Tutorial for Heather Valentin's Coloring Without Boundaries - Fixing "Gooey" Markers

Hi everyone and Happy Thursday!! It's time for me to share my post from Heather Valentin's Coloring Without Boundaries as part of the Colorist Team.  Today I just want to demonstrate how to fix an issue that affects all of us who color with alcohol ink markers. It doesn't matter which brand you use, it is a problem that occurs with any alcohol markers, but DO NOT worry, there is an easy fix:)

For this tutorial, I am working with Abby Love Letter from Lacy Sunshine Shoppe. As you can see in the circled area of the photo below, the bangs look gooey or gloppy where the darkest color of ink, in this case Copic E18, is laid down. There are a few reasons this can happen and therefore, a few easy fixes.

Reasons are as follows:
1. Marker needs refilled
2. Marker tip/cap are dirty as in this photo

3. Too much ink has been laid down and there is build up on your paper

Fixes (corresponding to reasons above)

1. Refill your marker
2. Clean your marker and cap using alcohol, cotton round and Qtip

Here's how to do it:

Gently rub the plastic around the marker tip, be careful not to press on/squeeze the marker tip

Clean the cap with the Qtip first to get all the way down to the bottom of the cap, then finish with cotton round or paper towel

Now your marker should be all clean and no more gloppy/streaky lines.

3. If you can see too much ink built up on part of your image and you don't want to redo the whole thing, take your Colorless Blender (Copic 0) and very gently pick up some of the extra color. If you still have some glass-like streaks, try drying with an embossing gun.

See how now the top part of her hair looks nice and smooth on the paper - no streaky or gooey appearance. 

Here is Abby with all her hair colored.

Sure hope this tutorial will help out with your coloring progress. Hope you will come join me next week as I will be completing this image with a tutorial on coloring floor and stone.

Many Hugs!!

Audrey