Nicki Saunders demonstrates a POSCA pen technique that mimics a watercolour effect, creating vibrant Black Eyed Susans. POSCA pens are a must-have for any artist’s toolkit—versatile enough for porcelain, wood, metal, and textiles. This tutorial will guide you through a step-by-step process to blend colours and layer washes effectively.
I’m going to show you how to create a watercolour effect. An advantage of POSCA pens is that the paint is absorbed into the fibres of the paper, making it permanent. This guarantees a clean glazing technique, providing you allow each layer to dry completely before beginning the next.
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Using a light touch, sketch the flowers onto the watercolour paper. To achieve a watercolour-style POSCA pen technique, start with the first layer of Orange on the sepals, leaves and stems. First, wet the sepal with clean water using your brush. Then, taking the Orange pen, gently touch the darkest area with the nib. A small amount of paint will be released into the wet area, forming a shape similar to a circle. Use your brush to move the paint to cover the area, leaving the majority of the colour in the darker areas. This will help create tonal values. Use the same technique to paint in the stems.
The leaves are larger areas, but can be broken down into small ones to make it easier. Allow all this to dry before moving onto the flowers. Black Eyed Susans have long, beautiful petals, with a rich, warm yellow colour near to the centres which mellows towards the tips. The underside of each petal has cool undertones, while they’re almost lime coloured in places. These areas will not require a layer of Orange. Wet each petal separately with clean water and touch the pen to the petal as near to the centre as you can, using a damp brush to gently fade the
colour as you move towards the tip. Allow to dry completely. This Orange layer is now permanent and will not be moved by the next layer.
Following the same technique described above, lay in the Yellow. As before, start with the sepals, leaves and stems. This will help to create a rhythm to your painting. For the smaller, delicate areas where you only want a little colour (like the undersides of the petals), wet the area with clean water then touch the point of the brush to the pen. A small amount will transfer to the brush, making it easier to control the colour saturation. Once you have completed these two layers you need to assess your colour saturation and values. I was quite reserved in my initial applications and decided to strengthen the colours on the petals around the centre using another layer of Orange. You may not feel your flowers need this. This layering process is key to achieving a smooth POSCA pen watercolour effect.
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The next layer incorporates the Apple Green and Blue together. Begin by wetting the sepal and touch the Apple Green pen…
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