"Do you have any good way of portraying sheer fabric?"

Coloring the fabric on the backside of the paper works sometimes, but you should be wary of bleeding edges on the other side and where the boundaries of the area you're coloring are. (example: [link] The leggings and left-arm fabric were colored with this technique.)

Another way to portray sheer fabrics that I've used is to find a lighter hue of the fabric's desired color and use that over the other colors or to edge the fabric. For example, a light purple scarf over a girl's arm; the scarf would be a light purple colored over the skin's coloring.

Edged colors (e.g. a border of a light color near the lines of the fabric) give that feeling of sheer fabric also. Remember to use light hues for sheers; dark colors like blueberry or viridian won't give the same effect as a pastel blue or lavender color. (example: [link] the fabric on the right arm was colored using this technique.)

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"Do you have any good way of portraying sheer fabric?"

Just coloring the object normally and then coloring the fabric right over it in one layer (no real shading or anything, except a second pass where the fabric overlaps itself or something) worked for me.. (example, boobie warning: [link] ) it works perfectly cuz it sort of softens dark colors as well as darkening the lights.

"Do you have any good way of portraying shear fabric?"

Hmm, depends on the kind of markers you're using. I use Prismacolor, so I use a combination of the color I want and various degrees of Cool Grey for cool colors, and various shades of Creme for warm colors.

My example bleeds purposely, to illustrate a couple of points. [link]
First, lay down the flesh tone, that's your foundation. Then, choose a color that is suitable and not too dark. You can always darken a color, but it's harder to lighten it. I chose a medium green here. Color all areas of fabric, sheer and opaque, with a single layer of color. Then go over the parts of the fabric that aren't sheer once more, to add more pigment and make the fabric appear to be darker. This includes opaque fabric that is covered by sheer. With a Cool Grey (I used 30%), go over the opaque fabric that is covered by the sheer. Using a 60% Cool Grey, go over the opaque fabric that is NOT covered by the sheer. For overlapping sheer, use your a colorless blender and lift pigment off the areas that don't overlap any other fabric.

Mind you, if you're not drawing this figure on a blank background, you're going to have to take the other colors in the picture into account, but the same last step applies. It will lighten the colors of the objects behind the sheer when you use the colorless blender (make sure to clean the blender of other pigments when you're done!)

If you look at the bottom of the skirt, you'll see that it looks sort of blue. That's where the darker cool grey bled past the green. If you're having trouble staying within the lines, there are two fixes that I know of. First, make sure your greens are completely dry before applying the next color. Second, use masking tape to mask off the edges of your area. It's gentle enough even for tracing paper if you don't get in a hurry when removing it. I'd suggest practicing on a scrap sketch first, if you've never used masking tape. More expensive but easier to learn to use is Frisket tape, where you simply cut the shape out that you want to color, and lay a clear sheet of frisket tape over the drawing, it protects the edges from bleeding.

Any alcohol based marker will allow for this kind of layering, so if you don't use Prismacolor, you should still be able to use these techniques. If your markers are waterbased (Crayola or generic), I suggest doing as was suggested by another member, and simply use a lighter shade of marker on the sheer fabric, and the darker shade of the same color on the opaque fabric.

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Agatha Harkness [link] One of the Witte Wieven [link] Captain Cori the Green [link]

That pic is an awesome example of how to pull this off. Thanks so much for sharing!

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What's the best way to color a sky with a glowing sun?

If you're intent on using just markers, then applying several layers is your best bet- color up to the sun using exceptionally light blue, and slowly add more layers, first with the same blue, and then with slightly darker blues, ending each layer a little farther away, taking rays into account as well.
But,not only will that take forever and frustrate the living hell out of you, it will probably also be the last thing your markers ever do (unless they're refillable, but even then, it's a waste of ink)

I'd suggest just coloring the sky in three layers; the first, a very light blue all over the sky. Then a darker blue all over the sky, except for the general area where the sun will be. Then, using white ink, white charcoal, white pastel, etc, actually draw on the sun.

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This might be catastrophic.

"Do you have any good way of portraying shear fabric?"

i have to agree with layering with a lighter color after coloring regular flesh tones....it depends on how transparent you want your sheer fabric.

i did that here: [link]

a similar thing was done for the transparent tail on this pic (([link]))
i basically put in all the water effects in a wash of COPIC ink and blender, then colored in the tail with a lighter shade of green for effect.