Briny Blues

Ahoy, mateys! Did you know that artists have traditionally loved the sea so much that they named one of our favorite colors after it?

Aquamarine!

“Aqua” is Latin for “water” and “marine” is Latin for “sea.”

Check out the names on your blue-green markers. Even Copic got into the watery spirit of things: pale aqua, aqua blue, aqua, coral sea, aqua mint, horizon green, Nile blue, ocean mist, ice ocean and abyss green.

So since we are so obsessed with the variations of the ocean’s beauty, doesn’t it make sense to choose colors wisely when portraying watery depths? Using a little C6 to underpaint your BG49 is sure to create a splash!

Would you like to learn how to make good color choices? Maybe even better color choices? Well, at Vanilla Arts, our goal is to teach you how to make the BEST color choices!

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

To create the desaturated colors that Copic does not make, Vanilla Arts Company teaches Online Workshops using the underpainting method. Students learn to layer colors realistically rather than blend.

Underpainting creates natural colors found in everyday life.

Copic - Ocean Wake

Using a little C6 to underpaint your BG49 will create ocean depths that even Davy Jones would be proud of!

Elena’s Advice:

Reds, oranges and yellows are considered “warm” colors, while blues, greens and purples are “cool.” Thus, I have chosen a cool gray as the perfect underpainting complement for realistic depth!

Learn to use your C’s and other Copics to underpaint:

Vanilla Arts Company - Ink & Hydrangea Marker Painting Workshop

Vanilla Arts Company - Luminous Lanterns Marker Painting Workshop

Vanilla Stamp Shop - Flamingo Feathers Digital Stamp + Retreat Booklet (Have fun with feathers!)

Crafts for Paws - Copic Coloring with Elena Casarez

Further Reading:

Realistic Coloring: Do Your Shadows Look Artificial? (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)

Troubleshooting: 6 Tips to Solve Copic Marker Blending Problems

Looking for More Blending 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 CraftsForPaws.com, a 501(c)(3) non profit animal rescue. C4P’s donates 100% of their profits to rescue and care for worst-case stray dogs and cats in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.

Shop to benefit Crafts for Paws at their sister site - Violeta Ink. Join Elena’s Copic Coloring Club here for online class announcements and catch her YouTube cardmaking series here.