First attempt with POSCA pens!

Here we go! My first attempt with the POSCA pens!!
And I love them!!!!
A few things my first experience has taught me is that these suckers are amazing and very forgiving if you treat them right.

First, if any of you who are reading this are considering picking up POSCAs for the first time here's some out of the box advice:

These pens are packed with air. If you press down on the pen to load it with paint on a piece of paper, paint will spew out. And, not just a little bit either. They don't mention this on their website!
So, the FIRST THING you should do it hold the pen with the nib facing straight up then you should press lightly down on the nib to release the air. Some people say to hold it for 10 seconds but I noticed no difference between pens that I waited longer on and those where I just waited for the sound of the air to stop before releasing.
Next, you press the nib down on a piece of scrap paper. You'll now need to lift and press down gently until you see the paint coming through on the nib. You don't have to use much force and going about half way only worked best.

They take a small amount of prep but they're worth it!

The next thing to note is WHAT are you gonna be using these on?
I believe that hard surfaces and canvas or cloth is best for these. I'm going to pick up some smaller sized canvas board for my next experiment.
(I also definitely want a smaller nib size as well as a larger for future projects!)

Why you'll want to use harder surfaces vs paper is that these pens are water based and very much wet. They will pill most paper.
You can see this in some of the WIP images.
I let the little pills dry then I brushed them off with a dry washcloth or my filthy gardening claws (sorry about that!)

This also made blending NOT AN OPTION without destroying the paper. These are meant to be blended! (Though this style was fun)
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Now, onto the piece itself!
@thedreamsfar suggested that I draw my fursona, Juniper so I gave her a go!
I didn't have the colors available in the pack to do her proper colors so we can consider this a shiny Juni or something!!

This red and orange color scheme is honestly really cool though, I may have to use it in another pic one of these days.


Thanks, all of you for giving me the capability to try these pens out! They are REALLY FUN and I really enjoy working with them.

Since my colors are limited, it will limit what I can do as far as drawing other's OCs, unfortunately. But if people are cool with alternate colored versions of their characters then I think it might be fun to pick on some of you for my next test subjects!

$25+ers, you have a new option available soon!!
I'll let you guys know more regarding that after I solidify what sort of thing is best to paint on with these (like Bristol or canvas or whatnot)
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Other news:
I'm going to work on getting a traditional art cam setup for future streams in the near future!
It would be nice to be able to stream work with these new pens as well as future new mediums/tools!

I have a webcam around that might work, it might not be good enough quality, but it's worth trying before looking at buying one!
But I definitely need an adjustable arm for the cam as well as an adjustable desk lamp.

I think that might be a fun project for the next few months!
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💙