I promised you I’d tell you about the unique colors in Sketchmarker and Olo, as well as my overall assessment of the three brands….and this is the day. But I’m SUPER excited to also have a new Human Rainbow class ready – scroll on to see more of that, and in the video you’ll see a little peek inside class!
The art demo in this video, in addition to lots of color tests I’ll explain, is this picture of these birds – if you’ve taken the Whimsical Sketching class you might recognize these cuties! I scanned my original and printed it out smaller.
Tutorial: Alcohol Marker comparison: Unique Colors + Human Rainbow
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!
Unique colors
I gathered up the colors that were not included in my conversion charts for Sketchmarker and Olo – these colors may still be close to a Copic color, but when I did the assessment I found a color that’s a better match to that color, so that’s why some colors you may recognize are here. But I’ve noted a few colors I find particularly interesting to a Copic user:
Greens
I wish I’d done this little exercise before the previous video – it really would have helped me out! ha. Better late than never though. You can see here the progression of colors – in Copic it shows the relatively regular steps toward desaturation; in Sketchmarker it shows….well, that they call YG green, and they call BG green, and BG is blue gray, and the numbers…well yeah. I’m lost, but it’s not necessary for the numbering systems to make complete sense, it just helps!
The number system for Olo generally-ish seems to jive with Copic’s; they place a dot (.) between the digits, which helps to separate them – because each digit means something different, just like with Copic. Great idea to help us remember that fact.
Grays, grays, and more grays
I’ve always said for the majority of folks, some warm and cool grays are plenty….though some of these new ones are interesting!
Pinks and purples
For those who love these colors, you might be especially excited here! Note that this is marker paper, which shows color more dull-ly than a nice bright cardstock.
Browns for flesh, hair, animals
I wanted to see how much each brand is “weighted” in their browns, and this was the one way I could figure out how to depict that for myself. What it shows me is there are few light tones in Olo, wayyy lots in Sketchmarker. And for my own liking, since I love my dark colors, I wish everyone had more darks in all the columns (reddish, yellowish, greenish and purplish).
The Human Rainbow!
The browns were a big part of choosing colors for the new course – I’m SO PROUD of Human Rainbow II. The last time I created a class with people drawings in it, they were embarrassingly bad to me given my current skill level – and rather than being down on myself for HRI, I’m just ECSTATIC that I’ve made progress that’s truly visible! My Life Drawing Group as well as a lot of pen and ink practice has really grown me. So even if no one takes this class, I’m still going to puff out my chest a little bit and cheer for me!
But if you WOULD like to take this class, well, I hope you love it as much as me! It comes with the printable images ($30 value, included in the price). You could also purchase just the imagesand color them without the class. If you do that and change your mind later about class, just email me and I’ll invoice you just for the class fee minus what you paid for the images. All the printables are here.
I’m pooped!
Do you ever bite off more than you can chew, artistically? Does it drain you like the past few weeks/months have done to me? Man, oh man, I even made myself sick! (Might have been norovirus by my symptoms…but they went away as soon as I had everything prepped for today, so I’m thinking it was stress!)
I’m hoping to now return to my more chill artistic self and let go of some of the testing I’ve been inundated with. What would you like to see me playing with next? Either a medium or a subject, lmk if you have a challenge or an idea!
Have you ever wanted to know how to draw a realistic strawberry….in a few mediums? They’re a really interesting fruit – and technically the fruit is those little things we think of as seeds on the outside…each of those contains a seed—and can be planted! Who knew?
Well from the berries on Tuesday to blueberries yesterday and strawberries today….I think I just had a fruity week! If I draw a lot of fruit will I lose weight just by doing that? Please say yes! So much easier than a diet….
Tutorial: How to draw a realistic strawberry
This video starts with almost 11 minutes on a complex speed drawing of a strawberry – worth a watch even if not creating that one because it’ll help you understand the basics of a strawberry.
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!
Draw a realistic strawberry
In alcohol markers, layering is the key to trying to nail down the color you want in a drawing. The alcohol ink is transparent, so you can shift the hues by which pens you choose! Depending on the photo reference you choose to work from, you may find warm and cool reds, pinks, and oranges, so look carefully to create beautiful color shifts. Use deeper shadows are inside the “pockets” for the achenes (the seeds (fruits) outside the berry).
Realistic strawberries in 3 mediums
I created these little berries on watercolor paper – yes alcohol markers can be used on it, even if challenging! It even helped it to remain a little rougher/looser! Colors used:
Incorporate a strawberry in your next project – even if not a big element you might find these techniques kind of fun! Or see if you can sketch your own favorite in a loose way, small, or create a large detailed version and really get to know it!
Color charts, color charts, color charts – it’s a FIESTA! I hope these will be helpful to you all in participating in the fundraiser below – Sketchmarkers are new-ish in America where I am and not a lot of people know much about them. If you’ve been pondering trying a few colors, I’ve got some suggestions you can shop from and participate in the fundraiser all weekend long.
Color for Ukraine Fundraiser
This post is in support of a fundraiser that you can read more about here: if you want to join in, buy Sketchmarkers at Ellen Hutson OR Amazon and the profits will be donated to support Ukrainians! And there are THREE hops going on this weekend on Instagram…lots of crafters, sketchers, and artists from all over the WORLD! I’m in the Saturday and Sunday hops, so go see all the fun and enter to win a HUGE prize.
In addition to the prize offered by the sponsors of the fundraiser, I’ve got a new hex chart that I just launched: Sketchmarkers! Every purchase of the chart this weekend will have 50% of the proceeds donated to the fundraiser. Scroll on to see the hex chart and two FREE charts. Even if you don’t use Sketchmarkers you might want the conversion chart!
Video: How to use my marker color charts
A little of the making of the charts, and how to get updates when they happen!
First is a chart of color suggestions – I’ve had one of these for Copic for years, now I have one for Sketchmarker. Download it for free – you’ll get one version with my numbers on it and a blank you can choose your own combos to keep on hand.
Two charts….one is listed by Copic numbers and the other by Sketchmarker numbers. This one will be great to use when following a class or tutorial in one brand but using the one you have in your art room!
Last but never least, I worked my fanny off to get this done in time for this weekend! It’s not perfect, these charts never are, but…this week was just a bear! I had the blues and greens down pat days ago but no matter spending 16 hours a day working on the reds and yellows, I just could NOT get them the way I wanted. But….perfect is the enemy of the good, so I’m calling it good. It’s still helpful for finding color combos as well as figuring out what colors are similar enough that you don’t need them all.
This weekend I’m donating 50% of Sketchmarker Hex Chart purchases to help Ukrainians!
PS Especially if you’re a regular reader and Copic user – leave a comment about how YOU would use any of these charts. Let the Sketchmarker folks know the treat they’re in for!
Next week’s altered schedule
After the week I’ve had, I’m giving myself a little time to breathe…no Monday video. Maybe only one this week. I lost my dearest aunt and godmother on Friday, and I’m a bit wrecked from that on top of the work in this chart project. I never did get to the watermelon project – so when I get my feet back under me I’ll be here. Subscribe and you’ll get an email when that happens!
After using the Sketchmarker Aqua last week, and testing them against other pens, I had a few emails asking what’s up with the alcohol pens, so it was time to update ya!
The Sketchmarker company is HQ’d in the region affected so terribly by the war in Europe – and had a hiatus of a sort, and are getting back on it now. That followed some confusion with an intermediary distributor – and that meant I have most of a full set, yet not a full set, so there’s no hex chart yet. However, I trust that’ll loosen up at some point, but I’m giving them grace to get all the balls back in the air before bugging anyone over some missing pens. I’ll let you know as soon as I have a hex chart ready; the best way to be sure you’re the first to know about it? Sign up for the email list at art-classes.com, since that’s the first place I usually send out updates like that! (I’ll be updating you here and YT and social too, but that email list is typically just new-product-related; right now it’s still in weekly email mode with the Peace Love and Art challenge but after that will revert to only sending emails when there’s a new thing.)
Okay let’s get on to today’s project – and the theme for this week: Silhouettes! And don’t worry, you don’t have to be someone who draws a lot to accomplish a nice silhouette – you can use a stamp and just create a few simple elements to create a scene! I’ll show you some stamp ideas on social media all week.
Something to note: these pens are quite affordable when buying a set – the bigger the pack, the better the discount. They’re $2.25 per pen when you buy 96! (That set is a bit over $200) However you might just want a few colors, and those singles are more costly, $4.85. Please don’t go getting mad at retailers when you see that; the set referred to on Amazon is directly from the manufacturer, and any crafty store has to price a bit above what they buy it for so they can stay in business. Some manufacturers price products at the same cost as retailers, just to prevent everyone getting upset.
Once I do create a hex chart I’ll work out some recommendations that are the colors that best fill in the Copic set of colors, so if you just want to add a handful, I’ll help you work that out at that time.
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
This week, a color study – what could be better than a study of greens? Temperature – warm and cool, in particular! This is a 2 part series – and today we’ll talk about two mediums. Most people think of color theory as only affecting fine art and painting, but it really applies to all application of color!
I got out my Lake Michigan Book Press “Sketch a day” sketchbook for today’s little testing of mixing. The tiny watercolors are so cute – I keep the Daniel Smith 6 essentials in this tiny Whiskey Painters palette for quick studies like today’s. It’s always so interesting to me to see just how many different colors can be gotten from six little pigments!
Swatch some of your own greens, just pair up your blues with yellows. Any kind. What happens when there’s a 50-50 ratio? 70-30? 85-15? Do they go from cool to warm or vice versa?
Any other medium uses the same principles – but the style of delivery of the pigment may mean different ways of blending. For this tree I chose a range of cool and warm greens – there’s a BG96 that was used for the tree trunk and parts of the vehicles.
Layering the colors on top of each other is how alcohol markers “mix” color – but the warm/cool principles are just the same.
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
If you’ve ever tried to replicate a tutorial – mine or anyone else’s – and been frustrated that it just doesn’t come out the same….you’re not alone. Yes it happens to me, too!
I’ve put together a little demo that will show you that you can use the same colors to create different skintones – just by altering how MUCH of them is used. Same colors! Watch and see.
Brands and individual hues. Sometimes even how OLD the supplies are; some change over time.
Techniques – pressure, layering
What you see in a video usually isn’t “all” there is. Hours of video often get cut down to 10 minutes, so there could be steps unseen.
Colored pencils can be affected by the pressure applied, not just in one layer but in successive layers.
Copics can be affected by layering too – sometimes the order can really change things a lot.
For patrons
If you’re a patron and missed it yesterday….the two larger drawings with the whole image are in a video over there. Happy Valentines Day!
The bottom line
Don’t get frustrated. It’s not always “you”!! Too many people leave a video tutorial thinking they’re a failure, they’ll never be an artist, they just aren’t talented. But it could be a lot of factors that don’t translate into video teaching in a ten minute demo!
It’s why I believe in classes. Where I can teach and re-teach. Show several examples of the same thing in successive lessons. It helps to see things a few times, and let them sink in.
Artventure App
My new app is out there – and hopefully the walk-through at the end of today’s video will help explain a little more of how to use it! It’s a platform that only allows me to customize some parts, and some things are getting fixed right now – I’m learning how to update it through the app stores, but it takes a bit of learning! You can download it for iOs or Android – enjoy!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
