How to Draw Glowing Hands with Markers: Copic Glow Effect Tutorial
Fellow marker slingers, hello and welcome to the blog.
This week's commission work brings us Danny Rand, better known as Iron Fist. Created in the 1970s during the martial arts pop culture boom, Iron Fist is Marvel's kung fu hero who channels chi energy through his fists, which means drawing glowing hands is kind of the whole point. Congratulations, you've passed Iron Fist 101. Now let's talk markers.
How to plan a glow or energy effect with markers
Most things that emanate light are usually brightest at its core and the hotter the light the brighter the core.
Let’s keep this in mind as you start to plan the temperature of your glow/energy effect. Next you’ll want to figure out the material encasing this energy if any. The encasing material will dictate how light reacts with the surface of said material.
For example light or glow emanating from cracks in a rock or stone formation will react different then light radiating from a glass light bulb. In the case of the rock formation the glow will only radiate through cracks and create a directional glow with heavy dark areas where the surface is solid on the other hand glow from a light bulb radiates freely with no limitations or shadows within the actual object and fades as it travels away from the bulb. These are two examples on opposite ends of the gamut but most things fall somewhere in between.
How to build the core glow with Copic markers
Now that I've got you thinking like Bill Nye the Science Guy let us use markers to emulate the glow. In the case of this Iron Fist piece I could have gone the usual direction of the ultra white glowing fist that most often means minimal definition within the hand. Instead I decided to cool the temperature down so that I could include more muscle definition around the core of the glowing fist, as a cooler temperature would mean a less intense light. I did this by laying down some light reds and yellows to form the muscle structure of the hands.
Instead I decided to cool the temperature down so that I could include more muscle definition around the core of the hands as a cooler temperature would mean a less intense light. I did this by laying down some light reds and yellows to form the muscle structure of the hands.
Next, I began to darken the areas where I felt the muscle is at its meatiest/thickest with warm grays and dark reds making sure to also leave lots of white in between indicating the areas where light is most likely to radiate. Creating these dark areas helps to establish form and give volume to the object encasing the glow or energy.
“I’m not just an ordinary fighter, okay? I’m the Iron Fist.”
How to create the outer glow and fade
Let’s turn our attention to the outer glow area now. I created a sort of white blob like shape around the hands with a light outer layer of yellow. The outer yellow layer will turn into the fading light as it travels away from the core of the hands. I used an almost white yellow, a slightly darker yellow and a reddish orange to create a gradient from light to dark to blend the yellow out of the white outline around the arm. This pretty much created my glow. Next I darkened the grey around the glow to make the glow brighter and used an orange color to lightly blend the glow into the dark grey.
Once I was happy with the hands, the glow and how it faded into the dark grey I went back with a white paint marker and brightened up all the areas where I felt the glow should be at its brightest to turn up the intensity of the light. There are no exact methods to create energy and glows but think these basic steps should get your started and heading in the right direction.
Thanks for reading.
If you want to know which brands of markers and the color codes and names I used to create these affects feel free to ask below. Be sure to leave your Instagram account in the comment so I can check out your work or tag me at @artedecastro incase you try out these methods. I would love to see what you guys do with these tips.
Your neighborhood marker slinger,
Ivan Castro
