How to Color Darker Skin With Copic Markers

Happy Thursday our crafty friends – today Michelle is using a fun Rubbernecker image to show you how to color darker skin with Copic markers.  Michelle tells us she has all sorts of of new images she will be using to show you even more Copic coloring tips and tricks so come back often!

This is “Ethel Cooking” and our designer thought she was looking a little feisty. We agree! Ethel may be one of our “Old Characters” but she’s clearly young at heart!

So first we have Ethel’s hair…

Michelle used a light earth tone to put some squiggles in her hair to emphasize Ethel’s curls and added a few warm grays to add more squiggles and dots to add even more dimension. Because she wanted Ethel’s hair to show her age, Michelle used the darker shade sparingly.Now we move on to Ethel’s skin…

Areas that would have the deepest shadows get started with the blue violet and then a lighter earth tone goes all over for the base shade for her skin. Then using a couple more earth tones, Michelle added shape to the various areas of Ethel’s skin and then using the markers in reverse order, blended the shades together for that beautiful luminosity Michelle is known for.

Now check out that butcher block countertop – that’s NOT part of the stamp! Michelle colored the area in a light earth tone and used a darker shade and two warm gray colors to create wood grain AND make shadows. Her attention to these incredible details is part of what makes her such a true artist!Then she tackled Ethel’s clothing and accessories. She used a light blue for the base of Ethel’s dress and added shadows with a darker blue. The pot, knife and eggs were colored with several shades of cool gray.

Ethel’s apron was done in a light earth tone and two other shades colored out the egg carton and the wine bottle.

And last, an assortment of yellow reds, reds and greens were used to fill in all the additional items in Ethel’s work space.We think you will all agree with us when we say Michelle is AHHHH-MAZING!!!!!

Here is a link to the stamp:

For those of you who learn better from videos, Michelle is going to be sharing more on how to color darker skin with Copic markers soon so be SURE to come back! We just love that we have a designer who is so talented in helping us create such fun cards for our African-American crafters!