My new set of Copic markers did not come with a clear match for Pantone 5773c, RGB #999966, which means that I have to mix, blend, fuss, and fidget in order to come up with Schlock’s “flesh-tone.”
The result is both frustrating and rewarding. It’s frustrating because I have to lay down three layers of “base” colors before I get around to doing any shading, and that’s three layers of opportunity for “marker lines” to appear.
It’s rewarding because if I do it right it forces me to create a texture that is much more suggestive of “hairy, peaty clay” than a solid fill could ever be.
The process goes like this:
1) pencil Schlock.
2) ink the outline with a single thickness – 03 Staedtler Mars Pigment Liner
3) Fill fairly evenly with Copic E44 “clay”
4) Fill again, taking care to even out step 3 marker lines, with Copic G21 “lime green.”
5) Fast pass, smoothing marker lines with Copic YG91 “putty”
6) Thicken the outline with 05 Staedtler Mars Pigment Liner, and fill the mouth with any old fat black marker (in this case Copic 100 “black”)
7) Add dark shading with repeated passes of Copic G94 “greyish olive”, E44 “clay”, YG95 “pale olive” and YG91 “putty”.
8) Decide not to even PICK UP the YG95 marker again, since most of the repeated passes were made trying to get that color to go away.
9) Put shading on the ground with W5, W3, and W1 “warm grey” tones.
10) Add those little hash lines in shaded areas with 01 Staedtler Mars Pigment Liner. Putting the black atop the blends deepens them and sharpens things up.
11) Scribble-dust highlights using Prismacolor white pencil. Rub smooth with a blending nub.
12) Sign with 05 Staedtler Mars Pigment Liner.
13) Breathe a sigh of relief. For all the scribbling, mulitple passes, and tweaking, it looks okay and the smooth surface bristol did not disintegrate.
Total elapsed time: 40 minutes.
For a first attempt, I’m pretty pleased. If Andy LP is out there, I’m planning to put this one in the mail to you. Thanks again for the Daft Punk CD.
–Howard
It could be the scan, but that seriously looks, a lot more than the usual Schlock does, like … doggypoo.
I think that’s the idea.
That’s awesome! Go new pens, go! =) (( oh yes, and you too, Howard. 🙂 ))
Dunno how practicable/cost-effective it would be, but you mentioned that the pens are refillable and the inks can be bought separately, so have you considered mixing some of the inks in one pen, in an attempt to get a slightly faster process?
‘Course, you may want to get the drawing process with the new pens down pat before you try to optimize it…
That is serious textured amorph. Very nice indeed…
Marker availability
So, you mentioned your set didnt’ come with that exact color, but are they available (be gentle, I have no clue on artistic geekiness)? If so, what schlock items do we need to buy to get you that pen, and the obviously necessary refill (since you’ll be using it a lot)?
Re: Marker availability
Honestly, I don’t know if the exact shade is available. I know it’s NOT available as a TRIA marker from Pantone, and the shades I thought would work have been near misses. Spanish Olive is too dark, and Greyish Olive is too green. Mixing them with browns seems to be the answer.
I think what I’ll be shopping for is $30 worth of refills, nibs, and empty pens. And I THINK the colors I’ll need are the ones I’m currently using — E44, G21, and YG91.
I’m going to hold off until the next batch of Copics arrives, though. I’ve got another 72 markers coming in the mail soon.
–Howard