New pens, who dat? A few months ago I did a freelance project for Staedtler, the maker of these pens, creating a tutorial that could be used at an event. It would be using the 12 pen set – lots of fun, bright colors.
As we talked a little further, I said I’d like to make a video with them, and they offered to send the full 36 colors….so you get to see alllll the colors in today’s projects and video!
The Staedtler Pigment Arts Pens are a brush pen; the nib is a short one, with about a medium-to-stiff type of nib. You might think it’s just like any brush marker, and it looks that way on first blush.
But I played around with them, realizing they dry quickly – and that got my brain thinking about all the things they could do that normal water-based markers could NOT do.
It’s always good finding out what properties your art supplies have so you’ll be able to strategically choose which medium and pen is perfect for what you want to create!
Tutorial: 3 Styles of art with Pigment Brush Pens
Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!
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Pens
Water – blending::
- Arches Cold Press Block Arches Cold Press 4 x 10 block BLICK AMZ JACKSONS
- TWSBI Eco fountain pen
- Printable branch
Impressionist:
Realism:
The colors
The range for these colors is pretty nice – they don’t get REALLY dark, a few are really light, but most are nice bright midtones. These come in various sets of 12s up to 36s – and other formats of pen too.
I used the Pigment Pens (36 set) (BLICK or AMZ ) but to see all the different sets, click here.
Water blending
Playing with these pens and water with a brush or aquabrush – that’ll show you quickly how fast the pigment pen ink dries – and I found that some colors dry quickly and others a little more slowly. Test yours out – both if you get these pens, but also with other water-based markers.
Loose Branch Printable
This is available as a printable download – though it’s really easy to draw, too. To watercolor it, try a laser printer; some of them can print on watercolor paper and you can use light watercolor with it – don’t get too splashy and sloppy, but under control you might be able to add paint. Otherwise try markers, colored pencils – have fun with it!
Impressionist
Given the permanence of the colors, I decided this medium might be just perfect for blobs of color to create a pointillist or impressionist project! Be aware the colors are still transparent, at least the lighter colors (the dark blues and purples did cover what’s under them)…..too many overlapping blobs could create some mud. But fall trees are perfect for analogous colors.
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Realism
Using the markers in a dense fashion on watercolor paper left the surface….damp? primed? I’m not completely sure. it wasn’t wet enough to move with water, I do know that. But it was so easy to make a strongly pigmented drawing with these pens! Yum. Color theory for the shading win!
Livestream ahead!
You can go “rsvp” on YouTube – if you have notifications on, it should send one about a half hour ahead. (It’ll also show you what time it’ll be in your time zone.) Leave comments with questions you might have – or drop them here on this post. And wish me luck, I’m terrible at streaming for some reason, ha! Supplies are listed in the doobliedoo on that video.
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