Do you need all the colors in order to feel ready to make art? In a comparison of marker brands, I tried matching colors by layering, to see if I could make them look right without having the exact colors they called for – by layering.

A word from our “Sponsor”

This post is brought to you (ha) by one of my brand new pages on the art-classes site….the new Hex Charts and More page! If you haven’t visited in a while, scroll through this page, or any of the mediums… they’re no longer just long lists of thumbnails. There’s hidden jokes, helpful videos, quotes to inspire you, and context around groupings of classes.

My goal is to make the content more helpful, motivational, and just plain fun to check out! I’d love your feedback, especially if you find any oopses; I’ve been discovering some copy/paste errors and would love to know if you find others.

Tutorial: Alcohol Markers: Do you really need ALL the colors?

It’s a long one – skim through to the section you want, or just park with a donut and coffee and let’s chill together a while!

• Three brands of alcohol marker – Copic, Sketchmarker, Olo 03:22
• My alcohol marker reference book 05:16
• Alcohol marker conversion charts 08:13
• Red blending test 09:30
• Green blending speed drawing 14:44

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!

Basic blending test

The markers all seemed to perform the same in blending with two exceptions:

1. Copic retained some hard edges (see the light outline around the butterfly)
2. Copic’s blender pen retained some of the “removal” of color, the others just got very very soft.

Copic’s c0lorless blender has never been something I’ve loved because of the almost pixelly-texture created, but I was really surprised the other brands just melted in instead. This might be the paper or the fact that it’s RED. Hateful red that loves to be a pain. LOL.

Drawing head-to-head test

The greens between the three mediums aren’t apples to apples by any means; but an overall assessment:

1. Copic’s range contains more useable muted greens IMHO. The other brands are generally more saturated, with the exception of the G1s through G3s, which are a nice warm range that I’ve been hoping would show up. (No luck on getting dark desaturated ones, bummer!)
2. Sketchmarker has a lot of greens, or shall we say “G” markers, that are actually blue or bluegreen. Hard to call them greens, but – they were very helpful in layering with their more yellowish greens to create the tones in the Copic version.
3. Olo. Poor Olo with so few greens to play with! The ones they have are nice, and I like the way the color lays down, but I hope their next release whenever it happens will have more range. But even with that – I was surprised I could get the right greens!

Part 2 is coming up Saturday

Now that this one is finished, my attention turns to the neutrals – the browns. So far I haven’t found any gamechangers in that range, though the Red Greys for black-brown hair are pretty interesting from Sketchmarker. But stay tuned – that post will also talk about some colors in both Sketchmarker and Olo that seem to be unique to them, so if you had interest in adding a color or two, I hope to have some suggestions!

Supplies

1. Markers:
   1. Copic Markers 
   2. Sketchmarker Brush Pro Alcohol Markers
   3. Olo markers 
2. Hex Charts:
   1. Copic hex chart
   2. Sketchmarker hex chart
   3. Olo marker hex chart
3. Papers
   1. Neenah Cardstock, Solar White 250pk 
   2. Marker sketchbook 
4. White Signo Uni-ball Gel Pen 

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Have you ever wanted to learn how to mix colors with alcohol markers? We’ll do that not by putting drops of different inks in the bottle – but by what you draw! You can use Olo markers, Copics, Sketchmarker – these tips will work with any brand of alcohol markers you have.

And a bonus: if you learn to mix colors, you don’t need to BUY all the colors! You may have what you need to create a color on your own. How cool is that?!

Thank you!

Big thanks to the folks at Olo for sending me these markers to work with. A few months ago they’d sent me a small group of pens to see if I liked them, and once I did but was left qwith questions about the color selection – a whole set came my way! Thanks to my friend Lori for coordinating this effort so I could produce a hex chart for you all to use!

Tutorial: How to mix colors with alcohol markers

This is one of my longer videos; you can jump from one section to another – just look for the segments in the progress bar at the bottom. However – even if not interested in Olo markers, you might learn something about other markers along the way, too!

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!

Complementary color mixing

Complements (opposite colors on the color wheel) can do two things for a hue: dull them, or darken them. Sometimes both! Which means they work great for shadows. If your collection of markers – or the brand you’re using – doesn’t contain the colors you need, try a complement underneath the main hue! Keep it light at first – generally it should be about a midtone, but depending on the color that’s on top, adjust as needed. (ie yellows may need a lighter color.)

Analagous color mixing

Don’t have the right green (or any color)? Mix one by glazing other colors on top of it. Usually analagous colors work best to shift the hue of a color as was done here. But sometimes others can warm or cool a color to give you just what you need.

In case you’d like to try some berries or holly leaves…here’s the photo:

And the Olo marker colors I used are as follows – find hues similar that you’ve got in your collection!

Olo Hex Chart

Need a chart for your Olos, or know someone who does? Just tap on the photo below and go get one and color it on up!

What’s your toughest color to match?

Does your marker collection have all the colors you want in it, or do you have to mix up your own colors too? Copics may have a wider color selection but I still find some things that need some mixing. Give me your suggestions in the comments, maybe sometime I can make a video with that color mix!

Supplies

1. Olo markers 
2. Olo marker hex chart
3. Marker sketchbook

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I’ve got not one but TWO bits of fun for you today….a brand new set of beautiful printables (aka digistamps) that you can nab for your own stocking stuffer….and a peek at a new class coming up! 

Tutorial: Clean and Simple Design for Cardmakers + Copic Coloring Migrating Birds

First part of the video is the coloring of the birds, then followed by an example of what’ll be happening in the class that launches on Christmas!

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!

What comes with the Migrating Birds set

If you decide to get the bird set, you’ll receive:

1. PNG versions of 12 images (two each of 6 birds, flipped left and right) in black and white
2. Colored sample with suggested Copic swatches and video
3. Single sheet with all birds

Clean and Simple Design Class 

The class is focused on design. Not a how-to, in the traditional sense. I’ll be sharing a whole bunch of tips from my lifetime as a graphic designer, showing an old card I made, talk about what I did or didn’t like about parts of it, then I’ll make a sketch with a first re-draft, then a second clean and simple version! You won’t see creation steps – there’ll be just a few in the final CAS card, but don’t think of these as full tutorials!

You’ll use YOUR stamps and dies and other supplies for your homework; you can use the birds like I’ll be doing, but remember you might end up fussy cutting depending on how you decide to create your art!

Cleaned up the sketch, moving the tall panel to front. Kept the rounded rectangle but softened color and added white dot pattern. Airbrushed the scene then only drew a hint of it so the duck would stay prominent. Cut down to 3 embellishments. Bingo!

As we go through class you’ll find sometimes you liked elements I didn’t. Or didn’t like things I did. Those are all creative choices! But my hope is to help you think through your own decisions, while also being free to make different choices. But now they’ll be conscious ones rather than “I just didn’t know what to do here!”

Class available on Christmas Day!

I’m trying like mad to get it all finished before the Christmas sale – and I’m feeling optimistic! But either way I’ll launch it with just part of the lessons, and will have others done shortly after. Where to find it? It’ll be at the top of the “newest classes” page!

Class price will be $49.99, discounted on Christmas. In case you need to drop Santa a hint that you’ve got one more wish. 🙂

The giveaway is closing soon!

If you missed the last post with a giveaway of a 36 marker set – click here and enter!

Supplies

• Copic Markers  
• Copic Hex Chart
• Neenah Cardstock, Solar White 250pk
• Airbrush ABS3
• Air Compressor – (only need comp and cord, not this kit)
• Cord, if it doesn’t come with the compressor 

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Another unboxing! My last post was all about paper and pens – this time…markers! I’d heard of Olo Markers before, but hadn’t considered them as an option, really. There are many knockoffs of Copic and I’ve found most relatively unsatisfying – because to get a cheaper pen, you have to sacrifice something. 

It’s rare to find a company ADDING something instead. And perhaps that’s what Olo has done? They’ve made the markers more of a DIY affair – you can decide if you want brush, chisel, or both, and you can decide if you want multiples in one pen or not.

SEE THE CAVEATS ABOUT THESE PENS LATER IN THIS POST.

Tutorial: Draw sugar-coated gumdrops in Olo alcohol markers 

See the unboxing and assembly of the pens – and a quick way to make gumdrops!

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!

Olo markers

First – I don’t know enough about the available colors to know if these are something to dive into. They’ve got a smaller collection than other brands – and with only a few colors, I don’t really know how the full range compares. I picked some dumb colors, or missed some good inbetween ones at least! Also there’s obviously no hex chart.

Nibs are very nice though, a bit thicker than Copic but not noticeably so. The bodies are round so they do roll spectacularly on my desk. 

And the price point for a half marker – which has as much ink as most other alcohol markers – is much less. You need to get two to make a marker, which makes a “full” pen more expensive, but for twice the ink, well – you see how that math goes. They are definitely less expensive.

From first blush they do perform like other alcohol markers; I’ll be playing with them on my Neenah and get a fuller picture, but I don’t expect them to fail at all in that way. My only concern is the color range, which I can’t speak to with only 18 colors here. 

Draw gumdrops the easy way!

Make a template first – draw a simple shape on cardstock at the size of your desired candies. Cut it out with an xacto knife, and trace the shapes onto your paper in whatever arrangement you want.

Then you can color the shapes in – give them a little dimension by putting darker color on one side than the other, but don’t stress over perfect blending OR on drawing texture like I had tried. Anything will work. Afterwards, use the mask to sprinkle each gumdrop with the white pigment using a toothbrush. Easy! (You can use other mediums like white gouache or acrylic too.)

You know me, I’m always pushing ideas to the next stage….and for my patrons this week I shared a speed drawing of a jar full of gumdrops! They also got the sketch, so they can try this themselves too. If you’d like to become a patron, you’d be most welcome to join our merry band! Each week I provide a short video – sometimes tutorials, sometimes sneak peeks, sometimes speed drawings or behind the scenes stuff. And I send out hundreds of cards to patrons too, since I know I love happy mail and everyone else must, too! You can join for just $1 a month or make it a little more to get more rewards like coupon codes and art pieces. Join patreon here.

What are your thoughts on these markers?

I know some of you are Copic-committed like me. I’m not jumping ship for these, but they’ve got me curious. Are you considering getting some to try out?

Supplies

• Olo Alcohol Markers
• XPress It Blending Card
• Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White BLICK • AMZ 
• Old toothbrush