Beginners' Guide to Using Alcohol Markers

If you want to enhance your colouring game, alcohol markers might be just what you need! Alcohol markers are an excellent technique to colour your homemade card or other paper crafting item in a beautiful, realistic, and seamless manner. Alcohol marker art may be intimidating at first, but with a little effort, you can produce one-of-a-kind masterpieces in no time. Artist Marker Sets are ideal for beginners since they come in pre-selected sets of colours that complement one another, so you don't have to worry about acquiring the proper hues. Choosing the appropriate colours can be difficult and costly if you don't get it right.

What Are the Best Alcohol Markers for Novices?

First, let's go through how alcohol markers operate and what to look for when selecting the best Artist Markers Set. There are numerous brands of markers on the market, with some performing better than others. With so many marker colours, types, and brands to select from, a newbie may become overwhelmed.

Here are some important reminders, advice, and facts:

• You'll need at least two colours with the same colour tone (or from the same colour family) but different shades to achieve seamless blending with these markers.

• It is strongly advised to use 3 to 4 markers from the same colour family to achieve a polished and professional look.

• It may be costly to begin with alcohol marker sets, but it is preferable to practise with high-quality ones.

• Having difficulties locating complementary colours? Here's a hint: Artist Markers Sets are available in sets of four colours from the same colour family!

• Having four comparable colour markers in different shades eliminates the need to figure out which colours blend well together because this has already been done for you.

• Refills are not available with all alcohol marker brands, however these Altenew Artist Markers do. When you first start producing alcohol marker art, you may run out of ink.

• Markers are simple to refill and hold a lot of ink. However, utilizing them on a daily or weekly basis will cause them to dry out.

• There are also nib replacements available if you ever need to replace one. There is no need to purchase a fresh alcohol marker each time.

• Alcohol markers often feature two nibs, one on each side. Typically, one side has a brush nib while the other has a chisel or bullet nib.

• The smooth brush nibs of Altenew's Artist Markers make blending a breeze, while the bullet nib on the other side is ideal for adding fine details or even hand-writing. The suppleness of the brush nib allows you to easily generate varying size brush strokes depending on the pressure you apply.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how alcohol markers function, let's move on to some tips and tactics that will have you colouring like an artist in no time.

1. Work on Your Strokes

'Practice makes perfect,' is the best piece of advise for any newbie. This isn't to say you won't obtain good results right away, but the more you work with alcohol markers, the better your outcomes will be. The first thing you should do before colouring any images is practise your strokes. You can use alcohol markers just like any other marker, but the 'flicking' technique produces more professional results.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to use the flicking technique:

• Put the brush nib on the page.

• Make a flicking motion away from you.

• This will result in a stroke with a broader bottom end and a thinner top end.

• Once you've mastered this stroke, try a lighter hue over it.

• Blending will ultimately become second nature.

Because it facilitates mixing, the flicking technique is the most commonly utilized brush stroke while creating alcohol markers art. With consistent practice, you'll have this fundamental stroke down pat! Don't be disheartened if you don't get it right away; everyone has to start somewhere. The following step is to colour images. Here are a few quick suggestions for coloring images with markers:

• Choose an image with huge regions to colour as a starting point. When compared to smaller photos, larger photographs are easier to colour and combine.

• Color a floral image petal by petal if you're working on one. As you work petal by petal, the floral image will come to life in front of your eyes.

• Please take your time! Don't bother about colouring the entire image at once.

• Alcohol markers can be coloured in two ways: light-to-dark, then back to light, and dark-to-light.

• Both procedures will provide the same results in the end, so it's advisable to experiment with both and find which one works best for you.

• Working light-to-dark and then back to light is easier to mix colors, although it takes a little longer than the second way.

2. Make Use of the Proper Materials

Consider the following while purchasing alcohol markers: The type of paper. To achieve the finest results, always use smooth white cardstock. If you're having trouble blending your colours, it's possible that your paper is too fibrous and is absorbing the ink too quickly. If this is the case, consider purchasing smoother cardstock. This may appear to be an expensive option, but the better the cardstock, the less ink you will use, thus it will be less expensive in the long run.

3. Have a good time with it!

This has to be the most critical rule for novices when using alcohol markers! One of the primary reasons people craft is to unwind and have fun. When you first begin your crafting journey, you may be dissatisfied with the results. It would be annoying, but don't linger on it! Here are a few reminders for newcomers like you:

• Take a short rest and then return to it. When you return to a project that you had completely abandoned, it is often far better than you recall.

• A new set of eyes might inspire your imagination!

• Remember, you are your own worst critic.

• Sometimes you just need to let go and not get too caught up in producing something 'perfect.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of creating is having fun. The recipient of your handcrafted goods will notice the work and effort that went into its development. We hope that our alcohol marker advice and reminders for beginners have alleviated some of your concerns about using alcohol markers.