This week, Colleen Schaan shares her technique for testing paper to determine what works best with her artistic style. Enjoy!
Traditional marker rendering ranges from using large areas of color with streaking to show motion, to smooth gradient blends and minute detailing. The paper you choose for your rendering is important, as each type gives different results and has different capabilities.
I personally like a paper with easy blending and visible special effects, so that is what I test my papers for and how I rate a “good” paper. Each artist has a different style, purpose, and technique for using their Copics and therefore should test a number of papers themselves.
I’ve gathered a variety of art papers from some popular brands. Here are my results separated into paper types:
SKETCH/DRAWING PAPERS – Typically sketch papers aren’t recommended for markers, but I wanted to include them in my testing as I know a number of artists who like to use them for marker work.
Canson Sketch 50lb
• Easy color lay down, smooth surface
• Feathers only with a lot of ink
• Darkens only slightly with layering
• Soaks through the back
• Very easy blending
• Colorless Blender gives soft but bright effects on wet surface
• Colorless Blender gives crisp and subtle effects on dry surface
• Overall Thoughts – I like this paper. The soft surface gives very easy blending and I get very little feathering. Blender effects aren’t spectacular, but they are okay when wet.
Canson Sketch
Strathmore Sketch 60lb
• Easy color lay down, smooth surface
• Saturates quickly to give smooth coverage
• Feathers with more than one layer
• Darkens slightly with layering
• Soaks through the back quickly
• Very easy blending – but beware of feathering
• Excellent colorless blender effects both wet and dry.
• Overall Thoughts – I wouldn’t pick this paper unless I want to use limited layers. I do love the crisps and bright colorless blender effects though.
Strathmore Sketch
Borden & Riley Sketch/Drawing 90lb
• Has a lot of tooth – snags at marker during inking
• Saturates quickly for smooth coverage
• Feathers with more than one layer
• Darkens slightly with layering
• Soaks through the back very quickly
• Soft and easy blending with not a lot of ink (can be controlled)
• Excellent colorless blender effects both wet and dry
• Overall Thoughts – another paper I wouldn’t use… unless I really wanted great colorless
blender special effects. I do like the blending, and with patience, could learn to use this
paper with a very little ink.
Borden & Riley Sketch/Drawing 90lb
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BRISTOL
Canson Bristol Vellum
• Smooth color lay down
• Saturates very quickly
• Feathers slightly with multiple layers
• Darkens with layering
• Very little soak through to the back
• Super easy blending – beware of the feathering though
• Soft and subtle colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – this paper is pretty good. I like that it blends beautifully and gives some colorless blender effects. The only drawback is the slight feathering.
Canson Bristol Vellum
Strathmore Bristol Smooth
• Slight yellow tone
• Very smooth and easy color lay down
• Saturates quickly without a lot of ink
• Feathers slightly with lots of ink
• Darkens nicely with layering
• Some soak through to the back
• Blends beautifully
• Great colorless blender effects – nice and bright and crisp
• Overall Thoughts – A great paper for someone wanting to use a Bristol. Super easy
blending and vibrant colorless blender effects. The slight yellow tone isn’t an issue for
me.
Strathmore Bristol
Borden & Riley Bristol Vellum
• Slight tooth and really grabs at the marker during inking
• Saturates very quickly
• Feathers even with just one layer
• Darkens with layering
• Lots of soak through to the back
• Blends very well
• Neat colorless blender effects – but feathering
• Overall Thoughts – this reminded me a lot of a watercolor paper. Way too soft for my
taste as it feathers excessively. I do like the colorless blender effect and this paper might
be neat for a mixed media inking project.
Borden & Riley Bristol Vellum
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MARKER PAPER
Canson Marker Pro Layout
• Super smooth surface – easy color lay down
• Color sits on top of paper
• Saturating creates mottled look
• Very light even with layering
• No feathering even with multiple layers
• No bleeding through the back
• Streaky with more than one shade
• Traditional blending methods tend to lift color when wet
• Colorless blender effects subtle on both wet and dry
• Overall Thoughts – The paper is good for more traditional marker rendering techniques
where brush strokes are used to create movement and texture. Colorless blender effects
are too soft and subtle for my taste.
Canson Marker Pro
Strathmore Marker Pad
• Super smooth color lay down
• Color sits on top of paper for quite a while
• Can easily saturate for a smooth look
• No feathering even with multiple layers
• Very light – even with layering
• No bleeding through the back
• Streaky if not evenly saturated
• Traditional blending is difficult
• Excellent colorless blender effects on both wet and dry
• Overall Thoughts – The lighter colors pull off the darker colors since they sit on the top
of the paper so the blending is rather difficult. I do like the crisp colorless blender effects
that I can get.
Strathmore Marker Pad
Borden & Riley Marker Layout
• Super smooth color lay down
• Darkens only slightly with layers
• Need to fully saturate for a smooth look
• No feathering even with multiple layers
• No bleed through to the back
• Streaky if not fully saturated
• Traditional blending is good if fully saturated
• Excellent colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – I love this paper! The best of both worlds for me… like a soft card
weight paper for blending (as long as it’s saturated) and vivid colorless blender effects.
Borden & Riley Marker Layout
Copic Marker Pad
• Noticeably two sided
• Smooth color lay down
• Darkens only slightly with multiple layers
• No feathering
• Slight show through to the back but no bleeding
• Ink sits on top for a moment and then saturates
• Traditional blending techniques are difficult as the ink sits on the top
• Streaky blending unless very careful
• Very subtle colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – For my coloring style, it’s not my preferred marker paper. The blending is more like a vellum technique and the colorless blender effects are extremely subtle.
Copic Marker Pad
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OTHER PAPERS
Borden & Riley Bleed Proof Paper for Pens
• Super smooth surface and color lay down
• Soft like Bristol but not as absorbent
• Darkens slightly with layering
• Very slight feathering only after 3+ layers of ink
• Bleeds through the back slightly
• Blends well if saturated
• Amazing colorless blender effects
• Overall Thoughts – Another great paper! This reminds me of a thinner card weight paper
with the ease of soft paper blending and outstanding colorless blender effects.
Borden & Riley Bleed Proof Paper for Pens
Copic Manga Illustration Paper
• Very light color
• Darkens only slightly with multiple layers
• Ink sits on top and then soaks in
• No feathering or bleed through
• Traditional blending techniques are difficult
• Can be streaky if overworked
• No colorless blender effects on wet and only slight effects on dry
• Overall Thoughts – Tough to get smooth blends on, but a good paper for more traditional marker rendering where streaks and brush strokes are wanted for texture and movement.
Copic Manga Illustration
As you can see, each type of paper gives a different result, even between brands, so make sure to put marker to paper and test a number of them to find your favorites.
Interested in Colleen’s posts on testing card stock? View Part 1 and Part 2 on her blog.
