Pypah Santos, the mixed media mastermind, is featured as one of Arteza’s Fuel Your Creativity artists. To learn more about Pypah’s background, read her artist profile article here. Today, Pypah shares her detailing marker and coloured pencil drawing techniques using Arteza’s EverBlend Art Markers, Inkonic Fineliner Pens, and Professional Coloured Pencils! Pypah teamed up with Arteza to create two must-have, limited edition marker sets: Pypah Santos Marker Starter Bundle and her Marker Favourites Bundle. Now, let’s dive into Pypah’s go-to detail marker techniques!
Brush Nib EverBlend Ultra Art Markers Techniques
Pypah makes great use of the versatility of brush stroke that our EverBlend Brush Nib Ultra Art Markers provide. She finds colouring hair to be especially successful when working with this marker since the brush nib offers flexibility which makes it easy to create really fine details as well as filling large areas; “it’s all about how much pressure you apply on the pen”. When you use light pressure you can easily create small strokes whereas if you add pressure you can fill out larger areas quicker. Pypah’s Favourite technique for drawing curls is with the brush nib of her EverBlend Markers.
To create curly hair, Pypah starts at the end of the curl drawing inwards towards the face using her brush nib. She makes loads of little curls, making little semi circles until it looks like “a little cannoli of hair”, then filling out the rest. A general rule of thumb for colouring hair that Pypah follows is: “It always appears darker near the roots or where there is a lot of bunching, especially with curly hair anywhere that is closer to the head it’ll have shadows on it, anywhere closer to the parting will be darker as well.” This is because hair is denser in these spots, in terms of how much hair is bunched up together. This technique will assist you in creating characters with more realistic looking hair.
For colouring hair, Pypah starts with the lightest shade first, then uses a darker shade to create definition and depict hair density. To finish off her character’s facial shadows, she uses a darker, warmer tone to add detail to the little creases in her characters’ faces to add the deepest shadows. This finishes off shading her character’s face. To learn more about blending skin tones, check out the other Pypah Santos blending techniques blog here.
Inkonic Fineliner Pens Techniques
After she’s finished with the marker portion of her drawings she’ll go in with Inkonic Fineliner Pens. She uses this 0.4 mm pen to go over the edges and line art with a darker colour. She notes to always make sure to keep the values in check! The Inkonic Fineliner Pens (featured in the Pypah Santos Marker Starter Bundle) are perfect for adding detail to your marker drawings, additionally they can be used to create illustrations, writing, and signing your finished pieces. It’s always a good idea to have a set of Inkonic Fineliner Pens in your set to assist you in creating fine details on your watercolour paintings, marker drawings, sketches, drawings, and mixed media masterpieces. When finishing her works, Pypah sometimes adds stars using Fineliner Pens to the perimeter of her drawing to balance the composition.
Coloured Pencils Techniques
Using sharpened Professional Coloured Pencils, which are included in Pypah’s Marker Favourites Bundle, she adds any finishing details. Pypah is a fan of the textures that coloured pencils create on top of markers, these final details truly bring her colourful characters to life! Adding line art and cross hatching with coloured pencils gives her drawings a more crafty, sketchy feel. Pypah uses coloured pencils to add hairs to the eyebrows of her characters, which adds dimension, making her characters look less flat. Using a dark red or dark pink pencil she adds blush to her characters’ cheeks and their nose; Pypah adds, “This step I literally can never miss out on because it just adds life back into the character that I’m drawing.” She adds blush around the nose, the ears, the cheeks, and if she’s drawing hands she’ll add blush to the tips of the fingers as well because it adds life to the character.
“Adding those little details with a sharp pencil and some Fineliners really does bring the whole drawing together and makes it look really crisp and finished.” We hope this Fuel Your Creativity techniques blog has provided you with new ways to elevate your craft. Try out some of Pypah’s go-to techniques to create detailed and colourful characters!
Marker Starter Bundle includes a 22.9 cm x 30.5 cm Mixed Media Pad 2-Pack, a EverBlend Ultra Art Markers Pastel Colours Set of 12, our Inkonic Fineliner Pens Set of 24, Classic Oil-Based Paint Markers, and both art sets come complete with a swag bundle including an original Pypah Santos art print.
Marker Favourites Bundle includes our Professional Coloured Pencils Set of 48, EverBlend Brush Nib Ultra Art Markers Set of 12, a 22.9 cm x 30.5 cm Mixed Media Pad Pack of 2, and of course a swag bundle.
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