How I plan and sketch COPIC pieces! :D (Patreon)

Today I am here to share with you how I plan out my copic pieces! This process applies to any traditional medium that involves coloring in a sketch. It can be a daunting task, especially if you've spent a lot of time on your sketch and don't want to mess it up! These are the steps I take to make sure I know what I'm doing before I excitedly begin coloring my artwork. Feel free to try it out and see if it works for you! :D

Pictured above: A color chart of every single marker swatch in my kit. Having this handy saves me a LOT of time when it comes to creating color palettes. Having the ability to scan through all my available colors allows me to accurately pick out colors that I want to use. Instead of swatching colors every time I want to color a piece, I can reference a color chart that not only shows me the range of colors I'm working with, but also the exact color. This way I feel confident picking a color and can quickly lay down colors to build a color test. As you can see, it's really easy to make a color chart, doesn't take long (mine probably took 10 min max), and helps you out immensely in the long run! I highly recommend it. :D

Thumbnails

I've only recently gotten into the habit of creating thumbnails and WOW has it changed my life! There's a reason everyone recommends it, it's really useful. 

The very first thumbnails I drew were messy, simple, but most importantly they establish the composition and overall feeling of the piece. Also, it's perfectly ok and even encouraged to create multiple thumbnails per piece so you can work through several ideas and settle on the best one.

 There's something called the 80/20 rule, which basically means that the first 20% of the work you put into something determines how the rest of (80%) of the job turns out. Thumbnails count toward the first 20% of creating artwork. If you can create a strong thumbnail it will guide you through the rest of the piece in a surprisingly consistent manner. Get into the habit of sketching things out before diving into the final piece. 

The second picture features more detailed thumbnails. This is an extra step I like to take with pieces that include backgrounds. Remember, thumbnails aren't supposed to be a replica of your sketch. They're merely a quick way for laying out the composition and placement of the character so that the overall feeling and look of the piece appears balanced and cohesive to your eyes. 

Color Tests

The last thing I do before laying down my sketch is creating color tests. Here are the ones I did for the Overwatch ladies food series:

As you can see, sometimes I get the colors right on the first go and other times it takes a couple tries. Note that these tests are TINY. 2"x2" at most. No need to waste a bunch of supplies to make these useful. Using the thumbnails from the previous step, I lay out colors (that I reference from my color chart SEE IT ALL COMES TOGETHER! :O) to quickly lay down colors for the final piece. Creating color tests is necessary because it gives you an idea of what the piece will look like before it's actually finished. It also reduces the likelihood that you'll choose a color that's too dark (difficult to fix with markers!), too bright, or just doesn't work with the piece overall. 

After all that is done (it seems like a lot, but it takes me ~15 minutes max) then I'm ready to sketch my piece in pencil and then color it in! With traditional media that can be quite unforgiving, it's good practice to plan out the piece beforehand so it can look its best! 

Hope this was helpful and let me know if you have anymore questions! I'm happy to help! :D 

Love,

Vicki