Last year, as in past years, I entered the Copic Award contest – and for many in a row, nada! I always went and looked through the entries, then the winners, and It was clear it was a contest focused on a lot of animé style work. Which is great, but I kept hoping realism would break through and it never did.

Though in 2024 – that changed! Well, maybe. ha! Read on to hear more about what i think the award was for  – and I reposted both videos for that project at the end of this post.

I opened the box that arrived just after the first of the year, but saved the opening of the marker pack for a time when I had an epic project to serve as my thank you to Copic – and you – and finally I had THE idea.

Another little treat in this project was getting to finally use this Leniar paper from Poland! Magdalena had told me about it and she sent me a care package at Christmastime to share some with me. Nice paper! It has some bleed through but not as much as would be expected for the amount of ink poured into the fibers of this sheet. LOL! If you’re in or near Poland, here’s where you get it.

Unboxing  and demonstration:

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Copic Award

Since the contest appears to be mostly animé, manga, and the like, I kept wondering if I was spitting into the wind. I hoped my style would stand out, since I just never saw anyone using the markers the way I do. Kinda funny to have that realization – I’m the weirdo!

But they sent a video notification about the award – it was in Japanese so all I know is the title of my award!

It’s the “Applicant’s Choice” which would normally mean a selection by all the fellow applicants in some way. I never saw any request to vote for a favorite, so I don’t think it was that kind of assessment.

After I uploaded my Disco Chicken, though, I sent a link to my followers, and talked about it in videos – and what I think happened was no one else did that – so the 324 likes that it got maybe were what won the award? I’m certain they would think most people wouldn’t invite hundreds of people to come see it, so they might have just assumed other applicants checked the box..

I could be wrong – maybe I missed a call for voting! But I’m grateful to all of you who clicked that link and left me your little endorsement!

The joke in my drawing

During the time they had emailed for my address, it was the holiday season – and when they said I won an award my mind went to A Christmas Story’s scene where the dad won a “major award” – a leg lamp!

I kept thinking I should just draw a leg lamp like his. But that seemed kind of…..expected. I wanted something pretty epic to help me to thank both Copic and all of YOU who voted for me. 

Once I thought through the fact that a chicken drawing was the one that won, and put that together with the leg lamp, this drawing came to my mind. I spent ridiculous amounts of time taking photos of my workspace at night to get an idea what it would look like, THEN erasing all that from my mind so I could get into the fantasy aspect of it. That paid off when I started thinking about changing up the view out the window; even if I didn’t alter a lot else, that gave me happy thoughts about my days living in New York. Lots of fun to think about on a snowy night!

Lighting at night

During the time they had emailed for my address, it was the holiday season – and when they said I won an award my mind went to A Christmas Story’s scene where the dad won a “major award” – a leg lamp!

I kept thinking I should just draw a leg lamp like his. But that seemed kind of…..expected. I wanted something pretty epic to help me to thank both Copic and all of YOU who voted for me. 

Once I thought through the fact that a chicken drawing was the one that won, and put that together with the leg lamp, this drawing came to my mind. I spent ridiculous amounts of time taking photos of my workspace at night to get an idea what it would look like, THEN erasing all that from my mind so I could get into the fantasy aspect of it. That paid off when I started thinking about changing up the view out the window; even if I didn’t alter a lot else, that gave me happy thoughts about my days living in New York. Lots of fun to think about on a snowy night!

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Disco Chicken!

Watch both parts of the project…

Big thanks to all!

To everyone who voted – thank you!  You’ve been a part of making this award happen. Bless you!

To everyone who’s been praying: Monday’s another medical day, so keep it up 🙂 

I THINK I DID IT! Oh man. This one was just a little more bitten off than I might have been ready for….it was days of work and study, and that doesn’t even count the chicken dancing! 🙂

I asked AI to give me a description of my disco chicken to post on the Copic Award page….it did pretty well!

A flamboyant rooster is captured mid-dance on a reflective dance floor, a shining disco ball overhead casting light around the room. The rooster’s wings are spread wide in a dramatic pose, evoking the sense of movement and dance.

Before we get underway with the video…..I posted a reel on instagram and a short on YouTube showing a much simpler disco ball than you’ll see in today’s main video. check it out to see how simple it CAN be! 🙂

Tutorial: How to draw a Copic Disco Ball

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Drawing a disco ball

You can use any earth modell with longitude and latitude lines as a model – the above pic is looking upward at the globe, and you can see how the lines curl around on the left/right and top/bottom.

Mine is far more complex than it needs to be – you could make one with significantly smaller mirror pieces, and without the airbrushing too.  But the principle is the same.

1. Place blocks of color on the disco ball, lighter where you want highlights.
2. Mask out a few of those blocks so they remain bright and sharp.
3. Color OVER all that initial color – airbrush works, but how about distress inks with a very soft brush? Powdered colored pencil or charcoal? A watercolor wash? Whatever you use, let some color show through and some get covered.
4. Draw in some of the lines between mirror panels: in the light areas use about an 80% dark color (a grey blue or purple) and in light areas, drop in a few dashed highlights.
5. Stand back and admire!

Draw a disco floor

Basic perspective lines will really help here – with all the lines leading back to a vanishing point in the middle, on the side, wherever.

1. Draw the underlying color in any pattern.
2. Add tje perspective grid on top, with the tiles being dark with glowing light parts, and light popping up through the grout.
3. Add a little bit of line work but only if needed.

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Make it *sparkle*

To create a feeling of magic — throw in some pixie dust! Not only will this add the feeling of magic to your drawing, but it can cover any messes made. I used a colorless blender for some of the lighter dots, and a gel pen on top as well.

Copic Award Entry

I sent it to the Copic Award contest – wish me luck and go add my drawing to your favorites!

Supplies

1. Copic Markers – https://bit.ly/31g1FYN
2. Copic Hex Chart – https://bit.ly/3rq3AEX
3. White Uni-ball Gel Pen AMZ  • BLICK 
4. Masking:
   1. Frisket Film roll 
   2. Frisket Film sheets
5. Fingertip Knife
6. Paper:
7. Neenah Cardstock, Solar White; I found a 12″x18″ pack of the 110lb at my local Kelly Paper but it’s the same as this smaller size that’s more affordable/available: Neenah
8. My normal fave paper is the 80#