It should be no surprise to my regular followers to know that I’ve been spending most of my nights and weekends creating; but I haven’t written much about my art yet. I had a few of you ask about the Tombow Dual Brush pens that I used for my coloring sheets this week. Over the summer I finally caved and got the July Tombow VIP Club box. I’ve been following Tombow (@TombowUSA on IG) all summer and finding new creators to follow on Instagram. They have all be so inspiring to see all the different uses for the brush pens. I originally got them for hand lettering; but quickly learned that they can be used in so many different ways. Journalling lovers use them all the time to decorate their bullet journals. Illustrators love the bright vibrant colors. I decided to give them a try as a watercolor tool! 
The items included in their July VIP box were exclusive to the box and weren’t previously available for sale as a set. I received their new marker storage case (which is now available for purchase). The case will hold up to 108 markers, pens, and pencils and looks great on your desk. The box included a 10 pack of their dual brush pens in an exclusive set of colors and their XL Blending Palette. I had seen other artists using a smaller palette before but didn’t really know how I would use it. The boxes were only $30 and included over $60 worth of products. I’ve been wanting a set of brush pens anyways (which retail for $26.99/10pk on their own). Totally worth the cost for the VIP box when the next one goes on sale!!
During this mornings doodle session I started drawing different cacti and decided that this is what I’d end up playing with later on watercolor paper.
My first step was to pencil in my design ideas on the watercolor paper. I used a very light 4H MONO drawing pencil for my sketch because I didn’t want it to show through when I was done coloring. I made sure to erase any unnecessary or dark lines before I started painting.
I’ve seen a few other artists using the blending palette to create watercolor backgrounds for their journals so I decided to give it a try! You scribble the colors on the palette and add a little bit of water (by brush or by spraying) and then place your paper overtop of it where you want the color to be. This was a fun way to create a pale background that looks like watercolor. I’m really happy with the way it turned out. Don’t stress if you get some color where you don’t want it; that’s part of the fun of watercolors is layering the colors on top of each other. I did use a paper towel to blot the colors in places where it was too heavy or dark.
Once I was happy with the background I moved onto the cacti using the brush pens from the VIP box. I did a quick test on a scrap sheet of paper to see how the colors looked and blended together.
I love that you can get different depths of color depending on how much water you use! I knew this was going to be fun!
Since I wanted some depth and dramatic colors I applied the marker right on the paper instead of using the blending palette. Then I used a wet watercolor brush to blend the colors.
You can decide how much water to add but I love how nicely the colors blended together.
When I liked the base colors on the cacti, I then took the fine line end of the brush pens and added small details and outlined each cacti. Just be sure the background is dry or the colors will continue to bleed.
If you don’t love the hard lines of the marker you can always soften them up with a watercolor brush.
I’m in love with how it turned out! If I saw this anywhere else I wouldn’t have thought that it was done with markers!! I’m so happy that I tried something new today. My mind is full of future projects now and I have a feeling that I’ll be grabbing the next Tombow VIP box when it’s available to add to my color selection.
How would you end up using the brush pens? Brush lettering? Bullet journaling? Coloring? Illustrations?
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