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Description
18x24" Markal Paintstiks and Deco Paint Marker on Sketch Paper

This painting/drawing was a bit of an experiment for me. I had bought some Markal Paintstiks online and decided to see what I could do with them.

Typically, Markals are used by construction and industrial workers to mark numbers on their materials, but graffiti artists will use them too to scribble their names onto things. That's more or less how they came into my hands. I had seen writer's names written with them and the occasional stick figure drawing, but I wanted to see if you could do more with them.

When I first started using them I was a little put off by the very streaky and inconsistent lines I was getting, but with a little patience I was able to gain a little bit more control over it. The marks also smudge and smear very easily, which helps to smooth out your lines.

What I really liked about these Markals is how they almost force you to be messy. For someone like me it really helps you let go of your perfectionism. What I also like about these Markals is the texture that the globby quality of the paint gives your work. They also have an outer skin that peels off as you use them that gets stuck in the paint and make for a nice bumpy texture.

One thing I don't like about them is how slowly the paint dries and if you try to mark over wet paint the two colors just smear together and it looks bad (This took over a week to do because of it). That and it's really hard to remove the paint, so if you accidentally mark somewhere you didn't want to, you're kind of stuck with it.

Despite that, Markals are still really fun to work with. I'm definitely going to be working more with them and I recommend anyone wanting to try something new to try them out. They're about $1 a piece on Amazon, or you might see if your local Hardware stores carries them. I think there's also an artist variety made by the same company, but those will probably cost a lot more.

I wouldn't suggest using them on any textured surfaces like canvas, though. They're already pretty streaky on paper and any textured surface is just going to make them that much streakier.

Description
18x24" Markal Paintstiks and Deco Paint Marker on Sketch Paper

This painting/drawing was a bit of an experiment for me. I had bought some Markal Paintstiks online and decided to see what I could do with them.

Typically, Markals are used by construction and industrial workers to mark numbers on their materials, but graffiti artists will use them too to scribble their names onto things. That's more or less how they came into my hands. I had seen writer's names written with them and the occasional stick figure drawing, but I wanted to see if you could do more with them.

When I first started using them I was a little put off by the very streaky and inconsistent lines I was getting, but with a little patience I was able to gain a little bit more control over it. The marks also smudge and smear very easily, which helps to smooth out your lines.

What I really liked about these Markals is how they almost force you to be messy. For someone like me it really helps you let go of your perfectionism. What I also like about these Markals is the texture that the globby quality of the paint gives your work. They also have an outer skin that peels off as you use them that gets stuck in the paint and make for a nice bumpy texture.

One thing I don't like about them is how slowly the paint dries and if you try to mark over wet paint the two colors just smear together and it looks bad (This took over a week to do because of it). That and it's really hard to remove the paint, so if you accidentally mark somewhere you didn't want to, you're kind of stuck with it.

Despite that, Markals are still really fun to work with. I'm definitely going to be working more with them and I recommend anyone wanting to try something new to try them out. They're about $1 a piece on Amazon, or you might see if your local Hardware stores carries them. I think there's also an artist variety made by the same company, but those will probably cost a lot more.

I wouldn't suggest using them on any textured surfaces like canvas, though. They're already pretty streaky on paper and any textured surface is just going to make them that much streakier.