Archive for December, 2008

My best wishes for you on this upcoming 2009.

Next update will be on Friday.

Coloring with Copic ink can be a little tricky, as it trends to layer itself and dries quickly. When coloring medium to large areas, you will need to do your strokes slow enough to get an even overage, and fast enough to make sure your borders wont dry on you.

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Work-areas are perhaps one of the most neglected topics I have seen from the various places oriented to teaching illustration. They focus on features and techniques, but rarely recommend a proper place to work.

What I have found is that ideally, the work area must be clean, well lighted, spacious, ventilated, and with the fewer distractions possible. Now, I understand the cost of a professional work bench and light fixtures can get considerable high, and out of reach for the most of us. As a minimum, try to find a place where you find yourself comfortable, like a table or student desk, and since we are going to use alcohol based products, work on a well ventilated area.

Copics will bleed on most papers, so it is recommendable that you put clean scratch paper underneath your artwork. This will protect the surface you are using, and may save your artwork from been ruined due to a stain below your image.

Make sure to test your paper for excessive bleeding before coloring your artwork with Copic markers (or any marker). I mentioned early, and will continue doing it for a while, Copic ink bleeds, and depending on the quality of your paper, the bleeding may be considerable. So, what do I use? High quality Card Stock, laser printer paper, and Copic marker pads.

Before You begin.

Here are some things that you need to understand before we begin coloring with markers.

1. Choose your colors ahead of time. It is a real bummer to find out the colors used in your illustration don’t quite go together. The thing I do to select my colors is to grab a piece of paper (the same I’m using for my work), and draw circles to get a feeling of the results I will get.
2. Ink your work before coloring. Pencil will smudge if you try to color over it, and will ruin your image. Also, make sure to erase all your pencil lines; you can’t erase them once colored with Copics. And the golden rule, TEST your ink for bleeding.
3. TIP: If possible, make photocopies of your work, and use those for your coloring. Copic ink won’t dissolve the toner lines, and you’ll still have your original intact just in case something goes wrong.
4. Make sure your hands are clean. Any oil or dirt will transfer to your paper, ruining your image in the process.
5. Use light colors first. If you color over a darker color, there is a good chance it will bleed over the lighter color, so start with your lights first then add your darker shades.

Perhaps the easiest part of choosing the markers that suit you better was the style to use (Copic, Sketch, Ciao, or Wide). At the end it wasn’t really that complicated; cost Vs features, capacity Vs color selection, and so on.

One of the easiest questions to make is always the hardest to answer. What colors should I choose? You must agree that it is an easy question, and could be just answered with a list of colors for the beginner to buy, right? Wrong!

I would consider it irresponsible of my part to handle you a list of the colors I mostly use, why? Because I’m not you, I don’t know what you’ll be coloring. Your work will most likely be different from mine, and your color combination will be different as well. The last thing you need is to spend money on Anime-oriented markers that you will never use, because you want to color buildings.

What I can do is to give you some basic guidelines to help you choose a range of colors to start your collection. In future lessons, I plan to be more subject specific, like skin coloring, hair coloring, wood coloring, etc. In those lessons I will be able to recommend you which colors to have.

Understanding the Copic Color System

Before getting into the selection of colors, it is important to at least have a basic idea on how the Copic Color System works. All Copic colors belong into a pigment classification (Blue, green, yellow, red, etc), and it’s represented by letters (B, BG, YG, etc.). Following that classification it will be a digit telling you how vibrant that color will be (From 0 to 9), the lower the number the more vibrant the color. And the final number will tell you how light or dark that particular color will be within that little group. Example:

BG05 is a Blue Green color (BG), vibrant classification 0, with brightness 5. Color Name, Holiday Blue.

There are 16 pigment classifications (Not counting the blacks and color-less blender) in total.

Follow this link to get the Copic Color chart located at the bottom of the page: http://www.copicmarker.com/library.html

Buying a Set of Markers

I know this is the painful side of choosing Copics as your drawing tool, they aren’t cheap, and buying a standard set can cost you from US $50.00 to about US $450.00 (Ouch), depending on the type of set you decide to buy.

The bigger sets (72 markers) have been arranged to match specific color palettes like the Sketch 72 pc Set-B, which has colors suited for Anime coloring (and the one I purchased). The 36 markers set for the original Copic, and Sketch gives you a basic foundation of colors, but most likely you will end up buying individual markers to compliment your selection.

The 12 marker set is the bare basic of all, and if you choose this set, you can expect to buy a lot of individual markers to accomplish your tasks.

Buying Individual Markers

I would recommend you buying individual markers as compliment of larger sets, as they cost more individually. You will need to do some research (with the color palette) to find out the combinations you want, and you’ll risk the chance that the colors you choose may not be in stock.

If you still want to buy them separate, then it is better for you to get at least two close colors of the same family. For example get an E00 and an E11, for coloring skin, or G21 and G85 for vegetation.

Of course it is always better to have some kind of reference (Like a picture) with you when you are shopping for markers, this will make choosing your selection a lot easier.

A good tip I heard is to pick colors lighter than you’ll want them to be. With Copics it’s easier to go darker than to go back to white.

This is all about choosing basic colors, like I mentioned earlier, it will depend on what kind of coloring you are planning to do.

In this lesson I will explain the main features of each style of Copic markers, so you can decide which one fits your need.

Copic

This is the original style of markers produced by Too. These markers offer the widest range of customization, with 9 different tips available. It comes in 216 different colors, with two tips (one broad, and one fine); also as mentioned in the previous lesson, you can get empty markers and fill them with the color you want, or your own color combination.

This marker is ideal for those who want a firm tip while coloring, or writing. They are really popular amongst Architects, product designers, and paper crafters. The color number is printed in both caps for easy finding. This marker is compatible with the Copic Air Brush System (ABS).

Copic is the second most expensive of the markers, and it holds more ink than the Sketch, and Ciao markers.

I have only 6 of these markers, and they are all gray tones, I bought them because I needed to do a rendering of a building. And where the first professional markers I had ever bought.

Sketch

About 15 years ago, Too released a new type of marker, the Sketch, and with that marker they changed the world of fine arts. Like the Copic, the Sketch marker has a broad tip (little bit smaller), but on the other side it features a brush tip – A really soft and flexible brush that last for a very long time. Their body is oval shaped, and like the original Copics, they have the color number printed in both caps.

Like someone said one time, “A marker that doesn’t feel like a marker.” It is the most popular Copic marker, and the one with the widest range of colors available (322 colors. It is also compatible with the Air Brush System, but unlike the Copic, the sketch markers can use both ends with the ABS.

It’s not as customizable as the original Copic, with only different tips to change, also it holds less ink, and you can buy empty markers too.

I have 109 of these markers (a 72 pc set, a 36 pc set, and an extra color-less blender), as they are my personal favorites. The color selection is larger, cheaper than the original Copic, and I can use both tips with my ABS. Of those 109 markers I have only one duplicated (a color-less blender).

Ciao

Ciao markers were introduced about 10 years ago, due to the popularity of the Sketch’s brush tip. Japanese artists wanted a cheaper marker with the features of the Sketch. Ciao is pronounced Chow, like the Italian greeting.

The Ciao are intended for the beginner market, they are the cheapest of all, and even feature a child-safe cap (with holes in case a child swallows it). Unlike the original Copic, and the Sketch, the Ciao markers don’t have the color number printed on the caps (No room for it). The body of these markers is round.

Ciao markers have the same tips as the Sketch, but because of the size, they hold a lot less ink, and there is only about half as many colors. There are no empty markers available, like the Sketch, Ciao can be customized with three different tips. Technically the ABS is not compatible with the Ciao markers (in reality, I just learned that you can add a couple foamies to the ABS to make it fit the Ciao).

I have 12 of these markers (remember what I mention on the previous lesson about not buying the 12 pc set. I meant it). If I had decided to go with the Ciao, instead of the Sketch, by now I could have the entire palette of colors available. But, I don’t really like the feeling of the Ciao (feels like a child’s marker), the limited colors, and that I cannot use my ABS directly with them.

Wide

The Wide markers were introduced around 2002, for the need of help with coloring large areas. Using any of the previous styles to color a really large area is quite difficult, so the ¾ of an inch tip of the Wide marker is ideal.

This is the priciest of the Copic markers, and the one that holds more ink. There are only 36 colors available, but there are also empty markers to fill it with any color you want. They only have one tip, so they are not suitable as your main style of markers.

Calligraphers use this type of marker to create large letterings. One problem with the Wide, is that it will suck ink rather quickly, adding the cost of constant refills to it. Like the Ciao, the Wide markers aren’t compatible with the ABS.

I do not own any of these types of markers, since I haven’t colored any large area that needed the use of Wide markers.

And that concludes this lesson on marker styles.

Illustrating with Copic Markers

Lesson 1: Introduction

The first lessons will focus on getting you comfortable with your markers (Copic). You will learn the different types of Copics, and its qualities; this will help you decide which one suits you better. Later lessons will focus on techniques, accessories, and how to do mix-media illustrations.

I will try not to focus on Anime/Manga all of the time. For me it is better to learn the general aspects of marker illustration rather than a niche. So, if you aren’t into drawing Anime/Manga, you can still find these lessons useful for a wide variety of projects.

Copic Markers

Anyone who has bought Copic markers can agree in two things, they are pricey for beginners, and choosing between the different styles can be really confusing.

There are four different styles of markers, Copic (same name as the brand), Sketch, Ciao, and Wide. The number of colors available for each style is different, but the ink is the same for all styles. For example a B32 ink will be the same for all four styles of markers.

Copic Markers (I will use this term meaning all styles) are alcohol based, although they are low odor, it is better to work on a ventilated area. The dye is permanent, so be careful where do you use them. All of them are refillable, and the tips can be changed as well; this makes them a long life investment if you take good care of them.

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