Having fun with alcohol markers the not so usual way!

Many years ago alcohol markers were all over YouTube. Coloring people were using them mostly, but there were some artists also who enjoyed drawing / painting with them. They created flower illustration, landscape paintings or illustrations in comic book style. Copic markers and swatches done with them were all over the place. Then, OHUHU markers appeared and got much attention because of the fact that they were sold at a reasonable price.

What I have up to now never seen on YouTube are abstract art pieces done with alcohol markers. This may be due to the fact that alcohol markers are not lightfast and you need to take some precautions for your art works in order to prevent fading. I usually scan my alcohol marker artwork and put the originals away. And: I work with rather small format. I have no studio, so I have to work small. However I deeply enjoy doing those abstract artworks, and although some of them might look similar, everyone of them is different.
 

The knight on the rock

This is the original image, created using Nightcafe Studio. A knight in a worn armour is standing on a rock at the sea, with waves crashing in and rain coming down from a dark sky.

Same scene, different style: The style is watercolor now, much lighter, sun coming in, the sea is much more peaceful. 

This image was created with the "Edit image" tool of Grok.

I haven't done much with this took yet, but everytime I use it I am amazed by its possibilities.

First September Abstract Marker painting

I tried something new this time: First I used squared paper to draw shapes in, then I transferred those shapes on Bristol paper, arranging them in order to create a nice pattern. I could have used my light pad for the transfer, but due to the fact that the sun was shining I simply used a window pane. 

It was the first time I used this method, but it won't be the last, as I am quite pleased with the outcome! 

And I must say that I really love the Bristol paper I am using with my alcohol markers!
 

Creating a comic book Page

 I love to create images with AI Art Generators, and I also love to tell stories, even in English, my second language. For a long time it has been eigher doing the one or the other. But now I can see combining those two. Here's an example:

I first created the image of a rearing black stallion in the desert, and then I thought: Why would this horse rear? Why do stallions rear? They do it for example when they fight with other stallions in order to prevent their mares from being stolen. 

So I thought of a short sentence which could introduce the reader to this situation.

I uploaded the image to photopea, changed the color of the text to white and inserted the text.

Then I exported the image as jpg - and voilà! My first ever comic book panel was created!

Two version with one prompt

Sometimes I like to work with several AI Art Generators and one prompt, and everytime I am surprised how different the results can be. 

The image on the right was created using Piclumen AI, which has a nice free version. You are getting reward points by uploading your images to social media (pinterest for example) and liking and commenting other people's creations.

The image on the left was created using Nightcafe Studio. Here you get reward points by showing up every day.

Abstract Gouache painting

 

I haven't touched my Gouache paints for a long, long time. But yesterday, while cutting the banana for my muesli I thought: Why not play around with them and try to do some color mixing? I was not thinking of a "real" piece, just of a kind of exercise. 

I grabbed some of my Gouache tubes and started. And - I had a blast! This does not mean that I will stop making art with my alcoholbased markers, but I can imagine - now and then - to do something Gouache-y!

Panther bookmark

 

For a long time Zazzle didn't have proper bookmarks. They had some, though, which were so tiny that I would not use them in one of the books I am reading. I looked for a solution and found out, that you could cut out two bookmarks out of a postcard and designed some with Photoshop. But would you do the cutting as a customer? Not really. 

So I was very pleased when I noticed that Zazzle is now offering "real" bookmarks, and could not resist creating one.

The panther on the prowl was created using AI.

Prowling Panther Bookmark
by ullahennig