Copic Tutorial Part 2

Continuing on my discussion of copics that I started yesterday, here's some more info on blending.

When you want to blend several colors together there are a couple of different ways to do it. The first way, tip touching, which I talked about yesterday, is good for small sections. But if you want to blend into something a bit larger then you might want to try a different technique.

For blending in the same color family, I recommend gradation blending. Now, a good way to tell if you have colors that will work well together for this is by looking at the letter/number classification. You want colors that have the same letter and first number (which is color classification and brightness) and then try not have more than a two number difference between the second numbers. For example, b11, b13, and b14 would work wonderfully.
But it's not a hard and fast rule. Experimenting is the name of the game.
Take a look at my sample:

For the first step, color with your lightest, working in small circles and saturating the paper fully. Then while the first color is still wet, go in with the second and work up to 3/4 of the way. Right away, go back over with the lightest color to blend the colors together. Then go in with the darkest color and work up to the bottom 1/4. Go over it with the second darkest color and blend up, and then again with the lightest and blend up.
This technique took me a bit to get down, so practice, practice, practice!

Now onto blending contrasting colors!

There really is no rule for what contrasting colors work well together. But you do need to remember your basic color rules--since the two colors will be overlapping, they will make a third color where they meet. So if you use red and blue, you will have a little purple spot in the middle. This is especially true for the lighter colors. Just bear that in mind, if you don't want a big brown spot in the middle of your color blend!

Take a look at my sample:

You want to start with your lightest color and work in one direction, moving in straight lines, lifting slightly at the end of each stroke so that the color is slightly lighter. Don't worry about getting good saturation at this point, just get a good base coat. You want to go to about 3/4 of the space. Now come in with your contrasting color and do the exact same thing but in the opposite direction, covering to the 3/4 mark in the opposite direction. Now go back in with the first color and repeat. Then do the same with the second color. Keep going over it, until it's blended.

Hopefully, I will be able to get part three up tomorrow!