How to blend with alcohol markers

The primal (near of the fourth dimension) to blend with alcohol markers is the speed with which you tin move from pen to pen. Yous don't want your first pass drying out before the next colour comes in to play. With particles of color suspended in the fluid, they will move freely and combine. With the color set on the page, there's footling chance of it moving and providing that magical blend.

Using color codes to help blend

Y'all can use most make's color codes to help place which pens should be considered darker and lighter. Information on the Copic specific codes can exist found in our getting started with Copic markers commodity, and other pens have their own systems. If in doubtfulness, swatch out your colors to see the society.

How to blend alcohol markers over a large area

If yous are already capable of getting smooth colour over a large expanse, getting a blend should be easy for you.

Proceed it wet, yous will know that to get a polish single colour you do a lot of overlapping. Yous continue a lot of ink flowing on the folio. Information technology's the aforementioned process here, merely the overlapping you are doing anyhow because that'due south how you get the blend. So the key is to piece of work rapidly and treat the transitions betwixt colors just as y'all would if yous were overlapping with the aforementioned marker.

How to alloy alcohol markers without a blender

Single color blending

The simplest way to blend from ane tone to another, and you actually only need an individual pen to do it – and so information technology's neat if you are starting out. The divergence in shade is achieved through varying saturation levels on the newspaper you lot are using.

For all the below, work speedily because you lot want to piece of work with moisture ink to become a smooth blend:

  1. Apply a layer of ink to the expanse you lot are looking to shade.
  2. Use again, using the aforementioned pen, this time avoiding the area you want at left as the lightest shade.
  3. Apply once again, only focusing on the area yous want to be darkest.

This process is easiest because the saturation and lightness levels of the pen don't vary (of form they don't, it's the same pen). And then y'all tin become a squeamish, polish transition between the differing shades. The downside it y'all finish upwardly monochromatic, and the departure you tin achieve from lightest to darkest is limited.

This tin can be accomplished on pretty much whatever paper.

Blending using a single Copic marker

Note: for all blending in this article I used paper from a Copic Selections sketchbook.

Night to light

This method works peachy if your paper is piece of cake to alloy, and the colors are fairly shut together.

You can twist your palette with this method too, there's no need to keep with a unmarried colour. So long as y'all move from a dark to light (via how ever many increasingly light shades yous like) you can get a skilful blend.

Again, with the beneath instructions, work as fast as y'all tin can. You rely on the wetness to help a smooth transition between tones.

Technique:

  1. Add your darkest tones only to the expanse you want to appear darkest on your image.
  2. Overlapping with the darkest color, add the adjacent lightest tone. That overlap should be every bit big as you want the blending to be.
  3. Echo however many times you similar with lighter and lighter tones. Again, the size of your overlap will determine the size and smoothness of the blend.

Ideally for the dark to light method, your paper will be designed for utilise with alcohol markers. Anything as well absorbant or sparse will not stand up to the the agitation and saturation. We've had a look at sketchbooks designed to be used with inks and pencils.

Blending from dark to light with copic markers

Low-cal to dark

Rather than focusing of segmented overlapping/blending areas while working from dark to light, this method starts with covering the area 100% with the lightest tone. This allows you to add in darker areas as yous cull without working specifically on transitions from one area to the next.

Technique (piece of work chop-chop, wetness is your friend!):

  1. Completely make full the surface area with your lightest tone.
  2. Layer on the side by side darkest tone, roofing only the surface area you want to be that tone.
  3. Echo until your darkest tone has been applied.
  4. Work back, lightest to darkest tones, to help soften the alloy in the overlap.

Information technology's a practiced pick to have if you don't have platonic newspaper for alcohol markers to paw. Thinner paper will permit you to get abroad with this method of blending alcohol markers.

Feathering

While feathering volition accomplish a blend of colors, the blend volition look more sketchy than the shine alloy other techniques volition get for you. This is skilful if you are going for a more textured finish. Experiment a but before deciding if it is right for your work. A mix of standard and feathered blending can add real depth to a picture.

To reach the best upshot with feathering, y'all will be in need of a a brush nib. This comes every bit standard on Copic Ciaos and Copic Sketches. Alternatives to Copic markers have their own options available too.

Technique:

  1. Start with the lightest tone at what will be the lightest border of your image. Pic away from this border into the residue of the epitome.
  2. Use your next darkest tone to picture show from the lite tone (with some overlap) further into the darker expanse.
  3. Repeat footstep 2 with increasingly dark tones.
  4. When fix to apply your darkest tone, start flicking from the darkest edge of the paradigm to help y'all go along keen lines.
  5. You can go on adding flicks of the colors already applied until you achieve the effect you are later on.

Experiment with the force per unit area you lot utilize in your flicks, as this tin can decide a lot about the manner the blend ends upward.

Blending with the feathering method using alcohol markers

Blending pens with similar lightness/unordered lightness

If you lot are looking to blend pens which don't piece of work on a natural slope from calorie-free to dark (or vice versa) there'south nothing stopping you. The key is to brand sure you are getting smooth coverage and giving plenty attention to the transitions. This works if you lot are running across a spectrum at a similar level or doing dark to light to dark (for example). Alcohol markers are designed to alloy, so at that place is no correct or wrong order.

Technique:

  1. With your first color, encompass the area you lot want to be that colour, besides as actress allowing for the overlap.
  2. With your second color, complete the overlap and an area that will exist dedicated to that colour.
  3. Using your starting time colour over again, apply a second layer to the to the initial expanse and work it into the overlap.
  4. Repeat with however many colors you lot demand to complete the sequence.

You lot will need a robust paper for this, due to the rework needed for the overlaps.

Blending alcohol markers with a similar lightness

Tip to Tip

This is one of the most pleasing approaches to blending, swell for minor detail where you need a sharp blend from one color to another. It'southward particularly good for tones that don't share tonal properties. It allows the mixing of 2 colors, only no more. It is ideal for small areas of great detail, becuase reloading the darker ink onto the lighter nib can become repetitive pretty quickly.

Technique:

  1. Using the lighter booze marker, touch its tip to the darker pen.
  2. Start coloring from the darker side of your image, away and into the lighter side. The night ink you picked upwards with disperse outset, bringing in the low-cal tones underneath.

You can vary the blend by changing the amount of dark ink picked upward on the lighter pen. This technique volition piece of work differently with different nibs – so experiment with brush, chisel and fine nibs.

This technique will work well on any paper that allows for a nice blend. It is particularly pleasing to employ it on a more coated paper, as the longer it takes that ink to soak in the more time yous can spend tweaking.

Tip to tip blending with alcohol markers

How to alloy alcohol markers with a blender

Nighttime to calorie-free with a blender

Only like the nighttime to light method to a higher place, but instead of blending to a a lightest colour, yous blend out to whatsoever the tone of the paper you are working on. Past working between the next to lightest colour and cipher, you lot volition go a good fade to cipher.

Dark to clear blending with Copic Markers

Palette Blending with alcohol markers

You volition need a palette for this, anything with a non-porous surface will do. While the non-porous surface will help keep your inks wet, the alcohol will nevertheless be evaporating. This isn't too much of a concern though, equally your colorless blender will brand information technology wet again. This method allows you lot to use some basic techniques from standard painting to mix new colors and blend between them.

Technique:

  1. Apply the colors you are looking to work with to your nonporous surface. Yous volition want them in distinct patches that won't flow into each other. You will also need some working infinite on the surface.
  2. Pick up color on your colorless blender and utilise to the image. Alternatively, combine colors on the palette using the colorless blender then apply to image.

Any paper which allows for decent blending volition let yous use this technique. As about of the mixing is happening off page, you will besides be able to employ this on thinner, less treated papers.

Tin can you blend booze markers with water

Information technology'southward very hard to blend booze markers with water. You will complicate the mix and overwork the paper.

It is possible to use both alcohol and h2o based markers in the same piece of piece of work, but the all-time bet is to separate out their utilise. Get the bulk of your work done using the alcohol markers (you volition probable go the better, smoother coloring through these anyway). Once properly dry, you can and then choose to use water based markers on top. Don't practice information technology the other way effectually, or your alcohol suspension will pick up pigment from the water based markers in means you don't want.

Are Crayola blending markers alcohol based?

Yes, Crayola'south premium line blending markers use an alcohol based ink.

Is blending Copic Markers the aforementioned as with any alcohol markers.

Largely yes, the usual techniques employ. The better quality inks you find in Copics will unremarkably mean better interaction between colors, just all of the above techniques still employ.