We asked one of the winners of the “Copic Award 2020” contest, ym, for tips - Just how do you color by hand when you’ve got only one shot?!

I'm honored. Oh, but I might've been mistaken when I said earlier that I never drew professionally, because I've sold my illustrations on online auction sites in the past. They have a category for "hand-drawn illustrations." When I tried to think of a way to earn money working from home, the first thing I thought of was selling the originals of my illustrations. So I do make money off my illustrations this way.

I'm not terribly picky, but I often tend to use drawing paper for my illustrations. With drawing paper, the colors come out nice and strong, giving exactly the impression I'm trying to achieve. Along that vein, gradations come out nicer on watercolor paper. But the colors have a tendency to bleed into each other, so watercolor paper isn't ideal when I'm trying to draw something particularly detailed. For the illustration I submitted to this contest, I used Copic-brand Premium Bond Paper. Even light colors show up nicely on this paper, so I think it's perfect for illustrations with a muted color scheme as well. Choosing what kind of paper to use can be quite difficult. I try to make a point to test out all kinds of paper to learn what kinds of illustrations they are and aren't suitable for.

That was just me coloring very quickly, before the ink had a chance to dry. (laughs) When that doesn't work, I use a colored pencil to correct the unevenness. I usually try to fix any mistakes I make with a colored pencil. If I try to forcibly fix mistakes using only Copics, the colors tend to separate (due to differences in the size of the pigment grains, the colors can look glaringly different), and the mistake ends up looking even worse after… 

For "Copic Award", they had something called key colors, but I always select about 3 main colors to be the theme for that piece for my other works. For example, if you color the character's skirt red, your first instinct will probably be to use a darker red for the shading on the skirt. But if you've already used blue in another area and done the shading there in darker blue, it will look random and incongruous when you look at the piece overall. In this situation, I'd do the shading in both areas with a reddish purple or bluish purple, which would instantly draw the entire piece together. By deciding your key colors from the very beginning, you'll be able to see which colors you should use for the finer details. If you decide your key colors ahead of time, I think you’ll instantly see an improvement in the finished product, even for those who are inexperienced with using Copics.

You mentally break a single illustration up into sections, such as "top left area", "bottom right area", etc. If you take the illustration I submitted to the contest as an example, the top left has a yellow light and the bottom right has a blue light. And if you look closely, you’ll notice that I used quite a few different colors in this single illustration. I decide from the beginning which areas will be which colors, and as I approach the contrasting area, I use an increasing amount of that area’s color. I also take an occasional step back while working, which is important for checking the balance of colors in the illustration.

I try to have the balance of colors all decided before I start coloring. But if you plan it out in too much detail ahead of time, there's no room to change things while you're coloring if you think it looks off. That's why I try to approach it with the mindset of “if it’s off, it’s off, so it’ll just be in the final version.” When you make a tiny mistake, it's better not to immediately try and correct it. Instead, make adjustments overall as you go to compensate for the mistake. My initial plan for my entry to the contest was actually to use slightly darker shades of blue and more purple. But while I was drawing I got the impression that the illustration wasn't warm enough, so that plan changed.

Before anything else, I think it's important to get used to the nib (the tip of the pen). Copic markers are much more expensive than ordinary markers, so people can't help but try to use them sparingly, but I think it's better to practice using them a lot so you can get used to the nib. 

Even if it’s just for practice, I make sure that once I start an illustration, I follow through until it’s complete. Also, this isn’t necessarily for practice, but I make a point of listing one or two new illustrations a week on online auction sites, so I have to be constantly creating to keep up with that quota. 

The buyer will be disappointed if the quality is poor. Also, in the case of online auctions, you're often told the customer's preferences. If they're spending money to buy your illustration, it's hard to straight-out reject their request. Of course, it would be difficult to accommodate exceptionally heavy-handed requests, but when they ask for something like "I'd like an illustration that has shades of pink as its main colors", I do my best to comply.

It's becoming rare to purchase handmade art in this day and age, so those who do are very particular about the piece they receive. But they also clearly tell me their preferences and impressions. Receiving feedback from many people fuels my desire to continue creating. I think that in some ways the fact that my work has a clear price tag attached to it has helped me to grow a lot.

When it comes to selecting your colors, definitely intuition. But in order to complete an illustration that accurately expresses what you want it to, I think patience and perseverance are the most crucial in the end. After all, it's impossible to totally capture the image in your mind as perfectly as you pictured it.

Personally, I make a point of remembering which colors stand out to me during the course of my everyday life. When I feel the scenery is especially beautiful or certain colors really complement each other, I try to quickly jot down my impression along with roughly which shades of Copic markers I think the colors I saw correspond to. Despite this, I don’t have all that much confidence in my ability to choose colors. So when I’m actually working on a piece, I find it’s important to carefully draw tiny test patches to check how the colors work together, and figure out which best match with the image I have in mind.

I do create a bit of digital art as well, but the computer in my house is so old that once I hit about 5 layers it crashes and I can't continue. (laughs) I actually started out working digitally but found I enjoy hand-drawing better. I like that you have a physical piece of artwork in front of you when you're finished. The intensity of not being able to hit the 'undo' button and the repetitive motions of physically drawing are also enjoyable for me. To add to that, digital art is useful for expressing the image you have in your head exactly as it is, but when you're drawing by hand, you sometimes end up creating something you hadn't expected. As an artist, I enjoy those accidents more than anything.