Tomatoes in Colander, with Basil and Napkin

In real life, the small colander is red enamel, but I didn't want that much red in the drawing. The napkin is brown, with faded edges. I made it blue instead, and I like the way the edges look. The table top is imaginary, drawn with streaks of marker to look like light-colored wood.

Copic colors used: When I plan on a lot of layering of my colors, I like to start by coloring everything with a pale base color. Base colors - Stems E000,Y000, Tomatoes R02, Colander C0, Cloth B000, Basil G40, Table E21 (streaks); Colors added on top of base colors - Stems G21,24,E41, Table E41, E44 on E21, Colander C1,3,5, Sanford Uniball silver Gel Impact pen, Basil YG03,63,G07,14,17, Tomatoes R08,24,29,W3, Cloth B1,14,26, Shadow W3,5
Paper: Neenah, 8.5x11"

Geraniums Decorated - Sybil's Coloring

With help from one of her friends, my friend Sybil colored an enlarged copy of my geraniums drawing. Here is her version. I really like it. She named it "Geraniums Decorated" (used with her permission):

Landscape in Ribbon Frame

This scan (11x14) includes most of the drawing, on 14x17 paper. I used the Copic airbrush to do the sky and the lower part of the fields.

Paper: Strathmore Bristol Board, 14x17, vellum finish (a lightly textured surface - not "vellum paper")

Landscape in Pieces

Ribbons of landscape. Nice shapes and colors. The irregular lines were fun to draw.

Copic colors used: Horizontal C1,3,BV000,00,20,23,31; Diagonal YR21,26,E21,25,B41,45; Upper arc C1,B41,45,E25,G21,YG63; Lower arc G40,YG03,63,BG32,72,75

Small Landscape Drawing

This is a small drawing on sketch paper, glued onto a 4x6 card. I drew it with pencil and colored it with my markers. No multiliner this time. I like the watercolor effect.

Copic colors used: B000,01, E000,71, G21,24, R02,08, BV04,20, W5. Note: in an effort to keep the pencil from smearing onto my marker tips (which looks bad but doesn't hurt the markers), I tried not to drag the tips across the pencil lines.

Geraniums

We planted geraniums today in the big ceramic planters in front of our house. Vivid reds, pinks, and greens. Then, of course, I had to draw them. A couple weeks later, my friend Sybil colored a copy of my drawing in a different way.

Edited August 10, 2009: Click here for another geranium drawing, several months later.

Copic colors used: Base colors G000, RV000, R000; W0,5, RV14,19,95, Y38, R02,08,24,29, G14,21,24,28, Y000, YG03, E04
Paper: white Crane's card approx. 4x6"

Doodle Toy 2

A doodle that looks like a stuffed toy. Maybe a cat's toy.

Copic colors used: RV10,13, Y13, B41, 45, with lines and dots of RV11,14, B24, Y19.

Airbrushed Landscape

I decided to try a full-page set of masks, trying to learn my new Copic airbrush. I cut curvy lines, then drew around the outside of each piece with my Zig 2-Way Glue Pen. I like the chisel point for this, but the fine point would work too. After the glue dries clear, it is temporary glue.

Then I airbrushed in sections, removing & replacing each mask. I had some blank paper along the edges that I colored with markers. Then it still looked boring, and the upper left sky was too dark, so I tried some lines and doodles with my colorless blender. I really like that effect - little stripes with colored edges.

Copic colors used (airbrushed) Sky B06, BG45; Purple hills BV08, C7, E49; Orangey brown hills E09,37; Green hill G28, YG99, E25; Green-purpley hill G07, R59, Y19, V09; Brown hill (lower right) E29, W7. Lines added with E33, BG45, E25, YG63, and brush tip of "sketch" 0.

Doodling on a Tan Card

Doodling - one shape leads to another. Simple, flat coloring on a tan Crane's card 4x6.

Copic colors used: Sepia multiliner, G24, YG03, R24, B01, E33, YR21, Y38

To try this, click here.

Sea Animal

This was my first airbrushed background. It takes a little practice, and this one came out uneven, but with nice colors.

I used a torn paper mask (fastened down with dry Zig 2-Way Glue), a little bigger than the center image. I used a pale gray (C1) marker to color the blank edge. That made a nice little colored edge that I really like.

Then I dabbed the center image with Colorless Blender fluid on terry cloth to get the mottled texture.

Daisy Drawing in Five Colors

I drew a 4x6 line drawing, then scanned it and pasted it into Powerpoint, 4 on one 8.5 x 11" page. I printed it out and colored each set of daisies in bright colors. (Shown above.)

About a week later, to make a thank-you card for a friend, I printed one onto a 3.5x5 Crane note paper, and colored it in lighter colors. (Shown below.) The dotted ground and background were inspired by Michelle Wooderson's post on coloring a galvanized bucket.

Updated July 9, 2010: Because it includes a card, this post has also been added to my new "companion blog." Please click here for "Mostly Markers - Cards" to see it there (dated the same as this original post.) For the future, I'll post all of my new greeting cards in Mostly Markers - Cards. This blog, Mostly Markers, will also still be active with all of my non-card drawings and reference posts.

Ribbon Doodle 2

A bench? The inside of a hot air balloon? Maybe just a ribbon doodle. I enjoyed making the details of the coloring.

Copic colors used: BG000, C1, Y000, RV91,95, R29,59, V04,09, BV20,23, G07,21,28,40, E41,44
Paper: white Crane's card approx. 4x6"

Parting of the Red Sea

In the Exodus story, the pillar alternated between fire and cloud. But at our church's Easter Vigil service, during the reading of this passage, my mind's eye saw it as fire and cloud together, with a deep V of water, so that's how I drew it.

Tree with flowers

When I colored the tree originally (see below), I thought it looked too dark and heavy compared to the flowers. So I drew a new tree, colored it, and cut it out. Then I cut along the bottom of the old tree, slid the new tree in (on top of the old tree, behind the front-most red flowers), and glued it in place. Much better.

Old tree:

Hilly Landscape 2

A friend asked me for a drawing like the left side of Hilly Landscape 1. I did this for her, scaling it down a bit to allow for a frame, and with the house colored like her family's summer cottage.

It's not easy for me to recreate a drawing. And reducing the size made it harder. I think it's because a lot of my drawing is gesture (movement) and not just visual.

I traced it on thin paper, then cut out some shapes along the lines & traced around the paper shapes in pencil. As I did that, I shifted some of the elements around to make it work in a smaller space. Then my final ink drawing was freely moving along the general line of the pencil.

Copic colors used: same as Hilly Landscape 1.
Paper: ecru Crane's card approx. 4x6"

Baby Booties

Knitted, not drawn! My mother's pattern. For a friend I sing with.

Fish Doodle

When I finish a drawing, I'm often ready for something different. After a detailed project, I was in the mood for simple lines & simple colors. This fish doodle was the result. In grade school, I think we would have called this a scribble drawing. The black Copic multiliner was 0.8, a thicker line than I typically use.

Copic colors used: R000,24,29,59, BG000,05, Y15, YR14 (eye)
Paper: white Crane's card approx. 4x6"

To try this, click here.

Iris Bouquet 3

A friend asked me to color my iris drawing for her, but with "her colors." So we went through the color chart together, and she picked out her favorites. I was able to use all of them.

She double-matted it with soft purple and deeper green, which looked beautiful with it. I had intended for her to cover up the bottom part of the vase (it looks too tall to me), but she liked it tall.

Click on the "iris" label, below or in the label list to the right, to see the other coloring and also the original line drawing.

Garden with Red Bench

At first, this drawing was just a rough pencil layout. If I wanted to finish it, I expected that I would clean it up, make it look more ... finished, I guess. But after a while, I decided I liked it in its rough state. So I inked in the lines (with my Copic multiliner) and colored it.

The first part I colored was the red bench. It just felt like it wanted to be red. The fence is solid warm gray (W3) with Colorless Blender to make the lighter stripes. There are lines of colorless blender in other areas, too.

Browns with Blue Green and Blue Violet

This may be a gourd bowl with water. But on the back, I wrote "music," so it may be an instrument, a horn of some kind. Whatever it is, I like the shapes and the colors, and especially the dark blue-violet ribbon tied in a bow.

Copic colors used: BV08, V09, BG72,75, E09,33,37, YR14