Category: Alcohol Marker Drawing

Alcohol Marker Face Shading Tips for Scaredy-Cats

17/1/2023

I recently recieved an awesome question from one of my Wonder Bundlers (member of ALL THREE art memberships) at Awesome Art School.

Her question to me was:
Can you shade a face with just ONE alcohol marker?

The short answer is YES. But... I've got a few tips for you to make this technique work EVEN BETTER for you! Watch today's video to see exactly what I mean :)

New to shading faces? Click the button below to grab my FREE Face Shading Guide! It will TOTALLY help you take your drawings to the next level, no matter what art supply you're using.

This cheatsheet shows you 6 EASY shading patterns you can copy onto your own forward-facing face drawings to make them look more realistic.

Super quick announcement: All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support.

My FREE Face Shading Guide is a page directly from my very first book, How to Draw Fun Fab Faces.

Another great reference used in today's video is one of my latest art books, Skin Tone Secrets.

This book is SUPER helpful for learning how to shade semi-realistic faces with alcohol markers. It takes ALL the guesswork out of choosing which markers go well together to create beautiful skin tones, and will have you creating gorgeous faces you can be proud of in NO TIME!

What Paper is Best for Alcohol Marker Drawings?

If you're new to alcohol markers, using the right paper for your drawing projects is SUPER IMPORTANT.

HOT TIP: NEVER shade with alcohol markers on a super-absorbent surface like watercolor paper. It will totally wreck your markers! Always use bristol or something like my favorite card stock, which is a cheaper bristol alternative.

Which Skin Tone Markers Are Best for Shading Faces?

For today's dark skin tone face drawing demo, I'm using Ohuhu alcohol marker YR148 / Thin Persimmon.

If you don't have alcohol markers and want to shade the faces you draw, I recommend the Ohuhu Alcohol Markers Set of 24 or 36, it's excellent quality and super affordable!

How to Blend Alcohol Marker Streaking

Here's what my drawing looked like when I tried to shade it as I normally would, except that I only used one marker.

See how you can see EVEY streak and stroke, especially in the lightest areas? This is tough to combat if we limit ourselves to one marker.

Click over to the video to see how the Ohuhu colorless blender worked to blend the streakiness above.

For comparison's sake, I also shaded a light-skinned face. Instead of using the colorless blender, I tried blending the streaks by using a marker one shade LIGHTER than the one I originally used.

I feel like this alcohol marker blending technique worked WAY BETTER than the colorless blender (by the way- today's demo is a great example of why I NEVER use the colorless blender to blend my alcohol marker shading).

If you're NEW to shading faces with alcohol markers or a scaredy-pants about shading, here's what I recommend... USE TWO MARKERS.

1. Shade the face two complete times - once horizontally in one color and once vertically in ONE SHADE LIGHTER (this lighter marker is your "blending friend" and will help eliminate streaks).

2. Add shadows to your drawing using marker #1 to show depth.

This alcohol marker blending technique will give you a smooth and super subtle look...

❤️Watch today's video to see these alcohol marker tips in action!

❤️Ready to dive into shading faces with 3-4 alcohol markers per face? Check out my book,Skin Tone Secrets.

❤️WANT MORE alcohol marker shading tips? Check out this playlist!

Wanna Stay in the Loop?

And get notified EVERY TIME I publish a new video on YouTube? Join my Email Newsletter!

As my way of saying thanks - grab a copy of my FREE Fun Fab Swatch Sheet or my Whimsical Face Drawing Guidelines!

Need More Resources?

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my online art classes @ Awesome Art School
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON (affiliate links)
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP

Thanks for hanging out with me today!!

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How to STOP Fineliners From Smearing Once & For All!!

14/12/2022

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I LOVE outlining my drawings in fineliners, but I HATE it when my outline starts to bleed into the shading I add with alcohol markers or watercolor.

Wanna learn WHY this happens and how YOU CAN PREVENT it from happening ever again? Join me in the studio for today's video!

Got a new set of fineliners or markers you need to swatch? I used to think swatching was boring and a big waste of time, but TRUST ME, your future drawings will thank you because marker caps and color names can be deceiving!!

To make swatching MORE FUN I've created a FREE Fun Fab Swatch Sheet for you to print out at home! Simply click the button below and I'll send it straight to your inbox.

Back to today's demo...

I don't know about you, but I've got about a zillion different black fineliners, fineliner pens, fineliner markers and fineliner sets I could choose from when it comes to outlining the faces and figures I love drawing!

How do you know which one to grab, when?!

I decided to show you 25 of them on both watercolor and bristol paper. After I give the ink a second to dry on both papers, I'll add some watercolor marker to the watercolor paper, and alcohol marker to the bristol paper to see which fineliners smear.

The results are more than a little surprising!!

Click over to the video to see which black fineliners you might want to add to your collection and WHY so you can prevent smearing once and for all.

LOVE alcohol marker art or WANNA LEARN how to draw and shade gorgeous faces in all ethnicities using alcohol markers? Check out my recent book, Skin Tone Marker Secrets on Amazon.

In this book I share ALL my best tips for shading faces in alcohol markers and tell you EXACTLY which skin tone marker combos go well together to create flawless skin tones EVERY TIME!

It's SO fun and easy - once someone shows ya how!!

My absolute FAVORITE black fineliner set to use while working with alcohol markers is by Molotow:

NEED MORE alcohol marker drawing videos to get your creative juices flowing? Check out this playlist and draw along with me!

Thanks for hanging out with me today!!

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What Fans Are Saying

Karen, you are absolutely fabulous! You make me feel like I can draw anything. I have recently retired and finally have the time to do some of the art that I have loved since I was in school. I am really at the beginning of my art journey and I hope to learn as much as I can. Thank you for all you do.

-Jill Y.

I ordered your Fun Fab Faces book and loved it! I was having a little trouble getting the noses I wanted and now it's easy! Also, I love how you stressed how important having the three tones in your drawing is. Thanks a bunch!

-Donna L.

Thank you Karen! I never though I could do faces. You broke it down so it was understandable! And I love your book! I got it yesterday! Can't wait to start practicing! It's so much fun!!!!!

-Debbie M.

Thank you for the encouragement to get back into my drawing and painting. After being away for 35 years. THANK YOU.

- Teresa S.

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Alcohol Marker Face Shading Tips for Scaredy-Cats

What Paper is Best for Alcohol Marker Drawings?

Which Skin Tone Markers Are Best for Shading Faces?

How to Blend Alcohol Marker Streaking

Wanna Stay in the Loop?

Need More Resources?

How to STOP Fineliners From Smearing Once & For All!!

Karen Campbell

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Categories

What Fans Are Saying

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blog

Alcohol Marker Face Shading Tips for Scaredy-Cats

​What Paper is Best for Alcohol Marker Drawings?

​Which Skin Tone Markers Are Best for Shading Faces?

​How to Blend Alcohol Marker Streaking

​Wanna Stay in the Loop?

Need More Resources?​​

How to STOP Fineliners From Smearing Once & For All!!

Karen Campbell

Archives

Categories

What Fans Are Saying

Contact Us

What Paper is Best for Alcohol Marker Drawings?

Which Skin Tone Markers Are Best for Shading Faces?

How to Blend Alcohol Marker Streaking

Wanna Stay in the Loop?

Need More Resources?