Common mistakes and quick fixes
Streaks, bleeding and muddy blends, and how to rescue them.
Level: beginner. About 10 minutes.
What you need
- The drawing you want to rescue, or a test page
- The same markers you used
- A colorless blender
- A white gel pen
Steps
Streaks: go over it again
Streaks come from ink drying in between strokes. Color the whole area again with the same marker in small circles, fast, so it is wet all over.
Over the line: push it back
Color from the line inwards next time. Already over? Touch the blender to the stray ink and move towards your shape: it pushes the color back a little.
Muddy blends: stay in one family
Mud happens when colors from opposite sides of the wheel mix while wet. Let the layer dry and blend with a darker shade of the same color instead.
Fuzzy paper: stop and let it dry
Too many wet layers make the paper rough. Stop when it starts to feel fuzzy, let it dry fully and add at most one more layer.
Turn a spot into a detail
A stray dot that will not go away? Make it part of the drawing: a white gel pen highlight, a freckle or a little pattern.
Practice
- Make box 1 streaky on purpose, then fix it in box 2.
- Fill the circles and stop on the dashed line.
- Color the apple with everything you learned.