Copically challanged

As a rather informally trained artist, my skills and knowledge are all over the place. A painting & drawing class and a few photography classes later, I know how to do way more than just those things and have spent an enormous amount of time since I finished my Bachelors of Science learning and practicing, but it's completely self-directed. When I worked a short walk from the library I was constantly checking out books and teaching myself new skills and getting irritated with the clerks at Dick Blick about qualifying for the student discount as I was a student, but in a way they refused to acknowledge. This is a long way of saying sometimes it takes me a while to get around to learning about things that seem like well known techniques/tools for the job. Copic Markers with their gigantic price tag and beautiful colors seem to be one of those things.

A few months ago somehow they appeared on my radar and around that time I started spotting them on super clearance at local stores along with some other alcohol markers, so I started collecting. And they sat. Until yesterday when I decided to pull them out and start playing (while listening to GusGus "Arabaian Horse" non-stop for hours)!

This one looks way better if you are a bit of a distance from it and let your eyes focus and unfocus...I like the general idea, but the execution could be better... I might try this one again at some point with different colors, larger paper & better/multiple straight edges...so you know, almost everything different.

I don't plan, I don't sketch, I just start drawing. It's a surprise to me to see what comes out of the end.

What do I regret the most? Deciding to do both on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of cardstock vs. something huge with more space. I used to be super intimidated by a large empty sheet of paper, but this past year I want to make things bigger. I barely get through some ideas and I'm out of space. Definitely also looking to better round out my Copic collection because somehow I don't even have a red & have way too few greens and Copics are behaving as a marker of my dreams. Outlines were done with my beloved Sakura pens.

Weeee. And today we shall go to pick up more fixer so I can continue to develop film!