Do you want to play a game? “Okay class, pick up your R35 and we will color the tail of this ribbon.” That’s how Copic and even some colored pencil classes work, right? If you do exactly what the teacher does, you’ll end up with something amazing. And it works… Kinda. You walk away with a very pretty project. Your Christmas scene looks just as cute as the instructor’s. Your ribbon is smooth, your ornaments look shiny and the box looks perfectly dimensional… maybe even realistic.
What did you think when you first saw the Indian Maize project here?
All those Copic Markers on each little kernel? And then she added colored pencil over the top of each one? I’ll bet it took weeks to color!
Weeks? Really?
I’ve noticed over the years, some very experienced Copic Marker fans add lots of extra steps to the coloring process that don’t really pay off in the end.
A lot of people make dimensional coloring harder than it has to be.
Do you?
It doesn’t have to be so hard!
Folks, I’ve seen a ton of Colored Pencil on kraft paper tutorials and videos. Ugh, they make my heart sink.
Have you ever tried this?
Because seriously, once you spend 15 minutes coloring everything white, you’ve got no tooth left over then to add all the brilliant color!
If you basecoat in white, you’re saying goodbye to any shot you have at realism.
“What do I need to buy for this class?” The supply lists for your average coloring class or free tutorial, whether it’s with Copic Marker or colored pencil… well, they’re always a little spartan. The list tells you exactly what you’ll need to complete the class project. Nothing more. Nothing less. Meanwhile in art classes, you’ll get a general supply list of things you sorta-kinda-maybe might need at some point. Today, let’s look at the top 10 tools I use every day, things that I grab so often, they never get put away. Some tools are borrowed from my work as an illustrator and may be new to you while others are common in the papercrafting world…
