Surabhi Kuthiala's Blog

I often get asked what pens I use for my drawings. This is the first question faced by anybody who starts to draw. Although your choice of ink-drawing pen will depend a lot on your style of drawing and personal taste, there has to be a starting place as the range of pens that are available in the market is wide and confusing.

Key features to look for in a pen


Archival Ink: Pens labeled “Archival” contain ink that does not fade. This is important especially important if you plan to sell your artwork and want it last a lifetime.
Water proof and Smudge proof: Although smudging also depends on the type of paper used, some low quality pens have a tendency to smudge on all kind of paper. Smudging is more visible when creating intricate artwork.
Comes in sets or nib sizes: Pens which come in sets offer more nib sizes to choose from. Nib sizes come in handy when you want to give depth to your artwork. Sets may also come in various colors offering more creative freedom
Pigment ink: Line art pens come with two types of inks, pigment ink and dye ink. Pigment ink lasts longer and retain better color as compared to pens with dye ink.


When I started making line-art, I explored different types of pens and have now settled on 3. My choice of pens is based on the above mentioned criteria





Staedtler Pigment Liner

This is my favourite pen. It has a very smooth flow and gives a steady and uniform line for a long period fo time.

What I like best about Staedtler is that like many other pens it does not fade as the ink ends.0.2 mm nib size is my favourite of making coloring pages.

Sakura Pigma Micron

This is my second most used pen. many of my artworks have been created using this pen.

These pens give an extremely precise and fine line. This is useful you tend to create intricate artworks.

Unipin Fineliner

Unipin finaliser gives a relatively black line and I feel it is a bit thicker as compared to other pens of the same nib size.

Lines made by this pen are very uniform and consistent.

Some of the artworks made using these pens are shown below:

The 3 brands of drawing pens mentioned here are amongst the best pre-filled ink pens that artists can buy, and they are relatively inexpensive as well.

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Visit your nearest art supply store where they usually have a pad of test paper next to the pens so you can try them out before you buy. Do let me know what you think about these pens.

What’s really cool about zines is their accessibility. Anyone can make a zine! This means I can make a zine, you can make a zine, your neighbour can make a zine, and  your grandma can make a zine. These mini booklets or zines can be used to make anything weekly planner, coloring book, art project, kids game at a party. So put on your artistic caps and get ready to make some zines.

Materials Required:


Any rectangular paper, US Letter 11X8.5 Inches has been used in this tutorial
Scissors












Step 1

Fold your sheet of paper in half hamburger style

Step 2

Unfold the paper.   The sheet is now split into halves. Fold one side of your paper into the middle to meet the crease.

Step 3

Repeat step 2 for the other side of the paper

Step 4

If you unfold your paper you should have four equal sized vertical columns.

Step 5

Fold your paper in half again but this time vertically.

Step 6

Unfold your paper you should now have 8 equally sized rectangles.

Step 7

Fold your paper back in half as shown in image. Now cut halfway in at your crease, this cut will create a opening in the middle of your paper.

Step 8

Now you should have a sheet with 8 sections and a slit in the middle. Open up your paper, fold in half like above. Then simply push the ends of the paper in and fold like a small book or pamphlet. Make sure that the printed side is on the outside.

Step 9

This is what your small one page zine should look like when you are done.

Easy wasn’t it….Share your mini zines on Instagram with #intrikateink to get featured here or even win some free giveaways. If you want to try some coloring mini zines click here.

 Adult coloring books or pages are creative drawings with different design and patterns on them. It requires the use of tools such as coloring pencils, felt tip pens or crayons for easy coloring of the printed coloring pages. Click here to get an idea of what a printable adult coloring book looks like.

History

The McLoughlin Brothers are often credited for introducing the first coloring book, when they published Little Folks’ Painting Book, in 1880s. In 1960, Seymour Reit, the famous cartoonist of Archie’s, Popeye, Gulliver’s Travels etc. wrote an article, “The Down To Earth Coloring Book” for Mad and is accredited with inspiring the faddish boom of the early adult coloring books In early 2015 coloring books for adults began increasing in popularity. In April 2015 it was 2 coloring books, which became the top sellers at Amazon. Later in the year, it was reported by Amazon Canada that the coloring books are a top wished for item with nine out of the top ten consisting of such books. In countries like the United Kingdom and France, adults coloring books are fast becoming bestsellers. Recently it has been trending in Spain as well.

Although Adult coloring books are available in print, they are also being offered digitally, via ebooks, apps, and coloring pages that can easily be downloaded or even colored online. E-coloring books are popular not only because they are de-stressing and relaxing but also because they can be saved easily and finished products shared. Writing for the Washington Post, Dominic Bulsuto proposed that the online purchase option greatly helped in the spread of the genre noting that the relative anonymous manner of the act made end users feel more secure pursuing books they would be embarrassed to buy in real life. Printable coloring pages are getting popular also because of social media channels like Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook.

Do Adult Coloring have any benefit?

 There’s no doubt that coloring has great benefits when applied. Some have found it to help reduce stress, anxiety even anger. Although coloring will most likely be unable to cure illness; however it can make adapting to it a great deal better. According to health experts coloring is a stress-free activity that calms the fear center of the brain thereby allowing your mind to get the perfect rest it needs. Carl G. Jüng was one of the first psychologists to use coloring as a relaxation technique during the early 20th century. He was able to do this using mandalas coloring pages. A mandala is a circular design, having repetitive patterns. The mandalas have their origin from India.

Researchers have recognized the restorative characteristics of arts for quite a long time, today art treatment is utilized to help individuals express what they are feeling especially, when they can’t be expressed in words, for example when used by cancer patients.

According to a research carried out in 2006 it was found that art coloring treatment for ladies with cancer helped to diminish side effects of physical and enthusiastic misery during treatment.
When focusing on a coloring a page, it has been found that the mind concentrates on the coloring activity, leaving no room for worries.
 It also brings out imagination and helps takes one back to our childhood period, a period without lot of stress. This leads subconsciously to calmness.
Coloring helps to enter into a very creative and a free state of mind.
It can be used to understand feelings better, the choice of different colors or intensity depict our mood.
Taking time to perform random creative act is known to help perform better in work place.






Whats Next?

No matter how stressed or busy your schedule may be. Take out some time, use different shades of color and catch as much fun as possible. What actually happens, when we are coloring? Our brain switches off stressful thoughts and focuses only on coloring. This task has a soothing and a calming effect. If you haven’t tried it out yet you really need to

There are no rules when coloring an art page. You can color inside or outside the lines; you can use one color or dozens of colors.  You can create masterpieces, just be yourself.

So what are you waiting for get your coloring pencils or felt tip pens or your crayons then download a printable coloring page today and start coloring.