MyPaint Brush Usage Demonstrations - Video 2:

MyPaint Brush Usage Demonstrations - Video 2:

This is Video 2 of my currently ongoing series of videos based on the brushes in MyPaint, for better understanding of how they work. - In case you haven't seen the first video I recommend you go here to see it and the first post. 

The Brushes I will cover in this video are:

• Sketch Marker
• Mop Brush
• Marker
• Ballpoint Pen
• Airbrush
  

Excerpt from the first post:

Each section will be a mini Speed-Paint (Time-Lapse-Video), the finished drawing will show the icon for the brush I used and before beginning a drawing there will be a circles around the brush as seen in the brush menu. - All brushes in this video are from the “Set #2” in the brush menu. -

Note: The Drawings will not be particularly awesome, it's just to get the point across. - No Audio. 

[Update: A Written Out Version of the Video can be downloaded here - Or be found in the "Downloads section of the blog.]

 

My Review/Overview for MyPaint can be found here.
MyPaint itself can be found here.

Video 1
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5
Video 6
  

I hope this video and the series thus far has helped you in getting started with MyPaint.
 
Enjoy! 

May God bless you, your family, friends; along with the health of yourself, family, and all who know you. ~ Amen


~ Firefly

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MyPaint Brush Usage Demonstrations - Video 1:

MyPaint Brush Usage Demonstrations - Video 1:

A while back I wrote a semi review and a heavy overview of the art program MyPaint. 

Although the overview was quiet detailed I thought I'd make a video and probably the first of a series based off of the brushes on MyPaint. Each brush I use, I use only that tool, not even an eraser if I wanted to erase I used white instead of the eraser. - I didn't sick with total default settings of the brush itself but it's good to see the brush used in different ways anyway.

The brushes I used are as follows:

• Light Pencil
• Hard Pencil
• Art Pen
• Inking Pen
• and Fill – Marker

My Review/Overview for MyPaint can be found here.

[Update: If you prefer to read in detail instead of watch a video Click Here to download a readable description of each brush in this video.]

Each section will be a mini Speed-Paint (Time-Lapse-Video), the finished drawing will show the icon for the brush I used and before beginning a drawing there will be a circles around the brush as seen in the menu. - All brushes in this video are from the “Set #2” in the brush menu. - Note: The Drawings will not be particularly awesome, it's just to get the point across. - No Audio.

Light Pencil is good more for early sketch lines, as it is very light. -  But I still attempted to draw something.

Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5 
Video 6

I hope this has helped you in getting started with MyPaint.
Enjoy! 



May God bless you, your family, friends; along with the health of yourself, family, and all who know you. ~ Amen


~ Firefly

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Colored Pencils; Which are best?

 Colored Pencils; Which are best?

In this blog post I will be doing a similar review as I did with inking pens writing out the different brands that I've used and saying what I think of them and how they work.

Please keep in mind that I am also thinking in terms of how I color and also from my skill level; And also please remember that everybody has a preference I will not say you need to get anything, I will let you decide, I'll just say what I know and see from my perspective on things.

Okay, lets begin!

Crayola:

Crayola is probably the most famous because nearly every child (at least in the US) has had at least on pack of crayolas (second closest brand I believe would be RoseArt), these are actually very good considering they are for children. I probably have between all brands that I have, I have Crayola's most, some of them are about 10 years old (Orange is my most common color for some reason) and they are still great. I personally love them because they are harder than a better brand like Prismacolor (if you use the premier pencils). You can get a very wide range of colors; here's a list of colors for the Crayola 64 pack.

Desaturated colors:

1. 

   Image Not My Own

   
   

   Black
2. Slate
   
   
   
   
3. Silver
4. Grey
5. White
6. Toolbox
7. Platinum
   
8. Cool Grey
9. Auro Metal Sarus

Reds:

1. Red
2. Red-Orange
3. Maroon
4. Mahogany
5. Rose Red

Yellows:

1. Yellow
2. Yellow Orange
3. Yellow-Green

4. 

   Image Not My Own

   
   

   Bronze Yellow
5. Lemon Yellow
6. Harvest Gold
7. Gold

Oranges:

1. Orange
2. Mango
3. Light Orange
4. Peach

Browns:

1. Brown
2. Dark Brown
3. Light Brown
4. Meat Brown
5. Sandstorm
6. Taupe
7. Sand
8. Tan

Pinks:

1. Pink
2. Bubble Gum
3. Salmon
4. Pale Rose
5. Magenta
   
6. Rasberry
   

Image Not My Own

Purples:

1. Violet
2. Mauve
3. Orchid
4. Amethyst

Greens:

1. Green
2. Guppie Green
3. Electric Green
4. Dollar Bill
5. UFO Green
6. Green-Blue
7. Pine Green
8. Jade Green
9. Aqua Green
10. Lime Green
11. Turquoise
12. Teal

Image Not My Own.

Blues:

1. Blue
2. Navy Blue
3. Sky Blue
4. Cerulean
5. Ball Blue
6. Light Blue
7. Baby Blue
8. Spiro Disco Ball

There are also other colors in special packs, their biggest pack of colors pencils is a 200 pack but the catch is there's only 12 colors per pack or 240, this is mainly for if you are running an art class with kids or a daycare or something like that. It's called the Classic pack and it can be found here.

There are also colored pencils that you can erase, as well as mechanical colored pencils I do not own these, they also sell “special” packs with “special colors”, prices range but you can get a 64 pack of Crayolas for up to $12.00.

Crayolas blend reasonably not perfect but reasonably and are good to layer with different colors and make a visual nice texture.

For a beginner and more specifically a young beginner with not much money these are good to pick up.

As a young non monetarily advanced artist I say these are very nice to start with and to keep using through the years. I haven't bought pencils from Crayola in years because I keep having duplicates and such so I know they last a long time.

Creatology:

Picture from my personal box.

Creatology is a company that sells pencils exclusively at Micheals Craft stores, I have their 72 ct. Set of colored pencils that were given to me as a gift. The colors aren't named individuality so they're pretty much up to your own interpretation. There are 36 colors and each pencil has a duplicate, good if you have a favorite color because lasts longer or if you want to share you have a duplicate and can work easy without having to give the same pencil away. I do not know how much they cost, I cannot find them online so I believe they are only available in stores.

Pros:

• You have doubles of each color making the colors last longer.
• They are very light to work with.
• Most likely cheap.

Cons:

• They can be a bit sketchy. (Can be good if you like that effect)
• These colored pencils tend to get dull rather quick and when sharpening them you loose a lot of pencil.
• More on the box than anything – The box is horrible for storage you'll need another container. (I wouldn't let this bother you too much but it's still worth noting)
• These pencils don't blend very good.

All in all, I don't not recommend them but I don't highly recommend them, I like them but I don't prefer them. It's up to you.

Prismacolor:

Image Not My Own (From Amazon)

Prismacolors are on the much higher end of quality, the type I use are their Premier Pencils, but they also sell Verithin pencils which I do not own but from what I've heard about them they are much harder than the Premier pencils. Prismacolor Premier pencils have 150 shades, they have many different sets, I personally own the Sanford Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencil Set, 48/Tin it includes 48 different colors, depending on the pack also 2 “free” art stix (normally both the same color) and a hand held pencil sharpener. These are much softer than Crayola or other “Children's Brands”, and they blend much better, but they also cost a lot more, depending where you go a pack of 48 can range from $30.00-$72.00, I've had my 48 pack for about 3 years, I went through a time of not using them much because I was scared I'd waste them but still it's 3 years! I've used them the most in the past year and a half, my poor little pencils some are down to almost nubs!

Here's a color Chart for all 150 colors:

Originally from: http://transientart.deviantart.com/art/Prismacolor-150-Premier-Colored-Pencil-Chart-273397018

Image Not My Own

These pencils are best used with a “Prismacolor Colorless Blender Pencil”, in short it's a pencil that you use super fast to warm the wax causing it to become softer than it already is and blending the wax together; The colorless blender pencil also works good with Crayola and Crayons but not as good at Prismacolor pencils because it's made specifically for that type of wax.

My main “Con” for this would be that these pencils tend to have their color points fall out, mine are older so that might account for some of the problem, but I've read places that they are not supposed to fall out but they do!

Prismacolors come in different containers and can come un-sharpened and pre-sharpened, I recommend personally get them un-sharpened, I've read that Sanford does not sharpen their pencils evenly before selling and they put the point on the end where the code number and color name is on some of the pencils, which is important if you want to buy a specific pencil as they can be sold individually in stores and online.

The Black Prismacolor has gained it's own spotlight in a sense as Illustrator, Author and Youtube Drawing Tutorial Sensation – Mark Crilley's Famous Black Pencil he uses in his video is from Prismacolor Premier.

Mark Crilley Using A Black Prismacolor Premier from his "How To Draw a "Realistic" Manga Face: Anger" video.

The white Prismacolor is good for adding lighting to drawings colored with:

• Pencil then marker over the top,
• Marker alone,
• And mixed media with Watercolor over the top.

I do not recommend to use it for eye shines, though, it's not thick enough, but that doesn't mean you can't try and prove me utterly wrong!

EK Memory Pencils:

These are very mild pencils both in price and useability, they cost $ 1.50-13 Dollars depending where you go for sets of 12. They have sets by color type groups like Primary, Earth, etc.., . These pencils are in between Crayola and Prismacolor in softness, they're blending is reasonable but not wonderful, they were designed for memory books and crafting projects but they are fine for coloring too, advertised as waterproof and fade proof.

I have pencils from 3 different sets which are:

• Primary Colors – The Basic colors, vivid not very vast for 12 colors but it's still alright to have.
• Earth colors – Much warmer tones, very “earthy” as they are so called.
• Pastel - Much softer shades than the two mentioned above, good for young looking images. They are not as saturated but still pretty.

Images Not My Own - I put them all in one image

If you are interested in these I suggest doing your research a bit to get the best price I've seen them sold very cheap then really expensive, it's all about smart shopping!

Off Brands:

I've bought many off brand colored pencils and they are alright, dollar stores and other stores that seem random brands are a gold mine for super cheap pencils, they aren't the best quality but sometimes you get those few good pencils that have super nice colors. For $1-4 I'd say it's worth a stab in the dark, if they don't work for you, you can always save them for a child later on to use.

Notable mentions that I do not own:

Faber–Castle: These are higher class pencils, I only own a 12 pack of their watercolor-pencils and I like them, I do not know about their other products.- Some Crayola Products are produced in their factories.

RoseArt: A Child's company much like Crayola, I do not own a set of these only a few randoms that I was given, from what I can tell they are alright but I can't really have an opinion on them as I do not own a set. - I do own, however, their markers and I like them.

Prismacolor Verithin: I do not own these as stated above but from what I've heard they are harder, I also do not own any watercolor pencils from Prismacolor.

Quick Note For Pencil Care:

My key to long pencil life is learn to work with them from super point all the way down to flat, then sharpen them again (In other words I'm stingy.), and don't press so hard when you are trying to color big areas, shadows and things like that pressing harder is good but still don't press too awfully hard!! - You can break the point or make the pencils dull quicker.

Also use a good sharpener, a bad sharpener can break your points and you loose a lot of pencil, either get a good hand-held sharpener, or get a good electric sharpener, I have my sharpener for almost or about 5 or 6 years and she's still kick'n at sharpening thems pencils!

Another tip, if you dislike the container that your pencils come in, sort them by color order with rubber bands (blues with blues, yellows, reds, etc..) and put them in something else, like a tote-bag or a better resealable container. - Even if you like the container I still recommenced color ordering your pencils, no matter how many you have; It's so much easier to color when they are in color order to start so you're not searching for the color you want in a confusing mix up. - It's Worth The Time!

 _________________________

I hope this has helped some of you artists out there!
Happy coloring!


May God Bless You, Your Family, Friends; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, And All That Know You. ~ Amen


~ Firefly

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Drawing Process - {Computer Art} Beautiful Loving Kindness - Coloring Walkthrough (Not Tutorial)

Here's a walk-through on how I color an Image, complete with process pictures and a speedpaint video! This took me about 5-12 hours to draw and color, I used MyPaint and GIMP to color and I used HyperCam to record, all are legally free and I highly recommend all of them.
Remember, this isn't a tutorial this is just a walk-through.

Enjoy!

 

 Drawing Process Using MyPaint and GIMP.

First:

I sketched in MyPaint, somehow sketching with a brush that represent a pencil seems more natural to me, I don't know, it's just much easier that way.

Second:

I "inked" also in MyPaint, using the pen brush (the one that looks like an inking pen in the representation picture), but instead of black I'm going for a more color based look this time, so this will be like a combination of cartoonish and my less hardlined type styles to it.

Third:

I switched to Gimp, fixed a few missed "inked" spots and used the selection, bucket, and grow, tools to color the big areas, I also got the digbat font heart that I use for all my heart Lp's (like Crystal Love and Love can Shine in the Darkness) and stretched it out then alpha selected it and shrunk by 7 pixels and deleted the middle. I made each part (rose, leave, vine, etc..) on a seperate layer so I could shade in MyPaint using the lock alpha channel making it that I don't go outside the colors, it's kind of like having it selected with the selection tool in GIMP.

Fourth: 

I started shading the rose and the leaves, using one of the marker brushes for the softer shadows then the pencil brush for the fine details and such.

Fifth:

I worked on shading the vine using once again the marker and pencil brushes, I also tried to add some other colors to shade to make the surrounding colors appear to be casting a shadow...I'm not sure how well I pulled this off but I tried all the same. 
I also started on the flowers shading them and also making the rose shading a little deeper as well as trying to make the green of the leaves reflect off, I don't think I like that part, I might change it. There's still much to be done but it's coming along! (all the shading is in MyPaint so far)

Sixth:

I've switched to GIMP, and added texture to everything, lighting, and more shading/shadows, and started on the wooden heart; At this point, I'm almost done!

Seventh:

I worked on the heart a bit more until I liked it, did some finishing touches and added a background....Annnndddd....!!!..... I'm done!

Click Here For A Bigger View.

Process Video:

  I hope you enjoyed this post, and it's at least given you an idea on how to start if you didn't know what to do or how to do it!



May God Bless You, Your Family, Friends; Along with the Health of Yourself, Family, and all That Know You. ~ Amen



~ Firefly

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Inking Pens, Which Brand Should I Get?

Inking Pens, Which Brand Should I Get?

Many people myself included enjoy to draw with a hard-lined style, but when starting out most of us have had the question “Which Pens Should I Get?”. Today I will give you an overview on the different pens I have used and you can come to the conclusion yourself which pens you'd like to get!

Sakura Brand:

Sakura is a Japanese Company headquartered in Japan, they make an array of art and drawing supplies, I personally am a big fan of their Micron and Pigma-Sensi Pens along with their white gelly roll pen!

Micron:

The Sakura Micron Pens are make specifically for inking They Come in Sizes ranging from 0.05 mm – 0.8mm giving you a great vastness in depth if you use the pens correctly. Their tips are a cylinder shape being round with a flat bottom.

Image From "http://www.discountart.com"

Tip Sizes:

• Pen Size 005 = Point Size 0.20 mm
• Pen Size   01 = Point Size 0.25 mm
• Pen Size   02 = Point Size 0.30 mm
• Pen Size   03 = Point Size 0.35 mm
• Pen Size   05 = Point Size 0.45 mm
• Pen Size   08 = Point Size 0.50 mm

There are many colors and they are very useful if you don't want to be limited to black, I believe they aren't multiple sizes however and are limited to 0.1mm.

Microns come in packs/sets of different styles, like 

• Sepia
• A pack of all the sizes listed above
• A Manga-Comic Pro pack complete with 00.5, 0.3, 0.8 along with a Pigma brush pen and Pigma graphic 1 pen (1.0 mm) and a mechanical pencil, 0.7 mm lead size (extra leads and erasers not included)

There are other packs and lists all that can be found here.

They are marketed as permanent and waterproof.

Pigma Sensi:

Pigma Sensi are closer to a marker type tip ranging in sizes from 0.1 mm – 1.0 mm they are very nice to ink with, they're the first real inking pens I used.

Image From "http://cdn.dickblick.com"

Tip Sizes:

• 0.1
• 0.3
• 0.5
• 1.0

Pigama Sensi's are supposed to be water proof but when I played with watercolor paint when I was younger they seemed to bleed a bit but they might not have been totally dried; still it's something to keep in mind if you ink before painting to color. The Pigma Sensi Pack/Set has All Sizes Said above plus a mechanical pencil and a Sakura brand foam eraser.

These cost about $10 for the pack mentioned above. (Prices Vary By Store)

Image From "http://www.quickship.com"

White Pens:

I've bought two different pens that are white that are Sakura Brand, Gelly Role White Pen, and a White Pen Touch, I personally prefer the Gelly Role Pen over the Pen touch.

Gelly Roll:

The Gelly roll is very smooth once you get it moving but considering I use a lot of medias it gets a little picky on wanting to go totally smooth but it looks fine once you get it to move, this is good for smaller details and about 0.99 cents in Micheals (Prices Vary By Location) per pen.

Image From "http://www.qsupplies.com"

If you need to highlight something with a very big area you could use white craft paint or go with...

Pen Touch:

Pen touch is a pump type pen and gets very messy, I'm sure if you practice with it you can make it work for you but it can be irritating, but it can't hurt to try it out if you want.

These are more expensive about 3-4 dollars in Micheals.

Sharpie:

Sharpie as an inking pen is a good option if you want to start cheap but effective, there are a few non-numbered sizes to choose from, even a retractable version of the fine point. Y
ou can also buy a white pump pen much like the Sakura Pen Touch, but this pen I found is less messy, it's oil based but costs about $4.00 if you include.

Image From "http://theartsupplystore.co"

Tip Sizes:

• Ultra Fine – about 0.1-0.2 mm
• Fine – about 0.8 mm
• Normal – about 1.0 mm
• Super – maybe 2.0mm; Or a Chisel Pointed tip.

Note: Size measurements are my personal estimates.

Sharpie does have a scent that if you have hyper allergies or are super sensitive might bother you, so that might be good to keep in mind. Sharpies also bleed through paper very fast so make sure if you draw in a drawing pad or a sketch book to keep a paper under the paper so the next page of your book isn't stained or marked, even if it's a wet media paper it's better to be safe than sorry!

Sharpie Sells other pens and markers varying in price, size, and color.

I used these when I was first starting out, and if you are super new you might wanna start cheap and work your way up as you get better.

Ultra Fine Tip Marker, $1.54 from Hobby Lobby (Prices vary by locations)

Prismacolor:

The only pens I own and know of from Prismacolor are called “Prismacolor Premier Assorted Markers” They come in the following sizes:

• 

  Image From "http://www.amazon.com/"

  00.5
• 0.1
• 0.3
• 0.5
• 0.8
• B – Brush Pen
• C – Chisel Tip

I've been using these since about October of 2012 and it's almost June of 2013 and they still work well, all except the 0.05 one, that one seemed a little dull from the start though; they work a long time and are very smooth, they don't bleed much even on dry media paper but I still say put the paper under the page just to be safe.

No scent, permanent and waterproof.

Tips are very similar to the Sakura Micron Pens.

I bought them (well my mother did Haha!) for $10.99 on sale; On Amazon they are $15.99.

I also use a Prismacolor marker (an actual coloring marker) on the “fine” edge (about 1.0 mm) for the super fat outlines for paintings like Potted Grace.

Note: Sandford Products Owns Both Prismacolor and Sharpie Brands.

Ball-Point Pens:

Image From "http://mojosavings.com"

In general I'd say they're okay, not good and not terrible, but if you use markers the black will bleed in to your colors because ball-point pens aren't generally permanent, if you use colored pencils its better, but if you want to do a design like a wood design over colored pencil it'll be nearly impossibly because the pencil is too waxy for the ball-point pen to glide smoothly. If you buy a pen from a good company like Pilot then it'll be smooth but if you touch it it'll most likely smudge.

There are people like Zkos who draws with a ball-point but he doesn't color his drawings, other people do and it's on the computer, if you want to color your drawings on the computer with a program like GIMP, or MyPaint then ball-point pens leave you no real issues. If you want to not color anything in but make different colored outlines then ball point pens are fine just leave them to completely dry before you erase pencil if you use pencil first or else they will smudge.

If you want to try them out you can get packs of 15 or more in a dollar store for a $1.00 (tax not included), but it's normally just black or a mix of black, blue, and red. Mixed colors aren't as common but still out there, a higher quality brand like Pilot is better if you want good ball point pens.

I hope this has helped somebody!

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friends, Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, And All That Know You. ~ Amen

~ Firefly 

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Traditional and Digital Art Coloring Tips

 Traditional and Digital Art Coloring Tips

This is mostly excerpts from a basics in drawing PDF I created a couple of years ago and updated last September, it's not a full excerpt, though; I added some more information and took some out since I have gained more knowledge in coloring and such since then. 

Traditional Art Tips:

1. If you are drawing on paper, if possible scan or take a reasonably good quality picture (even if it's just a cellphone picture) of your line-art or sketch first ;The reason is, if you mess up your drawing with your coloring process your drawing could be ruined forever, and we don't want that to happen.

2. When coloring with Markers always try to color in uniform (going the same way or pattern), though I as well fail in this area at times this is very important that you use discipline to go the same way, it isn't like pencils that you can somewhat hide that you were everywhere once the area is full of color, markers are tattle tails they will tell on you if you don't color properly.

3. When using markers and pencils together, use colored pencils to make layers of wax to clog up the paper pores; the reason is if you have a lower quality paper like me the makers once you layer enough will bleed through the paper, the pencil fills the pours of the paper thus making it easier to color with less worry, it also adds a nice under texture. If you have a Colorless Blender Pencil (I use Prismacolor) then use that over the pencil layers to blend the colored pencils and also to add an extra later of wax.

Note: Using a Blender Pencil (at least when I use it) makes it almost impossible to add more pencil over it, it's a little easier once you put the marker over it.

Note 2: The pencil will make the surface of the paper smoother and making the marker easier to smudge be careful wile you color that you don't ruin it by smudging.

4. When you color in a sketch book, not matter how good the paper I'd put a piece of printer paper

in between your drawing and the next page, just in case the colors bleed they won't put a mark

on your next page.

5. If you use watercolors to paint but your paper bubbles up way too fast try doing the same technique as was stated in tip #3 and also try and reduce how much water you use when you are wetting your paints.

Computer Art Tips:

My Knowledge is in GIMP but some of these might work in other applications like Sai or Adobe Photoshop.

1. When you color on the computer with any program that has layers, always make your line art on

transparent layers, and make a new layer from visible with no BG of it once you are finished,

then color from underneath. When you color from underneath you don't cover any of the black

lines (or what ever color your outline is) and it looks much cleaner.

2. If you want to color BIG spaces with the paint bucket use the fuzzy select tool and select the

areas that you wish to fill on the layer with the line art, next grow your selection by 1 pixel, then

make another layer underneath and use the paint bucket.

Note: The reason for making it one pixel bigger is to not have the white dots around the color.

3. When coloring a line art that has a white BG in GIMP, use the multiply layer-mode and use the

base color to shade on the new layers using multiply, if you wish to use a darker color use

overlay instead and move the opacity bar over if needed, and for lighting the best layer-mode to

use would be overlay with white.

4. When a picture is totally colored in GIMP get a black in to white gradient and make a new layer over your drawing/picture and make the gradient fade in to the lighting (White being where the light is coming from, black being where it's fading away from) then make the layer-mode overlay and adjust the transparency to how you like it.

Wells that's all for now, I hope this helped you or at least it was an enjoyable read!

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friends, Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, And All Who Know You. ~ Amen

 ~ Firefly

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Washable Markers; A Painting Beginner's Delight!

Washable Markers; A Painting Beginner's Delight!

Many of us have these little devils running about the premises of our homes, whether a few are puttering about in our desk drawer or in our child's old toy chest they haven't touched since you have given them that regrettable cell phone and/or ipod, you are bound to have a few someplace and I must say these little fellas are very useful. I'm not going to get in to everything about them, and believe me I can do one if not two more posts about washable markers but I will stick to the subject at hand...How they can be a painter's delight!

Main idea:

Washable markers like Crayola ™ are not water resistant thus making them the perfect watercolor paint alternative when you can't afford paints or you don't want to buy paints but want to experiment w/o the coast of buying then feeling it's not for you and wasting your hard earned money. With everything there is a process to making these useable as paints, I'll get in to the usefulness of using washable markers in a painting in fuller detail later, at the moment, lets just focus on making the paint for now.

How To Make Paint:

Materials you'll need:

• Washable markers – I use Crayola ™ and RoseArt ™ personally but whatever you like, Prang ™ is another nice option.
• An Egg carton (Not the cardboard kind) or anything that is a sealed container that doesn't absorb water.
• Water – I always use normal temperature water I have never waited for it to be cold or hot so I cannot say if it makes a difference.
• Paint brush – The none plastic ones are best in my opinion but everybody has a different liking.

To make a paint with washable markers you need something that is sealed and smooth that won't absorb the wetness of the marker ink or water, I use an empty egg carton (white is the best, but you can do it with any one of them – NOT cardboard) a little bit of water and that's it and the process is reasonable easy.

Note: If you use an egg carton inspect the bottom and the sides of the sections, I have had problems with some egg cartons having two holes on the bottom-side of some of the individual egg holding areas, they are hardly noticeable but it will make your paint leak out so make sure they're not punctured! 
 

Step One:

Get your egg carton (or whatever you are using to hold and make the paint inside of) after making sure you don't have any punctured holes and place it before yourself; now select what markers you want to make a paint color, then draw on the insides of an egg carton section doing you best to cover the inside. - Make sure you cover the bottom the most but hit the “walls” too. (Full coverage isn't possible on a washable marker to a smooth  surface) 

Step Two:

Get a small bit of water, very small, maybe a teaspoon worth at most and add it to your egg carton; then get your paint brush and mix the water with the marker –When making the paint make sure that when you are using the paintbrush that you scrape the brush part on the side making the excess color come out back in to the paint, often times the brush soaks up the color and leaves the water behind because it touches the pigment/ink separate from the water. 

Step Three:

Test and see if it came out as a watercolor that you like, if you don't draw on the sides a bit without touching the water then get your paintbrush and take the “paint” we have made and brush the marker off the sides of the egg carton (or whatever container you chose to use) and mix it with the pre-made paint. - By now it should be like dyed water, if it's too much water it just looks like tinted water not flat out dyed water.

By now you should have paint, so I say you're done! The hardest part would probably be finding the right amount of water that doesn't make the paint so thin you hardly see it.

Pros and Cons:

Cons:

• Lighter colors will be harder because if they are already harder to see on paper watered down to paint them will be worse, but if you are good with color theory then you might be able to make the color you want by combining darker colors to equal the original color you wanted.

• If you run out of the color to remake unless you make a log can be difficult but if you like this process then maybe it's not so bad.

Pros:

• If you use markers like the markers in a 50 pack of Crayola ™ you have all those colors plus the colors you can get combining 2 or more markers together so you really have at least 100 colors to choose from, this is very good for a young child to start out without you having to buy paints that if they don't like the activity forget about and become no longer in use for many years until you sell them in a yard sale or revisit the activity yourself.

• This is essentially free, unless you are buying the markers for this purpose you most likely already had them so though you did pay at one point you've had them so long it feels free.

I know these work on printer paper, watercolor paper I haven't made any artworks using self made paints on watercolor paper but I have used markers and painted water over them and it worked just fine.

I am in no way comparing this to paints like Sakura Brand watercolor paints, but these are very nice for children or people just starting out no matter the age!

Conclusion:

Making simple paints isn't so hard and very affordable! I hope that this has given you a jump start in your painting endeavors. I will post at a later date different painting techniques for using washable markers. If you can't seem to get this to work feel free to post a question I'll answer the best I know how, but if I don't know I'll be honest with you and say I don't know.

Until we meet again...!

May God bless you, your family, friends, your health and the health of all that know you. - Amen

~ Firefly