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Ok. I'm needing some help with my watercoloring. I don't own Copics. I have SU markers. I don't usually color in the image with my SU markers because they come out too dark and it seems I can see the lines too much. I usually try to watercolor them. After getting my Aqua Painters, I don't hardly use my blender pens any more. But, I have a problem. I'll be watercoloring something and it's going great (like little people using the All in the Family set) but then sometimes it seems out of the blue my aqua painters just gush out lots of water and my image bleeds out of the lines. Is this normal? Do you have a way of fixing that when this happens?
What am I doing wrong? When do I use the watercolor paper?
I'm in desperate need of a watercoloring class on when to use what when!
I have never been able to watercolor with the SU! markers without watercolor paper. It seems to work the best. You also have to move a little faster to catch the ink before it sinks into the paper. I don't have Copics and do all my water coloring with SU! Markers and an aqua painter.
I opted not to buy the aqua painter after talking to my demo. She said that it's hard to control for detail, but is good for large fluid coloring because of the amount of water released. I use just regular art paintbrushes with a little water, and I rarely use watercolor paper. I have had good results this way. If I was doing a very wet (more fluid) painting, then I would use watercolor paper.
I hope you find what works best for you and enjoy watercoloring.
__________________ *Alice* All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -Lord Kelvin
I finally used my SU markers on 140# watercolor paper with the Aquapainter and I'm attaching a photo of the first little image I did this way.
In addition to simply coloring a spot with your marker and pulling the ink into your image, one technique really helped me. It's to scribble on a piece of foil or plastic with your marker and use it as a palette to add a little extra ink with the aquapainter where you need it - without getting as much as you would with putting the marker directly to the paper. Does that make sense? It worked wonders.
After learning to do this, and using watercolor pencils with the aquapainter too, I traded away most of my watercolor wonder crayons (except for one set - you never know when a technique will 'click' with you!).
I have never had that happen with the aquapainter though - how you describe a lot of water coming out suddenly. I'd check it for a defect. Be sure you don't squeeze while you're coloring maybe. I get water on the tip and then apply it to the paper.
I have not found a way to control the release of water with the aqua painter. I use the aqua painter quite often, but not in the normal way. I take a travel watercolour set with me, and squeeze out several drops of water onto the plastic of the watercolour holder. Then I proceed to use the aqua painter as a normal brush, dabbing it into the drops of water whenever I need more water. I only do this when I'm away from home (at the dentist's or doctor's office, or waiting in a restaurant, etc.).
At home, I use normal paint brushes with a tiny cup of water.
I have never been able to watercolor with the SU! markers without watercolor paper. It seems to work the best. You also have to move a little faster to catch the ink before it sinks into the paper. I don't have Copics and do all my water coloring with SU! Markers and an aqua painter.
So you use the markers on the water color paper and then blend with your aqua painter? or do you just get ink out of the lid or whatever and then water color?
I have never been able to watercolor with the SU! markers without watercolor paper. It seems to work the best. You also have to move a little faster to catch the ink before it sinks into the paper. I don't have Copics and do all my water coloring with SU! Markers and an aqua painter.
With watercolor paper, you stamp with permanent ink, right? I have a problem with stamping on that paper and the image slides. Maybe using a stamp-a-ma-jig would keep that from happening?
Also, is there a good way to fix it if the ink does flow out of the lines? Do you typically then outline the image with a light color to make it pop, or is there an eraser that works, or have you found a white ink or white out works?
With watercolor paper, you stamp with permanent ink, right? I have a problem with stamping on that paper and the image slides. Maybe using a stamp-a-ma-jig would keep that from happening?
Also, is there a good way to fix it if the ink does flow out of the lines? Do you typically then outline the image with a light color to make it pop, or is there an eraser that works, or have you found a white ink or white out works?
I do use a permanent ink, like Stazon.
With the bleeding, if you catch it fast enough you can pick up color by wiping the aqua painter on a paper towel or scratch paper and painting over the spot wiping it off after each stroke to pick up the misplaced ink. Takes some time but it does work.
I love the water color wonder crayons and I use an aquapainter. I have extra scratch paper by whatever I am coloring on and if my brush gets too wet I just brush on the scrap paper to dry it out. Another thing you can do is scribble a little of the crayon on a scrap paper and use it like a paint palatte. I use Versafine onyx black to stamp my image. It dries instantly and does not bleed.
I tried using the SU Markers with the aquapainter and that didn't work well with me either. I just recently bought a set of Prisma pencils. I took the chart on SCS somewhere and bought pencils to match SU colors. I have a lot of them yet to get but I have enough to get started. I love to color even if I am no good at it. But practice makes perfect.
__________________ Did you know nearly 1 in 2 Americans live with chronic illness? chronic illness?
I might of found something that helped. I needed to make a father's day card before my sister left for the summer tomorrow and thanks to all your advice I got the nerve to try it all on watercolor paper. It did seem to watercolor better and there may be some truth in that my aqua painter may be defective. The watercoloring went ok, but in my clumsiness I got some smudges of ink on the picture that I couldn't get off with water. Well, I tried using my white gel pen on it and it hid the smudges ok. You can't hardly see it unless you hold it just right. To me, it seems that this is better than leaving the smudges on. Here is my finished card. What do you think?
I opted not to buy the aqua painter after talking to my demo. She said that it's hard to control for detail, but is good for large fluid coloring because of the amount of water released. I use just regular art paintbrushes with a little water, and I rarely use watercolor paper. I have had good results this way. If I was doing a very wet (more fluid) painting, then I would use watercolor paper.
I hope you find what works best for you and enjoy watercoloring.
I always use my Aquapainter!! I find it does detail fine, you just have to be slow and patient. Just like the blender pen, you have to take time to colour in the lines. Julie Buhler created a wonderful tutorial here on SCS called Watercolouring with Markers that shows you exactly how to do this!! Definitely use a permanent ink (like Stazon/Palette Noir) and good quality watercolour paper. I've never had an issue with gushing water, but I do check the wetness frequently by brushing it on a piece of paper towel I have nearby.
Hi my name is June I think you need to use only a little water so it will not run out I never have a lot in my pen and I find it works fine love all your cards and every thing thats Su see you
I only use the aqua painter for travel. I really prefer a good paintbrush. I have found that the aquapainter will suck the color back into the barrell and then the water is discolored.
When watercoloring, keep a clean papertowel nearby to blot up runs. If you get too much color, go over the dark part with a little clear water and then blot immediately. You can really lighten up the dark but be careful if not using watercolor paper and you can get your paper too wet.
You can also try "dry brushing" - once you lay down some color, dry the brush so it only is a bit moist, you can then remove excess color by painting with the dry brush, wipe the excess on the papertowel. You keep repeating this until you can remove the unwanted color. Drybrushing also helps with blending without adding too much color.
Hi my name is June I think you need to use only a little water so it will not run out I never have a lot in my pen and I find it works fine love all your cards and every thing thats Su see you
Now I have found the exact opposite! When I only have a little water in my aqua painter I have the 'gushing' problem more frequently.
I have found if I keep my Aqua painter full or nearly full of water then it tends to have the gushing problem less often.
I do brush off on scrap but it always seems to get me when I least expect it.
As far as covering up the mistakes, once it has gone out of the lines I try to go ahead and do an outline type effect to make it look like it is intentional. I also try to keep a tissue close by just in case and try to quickly soak up the glob of water off my project.
__________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cyndi Stampin' Up Demo and loving it! My Little Stampin' Heaven - My blog My Gallery
Coloring images when you don't own Copics
