Don't play with it

A dear friend and fellow blogger, Lizelle, introduced me to Sharpie's extensive collection of markers. Prior to that moment, I had not personally used markers since I was in high school. My interaction between then and the moment she brought her pack over to my house was with my primary school aged kids that I work with from time to time at SGU GAP.

With that said, even though I felt a bit silly using it as a serious medium, it piqued my curiosity to dabble in it some more. Since then, I found some artists on the Instagram artist communities that used markers as a professional medium that got me a bit more open minded about taking it more seriously.

To be honest, I like mediums that have immediate permanency. On one hand, while it leaves room for little to no error, it means that when you complete your last stroke, you're done. This is one of my primary reasons for working with ink. I dislike having to do test sketches. I prefer to study what I'm supposed to draw and then... just do it, like Nike.

The SGU students tend to sell stuff at the end of the semester, so when I saw these Sharpie markers up for sale, I grabbed them. After sitting and collecting dust on my shelf for months, I decided to start experimenting with them before they got all dried up. The bottom is my first "serious" marker piece in over a decade.

As expected, I didn't have the patience to do a pencil outline which I would have to erase... so I did a pen sketch,

Started laying down the lightest colours first. I have no idea if Sharpie markers obey the laws of other mediums, but from past experience, lighter colours are easiest to become dirty. I'd hate for my yellow to become "kinda yellow" and "kinda brown."

Started laying down my green colour.

Then identifying shadow outlines and colour blocked areas.

Started filling in the colour blocked areas...

This is what it looks like now.