CopicArt – Illustrating with Markers

*Note this is an automated scheduled entry, as I’m most likely on Disneyland at this moment.*

     Well, today I just wanted to show you my humble Copic and PrismaColor collections. And some other tools in the middle.

     Well, I am ready to start the coloring of my image. But first I want to mentions the tools used up until this part.

     Coffee: I know is bad, but it sure keeps me awake.

     Copic PM Pad: Got to love this pad, is doesn’t bleed, the paper is really soft, and is thin enough to trace my pencils without the need for a light table.

     French Curves: I keep forgetting when the last time I even heard of them was, but have to admit that they are a nice tool when inking an image. As you can see I have some nice assortment of them.

     Multi-liners and Black Copic: They come in different sizes and by default the best pens to ink an image. I have one of them with a brush tip, but for large areas I like to use the 100 Copic, faster and easier.

     Copic Opaque White and small brush: I have to admit that my inking surely is bad (out of practice for several years), and made quite a few mistakes that are visible. So to cover most of those mistakes I used the opaque white and brush. I couldn’t get rid of all my mistakes, so I used my computer for the final clean-up. (Cheating I know)

     Right now, the image has been scanned, corrected and printed. My following step will be to decide the colors to use (maybe making a test image in the process), and then proceed to mask it so I can use my Air Brush System.

            During the long time I was outside the digital world, I keep looking at my renderings and noticed two patterns. The first one, I rarely draw any backgrounds; most of my pictures are just floating on the air. The second one, I rely too much on illustrator as an inking tool, and for that the images don’t look natural.

            So I decided to do a complete image this time, ink it by hand, and use my Air Brush System in the process. Just a little problem with that, I haven’t inked an image by hand in years, my hand was shaking and some of the lines didn’t come out as I wanted, but so far it looks decent.

            As I mentioned in the title, this will surely be a long project, as it will involve a technique that I haven’t even mentioned in any of my previous posts. Since I want to do most of the rendering using the ABS, I will use some masking frisket.

            Here are a couple images of the inking process so far.

I’m still alive.
I apologize for not been able to update my blog. Several real-life events prevented me for doing any type of work, but since most of those are over, I’m starting to get new stuff together to get the blog going again.
I have to say “Thank You!” to all those wonderful people that contacted me and asked what was going on, and if I was to continue updating.

Alfred G.

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.

This post is my 6^th consecutive, a first since I started my blog. I had this project ready and typed since yesterday, but because of the award from Yuki it was moved for today.

            Continuing with the stamps that I just recently bought at the outdoor market place, here is another one named Buttercup made by Stamps Happen. Unfortunately I made a big mistake and didn’t write the colors used for this image. The elements that I liked more are her wings, not just because of the color combination, but because I used my clear Spica pen on them and the look like pixie dust.

            Here are the photos I took, hope you like it.

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/

The reason why I was working only with digital stamps and my own drawings was because I just couldn’t stamp really well (or so I thought). One of my problems was that no matter how I placed my stamp, I just couldn’t get a good impression, and when I was able to get a good image, my ink would smear. No hope for me and stamping.

            This past weekend I went to an outdoor marketplace, and found out a booth with a nice lady who was selling stamps, and inkpads. I was expecting her to just ignore me (the ugly guy), and focus on her female customers. But instead, she was really nice and we spoke about my Copic addiction and of course my problem with stamping. She gave me a few pointers on how to stamp correctly, and in her booth I was finally able to find a Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad. So basically I solved my two main problems in just one day, Thank You So much Lady (sorry but her name is hard to spell).

            Today’s project is one of the stamps that I bought on Sunday, stamped in Georgia Pacific cardstock, with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. This is the second time I have used my original stamped image directly, and I think I love it. The name of the stamp is: Proud Mother Rabbit, by Stamps Happen.

            These are the Copic colors used: B00, E31, BG93, BG94, G17, RV29, RV42, and R20. To compliment the image I only used two PrismaColor pencils: Dark Green, and Violet Blue. I hope you like it.

Final Image:

First order of business here, I just added a permanent link to Dustin Pike’s blog. Dustin has some beautiful Digital stamps for sale, and every Wednesday he’s so generous as to give away one digital stamp for free. His work is very clean and professional, I would advise you to visit him o regular basis.

Dustin Pike’s site http://dustinpike.blogspot.com/

            Today’s project is indeed one of those free stamps. For this truck I used the following Copic Markers: E35, E33, T7, T9, R24, R29, BV23, BV25, Y17, and B000. For shades I used this PrismaColor pencils: Sky Blue, Light Cerulean Blue, Pink Umber, Tuscan Red, and Burnt Ochre.

            I don’t know, but now that I think about, I’m pretty close to make a card with one of these stamps.