Tutorial: How Watercolor Paint with Markers in Your Bullet Journal

December 23, 2018 2 Comments

Marker Watercolor Painting

Today I’ll show you how I use Crayola markers to watercolor paint in my notebooks and Bullet Journal. I like to use watercolor in my bullet journal, but don’t want the overly wrinkled pages, and the bleed through that sometimes happens with watercolor simply because it’s not watercolor paper.

Why Markers?

When I use markers with a water pen, I get the variety of vibrant colors, and it paints somewhat like watercolor, and as long as I don’t use too much water, it very rarely bleeds through. You don’t need as much water when painting with markers, which is nice. One thing to note, the colors don’t blend as well because I use very little water in the first place. It’s rare to have puddles of water like sometimes happens with traditional watercolor, so it dries much faster as well.

What you Need to Start

Watercolor Marker Painting is one of my favorite techniques, and I don’t need a lot of high-quality equipment. Marker watercolor painting is my favorite go-to method in my planner.

What I use to marker watercolor paint:

Markers: I bought the 100 pack of Crayola Markers for about $15 at Target because I wanted all the colors. You can use other types of markers too. I plan on using my Tombow Dual Brush Tip markers when I get more colors.
Next, I use a simple water pen – you can also use regular brushes and dip in water, but I tend to get too much liquid that way.
I always have a paper towel handy for changes between colors.
As a palette for my ‘paints,’ I recruited a simple kitchen plate. You could use a Ziploc bag or laminated paper, someplace where you can scribble the markers then dip the water pen into the colors and paint.

How To Do It:

Once you’ve chosen your colors and scribbled them on your palette (see below for recommendations & what I use), squish your water pen slightly to get the water flowing but not dripping. Then run the brush through the marker scribbles to pick up the color. Brush lightly on your paper. Don’t use too much water and work fast because it will dry quickly! It’s oh so satisfying!

Watch the video below for the techniques I use. I use this method in almost every video on my YouTube Channel where I paint in my bullet journal. Early on, I used watercolor paints and was very disappointed that the paint rubbed off or sometimes flaked off and I couldn’t write over the paint.

Other Benefits

The other thing that I like about painting with markers is that I can erase the pencil marks left under the color when it dries. And I can write over it with any pen. So you can watercolor the background and still use that part of the page.

Supplies:

Markers:

Crayola Markers – inexpensive and comes in several different sizes. I prefer the super tip markers, not the broad tip markers because they don’t take up as much room. When I letter with Super Tips, I get a better result for my style. Though, I have seen beautiful lettering with the broad tip markers. Super Tips come in 10, 20, 50, 80, 100 count varieties (plus lots of other choices). They are not numbered and don’t have a color reference other than on the back of the box, so if you want to know what color you’re getting, you might have to make up a system to keep track of the colors.

Tombow Dual Tip Brush Markers – Find them individually at Michaels, and I think Hobby Lobby. You can buy small packs or a large variety pack.

Water Brush Pens:

I haven’t found a brand that I like more than others. Having a variety of brush widths is my only requirement – but here are some I’ve purchased and use on a regular basis. Sometimes I mix and match brands.

Miscellaneous:

I use this Marker Watercolor Painting technique in every journal. So far, I’ve used it in Leuchtturm1917, Scribbles that Matter, Lemome, and my own journals created on 32 lb HP paper. As long as I don’t use too much water, I’m happy with the result.

Paper towels are a must! I keep a roll near my desk. It’s essential to clean out your water pens when switching colors. Water pens make it easy to clean. Squish the handle a little, so water comes through the brush fibers and clean it off with the paper towel. Another reason I love this technique!

Something to scribble on: I use a plate. Really, a Correll kitchen plate that lives in my desk drawer. Whatever you use, make sure it is a smooth, non-porous surface to where to scribble the markers. A Ziploc bag or laminated piece of paper would do the trick too — really low tech, here.

Watercolor Family Portraits

Have you seen these simple, yet beautiful watercolor family portraits in your Instagram or Pinterest feed? I admired them greatly and longed for the confidence to do something like that. But alas, I always told myself that I don’t draw people.

One day, on a whim, I asked my niece, Alexis, (who is a photographer in Charlotte, NG formerly in Oklahoma) for a full-body picture of a couple so I could try it out. Lo, and behold! I did it! And it didn’t look half bad! In fact, I admitted to myself, it looked good. What’s more: I enjoyed it! Here’s a secret. The picture on the top is the first one I EVER did. Ever. It’s always a learning process to evaluate how to improve, but fear kept me from trying. If you let fear keep you from trying, you’ll never discover new passions or hidden talents.

The Thing

Here’s the thing: I’ve always enjoyed shading I love seeing where the light forms and how it rounds an object. In my opinion, light is the key to shape to an object. I may not be good at faces (well, I’ve not put in the practice to BE good), but I am good at shading, and it will only get better. Why I was so scared, I have no idea, but I sure am glad I tried. These watercolor family portraits are so much fun to do. I love seeing the personality in each person come alive from sketch to finished product.

If you have something you want to try: Try it. Go for it. If it doesn’t turn out great on the first try, learn more about it. Then try it again.

If you’d like me to {digitally} paint a picture of your lovely family (sans faces because that’s my style) visit my shop! Don’t worry, I print them and send them to you too.

Watercolor Family Portraits | ChocolateMusings.com #watercolor #custom #portraits #painting

ChocolateMusings.com Shop - Find it in the shop!

Custom Digitally Painted Watercolor Family Portraits | ChocolateMusings.com #watercolor #portrait #painting #custommade

Motivational Take Away

Here’s the take away: try it. Just try something you are terrified to do.

What is something you want to try but fear is holding you back?

~Tricia

July Plan With Me – Watercolor Wash

July 8, 2018 1 Comment

July Plan With Me – How to Do a Watercolor Wash Background with Blocked out Spaces

It’s World Watercolor Month!

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it when I started planning my July pages. Or maybe it was because I recorded all sorts of fun holidays in my future planner” and I subconsciously remembered it. Either way, this month’s plan with me is immensely appropriate for the month! I’ll show you how I did my watercolor wash + what I learned and tips & tricks.

How To Do a Watercolor Wash – My Process

If you want to recreate this in some way (adding your own twist of course!) you’ll need:

Paints (I use Crayola Markers)
Paintbrush or Water pens
Water (if you use the paintbrush option)
a Notebook
Sticky notes or masking tape to block the water in specific areas
Patience or a blowdryer to speed up drying time
Pens or Markers to add dates/events/details after

Block-It Off

Block off the sections of your notebook that you want to keep from painting. I cut the sticky notes to the size I wanted (remember that I did have some bleed under the sticky notes from the water – I was okay with it, but keep that in mind). If you use tape or another sticky substance, make sure to test it out on another page first (maybe one in the back) to make sure you don’t tear the page or something when removing the tape.

Choose your palette and paint over the whole page or sections you want to watercolor wash. I tried to do a gradient fade from dark to light in my journal, but it required a lot of water, and the pages of my notebook couldn’t handle that much water (as you can see below with the bleed through).

The less water you use, the less chance you will have to bleed through. I used the same markers in June, less water, more intense color, less bleeding, lesson learned.

Patience or Hairdryer & Add Details

Once the paint is dry (either through extreme patience or with a speedy blowdryer) to increase the look of the gradient, I outlined each line of days on the monthly calendar with dark to light markers from top to bottom.

Add the days of the week and the name of the month and all the events and voila! Done. For even more detail, use a gold or silver pen to add little details and doodles around the remaining background.

Favorite Places for Random Holidays:

From World Watercolor Month to Sea Turtle day, I love some random holidays. So I thought I’d share my sources for where I find my random holidays to celebrate! I subscribe to some of these guys on twitter & Instagram; I love their notifications.

daysoftheyear.com
timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/
calendar-365.com – This one has some other facts about the days, not so many fun holidays, though.
holidayinsights.com
nationalday.com
holidayscalendar.com
ntldays.com

If you know of another website or reference for fun holidays, please let me know in the comments below!

What have you recently tried in your planner or journal? Did it turn out as you wanted?

~Tricia

Weekly Layout – Mini Time Block + Pumpkins & Mummy Text

October 21, 2017 4 Comments

Simple Weekly Horizontal Spread with Mini-Time Block with Pumpkins & Mummified text

It is nearly the end of October! What happened? This month went by faster than September! This month has had some ups and downs. I think I take on too much emotionally. I internalize everything. Journaling has helped me overcome this and get me out a slump or help me pull myself back up and keep moving on. I created a simple weekly horizontal spread with a larger place for daily ‘to dos’ and a small area for time-blocking.

This spread focuses focus on just the area of time that I am struggling with – the evening time, which is when I do a majority of my blog/video work. I find that if I am slipping into a slump of some kind simplifying gives me freedom, which reignites my creativity. This is a HUGE reason why I am an advocate for my bullet journal. I have the flexibility to change things week-to-week or even day-to-day based on what I need.

Weekly Horizontal Bullet Journal with mini-time blocking and cute pumpkin doodles

Last week I tried to time block my whole day but left little room for those pesky ‘to dos’ that creep up but don’t need a time-slot. If I start using dailies, I think that weekly overview of the time blocks would be more beneficial. I haven’t made the leap to using a daily planner yet.

Ways to use the time block

In the video, I thought I might write the tasks assigned to the time block below, using brackets to designate the tasks for the block of time. But I could instead use color to appoint blocks of time assigned to a task. Hmmm.

Left side weekly spread view, pumpkin details and time blocking are sure to warm up that inspiration | Chocolate Musings

Cohesive Weekday Plans and Off-the-Cuff Weekends

I start my weeks on Monday if nothing else to make my weekends look larger. But I like having my weekdays together – it makes things feel more cohesive. A little section for meals, general ‘to dos’, fill up what might be considered the un-scripted bottom part on the left page.

Saturday and Sunday nestle nicely together. I do not time block those days – we do lots of family things like going to the park or playing frisbee outside or in the cul-de-sac or building the tallest Lego tower ever so Lego Batman can scale to the top of the table or going to QT (QuikTrip – a local gas station that has fun drinks!) that are completely unscripted and usually spur-of-the-moment type activities. Sometimes, we just sit and watch a movie. Often times, my little girl (who is turning 6 tomorrow! – what???), will ask me to show her my art for the week and she will try out my techniques. She saw my ‘mummy video’ (see the post here on how to create mummy text) and immediately tried it out.

If I have errands or events, I will jot them down in the Saturday/Sunday slots – but those days usually stay pretty clear.

YouTube Planning Video

I created a video of my set up for this week. Watch the video below or on my YouTube Channel here. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for future videos.

Mummy Text and Script Hand Writing

I discovered that making Mummified text was so much fun – and completely appropriate for the nearing holiday, I added some mummy text to the weekday names. If you missed it, here is the tutorial for making mummy text or mummy pumpkins or mummied mummys. Whatever you wish to mummify. The orange washi tape is to mark my monthly calendar (see the set-up here). I love the sparkle!

Doodle Details

I love the days written over the top of doodled pumpkins and the swirls of the green vines on the pumpkins below. Just enough whimsy and doodle to keep the page interesting, but give enough space to write and plan and all the things.

Overall

Overall I love this Simple Weekly Horizontal Spread. It has enough space to plan and create and enough function to accommodate schedules.

Mummy text and cursive writing mix for days of the week | Bullet Journal Weekly Layout with Mini-Time Block

Weekly planner layout with mini-time block and fall doodles

How to Draw Mummy Text + 2 bonus ways to use this technique

October 19, 2017 3 Comments

How to Draw Mummy Text

I created a mummy! No, I am not Dr. Frankenstein creating a monster or an Egyptian of old preparing a Pharoah for the afterlife. Nothing like that. I just created mummy font. An easy way to create a Halloween lettering effect without having to be fancy schmancy. In the video, I give you the how to draw your own mummy text with a step-by-step method of lettering mummified words with hints, tips & tricks.

Enjoy!

Here are some tips from the video:

#1 Font Tip:

You will lose detail from your word sketch, do not use a font with a lot of details.

#2 Font Tip:

Start with a thicker-font type (Arial Black is what I used for inspiration for the initial text) – that way you can show more great mummy details!

#3 Mummy Tip

Use different shapes such as triangles going in opposite directions to create variety in the wrapping.

#4 Mummy Tip

Add some rectangles in the mix of the triangles to create variety

#5 Mummy Tip

Start in different corners to give even more variety

#6 Mummy Tip

Extend your ‘wrappings’ beyond the lines of your sketched text to make it look bulky like a bandage

#7 Mummy Tip

When going around corners or curves, think of that time you hurt your knee or elbow and wrapped it with that bulky ace bandage? Think about how it stretched around your knee or elbow and bunched up in the crook of the inner part of your elbow. Do the same thing with the triangles around the curves.

#8 Tying it off

Like toilet paper trailing after an unsuspecting person exiting a public bathroom make it flow like a ribbon. You could also connect two letters together with a single ribbon connector instead of ending each one separately like I did.

#9 Bonus Techniques for Drawing the Mummy Text

Use this in other ways like wrapping the stems of flowers for a rustic bouquet or making a sweet, swaddled baby for celebrating at Christmas time or when a new baby arrives in your life.

#10 Super-Speedy Version of the video

This super-speedy version is the perfect size to share!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post on “How to Draw Mummy Text”

Don’t forget to pin for later & follow me on Pinterest for more inspiration.
Follow @ChocolateMusingsCreates

P.S.

This would go perfectly in a bullet journal or planner for Halloween – just to change-up the headers for a month or week!

Want to know what I used to create this? I’ll tell you. (Contains affiliate links)

HP 32 LB smooth paper
Sakura Pigma Micron Pens
Papermate Mechanical Pencil
Waterpens
Watercolors

Microphone
Tripod
Camera
Editing software: Adobe Premiere