So I thought I would take you through the
process that I use for different blending
techniques when using alcohol-based markers
for doing my illustrations. So there's 2 main
strategies that I use: layering up Promarkers
and using Chameleon Pens. So the first one
I'm going to show you is Chameleon Pens. So
the way I do this, is first I put down a layer
of Promarkers 'cause old habits. Um, also
it just makes things a bit easier because
you've got a bit of colour to start with.
So the way that Chameleon Pens work is that
you can place the pen into what they call
the blending chamber and this adds more of
the colourless alcohol to the nib of the pen.
And then as you colour with it you put out
more pigment gradually over time getting a
really nice, even gradient effect.
Now, they have their limitations. Definitely.
It's difficult to do over a large area and
keep the gradient consistent as I'll demonstrate
a bit later but for something like this where
it's a fairly linear shape and you're just
gradually building up the colour it works
really nicely.
Now I wasn't quite happy with the gradient
the first time around so I went back over
it with the black, so this is just showing
you putting the pen into the blending chamber.
So you just stick it in there. There's effectiviely
just another pen in the top which presses
against the tip of the pen that you're using
and some of the ink comes out of it. The alcohol-based
marker stuff. It takes a little while. The
longer you leave it the more time you have
to work with the gradient. If you just want
a very short change in the shade then you
just hold it in for a few seconds. So the
other strategy that I use is layering up Promarkers.
This is something I'm way more experienced
at so I generally do this method. But Chameleon
Pens have their place as well and how I use
them. So you just keep adding different colours
on top of each other and it just builds up
in a really nice way. You need a lot of different
pens to do this effectively though, that is
the disadvantage. But it is the main method
that I use.
So now I'm going to demonstrate trying to
use Chameleon Pens over a more complicated
gradient. So I'm trying to do a sort of radial
gradient coming out from the moon to give
it a bit of a glow. And so the way I'm trying
to do this is starting off with a very desaturated
shade and taking the pen back to the blending
chamber over and over to try and keep that
shade consistant. And then gradually starting
to build up moving away from the moon and
getting the shade a little bit darker and
trying to keep it fairly consistant. And I'm
not quite sure I achieved that but this is
something that I definitely need a bit more
practice of. I think it's totally doable once
you've got the hang of it but it's a little
bit tricky to keep things consistant and requires
an awful lot of concentration.
So this was made for the DoodleTube prompt
for this week which was 'Upside Down.' DoodleTube
is a twitter account, they give weekly drawing
prompts. I like to do them as often as possible.
They're usally nice ideas, I find my brain
goes interesting places. I don't think this
is the best piece that I've done but it dos
demonstrate a couple of different techniques
quite nicely.
[Music: gentle guitar and glockenspiel]
