As Good as Gold

Real shade is not darker color, real shade is desaturated color.

To create the desaturated colors that Copic Marker does not make, Vanilla Arts Company teaches Online Workshops and Livestream Coloring Challenges using the underpainting method. Students learn to layer colors realistically rather than blend. Underpainting creates natural colors found in everyday life.

Underpainting creates natural colors found in everyday life.

Soft Gold

Elena’s Advice:

One of the universal rules in Copic coloring is that you use three markers in order from the highest to the lowest value. Everyone works those last numbers 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, right?

But you know I’m a rule breaker. I’m using a mix of YR and Y markers AND I’m messing with the last number rule.

This works because Y is wimpy (my technical term) but when combined with YR, the yellow gets a bold boost, perfect for the color I see across this bumble bee’s stripe.

To create this blend, start with a layer of BV00, top that with the YR23, then Y26 and finish it all with the Y13.

You’ve just put down a good amount of ink and you need to be sure to give it time to dry. That’s when the blending magic happens.

Gold Workshops & Digital Stamps

Vanilla Arts Company - Pocket Watch

Vanilla Arts Company - Amazing Maize

Vanilla Arts Company - Online Coloring Classes

Further Reading:

The Myth of the First Try: Why Your Artistic Path Should be Littered with Dead Bodies

Improve Your Coloring Today - Turn off the Distractions

Looking for More Underpainting Combinations?

Elena Cazares is a Vanilla Arts student with beautiful sense of color and style. She is a hurricane of positive creative energy.

Elena runs Violeta-Ink.com, an online boutique shop specializing in Copic Markers and coloring accessories. Join Elena’s Copic Facebook group here for the latest coloring news and Copic Marker updates.