Making drops of dew

What a rainy week we've had so far! However, this part of Oregon is considered a temperate rainforest, so we're bound to have our share of rain. In thinking about rain and St. Patrick's Day, I figured now is a good time to bring up wet things. Wet, like a morning rain shower leaving tiny drops on a field of shamrocks.

Adding Dew Drops
You can add drops of rain and dew to any colored area, and I'll step you through that today. What you want to do is color your picture entirely with Copics then with a few little extras we can add drops of water. This is perfect for pictures of spring flowers or on leaves, rocks, or whatever else is out there getting wet.

I started with a rough drawing of clover I made with a 0.05mm Multiliner. I photocopied my line work onto color laser copier paper because I know that I get the crispest special effects on this paper, even crisper than on Neenah. For this technique you will get the best results on paper that has crisp colored edges like the PTI, Neenah, Borden & Riley Marker paper, and such. Georgia Pacific is too soft. onto added two of the same base greens that we were working with last week: G21 and YG03. Background got G21 and the middle layer of clover got YG03. The top layer of shamrocks I want much brighter so I colored them in with YG01.

I darkened the shaded areas with G24 and I darkened the bright yellow green with YG06, a darker bright yellow green. (Be aware that the colors on the screen are highly inaccurate).

I added the deepest shadows with G07 lightly feathered into each leaf, stroking from the middle out. The little jagged edges of the feathering I kept so the whole picture looked more leaf-like.

Next, let the whole thing dry really well. This helps make the special effects crisp. Then I add "drops" first with my colorless blender. I pick spots that I want drops and I just touch the blender there until the color moves out of the way.

To get a stronger "drop" I let it dry then do it again in the same spot. This pushes more color out of the way.

Then, at the top of the drop, I add a glint of white with the Opaque white. Don't go crazy adding drops everywhere, just a few strategically placed ones. I got crazy on the shamrocks on the picture because I wanted a really wet field. A few large drops are probably enough. Drops tend to pool along the edges or ridges on a leaf, so most of my drops are on the outer edges. On small drops I did not add glints of white with the Opaque white, rather, I used a white prismacolor pencil. This gives more subtle highlights. For the darkest underside on some of teh drops I added a tiny line/shadow with a 0.1 mm Olive Multiliner.

If you look at each of the top leaves you will also see lighter "squiggles". This mimics the pattern found on clover and it is just a quick scribble from the white colored pencil. I wish this camera would have picked up the color better, since in real life this picture is much more vibrant and bright.

May the luck of the Irish be with you this day!

On an unrelated note I just wanted to mention that the Savage, MD Copic Certification class on April 5th taught by Sally Lynn MacDonald is now open to the public (if you visit her blog you'll see a list of upcoming Copic classes). I have a few spaces left in my Monday class in Buffalo, NY as well. If you need to apply for either of these clases please send an e-mail to Kris at orders@copicmarker.com Also, if you are interested in Canadian classes there will be many coming up in June and July, so sign up on our mailing list using the form on my sidebar or the form on the Copic website.

I will be out of town until Thursday the 26th, so I won't be responding to e-mails as quickly as usual. Also, my blog posts will be a bit more sporadic, but know that I still care about you.