
Copic Marker + Colored Pencil: Shading Complex Objects (Online coloring lesson)
Wow, that is so complicated!
What did you think when you first saw the Indian Maize project here?
All those Copic Markers on each little kernel? And then she added colored pencil over the top of each one? I’ll bet it took weeks to color!
Weeks? Really?
I’ve noticed over the years, some very experienced Copic Marker fans add lots of extra steps to the coloring process that don’t really pay off in the end.
A lot of people make dimensional coloring harder than it has to be.
Do you?

How to Color Realistic Night Scenes and Spooky Glows (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)
The Color of Midnight: How to Create a Spooky Mood and a Realistic Glow (Copic Marker, Colored Pencil)
We simply cannot see clean, clear color at night. Hues do not exist in the dark. At night, the whole world is deep, dark, murky, and blackened. We call this “desaturated” but the truth is that because of our terrible eyesight, night time is extreme desaturation.

Vanilla Undercover: Underpaint with Copic Markers for Beautiful Realism - Vintner’s Violet
Intoxicating Purples?
How particular should you be when choosing Copic Markers for your next art project? If you’re coloring these luscious grapes with a photo reference, would you use a black marker or black colored pencil for the deep, shady recesses between the grapes? Not if you want them to look realistic! Black pigment…

Copic Marker + Colored Pencil: Vibrancy & Translucency, a Halloween coloring lesson
Bright color on Kraft paper?
It doesn’t have to be so hard!
Folks, I’ve seen a ton of Colored Pencil on kraft paper tutorials and videos. Ugh, they make my heart sink.
It seems like everyone advises you to basecoat the heck out of everything with thick layers of white colored pencil.
Have you ever tried this?
Because seriously, once you spend 15 minutes coloring everything white, you’ve got no tooth left over then to add all the brilliant color!
If you basecoat in white, you’re saying goodbye to any shot you have at realism.