- Ellie Taylor
The ScrawlrBox for February 2019
For February the ScrawlrBox sent out some new interesting products including a new brand of brushmarkers with liquid ink. I have included my Amazon US and UK Affiliate links down below for those who want to try out some of these supplies for themselves.
When I opened the box, this is what I saw. Tons of markers and pens!
There were so many that Cutie Boots couldn't decide on a favorite so he just laid down on all of them.
The first group of supplies that I received consisted of four Karin BrushMarker Pro markers. The colors I received were Lilac, Yellow, Green, and Clear. These markers have a brush nib and a thin liquid ink inside with a clear barrel. The ink is watersoluble and can be used like watercolor. The marker with the clear ink is a blender and can be used to blend the other colors together. These can be found on Amazon in a set of six for around $31.94.
The second group of items was two Caran d'Ache Fibralo Fibre pens. I received blue and yellow pens. These pens can be blended with water or the clear Karin BrushMarker Pro. They have a bullet nib and are watersoluble. They can be found in a set of 15 for $20.41.
Then there was a new product from Artline Drawing System pen. This pen has a 0.3 mm nib with highly pigmented ink and water resistant ink. This pen had black ink. You can find it on Amazon in a set of six for $16.99.
Next there was a Spectrum Noir Aquatint Ink Brushmarker. This brushmarker is like the waterbrushs that usually contain water for painting with watercolors, but this has ink in it. The color of the ink was Moonlight which is a pale yellow color. This ink is watersoluble. This color is available in the Spring Set of 3 markers for $16.99.
For sketching they also included an Edelweiss Caran d'Ache pencil with a Helix eraser pencil topper. The pencil has an HB lead. You can find the Edelweiss brand in a group of 12 for $24.99. The Helix eraser sells in a group of 10 for $3.26.
Last there were two pieces of St. Cuthbert's Mill 300 gsm paper. This is a fairly thick paper, but it did peel a little bit with the Karin BrushMarkers.
There was also an ArtSnacks sticker with a watercolor look, another sticker in the shape of a feather, the art supplies list, a print from Tsarina Rina, and a Maoam Fruttis candy. The candy was cherry flavored and tasted a lot like a Starburst taffy.
Doodlin ' Time !
The Karin Brushmarkers Pro pen nibs are very wet and a little ink goes a long way. If the ink is not diluted quickly, it is very concentrated and dark. The Caran d'Ache Fibralo Fibre pens blend very nice together and make a green color. The Spectrum Noir BrushMarker makes a light yellow color that is very watercolor like. The Caran d'Ache Edelweiss pencil and Helix eraser work great for quick sketches. Finally the Artline Drawing System pen made a very smooth thin line.
'Feather Sketches'
by Ellie Taylor
Since the theme was 'Plumage' I sketched some feathers with the Caran d'Ache pencil. I used the Karin BrushMarkers and Caran d'Ache pens to make the colors of the feathers and used the clear Karin BrushMarker to dilute and blend the colors. I found that you couldn't really layer the darker colors of the Karin BrushMarkers even with the blender, the inks just got darker. It was best to put a little bit of color down and dilute it with the clear Karin BrushMarker. I didn't use water, I just used the clear Karin BrushMarker to blend the Caran d'Ache Fibralo Fibre pens and that worked well, but water would probably have been best. I painted the background with a wash of the Moonlight color from the Spectrum Noir Aquatint brush and I drew the details of the feathers with Artline pen. I really liked how the ink flowed and how I could make fine details with it. I really liked this Artline pen, maybe even better than the Micron Pigma pens.
This box had a lot of interesting art supplies that I hadn't seen before and I think they would have worked a little better if I had used water with them. They seem to be really nice markers.
Check out the ScrawlrBox at http://scrawlrbox.uk/ They start at £15 a month with free shipping in the UK. Everyone else pays shipping costs. For the US, the total cost is roughly $25 to $30 including the shipping cost.