In today’s post I’m going to share with you 10 ways you can use your Copic Marker Colorless Blender.
Which I honestly rarely use.
Why? Because I feel sometimes it can actually mess up your art. Seriously!
The Colorless Blender is just like a regular Copic Marker, without any color – and what happens if you color an image and over saturate your paper?
Your ink will seep outside the lines of your image and you loose control of the ink on the paper.
I know what you’re thinking… But the colorless blender is clear.. you can’t see it. Which is true but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to interact with the ink you’ve laid down… pushing it out of the way.
I’m going to share 10 ways to use the colorless blender + an alternate technique if you’d rather not use the Colorless Blender or looking for a challenge.
When you hear the word blender you automatically think it’s going to help you blend. Keep in mind this is not a tool to help you blend. Think of the Colorless Blender as a color mover.
Now let’s dig into the 10 ways to use your Copic Marker Colorless Blender.
#1 Create Textures
Using the Colorless Blender to Create Textures:
By leaving your nib on the paper longer you can create different shaped textures, like hair, fur or patterns.
Alternative:
You can still create these textures using different Copic Markers and mimicking the pattern you’re trying to create. Sometimes waiting for the ink to dry a little and then go back over with the different colors. By letting the ink dry it keeps the ink from blending all together.
#2 Lighten an Area
Using the Colorless Blender to Lighten an Area:
By leaving your nib on the paper longer you can create a highlight on a bubble or glass, even a sunray.
Alternative:
For example if you want to create a sunray. Color the area lighter first and then build the darker colors around that area. By doing it this way you can add more colors and make the sunray more defined.
#3 Push Color back into Place
Using the Colorless Blender to Push Color Back into Place:
If you have gone outside the lines of your image you can use the Copic Blender to “push” the color back by repeatedly pushing it where you need it to go.
Alternative:
There are a few different ways to approach this depending on the area you went outside the lines.
- Instead of using the blender you can either make the area a little bigger by going outside the lines a little until the area is covered.
- Build a scene around it.
- Camouflage with dots. (See Tutorial)
- If you are die cutting the image out and the spot is small you can use a white gel pen to cover it up, the same as you would white out.
#4 Eliminate the Shine
Using the Colorless Blender to Eliminate the Shine:
If your marker ink has gotten sticky because it needs to be cleaned or refilled you can go over with the blender to eliminate shine.
Alternative:
Add stickles to the area to cover it up. Or you can stamp or print out another image and make your image look 3D with layers like in this post!
#5 Clean your Markers and Nibs
Using the Colorless Blender Solution to clean your Markers:
You can use the Blender Solution (refill) to clean your nibs and Copic Marker Caps to avoid the sticky gunky coloring.
Alternative:
I have seen many posts, where people tell you to clean your markers with rubbing alcohol. While you can use rubbing alcohol to clean the caps – you want to avoid using alcohol anywhere near the nibs as it can ruin the nib and or change the color.
#6 Moisten Paper for Techniques
Using the Colorless Blender to Create softer look (watercolor look):
By wetting the paper with your Blender you can create different techniques similar to a water color look.
Alternative:
Use all very light colors and a light hand so there are no harsh lines on your paper. This is great for sky.
#7 Create your Own Colors
Using the Colorless Blenders and refills to create your own Copic Colors:
You can buy multiple Copic Blenders and add ink from your Copic Refills to create a lighter version of that color.
Alternative:
Use a different color family that blends with the “000” or “0000”.
#8 Soften the edge of a color
Using the Colorless Blender soften the edge of a color:
If you are using a color and you don’t have the next lighter color you can soften the edge the color to blend it out. You can even use this technique to smudge a color like in the photo.
Alternative:
Use the nib to nib technique. Check out this post if you do not know how to do this.
#9 Create Material Patterns
Using the Colorless Blender to create material patterns:
You can moisten a piece of fabric (lace, denim etc.) and press it into your colored area to mimic that pattern.
Alternative:
Draw your patterns – lace, polka dots etc. Use stipple technique to create denim, fur etc.
#10 Create Abstract Backgrounds
Using the Colorless Blender to create abstract backgrounds:
You can use your colored Copic refills along with your Blender refill to create some gorgeous abstract backgrounds.
Alternative:
You can use rubbing alcohol to do this as well.
I hope you learned some new tricks that you can do with your colorless blender.
There’s a video course sharing how to do all these techniques and tricks in the Coloring Club!
For more info please CLICK HERE!
