I stumbled across this amazing artist that takes pages out of magazines and colors over them with paint pens and makes stunning artwork. I immediately loved it! Magazines in the last 5-7 years, have gotten saturated with ads. It breaks my heart a bit because growing up in the 90's, fashion magazines were my life and they really ignited my love of fashion and creativity (I LOVE magazines). When I saw this gorgeous makeover of this ad from a fashion magazine I wanted to try doing this myself. Truthfully, I don't try new things a whole lot. I have had subscriptions to Art Snacks and Sketch Box in the past and loved getting new art supplies but I never did too much with them - I'm not sure why, maybe just the fear of failure to create something fabulous or not really knowing how to use the items in a way that would resonate with me, I'm not sure. BUT - I went out on a limb when I saw this artwork. I went down to my local craft store and got a few paint markers and tried all the brands. I love using the best quality art supplies, but sometimes the less expensive versions are just as good and you can save money (everyone loves saving a bit of money... so they can spend it on more art supplies, haha!) It was a really fun way to spend some time and stretch my creativity in a new way without investing too much time and thought. Below are some thoughts about the different brand markers I tried so that if you want to try this out, you have a little knowledge moving forward :).
First off, POSCA markers - I bought two sizes mainly because I wanted to see the difference in the tips and also because I wanted a purple and orange and those didn't come in the pack that I got.
PROS: I loved the POSCA's the best. They had very opaque color and flowed nicely for the most part. Once a spot was almost dry, if I went back over it with the marker it got a little tacky and clogged. As long as I let everything dry sufficiently before going back over it, the POSCA's did great! There are tons of different colors which is nice and the tips are very durable. They also have a couple of different sizes and tip variations from small to large and bullet to chisel.
CONS: There really isn't much I didn't like other than the price. They are the most expensive of the paint markers I tried and so for a hobby, I'm not sure I would buy a lot of them.
Second, TOP NOTCH markers - These were a bit tricky. I read the package after I started using them and it says that they are meant for wood, plastic, metal and glass which means they aren't specifically meant for paper.
PROS: As long as you are careful and slow, they can go over the magazine pages ok. They are also significantly less than other markers as far as cost.
CONS: These markers were much more watery and dripped a lot. I had to be super careful when I went through the shaking and then pressing of the tip to release the ink because it just seemed to spill out. These were really not very opaque on the magazine's glossy finish and took a long time to dry.
Third, SHARPIE markers - These markers you can find in any store that sells office supplies, which is great if you don't have access to an art supply store and don't want to go online. I don't think they have very many color selections at this time and so I just got their pack of 5.
PROS: I really liked these markers! There is no "shake and press" mechanisim to release the ink so you don't have to worry about spilling the ink all over you paper to begin with. Also, the tips are really nice. They are just a bit flexible and yet sturdy at the same time. The ink is really opaque so you don't have to layer a lot to get a solid color. The ink, to me, seemed a bit creamier too compared to the other markers.
CONS: The only thing I didn't like about the Sharpies is that they don't have a great selection of colors. I really like these markers and would pick these as my number one accept that they don't have a great color selection.
Now for the good part! Below are the finished pieces that I did using the markers. I used all the markers in each picture so that I could see how the markers worked together and overall the Sharpie and the POSCA worked great together. The TOP NOTCH was very watery and so I had to use it on its own and wait for it to dry before layering anything on top and even then, the paint from the TOP NOTCH markers did't stay in place really well.
Take a look and let me know what you think! Let me know if you have any questions as well! This was a super fun experiment and I highly encourage you to try out paint markers if you haven't already!
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