National Design Academy

How 2 Guide

Choosing markers

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Contents

Choosing markers 3

Basic Greyscale 3

Coloured markers 5

Toolbox: basic marker cube 6

mark

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Choosing markers

Choosing the right markers. All brands are all different, but one thing is for sure - picking the right

colours can be tough and sometimes downright intimidating.

Let’s start with a simple black and white scale

Basic Greyscale

This scale runs from a deep black 100% to a 10% grey to the right. Chances are your monitor may

either pick up all the subtleties of the scale or not. Either way, think of this as a scale of greys

or values in 10% increments. Now, you really don’t need to go buy a set of 12 greys. Here’s why

- when using markers, if you let them dray a little after applying them, then reapply some more

marker, you can get a darker value with the same marker. Works on most papers but especially

marker paper.

Really, all you need for a decent range of values is three markers, with each marker 20% away

from each other. What I mean is for example, 10%, 30% and 50% greys or 30%, 50% and 70% grey

markers. Why?

Well, take a look at this sketch or any decent sketch as a matter of fact. Now, squint your eyes

and take a look at it. You should be able to see an area of highlight where the light is the most

intense (in this case, the top of the box) a mid-tone (the left side of the cube) and a shadow tone

(the dark right side of the cube).

The shadow could be considered an even deeper value, but in this case, I have used a 70% grey

marker.

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Pick 3 values from the greys - warm or cool depending on your preference (personally I prefer

cool greys for most product sketches and warm greys for some special applications). Nice and

simple right? Just follow the 20% apart scheme and you should be fine with picking the greys.

The scale below represents a 70%, 50% and a 30% grey value scale with each 20% away from

the next in value.

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Coloured markers

With colours, you will need to stay within the same hue before messing with value. By hue, I

mean reds, oranges, or blues for example. You could also think of it as colour temperature (again

this may not be 100% correct, but it’s how I think it works).

Again, try to pick three markers that are each 20% apart and represent a highlight value, midtone

value and a shadow value.

So if you are picking red markers for example, you may want to stay close to something as shown

below.

Shadow, Midtone and Highlight values. I have a deep red, a midtone red and a lighter pink for the

highlight colour.

Depending on the brand of maker you choose, these values may differ. I highly recommended

testing the colours with markers in an art store for example before committing to buying them

online. That way, you can find colours that are similar enough in hue and different enough in

value that all work together.

Confused? Just remember, if you are not sure what to do:

• Squint your eyes

• Check the values

• Make sure that the markers are within the same range in hue (for colours)

• Test them before you buy them

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Toolbox: basic marker cube

First off, markers are a wonderful tool. They are very versatile in how you apply them and the

effects you can get using them. There are many tricks to mastering the marker, but first off, you

need to repeat in your minds this phrase - this is not a colouring book. I know it sounds harsh, but

a lot of people pick up a marker and then assume that every little element of the drawing needs

to be filled with colour. This is not so. Why? Well I think there are 2 reasons...

Firstly, light never hits a surface evenly, even a flat one. There are always inconsistencies and

deviations in how a surface is lit. Secondly, filing in every bit of white space is nigh unto painting

the object and less like a quicker sketch render. Leaving some white while having quick and

confident strokes with a marker lends itself to having an exciting and interesting sketch render.

A cube, though simple in form, can have excitement added to it with some wonderful marker

application.

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Item list:

• 3 markers - highlight, midtone, shadow (20%, 40%, 60% greys should work)

• Prismacolour pencil

• Ruler

• Felt pen

Take the following cube for example

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I did this rough sketch on some marker paper. I’m using Bienfang 360 marker paper, though any

marker paper should work. Unlike tracing paper, marker paper has a protective coating on one

side that stops or defers bleeding from one side to the other. I like the Bienfang because I had

some lying around and it has some tooth to it. If you do not have marker paper and are following

along with this, a smoother bond paper should work just fine, though the result will differ.

When sketching for a marker rendering or sketch, I recommend using a pen or tool that does not

bleed. I used a Pilot Razorpoint in this example, but Pilot hitec’s work as well as does sketching

with a pencil or some rare ballpoint pens.

By sketching before you apply the marker, I am giving myself a guide on how and where I want

to shade. I have drawn through the form and indicated where my shadow will fall. If you are not

sure how to do this, check out the video on shadows and shading in our archives. Sketching the

shadow first helps me decide where my light source is and it reminds me that I am applying the

marker to the sketch where the light is coming from. By doing so, it helps me be consistent with

my shading and logical with value placement as I go.

Tip: Be quick with your strokes.

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The shading on the left is decent but it is colouring every part of the box. It is static and lifeless.

The shading on the right is done by applying the marker to the object line by line using the

widest part of the chisel tip of the marker. Your markers typically have two tips - a chisel and a

bullet tip. The chisel tip is the business end of the marker we will be using (it’s the fat end of the

marker) It’s good to use the bullet tip to shade an object, the drawing would quickly become busy

and confusing to the viewer. Remember, we are trying to communicate to an captivate the viewer

when we sketch.

I begin my taking the lightest of my 3-value set of markers (in my case, a copic marker I found)

and outlining the shape of the form I am about to colour. I do this again to help with bleed of the

marker. It is not necessary, but I find that it helps me out when I am shading something in. As

always, draw with your shoulder. You will find that if you do this, your lines will be crisper and

more decisive. It’s especially important here as the marker application will be done all by hand

with the exception of a few ruled in pencil lines.

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After applying the marker to the edges of the box, take a moment to evaluate, the shadow is

on the right side of the box which means my light-source is on the top left side of the drawing.

What does this mean? Well it means that the surfaces facing away from the light source will be

the darkest. I take my darkest marker, in this case a prismacolour periwinkle blue marker and

proceed to shade in the side of the cube.

Notice that the edge of thee chisel tip of the markers is in the line with that front edge of the

cube. Doing so helps be minimize overrunning as I apply my strokes. Finding the correct angle

when applying your strokes in key to having a cleaner drawing.

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I have now applied marker to the two faces that face away from the main light sources. Notice

that not everything is shaded in. Light never hits or covers the face of an object evenly and there

perhaps is some reflected or ambient light in the scene as well.

Next, apply marker to the sides that are still in shadow, but less so that the ones directly away

from my light source (the side on the left).

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It is important to understand one principle as you do this. The only way you will be able to achieve

some good depth and contrast in your sketch is by putting your lightest lights against your darkest

dark; what this means is that already you can see some good contrast from top of the box to the

side. This contrast tells our brains that there’s something different here, and that couples with the

correct perspective in enough for the viewer to read this drawing as a box.

Once I have applied the marker to the sides of the box, I can begin pumping my contrast a

bit more and filling in some shadows. As you can see, based on the direction of the light and

projection of the shadows, the inside of the box would also be in shadow. I have indicated where

this shadow would be in the side by drawing in a line on the inner right face of the cube and then

shading that area. As for how you calculate this, look at the direction of the light or shadow that is

cast and extrapolate from that where the inner shadow would be.

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Once I am satisfied with the contrast on the side of the cube, I begin outlining the shadow with a

super dark marker (like an 80% grey). The shadow that is cast on the ground will be the darkest

value in the marker sketch.

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Notice again that the tip of the marker is parallel to the edge or line that I am colouring against.

This helps with bleed. This particular marker brand, Chartpak or AD, tends to bleed a lot and you

will have to be even quicker with your stroke that you would with a prismacolour marker.

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Once the shadow is shaded in, I tighten up the outside edges of the cube with a ruler. No, this is

not cheating. Adding sharper crisper lines to your render will help feel it less sloppy. Be careful

however as adding too many defined lines can suck the line out of the sketch render.

Always be sure to have a sharpener at hand and some pencils that you keep sharp and crisp. If

you find they keep breaking too, just nuke em.

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Once we are to this point, you can squint your eyes and look at the drawing to double check. I

am satisfied with the contrast on from top to bottom and side to side, so I can now focus on the

background of the sketch render. I have chosen a Copic sketch marker in crimson red. The red

will help the cube to pop even more off the page.

As always, I am outlining the shape of the

background first, then using the broadest part

of the marker to then fill in the background. I

am making an exception to the role here about

filling in. Why? By filling in the background with

a solid colour, it not only contrast with the cube

in colour but contrasts in style as well giving

the sketch even more contrast.

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Remember to keep the top of your marker parallel against the edges you are colouring to and

from. This will help minimize bleeding as you shade in and render.

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Simple marker cube completed. I have included a final image of the step by step. Hopefully this

answers a lot of your questions about how to apply marker. These are just principles, but they

can be applied to more complex and interesting forms. This is meant to be BASIC. Feel free to

download and use any of the images here, just give as a shout out and props if you do.

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