Coloring with Alcohol Markers for the First Time

Last week my daughter ordered Ohuhu Alcohol Markers* for me (at my request).

Since I’ve been seeing a bunch of posts on Instagram (& Facebook) lately of doodles being colored with them, I wanted to try them out for myself.

I read through the directions and got busy filling out the swatch card.

Then, I grabbed an adult coloring book from our activity center and began looking for drawings I’d like to color.

The coloring book was brand new and sat dormant ever since I purchased it I-don’t-know-how-many years ago. That’s because the slim cheap markers I bought to use with them ended up not being very enjoyable to use — at least not to me.

I didn’t think to label those markers at the time with a number and then generate a color swatch card for them instead of relying on the cap colors to determine the color of the marker.

Plus, I didn’t feel the same inspiration I do now after months of watching Instagram posts from folks I encountered during Workshop Week this past summer.

Earlier this year I tried using colored pencils on a page from this book, but I didn’t enjoy it that much — not like I thought I would — at least, not with the pencils I had on hand at the time.

The intricate patterns with such miniature details didn’t really call to me. It seemed like too much work to have to figure out how to color them and color them well.

The next page in this book, however, stood out to me as something I could enjoy doing without much thinking involved.

It had nice, bold black lines to work within. I just needed to pick out a color scheme and get to work.

So, I picked out Dark Marigold (Y213), Mustard (Y111), Burnt Sienna (YR515), Caramel (Y216) and Potato Brown (YR313).

And for the next hour or so I colored to my heart’s content while my husband watched some old movie on Tubi TV.

I don’t really know how long I spent coloring because I ended up doing another page in another color scheme.

And then I started in on another, attempting to experiment with shading.

The color results from these markers are unlike any I’ve seen with other markers I’ve used.

The dye bleeds into the paper, so when you first lay down the color, it looks dark. But then the pigment soaks into the paper and produces a lighter appearance. Instead of coloring the paper, these alcohol markers literally dye the paper. And I think the resulting effect is amazing. I love it!

What do you think?

Have you ever tried coloring with alcohol markers? Tell me about it.

If not, I recommend giving them a whirl.* 🙂

For inspiration, check out these channels on Instagram: @simplejoyart and @doodle.of.nono.

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn revenue from qualifying purchases.