CopicArt – Illustrating with Markers

Archive for the ‘Just Chatting’ Category

   Up to this date, there was really no planning with my illustrations, except for the colors used.  Sure, I always create a test image, but there is one area that it is just weak, and overlooked. Shadows have always been my worst enemy, especially since they were done on the fly, never planned.

   I have to admit that sometimes they were in the wrong place, and since it is markers we are talking about, fixing is out of the question. So after hearing a good advice, here is how I tried to solve my problem. I made an extra copy of the image to illustrate, and with a pencil (easy to erase) added the outline of how I wanted my shadows to appear. Not only I got better looking shadows, but also got a better handle of the light source.

   So here are the first two images of my fairy illustration. 

* Original Illustration *

* Planned Shadows *

  Well for some time I wanted to find a WordPress layout that is easy on the eye, so I found this one, I hope you like it. The benefit of this theme is that I can easily change the header image, so here is my first header, a fairy girl.

  I will soon post how did I created the illustration used for the header.

  Well, almost done with the image. Just a couple more elements to color and it will be finish.  Today I colored the skirt, and sweater. Unlike the original illustration, this time I decided for a denim skirt.

More pictures:

  I didn’t disappear again. Work projects for Valentine’s Day kept me away from my home computer.  Last year I did my first posts on CopicArt.com, featuring some drawings made by myself of Anime girls with huge Copics on each hand.

  At the time they looked OK to me, as I didn’t had much practice with my Copics, my color selection was quite limited, and I didn’t used other media to combine effects. Last Sunday I decided to re-do all of my original drawings, using different colors and techniques, and if possible, implement an idea for Backgrounds that I saw in a Book.

Here are some pictures of the original image and the coloring so far.

There are two topics I wanted to write today. A new style of Sample Book that I’m making, and a recent purchase of stamps.

 This morning, I just went shopping with my parents (haven’t done that in long time) to our local market place (Swap meet). And one of the booths had rubber stamps for sale, most of them small, or were sentiments only. So I spent some 30 minutes selecting the ones I could really use and color.

 And here are the five that I selected, each for only a couple dollars.

 And with the purchase of the Memento Ink Pad last Saturday at the CHA super show, I figured out the proper use of a sketch book purchased three years ago when my Copic fantasy started. Well, I’m stamping my images directly on the book pages, and then coloring them with my Copics, and Prismacolor pencils. This will make a more permanent, and portable sample book.

 Will post more images as soon as I color the new pages.

   Well if you tough I disappeared again, well not this time. Well, thankfully I was able to finally find a dealer that sells regular Memento ink pads at the CHA super show. The pad that I had before was the tear drop kind, and it made stamping large images a real pain (Unless there is a magic trick about those kind of pads that I’m not aware of).

So, for the last few days I have been stamping images like crazy, and gathering material for new Blog posting. And what is so special about the Memento Ink Pad, well the ink pads that I used in the past weren’t compatible with the alcohol ink of my Copics, meaning, to actually be able to color any of my rubber stamps I have to go thru the lengthy process of Stamping, scanning, re-touching, and printing the resulted image. And that is the reason why I was a heavy advocate of Digital Stamps.

I still like using Digital stamps, but for now, it is time to use my Rubber. For today’s project I stamped an INKADINKADO stamp, with my Memento Ink Pad, on Georgia Pacific card stock.

First I colored the skin. My base color is E000, then added E00 as soft shadows, E11 and E51 were used for hard shadows. Note that I used the same kind of coloring as described on my previous Blog entry.

for the hair I used the same color combination of that entry as well: YR21 for base color, YR23 for mid tones, and YR24 for dark tones, then I went all over the hair again with the YR21. For the Bear I used the YR23, and YR24 colors.

Next it was time for the Clouds, and the boy’s clothing to be colored. So for the clouds I used B0000 as base, and B01 for shadows. For the boy’s shirt, B00 as base, and B01 for shadows. And finally, the overall, and sail of the boat: B32 as base, B34 for shadows.

Looks nice so far. For the sand I used YR21 as base, and YR23 for shadows. Yes, many of the colors are repeated.

And finally, for the sea I used the following colors: G00 as base, and G02 for shadows. Indeed, I did a green sea, why? Too much blue on the image already.

I didn’t use any fancy technique, or coloring.Junst something that works, and looks good, I hope you like it.

I will not lie about what has happened this previous months. Work, problems, leaving Jobs, finding new ones, and so on. All of that, and more took me away from even looking at my home-studio, and my beloved Copics.

Well, I’m more stable now, and hopefully with more time to illustrate something new. Since starting again is hard, I needed a push to get the MOJO running again, and nothing is better than to re-take my Copic certification class. So, I went and register for a re-take, and spent all day yesterday with the new Instructors.

This time around I found it more productive since I didn’t have to take any notes, they provided us with the new “Certification student Manual”, that Marianne Walker put together. And with a couple hours to spare I went to the CHA super show after the class, and finally got a hold of a regular sized Memento ink pad, FINALLY I’m able to use my stamps, and will sure make some nice things with them.

So here is a picture of my new manual, and if you look at the left, you will see my first illustration practice since last year.

More posts to come.

Well, today was a great and happy Saturday for me and my family. We spent 8 hours at the movie theater. That is 4 movies back to back. The little one wanted to see “Night at the museum”, the one in charge (aka DW) wanted to see “Angels& Demons”, and the one without opinion (Me) wanted to see “Star Trek”. So we arrive too early for any of those movies, so we settled it like good human beings and watched “Terminator Salvation” first, then the ones they wanted to see (Kid first of course), and lastly (as usual) my choice…

            Funny thing, the little one enjoyed the A&D movie the most, go figure…

It was nice to be away from my computer and my studio, finally I was able to see the “real” world with my own eyes, not just thru a computer screen.

OK with Anime Expo just around the corner I have been organizing my sample books. What is a sample book? Well, a sample book is where I keep all my illustrations and technique samples, it is just a medium to showcase and protect my work. Since I don’t really make cards or other kind of giveaways, I kind of keep all my drawings.

Keeping a sample book is fun and also helpful to see your improvements over time; I just saw some of my first images and got amazed on how awful they are. So here are a few images of my sample book.

Today I’m a happy camper as my humble blog has received another wonderful Award. This time from Yuki at http://xiumaiyuki.blogspot.com/, please visit her blog as she has some wonderful cards, and she is a designer for My cute Stamps.  Thank You! Very much Yuki.

The award is “The Lemonade Award”.

And here I will pass the award to the following 5 bloggers, and members of the Paper Craft Society.

Joni – http://astickysituation.blogspot.com/

Lisa – http://adornmentsbylisa.blogspot.com/

Barbara – http://www.grandmatograndma.blogspot.com/

Laura – http://www.lauraoshea.typepad.com/

Jennifer – http://jennifersstamppad.blogspot.com/