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Have you ever had an idea?
You know, an idea that just grabs a corner of your brain and keeps pushing you toward something that you never knew you ever wanted to learn about? That is what happened to me when the art materials company Arteza asked me if I wanted to try out their new Real Brush Watercolor Pens and their Expert 140LB 100% cotton paper. If you are interested Arteza has given me a discount code for my viewers: 10% off your whole purchase good through January 30, 2020! Promo code: Deliberatelycreative6
I had absolutely no idea what to do when they first asked. I knew I wanted to do something that anyone could be successful with. I let my mind work on it and I started thinking about flowing the watercolor around on the paper. What would happen if I put ink/watercolor on the dry paper and get it really wet? I started wondering if it could be done with these waterbased pens. after playing with the ens for just a few minutes I realized how fun and easy it would be to sho beginners a watercolor galaxy tutorial with brush pens that they would have success with!
What do the pens look like?
First off I really looked at the pens and what I saw made me happy. The Arteza Real Brush Pens actually are brushes! They have actual filaments to carry the watercolor from the barrel of the pen to the paper! The barrel is filled with water-based inks. The water-based inks are lovely, they move and flow with the addition of water, just as you would expect them to do.
The colors range in tone from very pale to super intense. My guess is that these pens are dye inks that will not be lightfast over time. They are great for use on projects that are not expected to last several years. Use these pens to color your greeting cards and making quick projects. If you choose to use them for a project that will take many hours and you will want to have around for a long time my suggestion is to scan the artwork or take good photos, then put the original art inside of a journal or portfolio that won’t be exposed to light. Then use your digital copies to make physical prints with an online print company that uses archival printing processes.
How about the paper?
The paper is lovely. I will say that I am relatively new to using watercolor paper and I have limited experience. The pens lay their colors down and the paper allows the colors to move and flow. The texture of the paper is random enough to look high quality. What I mean is that the texture pattern doesn’t look or feel like it was made with a cheap mold. Paper toweling would be a very coarse example of cheaper textures. (Perfectly fine for wiping up the spilled juice or drying off your hands – not what you want to paint a painting on)
You can see this process in action!
I have a few videos going up on my youtube channel showing how I make these fun galaxies each in their own lesson. I’ll be linking them all here but to start off is the video going up on Monday, December 30th! It is being shown as a Premiere on Youtube!
What if I don’t have time to watch the video?
I have a quick step by step video gallery for your learning enjoyment!
Arteza Real Brush Watercolor Pens 
Really are real Brushes! 
140lb 100% Cotton Watercolor Pad 
Using Washi tape to divide the paper into 6 cells 
Lay down your lightest color 
Use water to soften and blur the first color 
Add the next darkest color – remember tpo leave some white spaces 
Add your next color, still leaving light and white spaces. 
Use more water to blur the colors and move them around the paper 
Keep moving the colors, working around in a systematic way to keep each color without over blending 
YOu can lighten some areas by adding more water and dabbing with a dry brush to lift color off. 
Start laying in the Black ink right over the wet paper 
work the black around and across the page in a random way. 
Using a wet brush blur the edges of the back to blend with the colorful galaxy. 
Dry the whole painting – then Using a White opaque paint like Gouache or Acrylic. Splatter on stars 
Finally using the tip of the fine detail brush put in a few bigger stars 
More galaxies in these other color combinations are coming!
Swipe Images Left to View all the Steps
What do you think?
Is this a project you can see doing yourself? Have you checked out the videos and the gallery? Do you have a color combination you want to see me try out? Leave me a comment and let me know! Oh, I really want to know how you found me and my blog please let me know that too.