From Marianne Walker’s blog – www.ilikemarkers.blogspot.com
NOTE: The colors as you see them on your computer monitor or printed
may be different than the actual pens.
Skin Colors - part 1
Since we are going to Anime Expo this week I am going to be covering some topics that
are really important not just to stampers, but for the manga artists. The most common
question
I get asked all the time- What is the best skin color?
The easy answer: E00, Skin White
The hard answer: It depends on what you consider a skin color. If you haven't noticed,
people all over the world have different skin colors. E00 is our most popular skin color in
America, since this is a generic pale Caucasian skin. The Natural Blending family for
E00 would be E0000 + E00 + E02
These examples I'm showing today are from a special color chart I made last year for
Anime Expo. At comic shows like this skin tones are VERY important, so it helps to
compare and see what feel you want for your artwork. Just a word of caution, these
colors look different on your screen than they do in real life. It is nearly impossible to get
accurate skin colors on the computer from marker drawings because the skin colors are
so subtle.
The first color groups are in pairs, so you can see that a good skin image has a highlight
and a shadow.
Rule of thumb: The trick is to pick a base color, usually ending in 0 or 1, like E00. For a
subtle shadow, keep the letter and first digit the same, but go about 2 digits higher, like
E02. There are lots of "skin" colors, but here are the most common:
The first image shows the sequence
E0000 to E04- basic Caucasian skin. See how each combination is just a hair darker
than the one before? The pale colors look a little yellow on my screen, but the darker
combo, E02 and E04 looks more correct. IRL, I consider these a hair too pink for adult
skin, but otherwise, not a bad, all-purpose match for skin colors.
The next group are the E11 thru E15. I
personally love the E11 as a shadow (see the 3 color combos at the end of this post),
but as you can see, it makes a great base color too. It's a little darker than most
Caucasians, and it has a bit more deep red, but as you get into the darker combos it
looks authentic for Native Americans.
This next group includes E21, another
good, all-purpose skin color. E25 is the next in the group, which is a large color jump (I
really want a E23 someday!) E50 thru E53 are a close match for adult, slightly oliveskinned people. Another sequence I didn't show is the E53 + E55, a good, darker
Eastern skin color combo. The E93-E95 group is very pink, so I probably would use
these as shadows to other colors, not as skin by itself. They would also make good
blush colors that are more earthy than R20 or R30.
The last group includes the YR's. The pale
YR000 is a great, very light base skin color, but once you get up to YR02 it starts to get
orange real quick. R000 also is a great super pale skin color (with the pink tone it almost
looks unhealthy, transparent skin colored). Ro2, Flesh, is way too pink to use as a base
skin color, though as a shadow, it's not bad. R02 is really close to flesh- not skin, but the
flesh underneath.
These aren't bad as a quick representation of basic skin color
groups, however, many of these look a little flat. To really punch up the dynamic colors
in skin it helps to add a 3rd level if marker. This last bunch of faces show how 3 colors
make skin really "Pop"
Look at the first two faces closely. The first color combo is my current favorite. However,
by adding an R20 to the second face instead of the E11 it gives it just a hint of healthy
pink, instead of deeper earthy shadows.
Look at the E11 + E13 + E15 face and compare it to the E11 + E13 and the E13 + E15
face above. See how using 3 colors makes it more exciting than just 2?
E25 + E27 + E29 is a great, deep African skin combo. Compared to the E13/E15 it has
much less red. The olive-skinned E50's are really a lot more dynamic when you make a
3 color sequence by skipping one of the shades (E53). Do you see how using darker
shadows makes the light seem brighter? Working with your own colors see what
combos you can create.
So a quick rundown of each color:
Light Skin colors (these tend to end in 0 or 1)
E0000 (almost clear)
E000
E01
E50 (good neutral skin color)
R000 (pinkish)
R00
R01
YR000 (orangish)
YR00
Slightly darker
E02
E11
E21
E51
R02
YR01
Darker skin shadows
E04
E13
E53
Dark African Skin
E25 base, E27 shadows
Dark Native American Skin
E13 + E15 + E17
Eastern Skin
E51 + E53 + E55
Pale Western Skin
E50 + E51
Light, Pinkish Baby skin
E0000 + E00
E000 + E01
E00 + E02 (note how these three combos get a hair darker each time)
R000 + R01
Cheek Blush
overlay R20 or R30
Tomorrow I'll show different ways of coloring faces, from smooth to crisp, faded to
sharp. Have a great week!
Today we'll discuss ways of coloring once you've picked your favorite skin
colors (see yesterday's post). These are only a few simple techniques, and by no means the
only way to color. I drew this picture yesterday so I could show you what I mean. I photocopied
it onto color laser copier paper, though Manga Illustration paper would be better for this (I just
didn't have any loaded into my copier at the time).
2 color skin
This first picture is the most basic. I picked a middle/light skin color, E01 and a slightly darker
shadow, E11. I left my highlights white, added the midtones with an even layer of E01. I let the
E01 dry, then I layered in the E11. This gives the illusion of using 3 colors, but I'm only working
with 2.
Shadows? I drew the picture with one side slightly darker than the other, giving a hint of where
the shadows should be.
3 Color Skin
Compare this one to the first one. I started with E000 and completely colored any skin areas,
then I added the exact same shadows as the first. She seems much darker skinned, simply
because there are no white areas. When you are coloring, you may want to leave your brightest
highlights white just so you get more dynamic coloring. The trick to even coloring on the E000 is
to color in circles keeping all your edges wet. Then you get very smooth, rich color even though
it is so pale.
Wet Coloring, 3 color skin
The first two examples have very crisp lines between each level of color. the simplest way to
keep your edges smooth is by coloring each section individually. In this case, I did the face first.
I colored it using the same colors as the second picture, however, while the base color was still
wet on my paper I added my darker colors. This simply and softly blended all 3 colors together.
To get my deepest shadows back I would have to let it dry, then add the E11 again.
Blended, 2 color skin
For this last example I used my two darker colors only. I colored evenly with the E01, then
added shadows with the E11. Then, starting in the lightest spot on the face, with your colorless
blender push all the tone out to the edges of the image. Do this by really juicing the light spot
and gradually, evenly expand your blender spot until it goes almost to the edge of your picture
(See last week's posts). Do not color all the way up to the line. There is a lot of blender on your
paper and if you color up to the line then the color will push out beyond the image. The trick is to
carefully follow the contours of the facial features. Then, if you want it even stronger colors, go
back in and add another layer of E11.
Here is the finished, colored picture. I started with the wet colored picture, but I wanted even
darker shadows so I added in some E04 and added a bit of pink to her cheeks with R20. I used
the B41 blended out for my shadow areas, and as a base color for her eyes, and the small
flower. I wanted her to be a dark blonde, so I chose YR31 and layered on Y28 (this is also a
good combo if you want something to look like gold). For her sweater, I dabbed on colorless
blender to add texture.
Coloring Eyes
Short week, wasn't it? Tomorrow, while most of you are
enjoying, friends, barbques, and fireworks I'll be down in L.A. teaching coloring
workshops at the Anime Expo convention. I love teaching the comic workshops! There
are so many enthusiastic people, in amazing costumes that all gather together for their
love of Japanese Comics (manga) and Animation (Anime). I'll try to post some photos
next week if I get the chance. In our booth we have some wonderful guest artists from
Japan, whose work is simply stunning! Every year I wish I could draw half as good as
they can.
In honor of Anime Expo, and the Japanese comics, or Manga, I wanted to cover an
important part of the distinctive look to Manga characters- the big, beautiful eyes. These
oversized eyes are stylized, but I want to explain a bit about the idea behind the way
they are drawn and how you too can get the cute-eye look.
Eyes
Eyes are not flat, just like the world isn't flat, or a ball isn't flat. Eyes are also reflective,
and have beautiful but complex patterns just below the surface of the lens. So how can
we capture all those qualities in one tiny little picture? I want you to try this: stand
outside with a piece of white paper and a friend (hopefully it's a bright Summer day).
While standing about 2 feet apart, hold the paper just under your chins. Now, look into
each other's eyes.
Understanding light and reflections
Our eyes catch light and bounce it back at the person looking into our eyes. The
strongest reflection you see will be from the sun. It is above us, so it hits the top of our
eyeball. The next brightest thing we see is the reflection from the white sheet of paper.
This is below our eyes, so it causes a smaller reflection on the bottom of our eyeballs.
So? What does this mean for how we understand eyes?
Understanding Cute Things
Cute, innocent things tend to be drawn with eyes wide open. When your eyes are open
large people thing you're trusting, sweet, and innocent. Look at these two bear heads.
Which one looks cuter and more inviting? The one with reflections! They are identical,
except for the light reflections.
Understanding how eyes are drawn
So a Manga eye is stylized to be cute & innocent (except bad people). The eyes are
drawn oversized (eyes open extra wide). There are usually a minimum of two light
reflections, and if the character is super-cute, there may be more. In black and white it
looks kinda bland though. So how do we color this to really make those glints of light
stand out?
Coloring Eyes step-by-step
1. Choose 3 colors from a Natural Blending family. In this case I'm using YG03, YG07,
and I didn't have a darker shade in YG so I had to use a G09. Color with your lightest
color, but leave your white areas white.
2. Add your next darker color to the top of the eye. Why the top? Because our eyebrows
cast a shadow over the top of our eye, making it look darker on top and lighter down
below.
3. Add your darkest color to the very top.
4. Take your lightest color and color over the top of both darker layers. This acts as a
blender pen and smooths the colors together. You may have to carefully do this a
couple times to get it smooth enough.
5. It's hard to see, but you need to draw the shadow of the eyebrow over your white
areas. This is tricky because many times the sides of the eyeball are not defined. In this
case I used C1 to add a pale shadow to the top of the eye.
6. Finish by adding skin around the eye. Leave the sides of the eye white to show where
the eyeball is. (sometimes I do the skin first, then the eyes, other times it's eyes first and
then skin)
Adding white
If you have a hard time leaving the white areas white, then this is the perfect time to use
Copic Opaque White- a thick white paint applied with a paintbrush to add pure white
back into a picture. If you have a picture like the bland bear head earlier in the post you
can make it cute by using opaque white to add the light reflections on dull, black
areas.
For my finished artwork today, I decided it was time to show a guy, since my last two
manga posts were of girls. Manga guys tend to look a lot like their female counterparts
sometimes (i think his bottom lip is too pouty and I messed up on his hair). Otherwise,
he looks like a handsome, pleasant, green-eyed boy.
I drew this picture in my Copic Sketchbook, starting with a loose pencil sketch, then
inking it with a 0.1mm Multiliner.
Since the picture was so small, I cut back on my eye colors to the light and dark, no
middle color, but I still used the same technique.