Copic Tutorial for Clothes and Hair

Hi Peeps!  I have two little tutorials to share with you today, on how I colour the folds of clothes and the shine and texture of hair using Copic markers.   I took still photos while I was colouring my Wags n Whiskers image called Bear Hug.   I hope I have given detailed explanations with each photo so that what I did will be clear to you.  If you still have questions, drop me a note and I'll try to clarify for  you.

Folds of a Dress:

I started by making a decision first of all where the light source would be and where the lightest highlights would be and the darkest shadows.  In this instance, I mentally placed the light source above her and slightly to the right.  This meant that the brightest points on her dress would lie on top of the folds that stick upward and outward towards the right.  The darkest shadows would be within the folds in between the highlighted areas (speaking of the area under her waist band) and within the little fold lines of her sleeve.  Also under teddy's foot and under the edge of his body where it rests against hers.

I started with the lightest red, R20 and with a very light stroke, lay down these strokes of colour.  I did not put R20 where I knew I wanted a very bright highlight.  By leaving the paper white where I want the brightest highlights to go, I don't loose them later to over-colouring... you'll see what I mean as we go on.

Now I have taken R22 and added a few strokes of this slightly darker shade beside most of my other strokes, with the exception of some of the narrow folds just under her waistband.  This just gives R20 a more gradual blend as we move towards darker reds.  I did not blend them together yet, just laid them down beside each other.

Here is where I added R24.  Again, no blending yet.  Just blocking in the colour.  Blending will come later!  I still left some parts not coloured.  In this case, I left the highlights but also I did not put colour where I want the deepest darkest shadows.  Reason for that is, the darker Copic colours tend to have a lot more pigment in them.  This thicker pigment cannot be layered as successfully.  Too many layers of dark colours will cause the ink to settle on the surface of the paper, and that does not usually look good.  It tends to look gloppy and shiny.  Is gloppy a word?  

So you can see where I left some areas un-coloured: at the bottom of her sleeve and under her sleeve,  under the teddy's foot, and the deep parts of the folds under the sash.

I made a bit of a colour jump here, all the way to R29.  I could have used R27, but I wanted her dress to have the appearance of a very deep red.  So R29 went into all the places I had left for the darkest shadows, and over a major portion of it on the front. I pulled some strokes up into the folds where I had left some white spaces.  Again, I was not concerned with blending at this point.

Here I added R59 under the arm and along her back, under the lock of hair that falls under her arm and beside teddy, in the narrow folds up near her sash, but very little there, and a teeny tiny bit along the folds at the bottom front of her dress.

Now I was ready to do some blending.  I took R20 and began to blend starting in the places I had left white on her dress. Because I left the highlights white, they remained very vibrant and light with only a thin layer of R20 over top.

I realized after blending with R20 and seeing how it didn't blend out enough that I would need to add R27 to smooth the transition between R24 and R29.  And so I added some R27 here:

I went back to R20 to continue to soften the blends all over, being careful to avoid the very light highlighted areas and the very dark shadows.  Also, I fixed some of the bleeds that happened using the blender pen.  Red is the hardest colour to remove with the blender.  But it can be done, up to a point.  The trick is to push the colour back towards the line a few times, then wait about five minutes for the paper to dry.  Then repeat the process:

After I was satisfied with the blends of reds, I took the colourless blender pen and did a few repeated feather strokes down the whole length of the dress.  I started at the bottom of the sash where I put the lightest red and pulled the blender pen downwards into the deep red below.

Here I went over the darkest darks with R59, and added a very dark shadow under teddy's foot. 

I added the finishing touches on the trim at the bottom of her dress.   And one more time blending with R20 on some of the streaks I had made with the blender pen.  Done the dress now!

Shine and Texture on Hair:

I started with small bits of colour using E50 and left areas white that I wanted to save for highlights and darkest shadows.  I like to leave highlights just below the part, and then again about half way down the locks and esp. on the outer or upper parts of waves or curls.

Here I added E53 in feather strokes, leaving some of the lighter shade showing.

E55 was added next.  Again, I was not concerned with blending, esp. because lines are appropriate to show hair (or fur for that matter).  I did not cover the whole area where I had laid down E50 and E53 but left some of those shades still showing. 

Here I added some E57.  Now here is the trick: I barely touched the tip to the paper.  Those tiny skinny lines are next to impossible with the brush tip of most Copics.  However, if you can barely let it touch the page, you can get these tiny lines!  Notice again, I used it very sparingly. I was careful to use it under her big swirly lock, under her arm and under her chin/cheek area because those places would naturally be in shadow. 

 I have added more feather strokes with E55 and 53, being careful to keep the highlighted areas white.  Tip:  Leaving a white highlight gives the appearance of something very smooth and shiny.  Don't blend out or add colour to white highlights, unless you want the appearance to look more textured, as in the case of her red dress. 

I went over the darks a few more times with more unblended feather strokes using E57.  I am satisfied now that the hair is done!

And now, here is the card I made once I was done the teddy and background too:

I am entering this card into the following challenges: 

The sketch is from Truly Scrumptious

Fussy and Fancy: Stitches, Scallops and Sparkle

Res-Q challenge: Metal and red

Whoopsi Daisy: Bright or hot colours

Incy Wincy: Distressing

Paper Sundaes: Lots of Layers

Flutter By Wednesday: 3 or more Layers

For Fun Challenges: Use your favourite colouring medium

Gingersnap Creations: Use Markers

I added some Diamond Dust glitter to her wings and Stickles to her waist band sash. 

Thanks for looking and if you are still with me, you're a trooper!

May God bless you and keep you in His Amazing Love!