Quick and easy marker rendering

by Dave Marciniak

When you need a complete, artistically rendered landscape plan- well, of course you'll hire us. But if you just need to wash some color on your plans to make them "pop." you can do it pretty quickly with an understanding of some fundamentals:

First, start with simple linework- whether using pencil or a computer program, I start with an appropriately-sized circle for the plant, based on its mature size. Then, using a black pen, I draw the shape of the plant as seen from above. This can be quick and dirty: you're not trying to make it look like an aerial photograph, just make spiky plants look spiky and soft plants look soft. You can learn some great tips from Grant Reid's Landscape Graphics. So for a first step, my line drawing looks like this.

The next step is to start laying down some color. Prismacolor or Chartpak markers are great, because you can put down a lot of smooth, rich color in a hurry. When doing quick rendering on bond paper, I start with the lightest colors and work my way to the darker colors. So that I don't go too dark too fast by mistake, I apply all the lightest value color for all the plants at once. It looks like this when I'm done.

For most plans, I'll do three layers of color. The next layer looks like this, and then the final layer really makes the plant seem to advance towards the viewer.  So why does this work? If you've ever taken a drawing class, you've probably heard of color being broken down into hue, intensity and value. Value, in a nutshell, is how light or dark a color is in relation to those around it. Your plant material will look the best, and have the most realistic 3D appearance, if you progress very slowly between values- i.e., Cool Gray 1 to Cool Gray 2 to Cool Gray 3. If you jump from Cool Gray 1 to Cool Gray 4, the result will be visually jarring and not at all convincing.

Gray tones are easy, because nearly all the marker and pencil manufacturers name them based on lightness or darkness. Chartpak markers start at 1 and go up, and Prismacolors go up in 10% increments. What about colors, though? The only way to really get it right is to do a value study. Start by laying down a block of color for each of your greens on a sheet of paper. Look at what you have and rate each color's value on a scale of 1 to however many colors you have. Next, pull out another sheet of paper and lay down the colors in the order you determined. If you squint at the sheet, you'll see less of the color and more of the value. Does it look like they're in the right order? If not, do it again until you feel you have it right.

Once you have what you consider to be an accurate value study, save the sheet and put it somewhere you won't lose it. I keep several studies (value studies, color clending, etc.) tacked up over my work table. It's easier than trying to remember it all.

This is by no means an exhaustive tutorial on color rendering, but I hope it gives you a little more confidence to add a little something to your simpler plans. This technique works with both markers and colored pencils, which we have for sale in the online store. In the meantime, if you have any questions or specific requests for art media, drop me an email. The most important thing to remember is to have fun and keep practicing until you're totally satisfied with what you can do. If you're looking for examples of different styles, check out the landscape plans section of our portfolio.

Happy Drawing!

-Dave