Tag Archives: Promarkers

Requests #4 – Textbook

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I’ve finished the last sketch suggestion! The series is now complete with six very different, finished illustrations. If you missed the last few updates, these are the posts and drawings I’m referring to:

Requests #1 – Ninja coffee, goats and moose in the sunset
Requests #2 - Mutant juice 
Requests #3 – Hawaiian theme

6. Textbook illustration

This is my interpretation of the following request, submitted by Brian:

Illustrate an abstract idea, more specifically a question like the kind you would find in language learning books. Examples are “Where do you live?”, “What’s your favorite color?” and “How old are you?”.

I went with “What’s your favorite color?”. I can also imagine a fitting follow-up question will be “Can you name a flower or a fruit that has your favorite color?”. I don’t know much about pedagogy, but it feels kind of natural to make the student think of something for him/herself. In that way, it’s a good thing I went with colorful plants to illustrate the question, right?

Drawn on thick marker paper, “inked” with Sakura Micron fine liners and colored with Letraset Promarkers. I wrote the text with my Wacom tablet, picking up a dark green color from the leaves on the sunflower plant. I think the drawing style looks a little bit childish, so perhaps this illustration would work best in a textbook for kids…What do you think?

Anyway, I’m aiming to post another illustration/graphic later this week, so don’t forget to check back in a few days!

Sunday Sketchbook #24 – Marker coloring process

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I decided to try my hand at coloring with Promarkers again. I drew the lineart of this character a while ago, and then I forgot about it until I recently found it in a pile of half finished stuff. I try to keep my work area organized and tidy, but sometimes unfinished drawings just end up in the WIP stack and stays there for a long while…

Anyway, I took some photos along the way, thinking that I might as well share how I tend to go through the coloring process. Keep in mind that I’m a total newbie. I’m not saying that this is the way to do it, as I’m just documenting my own learning process here.

Step 1: Skin color

I begin with the palest skin color. Here I went with Vanilla for the base color, and added Soft Peach for her cheeks, elbows, knee-area and ears. I used Putty for some of the darker shadows on her neck and below the skirt.

Step 2: Hair color and skirt

I went with a rather cold color for her hair to compliment the warmth of the skin color. Her hair is a made up with a combo of Tea Green, Cool Aqua and a hint of Denim Blue. I also used Tea Green on the shadow part on the inside hem of her skirt. The skirt is colored with Pear Green and Marsh Green.

Step 3: Leaf, Eyes and green shadows

This step is pretty straightforward. I used the pale green named Meadow Green to indicate folds and shadows on her top. I also layered Meadow Green in combination with Lime Green and Leaf Green for the leaf (duh!). The eyes are colored with Amethyst.

Step 4: Details, schmetails

Not much new in this step, just some final touches. I added highlights in her eyes and on the cheeks with a white gel-pen. The eye highlights are almost compulsory in anime-style illustrations, but I’ve also seen some artists use highlights on several parts of the face and body, so I thought I’d try it out. I used Sunflower and Lemon on the various accessories, and added some more shadows with Ice Grey 1 on the “faux” leafy part of the clothes.

And here it is, the finalized version. Well, finalized as in that I’ve taken a photo, boosted the colors and removed the bakground color. As always, colored drawings like this looks best on paper (and I can just forget about scanning it with my sad excuse of a scanner). Any comments and tips would be most appreciated.

Current arsenal of Promarkers

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I started my Promarker collection during the spring of last year. I was lucky enough to learn about an art store which had them on sale, so I got a handful of markers for a much cheaper price than usual. The collection soon grew beyond the first 20 I bought, and it didn’t take long to reach 34 markers. I just recently bought five more, pushing the total up to the current number of 39 markers.

I (accidentally) bought two of the same color, and there’s of course the colorless blender… so I’ve only got 37 different colors. I think there’s about 148 colors available in total, so I’ve still got a long way to go if I want to have all of them. Also, they’re not really cheap, so buying all of them at once feels like a huge investment. I think I’m going to stick with buying a few now and then, or when I find out that I really need a color that I don’t already have.

Here’s the list of different colors that I currently have in my arsenal. I’m going to list them in the order you can see in the image above:

First Row:

  • Berry Red, Orange, Amber, Sunflower, Buttercup, Lemon, Lime Zest, Meadow Green, Leaf Green, Lime Green, Pine, Marsh Green, Petrol Blue, Midnight Blue, True Blue, Denim Blue, Cool Aqua, Prussian, Plum, Violet, Rose Pink

Second Row: 

  • Terracotta, Ginger, Tan, Sandstone, Khaki, Satin (x 2), Putty, Saffron, Blush, Dusky pink, Ivory, Ice Grey 1, Ice Grey 2, Ice Grey 3, Ice Grey 5, Cool Grey 2, Blender

Sketchbook Sunday #12 – Vexed hipster

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Annoyed hipster is annoyed. He clearly disapproves of your taste in music.

I have to remember to take notes whenever I use my Promarkers, so that I can get the color scheme right if I want to draw the same character again. The lines were made with the usual Uni Pin fineliners. I used Letraset Bleedproof Marker pad paper, which works very well with Promarkers. However, the paper is only 70 g/m², so it feels a bit flimsy and thin. But I guess that’s normal with this kind of marker-proof paper…

Sketchbook Sunday #4 – Not really a sketch

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So, I haven’t been drawing a lot this week… But I made this small, simple illustration of a girl in a summery dress. I’m not quite sure what she’s trying to convey with that expression of hers. Maybe she’s saying “What… It’s winter now, you say?”.

I used Uni Pin Fineliners (mainly number 0.1  and 0.2, if I’m not mistaken), Letraset Promarkers and a bleed-proof paper called “Manga Art Paper”. Although being both cheap-looking and a brand that I’ve never heard of before, the paper worked very well with the markers. As usual, I’ve just photographed the drawing and boosted the contrast a bit in iPhoto. I just have to make sure that the area where I’m taking the photo is well lit. Works like a charm.

What should I draw next? Suggestions in the comments section are always welcome!

Sketchbook sunday #1 – Style sample

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So yeah, in an effort to make myself post more often on this blog, I’m going to start doing a weekly “Sketchbook Sunday”. Which means I will be posting one or more pages from one of my various sketcbooks, commenting on the things I’ve drawn.

The first one, which i drew some time ago, was done with a 0.3 mechanical pencil. Quite nifty for small details and drawing small (it’s possible to click the image for a larger view). I wanted to make some unique characters, and tried to make them distinguishable by making their physique different (also their clothing and facial expression of course).  I don’t think I succeeded to degree I would like, much because I tend to draw slender figures, and both female and male characters seem to share the same body type, heh.

So this is a page where I’ve drawn a simple character with a certain head shape and hairdo. To the upper right is a few different expressions, where I’ve tried to keep the facial characteristics the same. There’s even one where he’s donned a mask and a goatee… wait, is that really supposed to be the same character? I’m not sure really, heh. I’m kinda pleased with the two faces at the bottom right (I’ve even inked them, which in most cases is a good sign). Oh yeah, please Ignore the awkward fella holding a phone to his ear (I fail at gestures and people holding props). Lastly, the guy in the fancy green cardigan and blue tie is somewhat of a stylized self-portrait, and was colored with Promarkers. Speaking of Promarkers… They tend to bleed through the paper in this sketcbook (it’s a Daler Rowney Cachet, 178 x 254 mm “Studio Sketch” type), so lately I’ve rarely used them. But, being the paper geek I am, I’ve of course acquired a pair of bleedproff marker pads.

What do you think? If you’ve got a few thoughts on my style and would like to submit them in the comment section, that would be very much appreciated. See you around!