This class concentrated on different ways to use your markers, in ways that you probably wouldn’t think of straight away. It also concentrates on the very basics of alcohol markers; specifically the Altenew Artist’s Markers, so it’s a great base from which to explore this medium.

The variety of techniques in this class take us away from the classic smooth blended colouring that you may expect when you think of these markers, and whilst I do love spending a couple of hours with my markers and a beautiful floral image, I decided to do something different this time! (In fact three different approaches!!)

I started with an A2 panel of 80lb Neenah Solar White and very lightly drew horizontal lines every 1/2inch down the whole panel; whilst I didn’t want this background to be ‘perfect’ I did want to just give me some guidance to keep my rows straight.

I only have the three set basic pack of Altenew markers (though I DEFINITELY want to get more!!) So I chose the Mango Smoothie and Cotton Candy markers and began making some very roughly rectangular shapes with them. I used one colour to each row and offset them to the row above. I just continued in this way until I filled the whole page.

Once I had finished those I grabbed silver, gold and white gel pens and started doodling onto some of the shapes randomly. I just went for it, without over thinking it, which is not my usual state in the slightest!! ?

On some more 80lb Neenah I doodled some really loose flowers and leaves using the two markers I had already used and adding a Frayed Leaf one too. I added really loose outlines to each flower & leaf; I purposely drew these outlines quickly so that they were sketchy and that way I didn’t have the time to overthink them.

I finished the card off with a sentiment from Mega Label Love, some Nuvo drops and a black doodled border.

I stamped out some images from one of my smaller Altenew sets, Sunlit Flowers. This was part of a card kit that I got earlier this year; in fact it was the same kit I got my Artist Markers from also. I wanted enough images to make two cards.

Whilst the ink on those dried I grabbed a ruler, card panel and some different shades of green & turquoise Copics and started to just draw random lines straight across the paper. Once I felt that I had got enough lines to create a nice background, I trimmed the panel down to give me two strips that I could lay horizontally on my card but with the lines going vertically instead.

Then I set about colouring my flowers! I decided to do the first lot of images using a no blend, colour layering technique. I did this using just those two markers from before; I did two layers with the same colour and then added the other colour as the third layer. (I did two flowers.)

The most important thing to do with that technique is to leave the area to thoroughly dry for a minute or so, before you add the next colour otherwise it will begin to blend.

This is a super easy technique and is a really great way to explore the world of markers.

I coloured the flowers for the other card in another method which may just be even simpler!

I added all the colour onto my image with dots; I concentrated more dots in the areas of the petals that would be in shadow, allowing them fade out as I moved up the petal. This technique is perfect to do with Altenew markers because they have an amazing brush nib on one end and the other is a smaller nib which is great for more detailed work and also dotting!

I even allowed the ink to dry and then added additional layers on top; this allows the additional dots to keep their shape, rather than blending in with the rest, and also deepens the overall colour.