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ABOUT THE COURSE

Because of the diversity of professional markers you can use them for so many types of illustrations: fashion and beauty, technical and industrial, comic and manga, book & magazine and commercial illustrations.

In this course we take the next step in learning how to use professional alcohol based markers - this time to add depth to our illustrations with more shading, reflections and creating all kinds of textures.

The class focuses on the very specific marker called the (colorless) blender, that was briefly introduced in the introduction class ”The fundamentals of coloring with markers”, but this time you will get the full on program on this useful tool.

The blender is an essential tool if you want to create life like illustrations with texture, reflections and seamless shading. But a lot of people starting with markers misunderstand it’s purpose and start using it the wrong way, with the risk of messing up their illustrations and end up not using it anymore. Which is a pity since you can have so much fun with it and create really cool effects.

In a handful of fun exercises you’ll practice using the blender and it’s features and at the same time create a bunch of illustrations that you can use for different purposes - like adding them to an illustration portfolio, uploading as artwork to print-on-demand services like Society6 and Redbubble for example or use on your social media platforms.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• How alcohol based markers and the blender are constructed, explaining the DNA of the two ink versions on the market, their components and differences between them.

• What different nibs that you can get for the blender and what you can do with them.

• The most common misconceptions about the colorless blender and why they exist.

• How the blender really works.

• How to fix mistakes with the blender.

• Three techniques for creating depth and effects with the blender.

• How to create life like and commercial illustrations that you can use for all kinds of purposes and also include in your portfolio.

LEVEL OF SKILLS

This is a beginner to intermediate class about using professional alcohol based markers.

If you have never tried markers before and need an introduction or just want to refresh your skills, I recommend you take my course about markers ”The Fundamentals of Coloring with markers” first. In that course you will learn the basic stroke and coloring techniques, how to use layers, basic shading, how the color system works and get some exercises to practice using markers and this will get you started.

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED

1) A pencil and eraser

2) Marker paper, that doesn't bleed through.

3) 7-12 markers of various colors:

- At least one natural blending group with 2-3 different shades

- 3-4 grey tones - with at least one light and one mid tone

- 2-3 very bright shades, anything from 0000 to 00 is great

- Any other colors you have available and useful for your class project

4) Optional: A fineliner if you want to make a contour or fine details in your illustrations.

5) For your class project you can use a row of inspirational sources like pinterest, google, brand websites, magazines and products you have at home.

6) A scanner to digitalize your illustrations.

7) Adobe Photoshop where we will edit and assemble our illustrations for the class project.

8) Optional: Adobe Illustrator for creating an inspiration board for the class project.

9) Optional: Instagram - If you want to, join me in displaying all our illustrations and class projects on Instagram too, by using the hashtag #MyTrendCollage.

So let's get started and have some marker-fun! See you in class :-)

/Bärbel

Sarah Lai

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