Marker Render Set - Mass Effect 2

Did this exercise to recognize color more efficiently and render at a faster pace... this year I really wanted to train my eyes to pick up on more details at one time and work quicker this way... Really focus on adding depth to a drawing without spending hours upon hours on it. I decided to draw my favorite characters from Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2, because... let's face it I FREAKING LOVE MASS EFFECT.

14x17 marker paper, Copic markers, Prismacolor markers, Prismacolor pencils. Very minimal outlines in Copic multiliner, I don't really like to outline my pictures too much; I feel that a very obvious black outline can make the subject look flat.

Here is Grunt. I love Grunt. 2 hours.

Commander Shepard's BIGGEST FAN--LEGION. LOL. Sigh. This one did take me a really long time. The Mantis sniper rifle alone took 3 hours. So much for trying to be efficient. I used white gouache for the highlights along his back and to create the lens glare. I would like to note that 4 of my markers ran out of ink while coloring Legion, lots of blending involved. To get the color of his armor I actually had to use a light pink, light blue-violet and a medium tone of blue-violet, which I layered a light grey over, and then added a darker shade of grey--basically, I was pulling my hair out trying to get all the hues in.

I took some pictures of how I colored Legion's... arm. I used Prismacolor Light Walnut first, added shadows w/ Copic #E71 Champagne, then used Copic #E49 Dark Bark and #W10 Warm Grey for the shadows, blending the edges with Champagne. Added some contrasting tones w/ Copic #N3 Neutral Grey. In total this picture took about 9 hours and... I need new markers.






^Before gouache
^Completed. High-res at my deviantArt page
I'll probably actually work on some speed renders when I have some time, but for now, back to working on cosplays!! NOTE: Do I prefer Copics or Prismacolors? Honestly to me there isn't a huge difference between the quality of these brands (both are alcohol-based markers) but I like the brush tips of the Copics, and they are refillable. They are, however, almost 2x the price of a Prismacolor marker so unless you're coloring all the time, it's probably more cost-efficient to buy Prismacolor markers. I recently started buying the Copic Ciao markers, which are a little less than the Sketch markers, for colors I don't use often because $6 for a marker.... it hurts.