How to Render in Prismacolor Marker

Prismacolor Art Markers have completely changed the way people use markers in the art world. These markers are more expensive than your garden variety "magic markers," but come with many advantages. They have a wide range of realistic colors, and they are capable of producing smooth lines that can blend together nicely. Rendering shadows and highlights with Prismacolor markers can be done in much the same way as rendering with watercolors or other paint products. While the effect is not quite the same, you can achieve a realistic rendering very quickly and with a minimum amount of mess and clean up. Rendering the human face is a great example to start with for beginners as the human face has complex shadows and highlights that need to be captured well to create a realistic image.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Prisma Color markers (Full set of 156 is recommended)
• Paper or illustration board

1. 
    

   Color the entire face with "Light Peach" as the base color. Color the eyebrows and hair with a base color of "Sienna Brown." You need to use the lighter shades as the base, and add darker shades for definition and shadows later. Use "Carmine Red" for the lips and "Tuscan Red" for the inside of the mouth. For the eyes, use "Mediterranean Blue" on the irises, and leave the whites of the eyes white.

2. 
    

   Add a band of "Walnut" around the base of the scalp, side of the head, under the chin and both sides of the neck. Add a line of this color under each eyebrow and to the inside of the ears. Add a small horizontal dash of "Walnut" under the lips and nose.

3. 
    

   Apply a small curved line of "Peach" just below the each eye to highlight the cheek bones. Add another curved line of "Salmon Pink" to the tip of the nose and the bottom of the chin. Draw a thin line of "Sienna Brown" under along the outside of each eye. Add small slightly curved vertical lines of "Crimson Red" to the right and left sides of the lips. Use "Dark Umber" on the bottom right and left sides of the hair. Make a small "V" shape in "Dark Umber" at the top middle section of the hair.

4. Create subtle highlights with very light colors. Add "Eggshell" to the middle of the forehead and the bridge and tip of the nose. Add a thin line of "Eggshell" to the top of the each cheek bone to exposes the curve of the cheeks.

Tips & Warnings

• Test out your colors beforehand on a scrap sheet of paper, and note how they blend together.
• Place a sheet of paper under your illustration in case the marker bleeds through.

Resources

• An artist's gallery with Prismacolor Marker renderings of illustrations.
• A gallery of Prismacolor Marker renderings at the official Prismacolor website.