch Markers: B0000, B21, BG000, BG01, BG02, BV02, BV13, BV17, C1, C2, RV63, RV66 YG03, YG63, YR12
Copic Atyou Spica Glitter Pens: Clear, Melon, and Pitch Black
Paper: Copic X-Press It Blending Card; Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight Black Onyx cardstock
Stamps: Lockhart Stamp Company Snowman With Checkered Hat (#6004)
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Dies: Spellbinders Create A Flake One dies and Grand Calibur die cutting machine
Accessories: Inchie Arts Black Twinchie Square; Ranger Star Dust Stickles; foam tape, 2012 Grid 2-Page Calendar download, Clear plastic CD holder
Guest Tutorial: Marbleizing
In this week’s guest tutorial, mixed media artist Bianca Mandity shares some tips for creating marbleized paper with Copic Various Ink. Enjoy!
When I was in school I learned how to marbleize paper traditionally using a chemical bath. I loved the look of the papers, but was concerned about the chemicals needed to produce the marbleizing effect. Ever since, I’ve been searching for a way to marbleize without the chemicals. I tried doing the shaving cream process, but found it expensive since you can’t reuse the shaving cream and the results didn’t really look like the real thing. One day when cleaning up my craft mat, I noticed my Copic ink was floating in some hand sanitizer that I’d spilled while cleaning my hands. A light bulb went on over my head. This process creates beautiful results without the chemicals of traditional marbleizing or the expense of using shaving cream.
For this tutorial you will need: Copic Various Ink, antibacterial hand santizer, palate knife, non-stick craft sheet, comb and X-Press It blending card or marker paper.
Step One: On your non-stick surface place a large amount of hand santizer and spread out with the palate knife. Don’t spread it too thin, as this will mess up the surface tension when it comes time to marbleize. You want it be no thinner than the thickness of heavy card stock.
Step Two: Drop a single drop of each of your colors onto your hand sanitizer.
Step Three: Take your comb and drag it through the ink and the hand sanitizer. You want to make sure and mix it well or it will transfer as one giant blob of color.
Step Four: Gently lay your paper down onto the gel. Let it set for a minute, don’t push or move it, just let it set. You’ll start to see the patterns showing up. If there are any spots where the colors don’t show up, gently press it down into the mixture.
Step Five: Grab your paper by the corners and lift straight off. Flip over and take a look at your beautiful marbleized paper.
Hint: If you have extra sanitizer setting on the top, you can hit the bottom with a heat gun to help set the colors and then lay a paper towel on top to soak up the extra sanitizer. Be careful not to drag or rub it. Just let it set and soak for a while and then lift off. You can also leave the extra sanitizer. It will eventually dry and might crackle slightly, but won’t destroy the marbleizing.
You can reuse your sanitizer by scraping it together the the palate knife and adding more color. But eventually it will turn brown and no longer marbleize cleanly. How long this takes depends on how much ink you use each time. When the sanitizer becomes dirty, simply wipe up with a paper towel and begin again.
Find Bianca on the web:
http://biancandm.blogspot.com/
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Guest Tutorial: Reflections by Brandi York
In this week’s guest tutorial, Brandi York shares some tips for creating reflective objects with Copics. Enjoy!
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
