Copic Skin Tones that Look Real

Copic Markers are such a versatile tool in the hands of an artist. We love seeing how each of our stamps can look totally different depending on the creativity and techniques of each person. Today we are going to follow along with Michelle, as she shows us how to achieve realistic copic skin tones. She did a series on darker skin tones earlier in the year, you can find links to those posts at the bottom. We hope she inspires you to pull those Copies out and put them to good use!

Today I am coloring up a wonderful image from Rubbernecker Stamps, Nala. The team at Rubbernecker asked if I would continue sharing some tips on coloring Copic skin tones so over the next few months I will share a few videos with medium to darker skin tones. If you have favorite color combinations I would love to hear those and I will share a few of my go-to combos.

I usually start with the skin on images, especially if I know I am going to go with darker tones because they tend to be a little trickier and if I mess up and need to start over I would rather not have spent oodles of time on other areas of the image first.

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Base the skin in an Earth tone. (E11)
Use a mid-tone to map out the shape of the face creating the contours. (E13)
Use a shade darker in lesser amounts in all the same areas. (E15)
Work in reverse through your markers to blend the layers smooth. (E13, E11)
Use a blue violet to push the deepest shadow areas further back, in some cases I need to blend this color n a little in others it can sit right on top, in this case a LITTLE softening with 2 Earth tones was needed. (BV23, E15, E13)

Finish up the lips with two Earth tones. (E04, E09)
Use two colors on the eyes. I used them on the necklace as well. (YR24, E25)

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Finish the image off by coloring her hair. Put a light blue violet on the highlight areas. On waves hair look for the areas that wave out away from her head. (BV20)
Start with a dark cool gray and use varying lengths of flicks starting in the deepest areas and flicking out along the curves the artist has already on the image. (C9)
Use two more cool grays and flick more into the highlight areas vary the lengths of the flicks so you do not end up with bands of color. (C7, C5)
Go back and use any of the three gray tones to create the waves and texture that you like. Make sure to add in small amounts at a time and pause in-between layers to let the ink move and watch results. If you rush this step you can overwork the hair and end up with a muddled mess. (C9, C7, C5)
To finish the hair use the light blue violet to lightly work back into the highlight areas. (BV20)

I also have a video recording of this process and the video is over at the Copic In The Craft Room YouTube channel.

Thank you for stopping by today! I will do my best to keep the coloring and creativity coming!

We hope you watched the video and found some useful color combinations for your next project. Be sure to tag us on Instagram with any of your creations #rubberneckerstamps for a chance to be featured.  Happy Crafting!