watercolor markers

The idea of “watercolor markers” is so funny to me.

To back up: Regular pencils (both graphite pencils and coloring pencils) are not water-soluble, meaning the marks do not smear in water. This can be useful, e.g., for lineart. However, you can also get water-soluble “watercolor pencils,” which blend out with water just like watercolors.

Similarly, regular crayons are not water-soluble. They’re wax. They repel water. However, Neocolor 2s are made of water-soluble wax (how does this even work?) for use with water.

Unlike pencils and crayons, regular markers ARE water-soluble. A couple months ago I had a brainwave that I could use my Crayola markers like watercolor pencils or Neocolor 2s, drawing and then going over it with a wet brush to get watercolor-esque effects. Fun to experiment with a new technique.

Some art execs independently had the same brainwave (years ago actually, but I heard about it last week) and they’re marketing & selling watercolor markers for use with watercolors. Bro that’s just markers!! I’m sure they’re higher quality than what I have, but still, they’re just markers.

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On another note, I am so well-fed in terms of art lately. Flipping through a sketchbook from 2023, I can feel the lack of inspiration—not knowing what to draw, doing a perfunctory doodle before bed, or staring at my sketchbook and doing nothing at all. These days, I impulse pick up my sketchbook all the time. A lot of it doesn’t even get into the log. For instance, yesterday’s art:

• ink-and-wash/doodle blobbing of animal busts
• pen sketches of trees while watching a Zack Feldman video
• entries 37-53 in the 100 shoe challenge (pen, marker, crayon)