TECHNIQUE

Water-Soluble Media Prints

Create watercolor-like lines and doodles on a printed page by drawing with markers and water-soluble crayons directly on the Plexiglas sheet. I used Derwent Art Bars and Sakura Koi coloring brush markers in this exercise.

Creative Toolbox

11" × 14" (28cm × 36cm) sheet of Plexiglas

spray bottle of water

water-soluble crayons and markers

drawing paper or cardstock

soft rubber brayer

paper towels

High Flow and OPEN acrylic paint

ink spray

zip tie stencil

STEP 1: Draw Flowers

Spray a sheet of Plexiglas with a mist of water. Dip water-soluble crayons into water and draw on top of the Plexi. Doodle with at least two or three colors.

STEP 2: Print Paper

Press a piece of cardstock paper onto the Plexiglas surface to pick up the doodled flowers.

STEP 3: First Print

Here is the first print revealed.

STEP 4: Clean Plexiglas

Spray the Plexi with water and wipe off any excess crayon with a paper towel to clean the surface. Draw circles, flowers and more doodles with water-soluble markers. Here I use Sakura Koi coloring brush markers.

STEP 5: Spray Water

Spray a fine mist of water over the doodled surface. Press the printed piece of cardstock onto the wet marker surface to overprint on top of the crayon flowers.

STEP 6: Second Print

This shows the print after two pulls off the Plexiglas. Set aside to dry.

STEP 7: Wash Color

Fill in the background of the page with a wash of acrylic paint using a foam brush. In this step I used High Flow acrylic paint.

STEP 8: Stencil Print

Place a zip tie stencil (see page 104) onto the print and spray with ink.

STEP 9: Samples

Various water media prints on cardstock, architectural blueprints and drawing paper.

Water-Soluble Media Printing Tips and Ideas