Markers and paint pens

I used to love bringing paint and charcoal with me to figure drawing. They are expressive and bring me joy.

For the last year or so. I’ve moved on to alcohol markers and paint pens. Here’s what I love about them.

In a word, they are portable.

Everything stuffs into a bag without much fuss. I carry a wide repurposed Canon camera bag, and there is room for 2 take out soup plastic pails of alcohol markers, two A4 sketchbooks, a box of 48 off-brand paint pens, multiple 15mm posca pens, a roll of gaffer tape, and a rag.

Sometimes I stuff a couple of cans of soda in the side pockets.

When I was carrying soft charcoal pastels and acrylic or house paints, I was lugging a drop cloth, long brushes, an array of paint tubes, water, brush pails, rags, and a stack of panels and canvase, and baby wipes.

It was all probably 3 bags worth, just to make sure I had everything to work and keep my host’s surfaces and my hands clean.

Which brings me to the key point.

Things are so clean when I am done.

You know, in comparison to dropping charcoal dust and dripping paint, or a damp paint wipe rag.

I don’t load up my clothes with hidden paint blorps, nor have to wipe down my hands so it’s safe to touch things.

I can shove all the gear in a bag when I’m done, without washing stuff and wiping down my area.

When I get home, I still have to store everything somewhere, so it’s not perfect. Pens can go in a bin quickly to free up the to-go bag, and I don’t have to set wet brushes out to dry.

Because they dry pretty quickly, I can do an underpainting / drawing in alcohol marker (Copic, Prismacolor) and immediately go back over it with water based paint markers.

I can be painterly, and be as graphic as a strong charcoal line. That really speaks to the recovering lithographer in me.

I know the works aren’t of the same character as a painting or a litho; but I feel as expressive as when I was using charcoal and almost as expressive as mixing and applying paint.

It feels like pulling a crayon out of the crayon box. I can make a choice quickly.

I know it’s missing out on getting just the right hue or value, but I feel like it’s helped liberate me from caring as strongly what colors I should use.

I can decide, do I need a thick or thin line. Do I need a warm or cool color. And then move on.

I hope you’re inspired to try some new things! I liked the vibrant marker colors so much, I got a couple of similar pen inks to try; I also drew at an art store yesterday, where I picked up some Copic marker refills.

If I’ve inspired you to give markers and paint pens a try, let me know!

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