Combine watercolour with marker pens

Manga-inspired illustrations with watercolour and markers. Illustrator Gigi Chong works with an exciting technique where she combines watercolour and marker pens. The influences behind her work clearly come from anime and manga, where characters appear in beautiful, vibrant combinations with soft tonal transitions. Learn her technique and try new ways of using different creative tools that breathe new life into your creative drive.

My name is Gigi Chong and I am a full-time student and hobby illustrator, although the opposite wouldn’t be too bad either! I mainly work with watercolour in combination with markers and create manga-inspired illustrations, but I also draw short comics.

Where do you find your inspiration, Gigi?

Since childhood, I have loved anime and manga, which has probably subconsciously influenced my current style. In recent years, my sources of inspiration have been nature and, above all, other creatives that I follow on social media. I am incredibly motivated by seeing other successful creatives, so I usually have studio vlogs, podcasts and videos playing in the background while I draw.

Tell us more about your proccess

I always start with a small sketch – and by small, I really mean small. Most often it’s just a few centimetres in size. During the sketching process, I try not to think about details that might interrupt the flow, but instead focus on capturing the main shapes and the feeling I want to convey. What’s so great about small sketches is that you can see the whole picture much more clearly. It’s like looking at a painting from ten metres away – you can take in the entire composition.

Once I’m happy with the sketch, I redraw it in a larger format on regular printer paper and then trace the sketch onto cold-pressed watercolour paper (high texture) from Canson using a light box. The light box I use is the Daylight Wafer; it’s both lightweight and clever, as you can adjust the brightness!

After that, I tape the edges of the paper to a hard surface so that the paper stays flat even when I apply the watercolour paint from Winsor & Newton. I usually brush a layer of plain water over the entire paper first, and then apply the colours. Because the paper is wet, the colours blend naturally on the surface and the transitions between different colours become “softer”. The watercolour acts as a first layer that removes all the white areas of the paper. After this comes the most fun part – markers! I use Copic Sketch markers because of the wide colour range and the soft brush tip.

When I work with Copic markers, I usually think carefully about which colours work well together. When shading, I find it boring to use a darker shade of the same colour, so instead I often choose a darker shade of a different colour. For example, when shading orange hair, I usually use a purple colour for the shadows instead of a darker shade of orange.

When working with alcohol-based markers and aiming for a smooth transition between colours, it’s easiest if the colours are close to each other, such as yellow and orange. If you want to blend colours that are far apart, such as blue and orange, you can use an intermediate colour that relates to both, for example purple. It’s also easier to blend before the colour has completely dried, so it can be a good idea to work quickly.

From hobby to profession

Turning my hobby into a profession is something I’m currently working on while studying at university. What I focus on most is increasing my “social media presence”, meaning establishing an online community, primarily via Instagram and YouTube. This includes sharing illustrations, clips of my drawing process and creating weekly comic strips. Being proactive is also something I strongly believe in. This can mean attending conventions (which can be incredibly fun but also a little scary), creating my own projects and gradually building a network within the illustration world. Whether these methods will be successful or not, we’ll find out in the near future!