Tutorial: Masking Film and Airbrush

This is a new tutorial for Copicmarker.com for using Masking film and the Copic Airbrush system.

Tutorial: water splash

Obviously a cartoony style for this tutorial but hopefully people are interpreting the instructions in unique ways to get a desired result. Colouring a water splash! I really like this one.

Colouring a water splash

Tutorial: Metal Textures

Here is a metal Textures tutorial I did for Copicmarker.com.
I have a love of chickens.

Chicken With Bucket

:)

Tutorial: Shiny Armor

I did a series of Metal tutorials on Copicmarker.com. Here is the shiny armour tutorial colouring a new shiny silver breastplate.

Shiny Metal

Tutorial: Iron Helmut

Here is a Tutorial I did on Colouring an Iron Helmut for Copicmarker.com.

Iron helmut

Tutorial: Skin Tones 3 tutorials

I'm doing a series of Skin tone tutorials for Copicmarker.com. They should be much better than that little one I did before. Click on the image below to go to the Post on Copics website for each tutorial.

Light skin

Medium Skin

Dark skin

Fur and Feather textures

I did another guest blog for Copicmarker.com, a follow up to my background textures tutorial, that covers fur and feathers.

Enjoy!

Dappled Light Effect - Tutorial

Here is a new tutorial I did for Copicmarker.com for creating a dappled light effect.

Check it out!

Reflected light with Copic Markers

Hi!
 I completely forgot to post my Reflected light Tutorial I did for CopicMarker.com here! Check it out! I have another tutorial coming for CopicMarker.com shortly as well!

Soon I'll also have more comic updates, and once I get my camera stuff together, more videos I hope too. I sort of have an awkward set up in our new apartment for that, but I'll do my best.

review: Copic sketchbook

Hi! Copic recently redesigned their sketchbooks to be "new and improved" so of course I had to see for myself and got one. I really liked the old sketchbooks so I knew copic would be up to something extra awesome. My suspicion was that the paper would be x-press it blending card, and I hoped it would be.
I did a little comparison and I am pretty certain that its true. This is fantastic news for illustrators like me who use the blending card since the colour layouts and sketches can be done in a sketchbook of the same awesome paper the final work will be done on. You can record the colours used and know they'll look the same in the final. (Paper affects colours a LOT)
This is also awesome for card makers as your swatch books can be in handy pre bound books of the same paper.
For those of you who haven't used this paper I highly recommend it.
Its a very smooth white card stock. Its best feature is how easily colours blend and how smoothly. The paper does most of the work, its awesome. The paper is a fairly neutral white but does lean towards being a bit of a cool white. (When I need a warmer paper I get aquabee marker paper.)
Mistakes correct really easily on blending card/copic sketchbook and inking pens are smooth and heavenly;
They glide like silk over the paper.
I'm going to be honest, I haven't found a flaw in these yet except one thing; the covers on the sketchbook rub black all over the first and last page. Pretty minor. Though as I usually just make a mess of those pages anyway.
The covers themselves are plain black sort of like matboard. Perfect for customization with paint pens, acrylics, or collage.
So, yeah. I highly recommend getting a copic sketchbook! Canadians can go to Opus Art Supplies to get them everyone else copicmarker.com

Basic Lighting

Hi all! I did another Guest blog for CopicMarker.com. you can check it out here:
Basic Lighting with Copics

You can check out the rest of the resources we have made at Gurukitty Studios here, On our Resources page.
Thanks everyone!

Copic Markers for sale

Hello all!
I recently bought the Copic Anniversary set, and as a result I have some Copic Markers to sell! Most have sold already but here is what's left. They're all like new - some of them never used at all.

I'm selling these for $5 each, payable through paypal + shipping
Shipping is $2 in canada $4 to the USA.

If you want them email me at markerguru@gurukitty.com and tell me which ones you'd like to have, and I'll arrange it with you :)
Pass it on :)

Beards, chops and moustaches - Tutorial

I recently did another blog for Copic. Its on beards and facial hair.
Check it out :)
Beards, Chops, and Stubble

5 steps to gaining confidence with art

I know a lot of new copic artists get discouraged when they first try out copic markers. They're very tricky to get the hang of and take an exceptional amount of skill to master (note: I said Skill, not talent. a misconception about art and artists is that everything comes naturally to them. It's simply not so. Frankly, its a little insulting to think so as well. I worked hard for years to get where I am, and so must everyone else.)
I wanted to compile a list of things I've learned over the years that may help new comers get over the hurdles that we all face, and carry on, instead of giving up. Here are the 5 things - 2 mental, 3 practical - that combined will do the one thing everyone needs to do - build confidence.

1: Don't get discouraged. It's not easy. Each and every tool you pick, and every medium you try out will take  a lot of work to figure out how to use the tools. They don't magically look fantastic as soon as you start scribbling.

2: Experiment: Don't just dive into colouring a picture right away and expect magic. Play with the tools on scrap paper, colour randomly and just become familiar with how the ink flows from the nibs, reacts with the paper etc. Colour over other colours, see what happens, try different papers, try incorporating other tools. discover your rhythm.

3: Practice: Again, NOTHING in this life is ever easy. With practice, you gain skills and confidence. Its true what they say, Practice Makes Perfect (perfect doesn't exist by the way, but the theory is sound). Properly it should say " practice makes competence" but I digress... It's not like anyone is going to see the things you are doing unless you show them (good forgetting feedback!), why would you worry about the mistakes your making? You MUST make mistakes in order to learn. We don't usually learn from success. I've been using markers for around 12 years, and I've only in the last 2-3 years finally started having some confidence in my work! I'm my own worst critic of course, but I committed myself to learning and It's been paying off!

4: Research: The benefit of being a Copic artist, is the Copic community. There are a million blogs out there like mine, and a million artists like me who simple enjoy sharing what we've learned. Don't be afraid to ask any questions. some people will ignore you, who cares, ask someone else. I'll never ignore a Copic question :) The best places to look are the Copic Facebook page, The copic twitter, the copic blog, and youtube. (all these places are linked on copicmarker.com) The people who work at Copic are Top notch and I've so impressed with the people who work there - I'm quite fond of the Copic twitter guy, Richard! He's been incredibly supportive of so many artists out there. I think any company would be incredibly lucky to have someone like him at the front lines of their digital presence. You should also look up reference images of what you're colouring. Use a colour isolator to see individual colour in pictures or scenes and see what magical rainbows are hiding. Learn a little bit about colour theory. You don't have to become an expert but a little understanding can go a LONG way. Learn Everything!

5: Be Patient: Again, it takes time, practice, work, effort. Nothing in life is free. it either takes money, or commitment. the rewards are worth it. There is nothing more thrilling than being called an expert, HAHA!

There you go, 5 golden rules. Now I'm going to go off and keep learning and practicing myself!
Happy Copic-ing!

Rendering Metal with Copics

Hello! Been a while I know. I make up for long absences with long content in between :p

I got the urge to make a tutorial and to check one off my list! I did Rendering Metal.
I am going to do a few types of metal.
Chrome, Weathered Steel, Polished silver, Aged steel, New steel, polished gold & brass. There a little bonus in the end as well.

This is likely going to be long.

Weathered Steel.
This ones pretty Complicated. I used a reference - which is something you should always do.
The reference had multiple light sources and was a really weathered, beat up metal. There was yellow ambient light, an orange spot light from above, and a white light from below.

I started off by blocking in the orange highlighted zones with  yr18 (I believe?)

Next I started blocking in with B0000 where my light spot was going to be. Metal - even when textured - is a reflective surface so high contrast areas are important. Light areas are often right next to the darkest areas.

I added in some B0000 around where the white spot light is. I also used it to blend.

I added some C6 and used C2, C0 and C4 to blend. I also took the y11 to  the orange areas - to lighten it up a little and brighten it.

C6 is added and blended into the darker areas.

I added Little dots and scratches to show some use on the blade. 

The last step is to add white. Each scratch and divot is highlighted with copic opaque white.

I also made the background black to clean up and make it more more impactful.

Important note:

Being reflective - even slightly, you must take into account the colours in the environment and add it into the metal. In the case of this one, the light was different colours, so the were reflected in the metal.

Steel
Axe's are generally made of some sort of Steel. When it's new, it's pretty white and clean. When polished it's highly reflective.
This Steel axe done with the series of W0-W6 markers and Opaque white. It gives a more aged look. I also added a small amount of rust to some areas with E07.
The 2nd of these 2 examples is done in the Cool greys and looks like a newer axe, despite all the dings.

Gold 

Gold is done in the same method as the Steel. I will go through those steps now.

A layer of y11

Y26 added in the darker areas

Add Y28 and Y17 to blend

Blend it! Then add some y28 to the blade where it was sharpened.

y28. Adding in some scratches.

Adding in some highlights with copic opaque white

Brass is also done in the same manner, except that brass has a warmer tone. Y11, E25, E17, Y17

Chrome an be done in a similar way.

It is polished and highly reflective, and so anything in it's area will reflect. 

I started with colouring the back ground so that I would have an environment. Notice that at the high points on the figure, there are dark black areas. This is the mirror like shine distorting a reflection. I then started  with  C0 

I then went in with C4 and c6 in some areas making sure to leave some large areas of white.
Being highly reflective, chrome is very high contrast. Put light right next to dark.

Blended and cleaned up. The handle's chrome parts are worked on as well.
Side note: this is the bottom of the long handle of an Axe I've designed for one of my comics.

I used the palette technique to add some accent colour to the chrome. This is an acrylic block used for rubber stamping that I've dobbed some E07 onto, I then pick up that colour on a C0 marker...

...and apply that to the areas that would get the reflections

I colour in the black areas

and add in the white highlights

Silver is done in the same manner but  silver has a softer, lighter look to it.  Inking in Grey is an effective way to portray this, and avoiding the black reflections in the high points. 

Those are the basic metals that I can come up with. It's always best to just look at a reference and practice interpreting what you see.

As a Bonus, I did something else:

To add a reflection in metal - if it's not a mirror shine, you wont see a reflection clearly. it will just be recognizable colour blobs. Here I've roughed in a face with E00, E11, BV31, YG63 and R07

I then coloured it like the regular steel blade, but was careful  to not distort the reflection too much. I added in some distressing and dings.

add some opaque white...

...and you have a reflection in an axe.

I hope this was useful!

Discount Copic Markers

A person on deviantART who is in need of money to pay for medical bills is selling off her Copic Markers. It's so tragic, but here is a good chance to get good copics that have been treated with love.
Here is the link to her journal, explaining things, and listing the sets she's made.

Quick Cloud tutorial

AHHHHH! Its hard to blog lately. We've been really busting our butts over at the Studio, and there are no computers there (intentionally!) so boo! I have been trying to get this tutorial posted for a spell now, and I got a few minutes right now so I'm gunna do it by tunder!

Side note! I did a second Guest Blog post for CopicMarker.com! Its about using coloured Multiliners! Check it out!

Sorry for the shadowy images! I didn't have good light at the time.
I hope its okay anyway!

So I have been getting a lot of compliments on the sky's I've been doing in my Hello, Albertosaurus comic lately, and I thought I'd do a little walk through of how its done.

I start off with a blank sky. Here I've coloured everything else already.

Imagine the paper is white! LOL!

Next I take a light light hard to photograph blue, such as BG0000 and block in where i want some rough clouds to be. Try to compose them better than I did.

Its faint, but I hope you can see the lines!

Now I take that same colour (BG0000) and start doing feathering strokes out from the edges of the cloud shapes I made. Be loose, and be varied. try not to make them look too symmetrical.

Feathering strokes! Lift up your marker at the end of each stroke so it has a softened edge!

Roughly cover in the rest of the sky as well. I never worry about my first layer being too even, since i layer so much I blend it all together at the end. This is also the lightest colour I'm going to use here, so anything else will help cover up streaks. Here it is with the first layer done.

Delicious variety. I might go over the streaky parts to smooth it out a little before going to next step.

Okay, next up, a slightly darker colour. in this case I believe B01, or B00. I don't recall exactly. This is where i pin point some snuggly cloud areas where I want to accent some cloud shapes. I'll go in and add a bit of the darker colour, then blend it out with the lighter colour.

You don't have to be precise, leave some lighter colour around the edge of the clouds to give them shape

After you've blended those with your original colour (also feel free to use any number of colours - if its easier for you to use every single colour in a sequence, DO IT!) go over into the white a but more with your light colour to add some sort of depth to them. make em 3d fluffy.

Here it is while blending, jsut before going into the white parts more.

Needs a bit more smoothing, and going into the white will soften those edges!

 Here is a close up of the finished clouds.

Just keep blending until you're happy with it!
Again, the photos are bad, but I hope you get the gist of the technique!

Here he is! Yeti! Now, you can make it less painterly and smooth it out just by practising the technique a little. I tend to keep a bit of a painterly feel to my illustrations sometimes.

All done!

I used X-Press it blending card, or Aquabee Marker paper for this, I don't remember exactly, OOPS!
I also used probably a couple colours not in there. but in general a mix of the BG0000, B01, B00, B02, B000000. I mix and match and don't really keep real track of it, sorry.

Hope this is useful :)