I wanted to make a video showing a comparison of the same image colored with inexpensive watercolors, colored pencils, and alcohol markers. We sometimes think we can’t afford to get a great result, because the videos we watch are made with expensive tools.. I thought if we compared using basically the same colors, but with different mediums, we can see if the cost has any impact on colored results.

I started with alcohol markers, Studio 71, Copic YR04, Touch Fives in 48, 123, 124, 81, 83, and 135.
Touch Five set of 168 Ebay: $61 http://tinyurl.com/ycaudmbp I bought this set because it has a lot of light tones and I use more lights than any other colors, as it is the base for all of my work, then I add in the darker tones and go back over it with the light to blend everything…
Touch Five set of 80 Ebay $30.99 http://tinyurl.com/y9kjw7s8 Animation. Touch Five sells other sets of 80 markers, in different color palettes. I’d check them out to see which set meets your needs before buying any. The set of 168 includes all of the colors that you’ll find in the smaller specialized sets.

The colored pencils are from Prismacolor set of 72
Ebay: $35.00 http://tinyurl.com/y9vww8et There are other much cheaper sets calling themselves Prismacolor Premier pencils on ebay. If you want to make sure you are buying the authentic ones, they should be in a black tin with a woman on the front holding grapes. The inexpensive ones say they are Prismacolor, but in the explanation, say they are compared to Prismacolors, but are called Platinum on the top flap of the box..These are not Prismacolors..
DickBlick.com $39.99 http://tinyurl.com/yavuwxhb –I like Dick Blick’s site because you can buy certain individual colors of the pencils if you prefer..
The watercolors are a set of 42 with no name on them. Here are a couple links and the prices at those locations.
Amazon: $14.96 http://tinyurl.com/yasvk3al
Ebay: $13.34 http://tinyurl.com/yamv3jrb
Aliexpress’s prices are now higher than those on Ebay, so I didn’t include them.

I wanted my cards to be able to go in business sized envelopes, so the card base is 9 3/8″ tall and 3 1/4″ wide. I lined it with a gray paper that is 3 1/2″ wide by 8 1/2″ tall—I wanted to use one piece of cardstock for all of my inserts, so that’s why they are shorter than they could have been…they normally would have been 9 1/8″ tall instead of 8 1/2″.

To make the front of the card, I wanted to use ripped paper. I started with 9 1/8″ tall cut paper, then ripped the paper toward me to get a white edge. I ripped three pieces of card stock that looked good with the colors I was using in Frankenstein’s coloring. I took the first ripped piece and laid the center piece over it, and the third piece needs to be applied so after laying it the first two pieces about 1/8″ from the left side of the card, I put the third piece under them until there would be a 1/8″ gap from the right edge. Then I glued it to the other two papers.

I love the Kadomaru Pro corner rounder. I bought it at Amazon for under $10 but they’ve since raised the price. Here’s the link to it.
http://tinyurl.com/y9exs5nc

I used Fabriano hot press watercolor paper from a 9 x 12″ pad. I bought it at AC Moore and think with coupons, they offer the best prices for it. NOTE: I did not like using alcohol markers on this paper as it balled and didn’t blend at all..

I only wanted to color the face of Frankenstein so you wouldn’t have to watch all of the coloring. Frankenstein came from a company called Stamplistic and is called Frankie, and here’s a link to it. $14.00 http://tinyurl.com/y9zqtr95

I used a Loew Cornell natural hair brush #5 for my watercoloring.

When I used colored pencils, I don’t like to see the lines in my coloring, so I learned a great tip from Cher the Fire, in this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luC6GMVBlbw where you dip the tip of the pencil lead (ONLY, not on the wood), into Vaseline, and color with it, then IMMEDIATELY wipe the Vaseline off the pencil lead.

If you can’t tell the difference between the images, (like me,) then it tells all of us that we don’t need to spend a ton of money on tools to get the results we would like. I hope this helped you recognize that, as it did me…

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