Tips for Drawing with Markers

I work in many mediums but a few years ago, I started working with markers. I wasn’t sure about working with them because they don’t blend and I wasn’t sure how to use them for serious art work. I actually had no interest until one day while perusing one of my favorite art supply sites, I noticed a huge blow out sale on ShinHan twin markers, twin meaning a fine tip on one end and a broad tip on another. I couldn’t resist the sale, so I ordered them and learned a great deal about working with them while creating my first piece. Now they are one of the many mediums I enjoy working with. The pictures below show my first venture starting with the photograph I used as a guide on the left and the finished product on the right.

• 

• 

Since markers don’t blend and they are not forgiving, then one needs to figure out a way to work with them. By unforgiving, I mean that once you place a stroke upon the paper, that’s it. It cannot be erased. You either use the mistake or go on to another piece of paper. If you have gotten far into your drawing, you may not like either of these options. So to avoid all this, the best way I find that works for me to start, is drawing with pencil to place everything where it belongs. At this point, when mistakes are made, all you have to do is erase and make your corrections. Once everything is where you want it, then you can start outlining the hard edged items like the tree trunks. In the picture below, the tree trunks were outlined and then filled in. Now since markers don’t blend, I worked several shades of tans and grays together, slightly overlapping them so they appeared to have been blended. This also gave the look of texture that a tree trunk has. I then continued to work some of the grassy areas and where some leaves started to fall. (see below)

As I moved along from there, I then worked on the background such as the trees, bushes and branches. You could start on the background, fore ground or anywhere in the middle. Since you cannot work in layers, you work in different areas going side by side. (see below)

You finally get to the point where now you work on the final details. By this point, you start to feel a sense of accomplishment as you work towards finishing the piece.

As you’re going towards the home stretch of finishing, you start to scrutinize from the photograph and your work in progress and darken the areas that need it and continue to work areas for more details and anything else that is still left undone. By doing this, you discover things that still need to be done that you missed before.

One of the things I discovered in my first couple of attempts, is the importance of using the proper paper. With my first attempts, I used Canson mixed media paper for its thickness. Unfortunately, the markers started to bleed through it to the other side. This paper is wonderful for mixed media such as watercolor and pen which I have also used it for with great results. For markers, I recommend, yes, specifically marker paper such as Bienfang or Canson marker paper which prevents it from bleeding through. Happy drawing!

I am an affiliate marketer for Amazon at no extra cost to you.