Using shadows under lettering or around art creates a 3-D effect that can make your pieces come alive. They stand out against the background and create interest. However, creating shadows is the tricky part. Here’s how to easily create faded drop shadows with Tombow Markers.

How to Easily Create Faded Drop Shadows With Tombow Markers

This tip is one I quite accidentally discovered. I discovered this trick while filming my July Plan With Me Video. I used Sticky Notes to block off areas of the page and watercolor paint around them. Well, let’s say I was a little bit too liberal with the water. And let’s face it, sticky notes don’t block all the water or ink. It’s a fun technique to try, by all means, but it is not one to use if you want solid, straight lines when you peel them off.

After peeling off the sticky notes and revealing a slight mess underneath, I decided to try to make the page look 3-D. Like I punched out pieces of the paper, and there was a shadow cast down below.

Supplies You’ll Need:

• Tombow Colorless Blender (which comes with most Tombow Dual Brush Marker Sets)
• Tombow Gray Marker (or another color for different drop shadow effects)
• Paper (preferably 32 LB paper or super smooth paper, like marker paper or a Rhodia pad)
• Optional: Plastic Bag, Ceramic Plate or Palette

Tombow Marker Fun – Combining Colors

You’ll know that combining colors is fun if you’ve ever experimented with Tombow Dual Brush Markers. One marker essentially absorbs part of the pigment from another marker if you press the tips together or mop up the color from a palette like a paintbrush.

One nice thing about Tombow markers is that they are self-cleaning. Use the brush tip (or bullet tip for that matter), and the absorbed pigment fades into the marker’s regular color. If using a dark color with a light color, there’s no residual effect except you might be left with a bit of staining on the tip of the light-colored marker.

Colorless Blender Marker – The Key to a Perfectly Blended Shadow

Up until now, I never used the colorless blender for anything other than attempting to blend two colors together. (Which, by the way, I find only works well on marker paper – not even 32 lb super smooth paper.)

But then a stroke of genius hit me! If I absorb some gray into the colorless blender, the gray will fade automatically to clear. Which is precisely the effect I wanted! The colorless blender is the key to creating a shadow that softly fades away with your Tombow markers! And you can do it without rubbing holes in the paper by blending too. You can even create faded drop shadows without water.

Watch the Video to Create Perfect Fading Shadows with Tombow Markers

Watch the July Plan With Me Video

The inspiration for creating faded drop shadows using Tombow Markers. See the mess I made & how the drop shadows cleaned up a mistake.

Here are some examples of what you can do using this method to create shadows with your Tombows:

How You Can Easily Create Shadows Using Tombow Markers (2 Methods)

If you press the tips of the markers together, the colorless blender will absorb some of the pigment from the other pen and will mark with that color until it runs out. I found two easy ways to create this effect.

Method 1:

Kiss the markers together at the tip and slowly rotate the colorless blender, so it is evenly saturated all the way around.
Now line the area with the tip to get the darkest shadow against another object or mark. The pigment will eventually be used up, and you’ll have to ‘refill’ the colorless blender with more gray and complete your shadows.
Don’t start in the same place every time – you’re most saturated pigment will always be at the beginning. So if you need to evenly distribute a shadow effect, start at the top one time, and the bottom another time.

Method 2 (Shown in the Video):

You could scribble the gray marker (or another color) on a palette or plastic bag or plate (like the ceramic plates from your kitchen). Then roll the tip of the colorless blender around to absorb the pigment.

The example video above uses this method to create shadows with the Tombow colorless blender. Because it the fastest way to cover a larger area. I found pressing the tips together took much longer than scribbling on a plate because of how often I had to refill my shadow color. But if you don’t have a plate or palette, then, by all means, use the first method.

Notes:

By the way, you can do this with any water-based marker. The process is the same!

Question:

What other ways do you use the colorless blender marker from Tombow?
If you want to learn how to handletter using Tombow Markers – check out my workbooks below!

No Matter Which Notebook I use – You’ll Always Find These Supplies Close at Hand

Large Brush Tip Markers

• Tombow Dual Brush Pens – Full Set | Bright Set | Secondary Set | Pastel Set | Grayscale Set (there are more sets available as well)
• Karin Mega Box Markers | Karin Mini Box | Karin Metallic Brush Pens
• Artline Stix
• Ecoline Brush Pens