What is Artistic Coloring? What is Marker Underpainting?

What is Artistic Coloring?

Artistic coloring is a term coined by popular online coloring instructor Amy Shulke for a genre of adult coloring which sits skill-wise somewhere between standard hobby coloring (beginner novice) and artist level marker rendering (professional advanced).

The goal of artistic coloring is to use alcohol markers and colored pencils to create realistic illustrations. Some artistic colorists use purchased line art while others draw their own images from scratch. To render the color, artistic colorists borrow techniques from watercolorists and oil painters.

What is Marker Underpainting?

With a focus on realism, Amy Shulke at ColorWonk.com teaches students to use an underpainting technique, following the influence of the Dutch Golden Age of painting in the 17th century. Old Masters like Rembrandt and Vermeer used the underpainting technique with oils to paint photorealistic portraits, scenes, and still life arrangements long before the invention of photography.

Amy definitely did not invent the technique but she has worked hard to modify it for modern art markers and colored pencils. The resulting marker paintings are lifelike and dimensional, yet the method is easy and accessible for students who have never studied art.