Members - CopicMarker

To celebrate the release of the latest The Great Gatsby remake (which hits theaters May 10th), we’ve teamed up with fashion illustrator Jennifer Hancock to bring you a series of four tutorials based on the Roaring Twenties fashion seen in the film.

This week, Jennifer walks us through the steps to create a variety of jewels with Copic markers:

No extravagant flapper is complete without her pearls and ornate art deco jewelry! I have created a few simple jewel tutorials that show the techniques I used to create the jewelry in the final illustration. I tried to keep the cut stone instructions pretty simple, but keep in mind that the more geometry you add to your jewel design, the more interesting it can become. I hope you can use it as a starting point for creating some really incredible jewel designs of your own! Have fun!

Pearls

I started with a circle in pencil, then I outlined the circle with my gray Multiliner pen and erased the pencil. I added spherical depth to the circle by adding shading. I created a series of rings within the circle that get smaller and lighter as they get to the brightest point on the sphere, like you would shadow a ball – but to create a pearl, leave one light-reflective ring toward the base of the sphere. This ring will not usually show up in circular shapes with matte surfaces, but smooth surfaces will pick up a kind of reflective bounce light within their shadowy places when well-lit. I then blended the rings using two techniques – first using the colorless blender, then going over it again with the original ring shades blended with the lightest shade until satisfied. I highlighted the brightest section with a white pencil, and filled the brightest point with the opaque white ink.

Materials Used:
Pencil & eraser
Copic Multiliners – Gray & Black .05
Copic Sketch markers – T5,T3,T2,T1, 0
White pencil
Copic Opaque White

Emerald-Cut Amethyst

I started with a rectangle, then duplicated the lines of my rectangle from the inside, creating a new rectangle in the center with smaller rectangles in each corner. I used these lines to guide where the trapezoid shapes go in the outside corners. My rectangles are now elongated octagons, one within the other. Next I drew a line about a third of the way outside the center octagon, creating a third octagonal line. I outlined my three octagons and four corner trapezoids with a gray Multiliner and erased my pencil. I colored the different sections in three blended shades of the same color to give the appearance of reflected light, added a bit of white pencil to show reflected light on the sides, and outlined the entire illustration in a glitter pen for definition.

Materials Used:
Pencil & eraser
Copic Multiliner – Gray .05
Copic Sketch markers – V17, BV13, B41
White pencil
AtYou Spica Glitter Pen – Lavender

Teardrop-Cut Topaz

This cut is a bit trickier. I am sure there are better ways of getting your shapes to be perfectly even but I wanted to keep things simple, so everything here is done by eye. I started with a teardrop shape, or a circle and triangle fit together at their widest points. Then I drew a smaller teardrop in the center. I began drawing curved lines – the first beginning an the base of the outer drop, its curve meeting the center drop, and ending back at the base of the outer drop. I continued doing this around the teardrop, then did it again, this time starting in the center of the first set of curved shapes. Lastly, I finished the tip of the teardrop by drawing an X, leaving a nice diamond-shaped point, and preserving my teardrop center. Again, I colored the different sections in three blended shades of the same color to give the appearance of reflected light, added some white pencil to show reflected light on the sides, and outlined the entire illustration in a glitter pen for definition.

Materials Used:
Pencil & eraser
Copic Multiliner – Gray .05
Copic Sketch markers – B41, B24
White pencil
AtYou Spica Glitter Pen – Sky Blue

Jade Beads
Follow the pearl instructions above, but omit the lighter reflective ring at the base of the sphere.

Materials Used:
Pencil & eraser
Copic Multiliners – Gray & Olive .05
Copic Sketch markers – G82, YG67
White pencil
Copic Opaque White

Round Cut Hessonite Garnet
Follow the instructions for the teardrop-cut topaz. Change the teardrop shapes to circles and create rounded lines all the way around, omitting the X used to create the tip of the teardrop.

Materials Used:
Pencil & eraser
Copic Multiliner – Gray .05
Copic Sketch markers – R02, R08, E01
White pencil
AtYou Spica Glitter Pen – Orange

Final Illustration – Materials Used:
Pencil & eraser
Copic Multiliner - Gray, Black, Olive, Wine .05
Copic Sketch markers:
Skin – E11, E21, E13, E01, R20, R02
Hair – R02, E13, E15, E18
Eyes – T5, 110, T3, T2, G82, YG67
Lips – R39, RV69
Jewels – B41, YG67, G82, R39, RV69, T3, T5
Dress – E01, R02, RV21, R22
AtYou Spica Glitter Pens – Silver, Gold, Orange, Olive, Red
Copic Opaque White
Prismacolor Pencils – PC929, PC938, PC927, PC944, PC945

Find Jennifer on the web:
Copic Color
Portfolio