Alcohol-Based Markers: How to Render Fur and Create Your Own Animal Portrait

1. Introduction: [MUSIC] Hi, my name is Sabrina Jocelyn and I'm a wildlife biologist with a passion for the arts. I have diplomas in both graphic design and digital photographic imaging, which is just a fancy way of saying Photoshop. For the past several years, I've been working part-time as a freelance illustrator specializing in pet portraits. [MUSIC]. I create my illustrations primarily with alcohol-based markers, but not using your typical blending techniques. If anything, the way I use markers to render fur is more akin to a colored pencil technique and that's majorly what you'll be learning in this class. Your project will be to create your very own pet or wildlife portrait. I'll be demonstrating some extra tips and techniques along the way to help you bring your project to life. By the end of this class, you'll have gained a whole new insight on how alcohol-based markers can be used that may be applied to a variety of illustrations and mixed media projects. This class is for students of all skill levels, from hobbyist to freelance artist interested in exploring the versatility of the alcohol-based marker. Now for the project, I do recommend at least having a basic understanding of drawing fundamentals. However, you can certainly have fun with these marker techniques no matter where you're at in your artistic journey. Thank you very much, and looking forward to seeing you in class. [MUSIC] 2. Project Intro: [MUSIC] Your final project will be to create your own animal portrait. Now you can follow along with me as I illustrate a fox or you can do your own thing. The one requirement for this particular class is that your chosen subject have fur. As that is what we're focusing on in this class. Bird lovers and lizard fanatics. Stay tuned for another class. The fox has a combination of long and short fur. It's simple enough to explore the techniques learned without getting overwhelmed with markings and other details. If you want to choose your own subject, be sure to pick one appropriate to your comfort zone. You can always build up to a more complicated subject later. This might be a family pet or a favorite animal, but just pay attention to both fur and features. Llamas can have some pretty crazy hair and teeth, while apes can have quite the wrinkly skin. Ideally, choose your topic before the main lessons so that you can procure the colors you need and get comfortable with them as you practice the techniques. This way, you can also go through the lessons with the final project in mind, like knowing what type of fur you'll be rendering. That being said, don't feel obligated to stick to your chosen subject if you feel it's too simple, too complex, or if you find something even more interesting. Please post your final illustration as an image to the project section of this class. I would love to see what you come up with. You can also add some extra photos to your project description, such as some close-ups, your technique practice sheets, or even a work in progress. Remember, giving some love to other people's work will encourage them to check out your project too. [MUSIC] 3. Materials: [MUSIC] The first thing you're going to need are alcohol-based markers in the colors you need for your project. I'll show you how I choose my colors for the fox portrait I'll be doing in an upcoming lesson. I've also included a PDF in the resource section with my personal go-to colors for fur. I'll be using Promarkers, but I added some info on possible Copic alternatives in the PDF. There are loads of alcohol-based marker brands out there and the most popular are Copics. They're a bit on the expensive side, but you get what you pay for as their quality is amazing, and a huge feature is that they're refillable. I just started trying them out, but you can see here that they come as a brush and chisel-tipped combo and are nice and juicy. [MUSIC] They also come in more colors than you could possibly need honestly. Check out their website for tips and tricks. It's really a good reference. [MUSIC] As I've mentioned, I use Promarkers. Contrary to Copics, they are fine and chisel-tipped, and at least in Canada, they're a bit more affordable. They're also great quality and come in a multitude of shades. Granted, a brush tip will give you more versatility. But if you have a shaky hand, a fine tip will keep your lines generally consistent. Honestly, either brand are a great choice. Just so you know, Promarkers also come as brush markers, but just not in as many colors. [MUSIC] I'd like to mention here that you could technically use other types of markers for your project, such as Pitt Artist Pens, but the reason I choose alcohol-based markers is because of the versatility and color variation. [MUSIC] Something that's not an absolute must, but I super strongly recommend are colored pencils for adding detail. I'm honestly not too well-versed in the many options out there, but I've been happy with my Derwent color soft set of 36. I don't know about other brands, but these can be mildly erased, which can be really helpful at times. [MUSIC] You're going to need a white gel pen for the eye sparkles, whiskers, and other details. I use the Sakura Gelly Roll 08 and the Uni-Ball Signo UM-153. The Uni-Ball is a bit thicker and shows up a bit better than the Sakura Gelly Roll, but I use them both interchangeably. [MUSIC] You also need black pens for the liner. The key here is that they can withstand alcohol-based markers. Personally, I like the Pitt Artist Pens, which I use the small and fine points and the Sakura Micron Pens, and I usually use the 0.3 and 0.5. [MUSIC] Copic also make pens called multiliners. [MUSIC] A brush pen is another option, depending on the style you're going for. You can get really nice line variety with it if you have a steady hand. [MUSIC] We also obviously need a pencil and an eraser for your sketching phase. I highly recommend using an HB because that can very easily be erased. I use a mechanical pencil because that way I don't have to keep sharpening it. [MUSIC] Now, for paper, I recommend a smooth, fixed surface like Bristol. At least the 200 grams per square meter. You have to be careful because markers react differently depending on the type you're using. Make sure it says it's meant for pen and ink and marker, and test your markers before you commit to using a particular type of paper. For example, Bristol in this illustration paper work really well, but Canson's mixed media pad isn't as smooth and the markers bleed through the fibers. [MUSIC] Another type of paper that I wouldn't recommend is marker-specific paper that is really thin like Canson's Marker Paper. It might be good for practicing, but not for a finished piece as it's really flimsy and you can see right through it. In terms of size, at least for our animal portrait, I recommend letter or A4 or a little bit larger. The sizes I generally use for my pet portraits are 9 by 12 inches and 11 by 14 inches. Also, consider if you'd like to frame your final illustration as some frame sizes are easier to come by than others. That's it. Gather your materials, and looking forward to seeing you in the next lesson. If you don't have everything you need yet, don't worry because next, we're going over references. [MUSIC] 4. Gathering References: Next step, we have to gather our reference photos. No matter what you're basing your animal portrait off of, whether it be a pet, a favorite animal, etc, I highly recommend using more than one reference photo. The reason for this is because you'll get a better sense of the animal's color, features, and even personality. If you're basing your portrait off of a nonspecific animal, then I would caution you on where you get your references from. Pinterest and Google image search are great resources, but you have to be careful about copyrights if you're planning on selling your portrait down the line. If that's the case, I suggest perusing Unsplash.com as the photos you find there can be used freely. I found my fox photos for the demo on Unsplash. When picking your references, be sure that they are clear, well lit, and try to have one where the colors are the right temperature. Typical indoor lighting will make things look too warm for example. Naturally lit subjects are your best bet. A little side note about "references" I like to make reference notes or keywords on my subject's personality and habits so I can keep it in mind while I'm creating my sketch or a portrait. This is much more obvious with a pet, but the same can be done with an animal you don't know personally, such as wildlife. You just have to make it up or base it off of what you know. Here's an example of my old Maine Coon Roosevelt, who had these huge eyes and intense stairs, and Raven who was a big goof. 5. Choosing Colours: [MUSIC] Now that you've gathered your reference photos, it's time to choose the colors that we'll be working with. As I've mentioned previously, I've included a handy reference sheet in the resources section for some best Promarker colors that I used to prefer, but every portrait is different. Definitely study your subject before you decide what colors you need to buy. If you're starting from scratch and are preparing to buy colors, I recommend basing your choices of a pre-filled colourchart. You can easily find these by doing a quick Google search. Once you decide what colors you need, I suggest testing the moat in store if possible. Computer screens rarely display a color as it truly is. To start, you'll need to figure out what color groups your subject has. For example, the Fox's main color group is orange. But we also have dark browns and almost black and warm whites. Don't forget the eyes and the nose too. Now we're zooming close. If you really pay attention, you'll notice there are a lot of colors that make up this one section of fur. Let's start with our main color group. As a general rule, I pick from lightest to darkest, and my lightest orange is oatmeal. Next up is apricots, then ginger, and finally spice. These are usually pretty solid for Ginger colored animals, but the fox is particularly orange. So I'm adding pumpkin in there as well. [MUSIC] I noticed that the underlying color is more yellowy. So I'm going to add vanilla to the mix as well. I've also noticed some element areas around the nose in particular, which pairs nicely with petty. [MUSIC] Cinnamon ties all these colors together well and can be used as the dark shade of this color group. Pastel beige is an interesting color because I often use it to tone areas or make whites in particular, look a little dirty and thus adds some interest. You'll see what I mean when we get into our final project. Our next color group is our darkest browns. I use these for almost every portrait. [MUSIC] the lightest of our darks is coco. Then we have walnut and umber, which is often the darkest shade I use. If I want something to look black, I often blend umber and shale together. Just so you know, shale has a hint of Burgundy purple in it. Our fox has quite the black nose. But in the case of most dogs, I would use this color group for the nose as well. [MUSIC] I avoid using black for shadows. It exaggerates the contrast too much and makes it look a bit unrealistic. [MUSIC] For the white fur, I'll be taking out all my grays. I have a full set of ice grays and I chose to go with them because they're essentially neutral. If I need to tone my grays, I'll use something like pastel beige. Okay, so that's it for the colors. Oh, and something else that might be useful is to make yourself a little blending and experimentation sheet so that you can see how your colors work together. This can be any old scrap of paper, even printer paper. [MUSIC] Speaking of paper, just a little note here that markers will react and look different on various surfaces. Before you start your illustration, be sure to test them out on a scrap piece of whatever paper it is you'll be using. [MUSIC] All right, now that I've got all my markers, I'll make sure they're grouped and easily accessible while I'm illustrating. But before we jump into creating our project, let's go over our techniques. [MUSIC] 6. Sketch Overview: [MUSIC] You'll see me put my sketching method into practice when I sketch out my fox, but I just wanted to do a quick overview as well as go over the difference between a typical sketch versus a sketch meant as a base for an illustration, or at least the way I approach it. Please note, this isn't meant as a full class on how to draw a portrait. There are many classes on Skillshare you can check out for that. You start off with a basic circle, and when you're doing your illustration, the placement of this circle is key as it will determine where your subject will be in relation to the rest of the page. You don't necessarily want it directly in the center, especially if your animal has huge ears or a long neck. Try to imagine where the additional features will go when you put pencil to paper. I usually measure out where the eyeline will be first, and this may vary but is generally around the center of the animal's head. Use your reference to determine where the eyes belong exactly. You can literally measure this out using a ruler, either a real one or in Photoshop, or you can use the pencil technique if you're looking at your model on a screen in front of you. In case you don't know what the pencil technique is, you extend your arm while holding your pencil upright in a straight vertical position. Then you gauge the length of whatever it is you're trying to measure, such as the distance between the eyeline and the top of the head using your thumb. Keeping your thumb in that same position, you compare that measurement, i.e, the proportion to the length of something else, such as the area from the eyeline to the lower jawline or chin. You can also use this method to compare angles in your reference versus the lines you've drawn on your page. Google how to measure a reference using the pencil to find a more in-depth explanation. I then lightly add in the rest of my subject features. As I go, I'll measure out where things need to go based on where I've placed the eyes. For example, I might base the angle of an ear using the references ear to eye angle, or I can base the width of the mouth depending on where it lands up to the eye. Another helpful way of sketching out your preliminary drawing is to use shapes, for example, a horse's cheek is a very obvious circle or with this tamarin's little mustache, you might want to imagine it as a full circle before tweaking the details. Once you place your main features down, you can add in details. Things that I include that wouldn't necessarily be a priority in a typical sketch would be lying marks for color changes or specific markings I don't want to get lost. These sketches aren't meant to look like the final pieces on their own. Their purpose is to act as a blueprint for our next step, the line art. [MUSIC] 7. Lineart Overview: [MUSIC] A quick note about pens and line art. As I've mentioned in the materials lesson, the key thing to keep in mind is that your pens for liner should be able to withstand alcohol-based markers. You should avoid anything that is itself alcohol-based to avoid being blended by your alcohol-based markers. Another thing to avoid smudging is of course to let your line art dry before putting down your colors or even erasing your sketch below it. Here's what happens if you color over and try to erase right after inking. [MUSIC] I like to play it safe and usually just do my inking right before going to bed, but you don't have to wait longer than a few minutes. [MUSIC] Here I go, erasing and coloring over my liner five minutes after. It wasn't so obvious with this paper, her a, I guess. But here's a more extreme example. [MUSIC] When you erase your liner it may fade a touch, especially if you have a heavy sketch underneath. Personally, I like this effect as it gives it a softer look. If you don't like this, one fix is to erase your sketch slightly before going in with your liner. It should help. The width of the pen you use all depends on what style you're going for, and the size of the subject you're working with. The smaller your subject, the finer the tip of the pen. For a 9 by 12, a 03 or 05 Sakura Micron works nicely, but I recommend testing out your pens on a scrap piece of paper to figure out what you need for the look you're going for. You can also use a brush pen to get a varying linewidth like I did here. Personally, I think a brush pen works really well to suggest thick, long fur. You can also use both fine liners and brush pens together. Using fine liners for smoother lines and straighter fur. Stylewise, you can go as simplified or as detailed as you want, but I recommend at least doing the fur outline and key features so you know where you have to color. Tip, you can always add more detail as a final step after your coloring phase. Also, through experience, I find that it's sometimes better to save the pupil of the eye for when you actually color in the eye, especially if it seems to blend into the iris. I also like to save the whiskers and eyelashes for the final step after coloring. [MUSIC] 8. Marker Techniques: Short Fur: [MUSIC] In these next few lessons, I'll be showing you how to render fur using a fine nib, a brush nib, and a chisel tip. We'll be going over short fur, long fur, and miscellaneous fur. Let's start with short fur. To make it simple, I'll be using my grays, but you can use a color group from your chosen subject. You can use any number of markers in your color range, but I would recommend at least one light tone, one mid tone, and one dark tone. Though I've included it here, I do suggest staying away from pure black unless your subject is obviously black-furred. I'll be using my ice gray pro markers for both my fine and chisel tip demos, and I'll be using my neutral gray Copics as my brush markers. Here we go. Starting with the fine nibs. When using a blending technique, you can go either from dark to light or from light to dark, but in this case, we start with our lightest color and build up from there. It'll be much more obvious when we get to our full portrait. But this layer acts as more of an underpainting of sorts and you'll barely see it by the end. To achieve the effects of short strands of fur, you have to flick the tip of your marker just barely touching the paper. These flicks need to be random, and it's okay for some to be thicker than others. This is fur after all, so we have to keep it realistically irregular. [MUSIC] Each layer requires the same technique, however, with each subsequent layer, you need to lay down fewer marks. For my second color, I usually cover quite a bit of the base layer. However, this all depends on how many colors you have to play with and your subject itself. Right now, we're just practicing so have fun and experiment. [MUSIC] I should also mention that I usually let things dry a couple of minutes between color layers so that things do not blend when I go in with my next shade. Luckily, it doesn't take too long for alcohol markers to dry. [MUSIC] You can see that with my last shade, I'm only putting a few dabs of color here and there. [MUSIC] Here we go. Short hair with a fine nib. Now, let's do the same thing with brush markers. [MUSIC] You'll notice the technique is essentially the same, except that you have to go in with an even lighter touch as brushed tips are quite sensitive. The width of my marks are more varied because of that very reason. [MUSIC] It's a good habit to move your hand out of the way occasionally to look at how your pieces coming along as a whole, perhaps to see if there are areas missing some texture or shadow, and to give your hand a break. [MUSIC] I didn't mention this before, but I'm actually using Canson's Marker Pad here. I mentioned it in a previous lesson that I don't recommend it for your final project. However, it's just fine for practicing and experimenting. For the purpose of our lessons, you can absolutely get away with printer paper, however. Just be aware that your markers are likely to bleed at least a little bit. [MUSIC] Last but not least, chisel tip. I actually swap for a markers chisel tip when I notice it's fine, [inaudible] they're getting worn down or dry. [MUSIC] The effect you get out of this nib is good for animals with very short coarse fur like Boston Terriers and some horses. [MUSIC] Just for the fun of it, since this is all about experimentation and practice, I threw on a layer of black on top of my chisel tip fur. It actually turned out okay, but only because I didn't overdo it. There you have it. Rendering short fur using three different types of nibs. They each have their own merit and you can use any or all of them. It really boils down to personal preference. [MUSIC] 9. Marker Techniques: Long Fur: [MUSIC] In this lesson, I'll be going over how to render long fur with our three different marker styles, but unfortunately my ice grays are running a bit dry. So for the fine nib, I've opted to use some of the colors we've picked for our fox. Rendering long fur is similar to rendering short fur in that you start with your lightest color, but of course, since the strands are longer, you can't just flick your marker. Long fur can be straight or wavy, so just be sure you're drawing out your lines accordingly. In general, I feather my lines, which means starting from a slight pressure and releasing as I go, so that the mark is ever so slightly thicker at one end. It might be a good idea to practice this on a scrap piece of paper before starting your drawing. For this demo, my aim is to make a neckline, like you would see on a long-haired cat. [MUSIC] I'll go back over my marks with my lightest color to build up the shadowy areas already, and to give myself something to go off of for my next layers. [MUSIC] Through experience, I realized that it's important to let layers dry at least a few minutes. Now I'm going to start with my brush marker example. Still sticking with grays in this case, as currently it's my only full set of Copics. Just like with short fur, the technique is essentially the same. You'll notice the feathering is a lot more obvious with brush markers, which can look quite elegant. [MUSIC] Adding a bit of shadow. [MUSIC] I usually avoid using chisel tip for long fur, but I can imagine if you're experienced in calligraphy, you'd be able to get some really nice effects. I am not. [MUSIC] I tend to build up my shadows slowly so that I don't go overboard. [MUSIC] I decided to make the left side be in shadow for this example, so we're going to make it a lot darker. As I go, I put some shadow into the top layer of fur, so you can start to see it becoming a little more natural-looking. [MUSIC] Sometimes it gets a bit messy looking, but this can be fixed as we keep building layers. [MUSIC] I decided to make the chiseled tip example be more straight as opposed to wavy fur, because chiseled tip lends itself to that type of fur much better. [MUSIC] In this case, I'm barely adding anything because I'm already liking how it looks with the first two shades, just to touch here and there to really solidify the look. You can add more, it all depends on personal preference. If this were a real illustration, I know I'll be adding pencil details as a final step so I wouldn't be too worried at this point. The third shade of Copics gray's looked really intense, but from experience, I know this can be blended and attenuated later on. Especially with a chisel tip, it was hard not to rotate the paper. When you're practicing yourself, be sure to turn the paper whichever way you need to feel comfortable making your marks. It makes a huge difference. I feel like I made a bit of a mess here too, but sometimes it just looks like that before you do the rest of your layers. [MUSIC] With the last shade, I'm literally just dabbing a couple of spots. If it were a darker fur, I'd obviously adjust. [MUSIC] Now for our final touch, I go in with my lightest shades to blend things a bit here and there. This is especially useful in making the dark areas look less harsh. [MUSIC] There you have it. A quick demo on rendering long fur with a fine, brush, and chisel tip. Personally, I recommend fine or brush, but chisel works too in a pinch. [MUSIC] 10. Marker Techniques: Misc Fur: [MUSIC] In this lesson, I'll be demonstrating how I render this alpaca's crazy mop. I'll include the photo in the resource section of the class so you can follow along. As previously, I'll be doing an example with each marker tip. To keep things simple, I'll still be only using a single color range for my examples. Feel free to try merging two color ranges if you want a challenge. There are a couple of ways you can achieve the Ombre effect, but I'll be leaving that for another time. [MUSIC] this hair is actually quite similar to basic long fur just a little more unkempt. Same as always, try following the shape of the strands which, in this case, features long swooping motions with some extra coiling towards the ends. Keep going until you've covered most, if not all, the whitespace. By the end, with all your layers done, we won't be seeing any weight. [MUSIC] Remember that the first layer is meant as the framework for the rest of your shades so it won't have to be too pretty just like the foundation of a house. Normally, I would wait for the layer to dry before going in with another shade like I did with my long fur demonstration. In this case, I decided to add my second shade right away. Personally, I prefer the look I get after waiting between layers and I can always blend colors together as a final step by going back with my lighter shades. You saw me do this with the long fur. I just wanted to show you how it works out when you don't wait. You can absolutely make it work this way too. The colors just blend together more since they're not dry. You can see I'm filling in all the rest of the weight with the shade. The alpaca doesn't have a transparent head after all. [MUSIC] To you decide where to put the shadows, I look at the reference, but I also try to darken where I think the hair should be divided. Never feel obligated to follow a reference exactly. The priority is that it has to look appealing, not like a photocopy. [MUSIC] The further along through the layers I go, the fewer marks I need to put down. However, in the case of this mop of hair, the shadows do need to be more defined to imply just how thick those strands are. [MUSIC] Like always, I end with some blending here and there to smooth things out. [MUSIC] I won't show it here, but you can add even more definition to your fur with colored pencils. [MUSIC] I find that Copics. At least the colors I've used so far build up a lot faster than my Promarkers in terms of darkness. Since I only have a few colors, I can't say for sure that this is the norm across the board, but it's something I've noticed with my grays. It's not a bad or a good thing, just something to keep aware of. You can see here how quickly my lightest gray gets darker. [MUSIC] I do really like how easy it is to feather with the brush tips. Compared to my older worn-down Promarker fine nibs, the tips of these example's hair are much thinner and more natural-looking. That isn't always a necessity though, such as with short-course fur. [MUSIC] With the fine nib example, I'm not following the reference to a T, rather being inspired by it. To reiterate, the shadowy areas are much more obvious like you're sculpting into the mass of coils. [MUSIC] I definitely pushed this one more than in my first example. You can see that there's a lot more shadows. [MUSIC] Now while I'm not as comfortable using the chisel tip for long strands of fur, I admit that it was nice to be able to cover a lot of ground quickly since it's such a broad nib. The width of the chisel tip was essentially the perfect size for one coiled strand of hair. This was great for the foundation layer. [MUSIC] It's trickier to control the direction of the chisel tips finer markings, but because the shadows need to be larger, it works out. You can use the thin tip of the chisel to get some finer lines. [MUSIC] Here, I'm adding some shadow to make the whole head of hair stand out. If you look at our reference, you'll see that it's quite dark under the alpaca's mop. [MUSIC] As an added bonus, here's just a quick rendering of some very straight, very long hair. I'm actually basing this off of my daughter's bangs, but there are some animals out there with similar-looking fur. With any fur or hair, the key point is to follow the direction and shape of the strands and pay attention to where you have to put your shadows. Some fur will be more defined and require heavier shadowing like with the alpaca's head of hair. Contrastingly, this set of bangs is composed of thin, straight hair strands and is very even, so there is little shadowing to do. [MUSIC] I hope this shed some light on how you can render bizarre-looking fur. It's always the same technique, just applied slightly differently based on length, shape, and shadows. [MUSIC] 11. Marker Techniques: Eyes: [MUSIC] Okay, full disclosure, we've reached my favorite part. In this lesson. I'll be demoing to individual eyes: One of the dog in which I will only be using markers, pen, and gel pen, the other is a cat-eye, and I'll be adding colored pencil to the mix as it's more complex. I want to show that you can get nice results whether or not you decide to add pencils to your toolkit. Just so you know, images are available in the resource section as is the principal, eye guide, to practice on. When choosing colors, I tend to go overboard with what I take out and I don't necessarily use everything from my selection. Just like with fur, my main color group includes at least a light, a medium, and dark shade. In this case, I chose a series of four blue markers for his iris. You don't always see it, but dog's eyes have a much more pronounced sclera, also known as the white of the eye than cats. I really like this example because you can see that it's not pure white, but has a hint of pink to it. I'll also be using gray and some blue to shade it. I'm taking out some browns to do the furry contour, and of course, I need my black pen and gel pen for some final touches. For the pupil, I'll be using my black pro marker. Sometimes I use a non-blendable pen or marker, but in this case, you can see that the pupil looks to be almost blending into the iris. When I ink my sketch, I usually leave the center of the eye blink as it will look more natural and appealing if I create it during the coloring phase. As always, I start with my lightest color and I fill in where the iris should be. This can be intimidating so start your circles smaller rather than too big when you start to color it. This technique requires blending, so don't wait too long before adding your second shade. Try to create wiggles as you go to imitate the look of the iris. Things get darker towards the pupil so figure out where your subject's pupil needs to go, then fill in the area extending just past where it will go. With your next shade, you'll want to be a little more sparing, just dabbing along the edge and filling in less of the pupil shadow. [MUSIC] With the next shade, you probably guessed it even less so. Exactly where and how you color things really depends on each individual eye, of course, but this is a pretty general rule. Now, before things dry, I'm going in with my black so that it can blend nicely into the iris. If necessary, I'll go back and add some extra dabs of color here and there. In this particular case, this also helps to blend the black into the blues. I think I mentioned before, but the pupil doesn't always blend so obviously into the iris. [MUSIC] Now, for the white of the eye, I start with my gray to get a general base of shading down. [MUSIC] For the pinks, I only needed a light and a mid and a dark shade; I also use these colors a lot for when I do tongues and ears. [MUSIC] Closer to the iris, I add a touch of my lightest blue. [MUSIC] I guess this is a bit of a bonus, but here I'm contouring the eye with my darkest brown and I'll add some hints of fur around it to really make it look finalized. [MUSIC] When contouring or really in general, I strongly suggest rotating your paper to suit your comfort. [MUSIC] To make things appear almost black, I like to blend my umber with my shale. [MUSIC] Just adding some extra detail with my 02 pen, such as strands of fur and some darkness to the corners of the eye. [MUSIC] Now, the final step, adding a sparkle to that eye with the white gel pen. Before doing so, be sure that your ink has dried otherwise the gel pen won't work too well. I almost always dab the highlight, just a touch to lift a bit of the weight, which makes it look more natural. [MUSIC] Our first eye is done. Now, for an example with the addition of colored pencils, I picked this subject with very intricate eyes so you can really get a good idea of how pencils can add to your illustration. There's a lot going on in these eyes, so naturally, I'll pick several more colors. Here, I have a baseline green of lime zest, lime green, and peregrine, there is a few spots of a more greeny green so I've also picked out grass and pine. To add some tone, I'll include my lightest gray in there too, which in this case is ice gray 1. Not shown here is sandstone to add a hint of, well, sand to the eye. I also grabbed a few pencils for some detailing. Depending on your brand, these names will be different, but basically, I have a dark brown, a light, and a very dark lime green, and a number of grays. If you do have Derwent Colorsoft, these are specifically acid yellow, which isn't shown here, brown earth, lime green, Lincoln green, which I bought separately as it doesn't come in the set of 36, and dove and Persian gray. PS, those two grays are my favorite for everything animal-related as they have a slight warmth to them. I like having my gray markers be neutral as I often use them to tone down other colors, though, with pencils, that's not the case. This time, I'm filling in the eye completely with my lightest shade of green. As with the first example, when I go in with my second shade, I'll wiggle the marker around to give the effect of connective tissue within the iris. Following my reference, I'm adding shadow and dabs within the eye and where the pupil will be. [MUSIC] Same thing with the darkest base green shade. [MUSIC] Now, for the more greeny green, there are only a few spots here and there so we don't want to overdo it. [MUSIC] Even less so with the darkest color.[MUSIC] Throwing in a bit of sandstone to give the eye some variety. Again, just dabbing very lightly. [MUSIC] Now, with my ice gray, I'll add some shadow to the eye while also toning down some of the more intense colors. [MUSIC] It's more vibrant towards the bottom, so I'm adding some acid yellow. [MUSIC] Then to push the shadow, I go in with one of my grays. [MUSIC] With my Lincoln green, I'm adding some more veiny details that I couldn't quite get with my markers. [MUSIC] After that, there is a long dark brown vein that goes all the way across the eye and all the while I'm wiggling my hand slightly to get that naturally wavy look. You're definitely on an advantage here if you have a naturally trembling hand. You may have to go over it a couple of times to really define the line. I've also added a few brown dots here and there. Yeah, this eye is super colorful. Now, for the pupil, in this case, I'm using a non-blendy pen, i.e., my Sakura Micron as the pupil has a more or less straight edge with the iris so we don't want it to blend. It's a bit nerve-racking, but go in bit by bit and you'll be fine. Now, to finalize some shadows and detailing, my ice gray was dying, so I went in with my new Copic of the same shade, i. e., N0. Keep adding until you're satisfied. [MUSIC] I finished off with some hints of my darkest gray pencil before testing to see if the ink was dry because now it's gel pen time. Sometimes the gel pen needs some coaxing, which is one reason why it's a good idea to have a scrap piece of paper by your side. I always have an area that I can test my markers and such before using them. As you can see above the eyes, in this case. This time, the pupil wasn't quite dry enough so it was absorbing a lot of the white. I decided to add some hints of fur around the eye before adding another layer of the gel pen on top, and then I decided the shadow wasn't dark enough so I took the next darkest shade of gray I had and went over the darker areas of the eye, including around the pupil because yes, there is a shadow there too. [MUSIC] Second attempt at eye sparkle. This time, I went in with my Uni-ball because it's a little more opaque and, aha, it worked. Also, adding a few touches of white for some extra sparkle around the contour, and boom, two examples of eyes, one with and one without the addition of colored pencils. [MUSIC] 12. Marker Techniques: Nose: [MUSIC] Now for a quick demo on how I do noses. Both these examples can be accomplished without the use of colored pencils. However, I will be adding a touch of detail to the little kitty nose using my grays. For the kitty nose, I'll be using cinnamon, cocoa, burgundy, shale, and Umber Promarkers, as well as my dove gray and Persian gray Derwent Coloursoft pencils. For the dog nose, I'll be using two-color groups of markers: pinks and grays. My pinks will be pale pink, pastel pink, and cocktail pink, and I'll be using all my grays. I'll also be using shale in the end. It's pretty quick to do a small cat nose, and I recommend filling things in using a circular motion. It'll help avoid streaks. [MUSIC] Go lightly with your darker shades because it's such a small space to work with. You want to make sure you don't put down too much color in one area. [MUSIC] For this particular nose, I was debating between walnut and burgundy, but decided on burgundy for that slightly reddish edge. [MUSIC] Because my shale's nib is so worn, I switched to my chisel tip to get finer strokes, again, dabbing really, really lightly. [MUSIC] I also added a darker line in the center of the nose. [MUSIC] Just add in some fur with my dove gray and Persian gray pencils. Similar to my marker techniques, I'm flicking ever so lightly to get small hints of fur along the edge of the nose. [MUSIC] Adding some shadow where the nose meets the muzzle too. [MUSIC] I chose this dog's nose because it'll be interesting to show how to do something with more than one color. It's actually quite easy. We start with our lightest color group, which is pink in this case. The reason for this is that you can fill in the entirety of the nose because the darker color group will overpower the lights when you go in with it later. Follow your shading as usual. The parts that you know will be the dark color group don't have to be so accurate. [MUSIC] Don't worry that you can see your lightest shade of your dark color group through the light color because not only will you be adding onto this with darker shades, but there are parts of the nose in which the two color groups overlap each other. [MUSIC] I often test my markers before starting to color, especially when I'm going back and forth quickly so that I don't accidentally use the wrong shade. [MUSIC] With this particular nose, there were some spots which can easily be added using a slight dab with the tip of your nib. If you have a worn-down fine tip, try practicing on a scrap piece of paper first or use your chisel tip. [MUSIC] Once you've finished coloring with your darkest shade, you can go back and tweak to your heart's content. I added some shading and blending here and there with my lightest grays until I was happy with how it looked. [MUSIC] Once your ink dries, you might have to go in again to darken some areas too. [MUSIC] For fun, I also added some types of fur around this nose as well. In this case, I just used the markers I had already been using. [MUSIC] To deneutralize the grays, I added a hint of shale along the nose. [MUSIC] Neither of these examples needed it, but you could also add some shininess to the nose using some dabs of white gel pen. The fox I'll be doing as the example project will definitely be getting that treatment. [MUSIC] 13. Marker Techniques: Misc Features: [MUSIC] Our last tutorial before we get to the main event is a demo of an open mouth and a rather fluffy ear. I've used the same reference for both examples. Reference and practice sheets are in the Resource section as always. We'll start with the mouth. Here, I've listed the colors I've used but basically, you need a set of pinks, a set of light purples, your neutral grays, and some beigy yellows for the teeth. Also very useful here is your white gel pen. I start with my lightest pink and fill in the entirety of the tongue and gums. Similarly, to the two-colored nose, I'm unconcerned about where the purply color of the gums needs to go because pink is much lighter and can be colored over without affecting the dark color being layered on top of it. Before the first layer dries, I go in with my second and then final pink shade. [MUSIC] You can see there's a hint of purple to the tongue. I then go in with my lightest purple to add some tone to the pink where needed. [MUSIC] I go over the gums almost entirely. [MUSIC] In the shadowier areas, I'll add a darker tone of purple and build up the darker shade of the dog's gums, paying attention not to cover the parts that need to stay pink. [MUSIC] I'll push the shadows a little more with my darkest purple before using my slate of very dark purply brown to add the markings of the gum line as well as a speck of dark along the shadow of the lip. [MUSIC] Don't feel obligated to follow the references markings exactly. Just did squiggles and dabs as you see fit. [MUSIC] I then come back, just like every other demo, with my lighter shades to blend things in where necessary. [MUSIC] I also added a few hints of really dark shadow with my shale, which I use to create most of my almost black shadows. [MUSIC] To tone things down a bit, I added some gray, which isn't always necessary but I thought that it would help in this case. [MUSIC] I was also able to darken the shadows even more. [MUSIC] There is often a bit of tweaking to be done. [MUSIC] Now, teeth usually have a hint of yellow to them, especially animals, since they obviously don't brush their teeth. If you're using ProMarkers, vanilla, Pastel Beige and sandstone are perfect for this. [MUSIC] If you feel like it, go ahead and render the fur around the mouth, it's good practice, and add some polish. [MUSIC] Then it's gel pen time, which I love for that gooby saliva look, just tap and add some squiggles along the gum line and dab it with your finger to lift some of it off to reduce the intensity if need be. [MUSIC] I also added a tiny hint on the tongue. [MUSIC] That's it. Now the ear. The inside of the ear will obviously depend on the skin color of your animal. But in this case, it so happens to be the same as the tongue. I can almost guarantee that you'll find having a gray or two useful, however. In this case, because the fur was so stringy, I opted to bring in some of my colored pencils. For the lighter strands of fur, I find the white gel pen to be extremely practical too. You can go about shading with the knowledge that you can go over it with an opaque white afterwards. For ears, if I can see the skin, it's almost always the part that I start off with, especially since it's usually the lightest part. Usually, there's a shadow to follow. But in this case, it was mostly just modeled pinks and purples. Just follow your reference. [MUSIC] I chose my lightest gray as the base layer of the ear's border since the dog's fur is essentially black minus those sandy spots. [MUSIC] Treat the fur just like any other area except that as you get close to the center of the ear, reduce the amount of strands. Start slowly. You'll be able to go over it again to create a longer strands that go over everything else. [MUSIC] With markers, since you can't color over darks with lighter shades, areas where light fur meets really dark fur can be tricky, especially in the case of long fur. I imagine I'm coloring into the shape of the lights as if I'm cutting them out. I'll be able to refine the look further with my gel pen after.[MUSIC] Now for more fur rendering. This particular dog had very furry ears. [MUSIC] This is where I stopped with my ProMarkers, which honestly is quite acceptable. But of course, since this is a demo, I want to show you how colored pencils can push your illustration further. This color is lichen green, but I actually use it a lot for fur since it has a hint of dirty beige to it. You can bring in and pull out strands of fur as you want and add some more poof to it, so to speak. [MUSIC] You can tell it's much more defined and dynamic now. Now I'm onto my gel pen phase, where I'm pulling out the lighter strands of fur and adding some extra where need be. [MUSIC] I found this particular part to be too intense so I toned it down with my gray and black pencils. You can also do this with a thin pen, but you'll have no control over the intensity of its color. [MUSIC] There you have it. You can also render other features in a similar manner, as well as things like collars and kerchiefs. Just follow your reference and think on what technique would be appropriate to what it is you're trying to accomplish. Now, let's bring everything together. 14. Fox Demo: Sketch: [MUSIC] As I mentioned in my sketch overview lesson, I start off with the circle. Once I figure out where I want to place it, keeping in mind the rest of the features have to fit within the page, I'll ghost the paper a couple of times before committing to my circle. If you ignore the turfs of fir, the eyes are about in the center of the head. I measured out that basically the full eye, including its contour, fits between them, and so I placed them accordingly. Right now, I'm approximating size and shape, but as I go, I'll build on all the loose sketching I do. Using angles to determine where the tip of the fox's muzzle needs to go, as well as its little lower lip. [MUSIC] I'm always comparing angles and positions based on the eyes I drew, at least to begin with. They are decidedly my pillars. Your starting off point can be whatever you feel comfortable with, but I feel like in general, eyes are pretty solid bet. Here I'm measuring the angle of the ear based on how it relates to the opposite eye. [MUSIC] And similarly, with the other ear [MUSIC] Measuring the cheeks width in relation to the nearest eye, it's noticeably much wider than the other side since this is more or less a three-quarter view, arguably the most appealing angle for a portrait. Sometimes I do get things wrong, and that's why we do sketches before line art. You don't always have to base yourself off your initial pillars. Here, I'm comparing the foxes ear to a point in his cheek area. You'll notice that I didn't include the turfs of fur here, instead, drawing what I'd imagined to be the actual top of his skull. I'll include some strands of fur when I do the line art, and this will act as a starting off point. You don't have to do this as we won't be inking it until the coloring phase, but I enjoy filling in the inner eye details. I'm constantly comparing all my angles, proportion, and placements. Even if something does look great, it might actually be quite off. [MUSIC] I draw an ellipse for the nose before going in with the details. The foxes nose is pretty basic, so the outline can be done with a few curves. I also added a central line as a landmark for the line art. [MUSIC] You see here that I'm ghosting the page as if I'm about to do a circle. That's because the muscle is indeed quite round. So drawing a circle helps to keep its shape looking naturally curved. If you try to stop your line right where it's supposed to, you're going to be too focused on where to end your mark rather than the actual shape of the thing you're trying to draw. This is a tiny little aspect of the draw through method, which I highly recommend you check out for getting nice natural looking drawings in general. Now, I'm just tweaking little details as I notice them. Something I sometimes do is draw some practice minis in my sketchbook before committing to my final illustration. It helps to get an idea of the proper placement and proportions of your chosen subject. One thing I highly suggest is, once you're satisfied with or even just tired of looking at your sketch, walk away for at least half an hour, maybe even a day, and come back to it to re-examine your proportions and whatnot. You can also add any landmarks you deem necessary. For example, I added lines in the cheek where color changes occur and some line art landmarks around the muzzle and eyes. [NOISE] 15. Fox Demo: Lineart: [MUSIC] Now that we've finalized our sketch, we can go in with our pens and ink it. I mentioned this in the materials lesson, that my go-to pens are 03 and 05 tips, small and fine if you're using favorite Castell Pitt Artist Pens. For a smaller sized canvas, you could go smaller, like a 02. Even though I know how my pens look, I always research and compare them before making my final decision. As previously mentioned, having a scrap piece of paper is extremely useful. As you can see, I've used these for a variety of tests. Here's an example of all the sizes I own, but like I said, I still test them out before committing because the pen strokes I'll be creating will look different than a basic line. Ultimately, I decided to go with both. I'll be doing the outer edges with the thick 05 and the inner areas with my 03. It's very subtle, but it gives it some tiny illustrative appeal. Line art is very subjective. But the way I go about it with my animal portraits is to keep things more or less natural looking, for example, when outlining an area that is composed of really short fur, I do tiny dashes to hint that it's not a solid edge, like the ear here. On the outer edge, the fur stands out a touch, so I flick some tiny strands, but on the inner ear, I do a dashed line all the way up. [NOISE] Where there is longer messier fur, I let my strokes go longer and with more length variety, just like real fur. [MUSIC] I keep going following the look of my references fur and outline, and as I get to the end of the neck line, I reduce the amount of flex I do, as this will be where my coloring fades out. [MUSIC] Switching to the 03 for my inner liner, it doesn't make much of a difference, but it's nonetheless, there. [MUSIC] Do as much detail as you want, I tend to not go too overboard, marking where the key elements are. You can always add more if you think it needs it, when you're done your coloring phase. With the eyes, I mentioned in a previous lesson that I don't color in the pupil. You can if you want to, especially if the pupil has a hard edge with the iris, or if you're nervous about messing the placement of without the sketch guideline. [MUSIC] Adding a few last touches such as landmarks foreshadows and color changes. [MUSIC] Now the exciting part, coloring your portrait [inaudible]. [MUSIC] 16. Fox Demo: Layering Colours: [MUSIC] Now that we've erased the sketch under our liner, we're ready to color. Before I start, I make sure I have all the colors I need and that they are easily accessible. I organize my colors by both color groups and light to dark so I don't accidentally grab the wrong color as I go. We're starting with vanilla, a light yellowy base. It doesn't matter too much where you start, just follow your reference, paying close attention to where the underlying light color is, as well as what type of fur you need to render as you're working along. For any color group, there will be one underlying light color. Also, be sure to make your marks in the direction of the fur and follow your landmarks for color changes, especially when there is white or another very light color. If you have very dark areas, don't worry too much about avoiding them at this stage since the lights won't show through. [MUSIC] As I mentioned, I'm very careful to follow my color landmarks where white areas are involved. [MUSIC] The ears are primarily dark, but they have hints of orange, so I will be filling them entirely with my orangey color group before modeling on top with my darks. [MUSIC] With my next shade, which, in this case, is oatmeal, I'm still covering quite a bit of the surface area, but I'm starting to consider the shape and shadows of the face. [MUSIC] The placement of my color is starting to give the fox's face some definition already and we're going to build on that as we go. Depending on your subject, you might go over the entirety of your portrait again, but be sure to leave some of the lightest color show through at least a little bit. [MUSIC] Our fox has an almost mask of slightly darker orange. You'll see, we'll be laying on a lot more around that area as we go on. [MUSIC] Switching color groups now to my grays. My ice gray promarkers were too dry, so I switch to my neutral gray Copics. My lightest of which is N0. Like before, following my references for length, shape, and direction. [MUSIC] In the case of grays, however, I'll also be going over some of the orange to imply some shadow, add some color variation, and to tone down some areas. [MUSIC] I go over with the gray a couple of times to darken some of my marks, especially in the areas of darker shadows like where the sun doesn't hit behind the muzzle and under the chin. [MUSIC] Now that we've got some of our lighter colors done, let's add a little life to our subject. [MUSIC] 17. Fox Demo: Adding Life: As I mentioned in my demo lesson, doing the eyes is my favorite part, so I render them early on in my portrait process. It's just so satisfying to see your animal coming to life. I tend to go overboard with the colors I choose for my eyes, and while I may not use all of them, at least they're next to me and easy to grab. I already had all the colors I needed out since the fox's eyes were in the same color range as his fur. Going in with my vanilla because like his fur, there is a hint of yellowish. With my second shade, oatmeal, I'll start to plan out where I want the pupil to be so I already have a shadow when it comes down to place it. With my subsequent layers, my markings are like shaky little wiggles to suggest veins like in the demo I did. I'm doing both eyes at the same time but you can do them one after the other if you like to. The reason why I do them at the same time is so that I know which colors I put and to assure myself that they look similar each step of the way. Feel free to add to the outside of your eyes too if the color you're using belongs there, like this tan which is starting to add a bit of definition to the outer corners of the eye. As I get to my darkest shades, I'm getting more specific in the area designated for the pupil. You can almost see exactly where it's going to go now. When I got through all my shades, I realized the eyes weren't popping quite as I wanted them to. They were much more orange than the reference. Even my orangiest orange pumpkin wasn't cutting it, so I opted to add some colored pencil. I literally used orange and also a yellowish-orange called ocher which I started with to add some shine to the eye. With the orange, I just pushed the vibrancy of the edges before finally going in with one of my thicker fine liners to do the pupil. This part is probably the most nerve-wracking part since you don't want your animal looking cross eyed but that's why the guideline. To blend the pupil into the iris, I went in with my amber and then went over areas I felt needed a bit more tweaking, adding a bit more shadow and veiny areas, always going lightly so as to not create a big blob of ink. Surrounding the eyes, it's almost black, so I use my darkest gray to outline them, adding some hints of lighter gray to blend it a bit into the surrounding area. For the nose which is basically black, I'm using all my neutral grays starting off with the lightest shade as usual, I fill the entirety of it. I then build up the shadows with each layer filling in everything except the areas that are lighter than the current shade I'm using. The nose has got some texture to it so to emulate it, I just dab really lightly to create a few dots here and there especially in areas not cast in very dark shadow. Sometimes I'll go back and forth between my shades in order to get the nose looking just right. Just like the eye, I'll add some fur just outside the nose if it calls for it. I also went in with my black pencil to really push the dark areas. Now the final touch, gel pen. Always put at least one sparkle but feel free to add more if you want, just don't go overboard. Take a look at some eye references for inspiration. The fox also had some shine to his eyelids and nose. All right, let's keep going with the fur now. 18. Fox Demo: Building Darks: Now that our animal has some life to him or her, we're back to our fur. I'm going in with apricot now, which is truly where the fox is starting to look more like himself color-wise. In general, when you're layering, be sure to let some of your previous layers show through. Except in the case where you're covering an area that is meant to be a dark patch, such as the fox's ears. Some areas require a particular colors flexor for it to be spaced out, while others need them to be more scrunched together. You can see this around the fox's eyes, for example, while the marks I did on his forehead are more spaced. This has to do with the length of fur but also the amount of each particular color in a given area. For example, there is not a lot of apricot on his forehead or nose. My next color is ginger which is very similar to apricot. But I love layering, so I use every color I can. It does add a bit of difference but I don't need to use much of it. Spice is where I really start to get to my dark shades. If you notice, I'll reiterate from the demo lesson. I'm putting down less and less with each layer. Now I'm done with my orange tones for now. I'm going in with my almond in a few areas, chiefly the bridge of the nose and a few mouth spots. For the bridge of the nose. I go in with very light dabs as the fur is extremely short. Ten is my mid in this color group. I go about it just like I did with my first group of colors. Finally, cinnamon is like a dark 10, but it also works well with spice which I used as an orange. I follow my reference, adding dabs of color where needed. I use pastel beige to add some tone here and there, especially to give the white fur a more natural aesthetic. In the case of the fox, I use it along with its darker counterparts, sandstone a lot as this guy has got quite a sandy tend to him if you look close enough. The grays are used both for tone and shadowing. With almost every layer I add to the outline of the eyes. You can see they're really starting to pop now. Now I'm starting to go back with previous colors where I see that I missed something such as some light orange to the bridge of the nose. Once you get far enough, feel free to go back with your colors if you think you need to add some extra details. Now, the fox's ear is quite fluffy so you don't even really see the skin. Right away, I'm going and cutting in to imply some lighter strands of fur. The ears are where I'll be using my darkest tones, including umber and shell to get an almost black shadow. Dabbing very gently as I outline the ear with short strands of fur. Pumpkin is my most orangey marker. I'm going in sparingly to avoid having my fox look like an actual pumpkin. Now to polish the ear. Here, I'm toning things down with my lightest gray and building up colors as I see them. I tend to travel around the portrait a lot too, always paying attention to see if an area could use an extra dash of color. That's it for the pro markers. You can stop at the pro marker phase. You can push the pro marker phase further. Or like me, you can move on to the final touches being colored pencils, gel pen, and fine liner details. Yes. When I say pro-market phase, I do mean alcohol marker phase. 19. Fox Demo: Final Touches: Nowadays, I almost always add at least a bit of pencil detailing to my portraits. In this case, I'll be working mostly on the ear and pushing the oranges some more. Similarly to when I work with my markers, I start with my lighter colors and build up from there. Some of the colors I'll be using are very similar to the markers I used previously, but different enough that they add more depth to the portrait. Like I mentioned earlier in the class, when you really look at fur, or most things really, it's made up of a lot more colors than you'd think. I use my pencils in a couple of different ways. Firstly, I add flicks of fur, similar to how I use my markers. I also use them to tone areas, such as here with the fox's nose. For this, I use the side of the pencil circling with a light touch to get the orange to stand out more. I'm actually going over quite a bit of the face with my orange, really pushing that hue. I'll also darken shadowy areas if necessary, such as here with my pimento and dark terracotta, which are similar to my Spice and Cocoa promarkers. You could get a similar effect with marker, but with pencil, you can lay it down more gradually. However, you choose to do it, if you're not confident, be sure to test things out on a scrap paper. Here, I'm using my darkest brown to add some fine strands of fur along the ear, and a few darker touches here and there. I added too much gray to the nose area here, so I went in with my eraser pen to reduce it a bit. You can't remove the colored pencil completely, but it attenuates it a bit. I added a lot more gel pen to the fox's ear than I did for the demo lesson, and it may have been even too much to be honest. That's why I'm going in with my fine liner to go over some of the strands of fur I created. I don't always do this, but I added some extra strands of fur throughout the portrait, like in areas where lighter fur goes over dark shadows. Then for my very last step, I'll go in with my fine liner to do the eyelashes and whiskers. I make long swooping feathered lines, so they taper at the end like real whiskers. If you want, you can add some extra pen details. But that's it, we're done. After one final check, we're ready to sign it. 20. Conclusion: [MUSIC] Woo-hoo, you've done it. You've illustrated your own vibrant, lovely animal portrait. Now go ahead and frame it, give it as a gift, share it online, including here in the project section. But whatever you do, be proud because you've created something beautiful and unique. Way to go. Just to recap, we've gone through all the basic techniques you need to know to illustrate animals with alcohol-based markers from fur to specific features. These techniques may be applied to a wide range of subjects such as grass, hair, even man-made materials. I hope you leave this class inspired to include these techniques in future illustrations. Please don't forget to post your project in the project gallery. We would all love to see it. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to either add them to your description or alternatively drop them in the discussion section. It would also help me a lot if you could leave a review. If you enjoyed this class, feel free to follow my profile as there are more in the making. Thank you so much for joining me in this class. See you next time. [MUSIC]