if you can't afford copic markers?

When I was in art school many moons ago, I spent a small fortune on alcohol based Letraset and Prismacolor markers for an illustration class. They smelled so bad that even with the windows open they would give me horrible headaches. I used them a little bit with an airbrush sprayer after that, but eventually they dried up and were tossed.

Several years later when I had my store, I worked with watercolor markers like the Tombow and Marvy brush pens that I sold. I also used colored pencils and gamsol quite a bit. You can get a nice, saturated and blended coloring effect with either of these. A HUGE part of your success hinges on a good working knowledge of color theory, which I taught regularly in classes at my store. When you are using a water based marker, you need to use a waterPROOF ink or you have to heat emboss or the stamped design will bleed. If memory serves, you will want a water based ink when you are coloring with anything alcohol or solvent based.

If you go the colored pencil route, it will serve you well to spend a little more on a nice set of quality pencils such as Prismacolor or Lyra. The leads are softer and lend themselves more readily to blending. Cheapie brands such as Crayola or RoseArt are very hard and are much more difficult to work with. That said, if you do buy a nice set it is imperative that you take care not to rattle them around a lot or drop them. Because the leads are soft, they will break easily and that will only create frustration as you sharpen and sharpen and the tips repeatedly pull out because the lead inside the barrel has shattered. In addition to the gamsol, I have also used colorless blender pens or even regular watercolor markers in a coordinating very light shade to blend my pencils and it works very much the same way gamsol does.

Fast forward to the present Copic craze. I keep seeing so many beautiful things that people have done with them and I am VERY tempted, but I resist. I think back on those horrid headaches (not to mention the expense!) and I just say no. When I finally get my stuff all unpacked and start stamping again, I will probably go back to my colored pencils and gamsol. I also have a nice set of SU markers that I love and will use those some, but I'm not too keen on using waterproof ink on my clear stamps because it stains the dies horribly.