How to build a top brand pen collection on the cheap

Colouring materials can prove to be costly. Perhaps you begin to collect pens at the pound shop, post your finish creation online, scroll through the wall for inspiration and blow me you see someone else's work, it's amazing, so rich and vibrant, hurriedly you type, "What did you use?"... await anxiously for their reply ....promarkers, copics, a top brand pen! Don't panic, no need to remortgage the house just yet....

Colouring can be a cheap or an expensive hobby... there is nothing wrong with the cheaper materials but once I had used a higher end marker there was no going back.

I started to colour about 10 years ago and at that time craft colouring was still fairly simple compared to today's standard of colourist. I guess you could say it was still in it's infancy stage, therefore my very first googled tutorial was a tilda stamp and the lady used a three colour combination for each of the skin, hair and the dress. So, they were my first promarker purchase, making it 9 pens in total, which didn't break the bank and meant I could complete the character.

If you want to colour a character then I recommend you buy three pens at a time, a light, medium and dark of the same tone. To begin with maybe opt for 9 pens if you can afford it and to avoid the frustration of not being able to complete the image.

If you're colouring adult patterns, two pens of the same tone is sufficient.

Google promarker/copic colour combinations.

Google single stock markers for your country.

I'm in the UK, so use this site Cult Pens. They stock a wide range of art material, Copics and colour pencils can be purchased as a single. They have quite a few offers on at the point of writing this blog post.

I bought 3 pens per week and I soon built up my promarker collection. I still use them today,

Also, use the higher end pens with your inexpensive ones.

I have never used an expensive paper. I opt for a super smooth. At the moment I use this one from Ryman and the below image is the result.

However, I do think colouring paper is personal preference. I have never used the expensive ones, therefore I can't really state for sure if it's worth purchasing it or not. Anyway *note to self* this blog post is about colouring on the cheap, so folks I recommend you go for the cheaper option!

Check out my digital stamps and come join in the fun at my group.

Barbara :)