Monday 18 July 2011

More Ultra Fine Nibs Tips

Now that I've had more time to play around with these fantastic new Ultra Fine Nibs for the Letraset Promarkers, I've come across some hints and tips that I thought I'd pass on.


Now, one question I'm asked a lot about these new tips is "do I need a nib for every pen?" well there's not a straight-forward answer to that one..... Letraset recommend that you use 1 nib for 1 pen, and if you only have a few promarkers then that's great, but for those of us who have more than just a few then that's quite a lot of  nibs we're going to have to buy. So here is my solution to save a little money and/or space out those nib purchases.... I work from dark to light when I'm colouring, and most of the time (although there are exceptions to this rule) the smaller areas that need colouring would be the areas I would be colouring with my darkest shade of whichever colour family I am using at the time.
For instance, if I was colouring brunette hair, I would be using Walnut, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Tan and Almond (Walnut is my darkest shade here). I would probably be using Walnut at the roots, behind the head and at the tips - which are most likely to be the fiddliest areas to colour. So working on this theory it would be quite cost-effective to buy nibs for (for instance) 1 dark brown, 1 dark pink, 1 dark blue, 1 dark green  etc etc or whichever colour combinations you use most.
It is possible to swap your nibs around on different pens - however you need to be aware that you'll have to scribble a little with the nib to flush the old colour from the nib and to let the new colour wick through - my advice would be to stick to the same colour family though.


So what else can these Ultra Fine Nibs do? well, for those of you who use your blender pen to introduce a bit of texture in your colouring then think of the possibilities with a fine nib - here are a few examples...
 I have roughly coloured the dragon's skin with Olive and Pear Greens (Image is Draco the dragon from Whiff of Joy)
I used the normal bullet tip of the blender pen to create texture on the upper, lighter area by simply touching the nib to the paper for a second and repeating this all over. I then clicked the Ultra Fine Nib over the bullet tip of the blender pen, waited a few seconds for the blender fluid to flow and then repeated the touching of the tip to the paper on the belly area- you can see that the dots are far smaller and finer.
You could use your blender pen with ultra fine nib to create loads of different effects - give it a try, and I'd love to see how you get on. Why not try wee lines, doodles or patterns?


The nibs are also ideal for doodling, faux-stitching, writing etc, you are now no longer restricted to using just a black fine-liner, you can have any colour you wish :)

16 comments:

Kath Stewart said...

you are so clever...probably why you are the Queen of Promarkers...hugs kath xxx

Jackie said...

Debbi

I love the ultra fine nibs, and use them across the pens but I put the used nib on to the blender pen and scribble to clean the nib off, seems to be working OK at the moment.

Love the effects on to the dragon.

Jackie

Marianne's Craftroom said...

Love the effect with the blender pen. I will have to get hold of some of these nibs. (Waiting for my spectrum noir pens to arrive, hope I like them.) Marianne x

Marianne said...

Thanks Debbi, I have ordered some nibs by Letraset to try them out, so your tips are very useful to me.
Hugs, Marianne

Anne said...

Great tips Debbi , thank you , and the dragons skin looks brill
Anne x

Shell Shearer Swinscoe said...

Wow Draco looks fab hun, might have to have a play with textures!
Hope your all ok hugs shell xx

Sylvia x said...

just waiting for my nibs to arrive so this post is timed perfectly...love how you have used them on the dragon..you're a star

Sylvia x

Shazza said...

think I NEED these x

Lorraine said...

oh wow i love this its so clever i really need to get these nibs for my pens they will be so helpful xx

Paula (PEP) said...

Superb texture with this technique & utterly effective with the different sizing of the dots. Very sound advice with the tips too. I love the fact that you work from dark to light for I think that way much more easily than light to dark.
Paula (PEP)

Kimberly said...

Oh,,i'm so waiting until i can get some in canada....it's taking too long.....tfs
www.justwordz.ca

LorraineM said...

Dragon looks good. Thanks again for passing on your knowledge. x

Julye said...

I really will have to get some of these , and love the dragon texture too thaks for all the fab tips.

akilli melek said...

I've always wondered what to do with blender pens, looks like i might pick up one of them along with the nibs at hobbycrafts on the 6th
see you there (well if bump doesnt make an appearance first)
caroline

Mona`s Bittelille Scrappekrok said...

Wow what a fabulous effect. I just ordered in some ultra fine nibs and i got them in the mail yesterday. I really look forward to try them out. Hugs...Mona

Neet said...

Thanks for the tip - didn't know they had brought some new nibs out.

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