Print

[Faerydae]

Ok, so like ... I went to Michael's with the intent to just buy a couple of the skin tone prismacolor markers to experiment with ... and there is a 50% off all marker and pencil sets going on right now ... sooo ... after my other half insisted it was okay if I spent money that we didn't really have on them because I'll sell enough cards to make the money back fairly quickly (gosh I sure HOPE so! He has much more faith in me than I do LOL) ... 130 dollars later ... and I now own 3 full sets and a handful of loose markers.

Soooo any tips or tutorials that you guys know of on how to best use these puppies?

I'm playing around with them, but ... I'd like to cut down the learning curve on these as much as one can, if at all possible!

Have to say that they seem pretty cool so far!

Even though I keep finding myself quietly chanting: "OMG ... I just spent 130 freaking DOLLARS on flipping MARKERS ... OMG." LOL

[silentleaf]

OOO LOVE new toys. i have no real experience in markers i'm more of a painter. Digital arts type so far but i would love to learn.

[Treefox]

Ah, markers! First, I was very awkward with them but I got used to them quickly. If only they weren't so friggin' expensive! My not so original tip is: just start trying them out, I am sure you'll also learn to use them fast.
Apart from that:
- How they work and bleed depends majorly on the kind of paper you use. Water color paper, for example, damages the tips easily and just sucks up so much ink, that they just get empty very soon. Still, you get a great color base that will not wash out when you put normal water colors on top of them.
I got one set of paper made for markers and I must say that drawing accurately on that is much easier.
- If you want to fill out a larger space with them, try to do it fast so that the strokes can bleed into each other and create an even surface
- If you draw on a light-colored table or whatever I suggest that you put another layer of paper beneath the one you are drawing on. The markers tend to come through the paper and unwillingly color the surface under the paper as well.

[Eregyrn]

Congrat's! 

Unfortunately, I'm in the position of only having used Copic Sketch markers (with a flexible brush tip), so I don't think that any of the techniques I've worked out for using them would necessarily translate to the Prismacolor markers.  (Which I have occasionally eyed, and would like to experiment with -- but yeah, having invested so heavily in a Copics set, for a similarly  amount of money, I'm reluctant to spend even more on Prismacolor markers.)

But I have to echo what Treefox says:

* paper makes a BIG difference.  While you are in the experimental phase, I would suggest getting a bunch of different types of paper, and maybe copying the same drawing onto each of the types, and then color each of them.  It may let you see the best how different the effects are depending on the paper finish.

* Look for paper sold in art stores specifically as "marker" paper.

* I've said this before, but I particularly like doing my marker coloring on HP Laser Photo Paper (matte finish, 8 mil, 54 lb).


Do you have access to a cheap laser-printer?  I acquired a little HP LaserJet that only does b&w on sale at like Staples, and it's a godsend to my process.  One of the things I was trying to work around was that my scanner can't really handle paper larger than 9x12.  Therefore, for larger and more complex pieces of art, I often draw parts of it on several sheets of paper, ink it, then scan in the inks to clean them up a bit, and print them out on the laser-printer directly onto the paper I want to color on.  That ensures that the color piece will fit on my scanner.

Pro: laser-printed lines are impervious to markers, so you don't have to worry at all about smudging or smearing.   Con: not all types of paper will fit through the laser printer (bristol board won't).

[Multimedea]

Cold-pressed Bristol board is a good surface for Prismacolors with little bleedthrough. It's also mostly gentle on the marker tips. Office paper, newsprint, and watercolor paper soaks up the pigments like a sponge.

The technique I like to use is keeping a light hand (like working with watercolor), laying down the lightest colors first (maybe masking off spots of pure white to stop bleeding), letting the darker colors just barely overlap in the lighter ones (for a nice gradient), using a blender pen sparingly (they can muddy the gradients, especially if the tip is smudged or dirty), and using a good fixative afterward to help prevent warping and fading. The overlaps can be very obvious, even for the same color marker, so I try to incorporate them a design element. A same color overlap can be nearly a shade-and-a-half darker than the original color. Also, laying down your light colors first keeps the marker tips from picking up darker pigments, which can corrupt your future coloring.

I got my Prisma set years ago when I worked for an art supply wholesaler, which means they were seriously discounted (yippie!) Never would have been able to afford a 70-pen set otherwise. I love 'em (very vibrant) but I don't use them nearly as much as I use to. Digital's just too convenient. I'd like to experiment with Coptic (I think they have a better range of darker skin tones.)

[Faerydae]

Thank you guys!

I was AMAZED that you can BLEND these things ... I found this youtube tutorial, and I was FLOORED ... I had NO idea that you could load the ink onto a palette and create your own color blends as well as blend on the paper! I am in LOVE!

Now I have to find a colorless blender ... LOL.

This is a pretty short video - but WOW ... some of the stuff she did floored me to think you could do this with markers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO2tr-3vYig#ws

These things are cool! <3

[Afke]

I know you'd rather skip the trying out process, but I gotta say it's the most important thing to do. There's many different ways in which you can use 'm. A friend of mine has Pantone markers and uses them totally different than I do with my Copics. So yeah, find your own way, your own feel with the markers.

I myself prefer ordinairy printer paper over special markerpaper, because of the way I work I love the little bleeding it does -- gives it a little bit of watercolor feel, but that's also because of the brushtip I use.
I also can color layer over layer over layer and only be satisfied with the gradient when there's 10 layers of color on there done with 3 different markers, lol. They're awesome like that (Copics that is, I don't know if all brand markers have the same properties, but Copic mixes really well).

Anyway, have fun with them! It's a good investment, even though it feels so expensive.