I have also worked with inks and markers. Inks I found to be most difficult especially with the ink. I would drip it everywhere. I did like the effect though and I have a few decent pieces done in ink. Learning a marker technique was also very difficult. Thanks to Instructor David Giuliani, also known as, the “Marker Nazi”, I was able to develop a smooth technique for marker rendering. Markers were tricky especially when trying to do techniques with the “toothbrush” to make a concrete effect. I found especially in the class I took, no matter how hard you tried to keep your paper clean I would end up smearing the wet marker ink or smudging something somewhere.
Below is a Marker Rendering I completed in Giuliani's class and a ink drawing.
As I mentioned above using chalk or charcoal I find frustrating as they can so easily be smeared or modified. Have a finished piece could be beautiful in a studio, but most difficult to get anywhere else or even store. I actually have many charcoal and chalk pastel pieces but it is so hard to keep them from messing each other up.
I also mentioned above the watercolor can be challenging. At first I never realized it was made to be a transparent medium. I would try too hard to make it dark and not subtle. It is most difficult as many times one tries to over work the watercolor instead of letting it dry. This causes the medium to become muddy and loose the brightness of color. I also think working “wet on wet” is so difficult to control, but has great effects.
I don’t have many pieces to show my experience available. They are mostly in storage in a different city. At some point I need to go through them and get some in a digital format for portfolio and sample purposes.
