Intoxicating Purples
How particular should you be when choosing Copic Markers for your next art project? If you’re coloring these luscious grapes with a photo reference, would you use a black marker or black colored pencil for the deep, shady recesses between the grapes?
Not if you want them to look realistic!
Black pigment absorbs light without reflecting it back. That’s why the overuse of black in artwork tends to flatten the image. Which might be fine, I guess…if you want your grapes to look like they were trodden in a wine press!
In our “Vintner’s Violet” color swatch, notice how underpainting BV08 with G99 adds incredible richness and dimension. A vintner, a person who makes or sells wines, must carefully select only the best grapes if they want to produce only the best wine.
Now you may not live in Napa Valley, but you need to be just as fussy picking the right markers as that vintner is in choosing the right grapes.
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 merely 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 - Vintner’s Violet
Underpainting BV08 with G99 will give your image a full, robust “flavor” and make you forget all about “sour grapes!”
Elena’s Advice:
Testing color swatches on blending card is essential to creating unexpected depth and beauty. Looking at this G99 - BVo8 - BV17 - BV34 combination, nobody would ever suspect that dark green is the key ingredient to its organic richness.
Learn to use your G’s to underpaint:
Vanilla Arts Company - Gray Matter
Vanilla Arts Company - Tulips & Ribbons
Vanilla Stamp Shop - Hollyhock
Looking for More Blending 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.
