Video: Copic Basic Blending

 

The  world around us is not flat, and to make things appear more  interesting, we should try to color in dynamic ways that make objects  appear rounded.

Today I will step you through a few different ways to  blend a circle to make it look rounded. These circles are done with  Y11, Y15, and Y38.  Begin with the lightest color, Y11.  Color with the side of the brush, in a circular pattern, evenly soaking  the paper. When done, your circle should look nice and smooth with a  single, flat color.  Next, I use the side of the brush and "flick" in the darker Y15 shadow  along one edge. The flicking motion lays more ink where you first touch  the pen down and less ink as you lift up. This takes practice but will  help you achieve smoother blends.  Then, with the side of the brush, I come back with the Y11 and again color in a circular motion. I color the heaviest where the  two colors meet. I try to leave the darkest area alone. Notice the whole  smile gets a shade darker? This is from the second layer of Y11.  Last I come in with the Y38 and add another layer of dark. Then, I blend that back with the Y15, and if needed, blend that with the Y11.  In  summary, start light, add darker colors, and always blend with the  lighter marker. I try to keep a good range of contrast, so you can  easily tell which side is light and which side is shadow. If you  over-blend then your smile will look flat.   Compare the 4th  face to the third one. The added contrast makes the whole smile seem  more dimensional. If you over-blend and lose the contrast, then go back  and layer it in again. This makes the picture more interesting.  Do you have to color a smile just like the one above? No. Here are some variations.

Compare the top pair of faces in this image. Both use the same colors, but on the first one, I made the blend much tighter. You might prefer this look.  The  contrast makes things look shiny. On this second set of faces, I used  hardly any Y11, and a lot more Y15. The main difference is that I left a  strong highlight of the white of the paper. The first face has a softer  highlight, the second face has a much sharper highlight. Again, you can  choose which you prefer. But, compared to the first two faces, these  look shiny.  The last one in this set I tried to color like a  marble or as if it were slightly transparent. Light goes in through the  top highlight area, then passes through the yellow ball, exiting along  the bottom edge. I darkened the deepest yellows on this face with a  layer of E33, as this makes the yellow less intense.  Try  coloring something as simple as a circle and see how you can make it  look more rounded or like a ball. If you want it to really look like a  ball, it helps if you throw in a simple cast shadow.

On  this last sample, I added a circular shadow to match the ball. I  blended N1 and N4 into the shadow. Notice the shadow is darker closer to  the ball, and lighter as it get farther away. This is because up close  to an object more light is blocked in a shadow, so it looks darker.

If you have trouble viewing the video here, please feel free to watch Copic Blending: Basic Blending on my YouTube channel

 

 

Basic Blending in action

Items used:

Neenah Crest Solar White 110lb

Copic markers Y11, 15, 38