Monday, November 24, 2008

Coloring large areas, Part 4-Removing Streaks

To conclude coloring large areas for a while, let's combine a couple of the techniques I talked about last week. Remember, as you find things that work, WRITE IT DOWN with an example so you don't forget.

When you are coloring a large area that is already streaky, your best bet to fix it is to color over it. However, if the area is already dry you may still see streaks unless you are smooth an even and soak the paper extra well.

On areas that are already colored and dry, remember this when coloring over it.

• If you use the same color your picture will get one shade darker

• If you color over it with the colorless blender it will get lighter

• If you color it with a color from a different family the tone will change (this might be a good thing if your original color just wasn't quite what you need).

• If you use a color that is one or two shades LIGHTER than the original color, then it will smooth out to being very close to the color you desire

If you look at these examples you can see exactly what I'm referring to. The streaky E31 just looks bad, but I have to very carefully choose the right color to get it to look correct but not too light or dark. Notice how by adding E40, while it's close to E31, it's not the same color family, and therefor adds some gray. E30, by being a shade lighter in the color family keeps the blob similar in feel without getting too dark.

Here is a larger example of this in progress. Notice how the streaky background has darker edges in a grayish BG. My overall color is BG11 though, so I'm going to color over the whole thing with a nice juicy BG10. I color very slowly and soak the paper even more than regular since I need to blend my ugly streaks in. Yes, the picture got darker, but unless I add blender in, this is the lightest shade in this blending family.

After I layered on the BG10, I came back, touched up the darker BG93 (I didn't mind that the edges got darker). Now my whole picture looks nice and smooth, no streaks.

Amateurs vs. Professionals
I like to say, the only difference between Amateurs and Professionals is how well they hide their mistakes. Other people say "They're not mistakes, just opportunities."

My last example today is the last resort. If you just can't get rid of the streaks, then hide them in other ways. Make a mottled background like you see here by dotting on some color. Or, I showed how you can make a neat pattern by soaking an old, nasty rag in blender and dabbing it on. Either way is great for covering up the pesky streaks. I think I like this background a lot. Have a great day!

8 comments:

GabrielaD said...

Awesome. Even though I don't have any Copics I love all the lessons. Do you know if Copics will ever be sold at Michael's? I believe they are currently being sold at Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately there isn't one in Canada.

Alfredo Gallardo said...

Not in michaels, But Im sure you can order them online...
The place I get them is http://www.dickblick.com/

Copics are marked down from the retail price and they do ship to Canada...

:D

Anonymous said...

I also covet Copics and besides dickblick.com there is also Oozak.com. I believe they also ship to Canada and far cheaper than Hobby Lobby.

smd46 said...

I found one site that sells Copics for 25% off and includes free shipping over $90.00 (or about).
www.merriartist.com
BUT, I also found another site that sells Copics (in Europe)(listed at 1.66 pounds) that converts to around $2.44 each. The shipping was under $10.00 for about 15 that I purchsed. Delivery arrived in one week. Paypal or Visa accepted. Good Luck! www.cultpens.com

Cheryl said...

More awesome tips! Thank you again.

Unknown said...

I am really glad I found this- while I figured this all out last year on a whim I wasn't paying attention to what markers I grabbed I just went with 'Oh these colors look good together' (rookie mistake... I know) so I was annoyed when some backgrounds came out smoother than others and some looked... well squiffy is the term I use. Not BAD but not as great as the others.

Anyways I digress this now EXPLAINS why one piece ended up looking better than another in the end I had just figured it was weird humidity problems with my paper or me botching it. Now I know it was a combonation of me figuring things as I go and not totally knowing copics until this past year (even though I've used them professionally for four... I never said there was brilliance in my method). So... THANK YOU I will remember this now. THANK YOU I won't make that mistake again.

But I am having the WORST time finding a solution to a MAJOR problem I have been having no one has been able to answer my questions no matter who I contact and I'm getting frustrated because hearing nothing back makes me think people read the e-mails or tweets and go 'Oh HA HA! This chick is screwed, hey! Bob! Bob! Look at this. She spent 20 hours on this drawing for a customer and then look... lookatit!"

So maybe you can tell me who I can contact someone just to find out if this is an unfixable problem I'm having or if it's something I can fix or if it's just something I need to learn to deal with.

Thank you... and I swear I'm not a creepy stalker I just have a ton of your posts bookmarked >^.^<

Please keep passing along the GREAT lessons. YAAAY NO MORE GRAINY BACKGROUNDS FOR ME!

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Sherri Whatley said...

carpediemmarkers.com is an excellent source for Copics. The price is slightly higher than Oozak but they have a better inventory.