Richer than chocolate?

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.

Chocolate

Elena’s Advice:

Who doesn’t love dark chocolate?

I love the flavor but not really the color... even with all the brown E markers that Copic makes, none of them felt as rich and deep as real chocolate.

Underpainting to the rescue!

Not that I have figured it out, my biggest advice? Do not try coloring chocolates when you’re hungry!

For the rich depth that Copic brown is missing, underpaint with a blue marker. You might think that it won’t do anything under a brown as dark as E49, but trust me, it makes a difference!

As with all underpainting, be sure you use a good coat of the second (E49), third (#27), and forth (E77) markers to enrich and smooth the brown. And always give the Copic ink time to blend.

I recommend that you swatch colors before coloring your image. It’s a great warm up for your coloring session and builds your coloring confidence.

Brown Workshops

Vanilla Arts Company - Doughnut Stack

Vanilla Arts Company - Sea Glass

Violeta Ink - Online Coloring Classes

Further Reading:

Improve Your Copic Marker Coloring:Are Your Darks Dark Enough

Improve Your Coloring:The Color You Use is Not the Color We See

Looking for More Underpainting Combinations?

Elena Cazares is a Vanilla Arts student and a budding online instructor 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 news and updates. Watch her YouTube cardmaking series here.