Copic Marker Alternative - Finecolour Markers

Hey guys! Today I'm going to be talking about a Copic Marker alternative that I've recently purchased to hopefully help those on their "perfect pen" quest.

These pens are called Finecolour markers, unheard of right? They took me by surprise as well! I found out about these pens whilst watching a video called "Copic Marker Alternatives" by Baylee Jae on YouTube and I was instantly taken away by their price and I was onto it straight away! So today I'm here to tell you guys about the pros and cons and how they work in comparison to my copics and promarkers! Let's get started! 

Disclaimer; I'm not sponsored, I just have a love for what I do so I invest a lot in it. I also don't get everything in one go, I get bits and pieces as I go along and I started collecting a few years ago that's why I have a lot of pens :). Also this is my personal opinion about these pens which is nor right or wrong!

 

So here's my brief intro in quick bullet point form:

• Cheap copic marker alternative
• Double ended tip
• Available in 180 colours
• Alcohol based markers

So, I found out about these markers from Baylee Jae on youtube. She had a video called "Copic marker alternatives". I recommend watching that very much to find about other Copic marker alternatives. Hearing about these pens was probably one of the best days ever and I ordered them from eBay immediately after watching the video.

Pros:

• Incredibly Cheap

From eBay, I got a set of 36 colours and they cost me about £14 but that was because I had a half price voucher. If you were to purchase them normally you're looking at about £25 which is still cheap to me. If you were to buy the Copic Ciao 36 set it would cost you £59.81 (and that's the eBay price).

• Alcohol based (Like Copics and Promarkers)

They are made with alcohol, so they still do the same job as Copics just with less quality.

• Blendable

They do not come with a colourless blender but if you use colours in the same colour group they do blend, you just have to layer it more to make sure all the colours blend in.

• Dual ended (Double ended)

Just like The Copic Ciao's and Sketches they're double ended with a bullet tip and a chisel tip. However Copic's have a brush tip which cleans up your drawing and the Finecolour's have a bullet tip which makes your drawing looks more rough. Whatever your drawing style, this may be a pro or a con for you.

• Rectangular Shape

This is a pro because unlike Copic Ciao's (which are round) they don't roll around the surface that you're drawing on.

• They Hold more ink than Copics

This means they will last longer, in general the round markers hold less ink than the rectangular shaped ones.

• Colour Codes

They have colour codes ontop unlike the Copic Ciao's and it is easier to pick out colours once you know them.

Cons:

• Not as bright as Copics

The ink quality is probably a 75 instead of 100 but it still does the job however they just look a bit patchy in comparison to the Copic Ciao's.

• Looks very much like a Copic Sketch copy

They didn't do very well in making it look unique, it looks exactly like a Copic Sketch which puts people off but might be a con because you can sort of tell people you bought Copic's lol.

• Available in only 112 colours

Copic Ciao's are available in 180 colours and Sketch markers have over 200 colours.

• Not refillable

Unfortunately you can't refill Finecolour markers and with Copic's you can. If a colour runs out the only way you'd find it again is to buy another set because so far where I shop (eBay) they do not sell them individually.

• Long shipping time

The delivery may take a while because they do not have these anywhere in the world but China. If You're looking for a marker made In the UK I suggest you go for Letraset.


Who are these for? -  Beginner artists who are exploring or people on a tight budget.
Worthy of their Price? - Definitely

Do they achieve their purpose?

They do the exact same thing as Copic's, it's just that the end result looks a little bit patchy and rough.

What could make it better?

• A brush tip
• Better quality ink
• A better design

The results

 

This is a drawing done with only Finecolour markers:

 

 

 

This is a drawing done with only Copic Ciao's:

 

 

Buying Advice:

Have you decided if they're for you? If they are then here's some advice for when buying them:

• The best place to buy them is eBay - no rip off just real prices
• If the Price is higher or the same as Copic's you're being ripped off.
• If you're not sure about them the best set to get is the 36 set or 12 set.

Well my Lovelies, thank you so much for reading my lengthy review and if there's anymore things you'd like to see on This Blog to do with my art and materials please comment below.

Song of the day: Fuse ODG - Only

GCSE Art: The figure

Hey loves, i'm doing this series to help anyone who's doing GCSE Art and also to track my progress. I'll be doing this in little stages and by the topics so it's easier for you guys to read and process. All pictures in here are from my own sketchbook which stay on my blog please!

The first topic is ''The figure'', I got a B on this topic so I can give some constructive advice as how to go about it. This doesn't have to be in any particular order but they're all requirements for your sketchbook to get a top end grade and when I show yu my sketchbook you'll see why the B rather than the A.

DISCLAIMER: I like to say that i'm not the best in anything I blog about so this is just some advice x

1. Dictionary/ Thesaurus description

This one of the first things you should have in your sketchbook, or somewhere at least. Try and make it a bit creative but don't take up a whole page. Art is about creativity but the examiner does realize when you waste pages to fill up your sketchbook.

This was My First page, It has a title made out of stick men and my dictionary description is in the right hand corner, I'll zoom in in the next pic. I've also done figure studies off he top of my head to decorate the page and I have done a small mindmap of artists to investigate, after I investigated them I put clouds around the ones I was interested in.

2. Figure studies

Even if you're not told to, just do heck loads of figure drawings, to decorate pages and for random pages and so on, it shows you know how to draw one and have experimented with different positions. After all the topic is the figure and there's no harm in drawing some.

3. Collages 

Collages are key for examiners and I have no Idea why, this is what got me a B instead of an A. My collage wasn't big enough and didn't have enough pictures. A good tip would also be to add annotations which I'll explain later. 

Its even called a tiny collage. 

               

This was okay too but I guess I could have done more to achieve my A! 

4. Artist Investigations

You need to show plenty of evidence that you've looked at other artists besides yourself and the best way to do this is through what I like to call Artist investigations and Art analysis (MOUTHFUL). It's basically a way of analysing art. My top tip here is too write as little as possible regarding the artist's life, their parents, where they went to school and their favourite ice cream flavour. Focus on the artwork and say what it is about it that you like and WHY. Here's a format I follow:

Describe: 

• What do you think it's about? - Could there be a story behind it, a mood? or an event? 
• What does it look like? - Colour, Texture, Tone, Composition, Scale
• How was the artwork produced? - Materials and time 
• Context: 

- What was happening around the world at the time this artwork was produced? Is there any connection? 

- Why may the artist have produced this artwork.

The artist's intent: 

• What is the focal point? (Where is the point of main attraction?) 
• Why is it the scale that it is?
• What kind of composition has the artist used? (where on the page has he placed things and why?) 

OTHER STUFF lol: 

• Colour - Bright? Bold? Vivid? Dark? 
• Line - Calm? Rough? Vertical? Horizontal?
• Tone - Dark or light? Contrast? Shadows and highlights? 
• Shapes - Simple or Complex?
• Texture - Rough? Smooth? 

Here are some of my Artist investigations: 

Artist Investigation on Kelly smith who focuses on the torso

Artist investigation of Carly Ashdown, created the background myself with watercolour.

As part of your artist investigation it is important that you show how you responded to the artist and I call the the artist response. You make an artist response by creating a piece of artwork ''in the style'' of the artist and this doesn't have to be an exact copy of their artwork, it can be just using their; theme, colour pallete, objects, ideas etc. 

For Carly Ashdown this was my response: 

I also did an artist investigation and response to Wendy Ortiz: 

Investigation

Response... ALWAYS SIGN YOUR WORK! 

5. Experimenting with media 

I'm not a fan of being an artist who uses every material under the sun but unfortunately in your sketchbook you do have to. Use loads of different medias and annotate around them. (Write about what you used, whether you like it or not and whether you might use it in your final piece.

Here I also experimented with colours and different media to show how I'm thinking about my final piece. I had interest in the watercolours, My copic colours and also using some pencil.

6. Finally plan your final piece. 

I started experimenting with the idea of a devil and an angel and doing some sketches (thumbnails of how I wanted it to look like)

The examiner is also an artist, So any copying done
will most likely be noticed. So be safe than sorry and
just mentioned what you used to help you.

I planned my final piece in my book and since we're allowed out sketchbook this was really helpful. Here I did some experiments with colour and what and where I was going to place stuff.

Thanks for watching, these are all the basic steps you need for your GCSE sketchbook :). Please comment if you liked it and share this blog post and also comment if you think I missed anything out.

The Blog Tour Award

Hey everyone, i'm back again with the blog tour award! I was nominated by my favourite blogger friend (love you all though!) - Izzy! Please visit her blog, I love her posts and videos and i'm sure you will too.

The Rules: 

• Pass the tour onto at least four other bloggers. 
• Give your nominees the rules and specify the Monday in which they should post their nomination answers
• Answer the four questions about your creative process, which allows other bloggers and visitors to understand what inspires you to do what you do. 
• Compose this one-time post on a specific Monday (date TBC by your nominator)

1. How does your work differ from others in your genre? 

I cross between so many genres so I don't even know! Here and there I dip in and out of fashion and art, I also sometimes blog about beauty and lifestyle! I don't even know, I'd say it's different because I am my own genre and I don't really have a genre.

2. How does your writing / creative process work? 

I only blog when I get an idea, which is kind of bad... I sit and wait for ideas instead of going to look for ideas. That needs to change I guess. However when I do blog, I think about the next few blog posts then write them all and then set times and dates for me to post them so that I don't fall behind.

3. Why do you write and create what you do?

I blog to find people like me, chances are if someone is reading your blog (which has a certain topic or theme) will like the same things as you. I also started blogging to get out of my Shell, I'e been blogging for a year and half now and It's brought a lot of confidence because writing down your thoughts and publishing them for the world to see isn't always that easy. I also blog to get myself known, this is partly why my blog isn't anonymous - I have a purpose and a dream and that's to be a fashion illustrator/designer therefore I have to work towards it and blogging is part of the networking I do to try and achieve this along with me turning my instagram into an art account, having a deviantart account and etc. I started off creating fashion illustrations for fun and then it turned into a hobby and now it's a must do lol! I draw everyday because that's the only way to make progress and move on with it, I do it because it's my dream.

4. What are you working on at the moment?

With artwork, I'm working on a new collection inspired by Ostrich fur and I'm also working on using different techniques and different materials. With Loveheart Doodles I am currently working on a new blog design and new types of posts. With regards to networking I'm working on getting a high amount of IG followers because everybody knows that's where you start lol and also preparing a new Youtube channel which will be ready and in full gear by January 2016.

My Nominees:

Bria Lou - http://louleecutie.blogspot.co.uk
Lilliana - http://fashionqueenbyme.blogspot.com
Peace - http://waitwhatok.blogspot.com
Harel - http://wwritingg.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading x

Technical delays!

I have been literally the worst blogger ever and there is so much I need to do on my blog and fix that's why there has been so much delays and not enough blog posts coming to you guys x 

I love this blog very much and it's a very big part of me, so if I don't post for a while it just means that I am a bit busy at the moment but I'll never abandon it and leave it forever, I'll always be back. 

I'm on a lovely summer break now and o have the chance to work on many things with you so, I actually can't wait to start them. 

I've got some new DIY tutorials to show you and some new ootd's. 

I'll be blogging this afternoon so watch out for me! 

Lauren x

New illustration: Headphones in, World out

Hi guys, so I've been going out of my horizons lately and I'm really excited about it. A lot of people think that I stick to one art which is fashion illustration but lately that's not true. Sometimes a break really helps and just doing something different is fun.

As I'm crazily obsessed with creating at art, looking at art, sharing art, being art and so on I woke up at 6am yesterday and felt the urge to start drawing. 

Now, always before I start drawing I look for reference images and inspiration. I looked on tumblr and Pinterest on the theme summer and found a lot. I was focusing on dressed but I came across a line art of a girl wearing headphones. I really liked this picture and decided to do something similar. 

I'm proud of this piece because I used watercolour and not my Copics (skin tones have ran out). Creating skin tones with watercolour has always been very scary to me because it looks like you need to be an artistic master to make all the highlights and shadows and actually mix colours to make the skin colour where as when I use my Copics the skin colours and already there and you just layer them. So I'll give a little guideline on how to do this but hopefully I can one day do a tutorial. 

I used my Reeves watercolour pan with 12 primary colours and mixed a lot to get the skin tone I got.

Thanks for reading guys! 

Song of the day: Mary J Blige ft Trey Songz - Hood Love

Perfection, Beauty, Makeup and Body Image

Hey guys, there's so much I am going to cover in this post, so bear with me. This post was inspired by a class I had today so I hope you guys get as much out of this message as I did. I'm also going to sing a song dedicated to this subject - you might of guessed already that it'll be pretty hurts by Beyonce. Today I'll be talking to you guys about Body image and self esteem.

It's a sensitive issue that has to be addressed carefully, so I'll try my best. However everything said in here is my own opinion and i'd love to hear yours too so don't be afraid to comment below, by all means i'll reply.

What's Perfect, What's Beautiful?

Perfect: having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.
Beautiful: pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as Perfect. Why? We're human beings, just people that got put here on Earth all different in appearance and character. However it is safe to say that we have a perfect stereotype, these vary where you go and in which categories you see them. A popular stereotype for the perfect women in today's society according to the media is a woman who is or has:

• Light Skinned or White 
• A big behind and bust
• Curved at the waist 
• Not ridiculously tall 
• and I could go on forever. 

That is what people strive to be, just because it's what a lot of people see as perfect and as much as this is portrayed it gets into peoples heads and it turns there view of perfection into something else. As for me, I think there's no such thing as one type of perfection, many different types of perfections exist because there are different types of people who think differently. 

People includes myself, but my aim in life is happiness. Living up to stereotypes of perfect will not make me happy because there's just too much involved. Undergoing processes to change yourself can be painful, where's the happiness in that? 

A selfie with no filter or sun

1. Lauren and her Skin Colour

As many of you know or have seen I'm dark skinned, (I'm not making anyone feel sorry for me by writing any of this it's just an example) and i'm no where near light skinned. I'm guilty sometimes of making myself try to look like it - but that's honestly a mistake. (Taking selfies in the direction of the sun just gives a nicer look to the selfie and makes it brighter. It doesn't always mean some one is trying to change the colour).

It's always been hard for me in this day and age, feeling like your just "too dark" to jump into the picture. Social networks don't make people like me feel any better either because all we see is #teamlightskinned #teamdarkskinned.

Since when did we group ourselves in teams according to our skin colours? Aren't we supposed to be united? Everything that our ancestors ever fought for is so that we could live happily today and yet we still want to divide ourselves back to how it was, just this time using hashtags.

Guys (Most guys) like light skinned girls. This is because lots of the most successful women in society are light skinned. Many started dark and went to light. This is nobody's fault. History takes us way back and has always shown that the lighter and closer you are to white the more superior you are. Nazi Germany and the Slave trade are examples of this. It's not our fault we have these ideas in our head, it's history's fault. It will be our fault if we go to our graves with it still being this way. With regards to me, i'm so proud of where I from. Sometimes the name calling and the jokes and media can get to me but it can't get to me that much to make me bleach my skin.

2. Lauren and her body

Generally in my family we are quite slim and tall. My Gran loves to make jokes that we could all be models. I'll let this off my chest now, it's bothered me for ages that I don't have much of a behind. If you follow me on instagram you'll know that my feed is mostly my drawings and selifes. I'm not confident about my body because of what everybody else thinks. I'm young and maybe it's not time for curves so I don't really know about them yet.

What did I do about this?

Well, Lauren was stupid enough to sit down for some hours and do some research about what makes your bottom naturally bigger. Waste of my time - literally. I came to a conclusion that squats would help me get more of a waist. So, I tried these for a few days and this is an example of me trying to be "perfect". The squats were tiring (I hate sport lol) my legs and body ached the next morning and I just thought forget it! It hurts and I'm unhappy, it's not worth it. I have to accept who I am. I believe God made me this way and who am I to tamper with what he's created?

3. Makeup

It may or may not be obvious but I don't use makeup a lot or that often. My parents don't approve of me wearing so much but they are okay with me wearing a bit to an occasion. I just think that makeup is a very scary thing if you don't know how to do it properly. Our generation has taken it way to far, eyebrows are looking like roads to heaven and hell, faces are looking like traffic lights just to go out for a link up with friends. Makeup is to enhance your features. No need to fix anything God's already put his paintbrush on. Makeup is to enhance your features, not to create new features, new skin tones and God knows what... I'm sorry if I offended anyone but whether you choose to take it seriously or not is your choice - I'm just a teenage girl who happens to express her feelings in a blog.

Without any makeup in the garden

With makeup at my church talent show.

The pressure is on us girls to be a size 8-10 and just look "Flawless". So today guys or girls, when someone compliments you tell them "I woke up like this!" This is how I am - flawless. Curves or no curves, Skinny or not, Makeup or not, Light or not, Superstar or not, Popular or not. 

Who is anybody to tell you that you're unpretty? Stop trying to make yourself perfect and just be you, because you're amazing . If you don't love yourself then who will? 

 Two songs to listen to which might explain this better: TLC - Unpretty and J cole ft TLC - Crooked Smile 

Thanks so much for reading guys, do comment and the cover of pretty hurts will be up real soon!

Summer: To do list

Yes! Correct, I have made my own little summer series where I talk to you lot about lovely summer things lol! Today i'm blogging about my summer to do list, just so you guys know what I'll be up to and also to give you some ideas.

1. Explore drawing and art.

You guys knew this was at the top of my list right? Lol. I haven't been able to draw that much of late because of my exams, but I want to start new collections, develop my skills and so on. I also want to push forward with my designs, get them promoted, do more to get them noticed and try to get a few commissions. I also want to learn how to draw different things such as:

• More realism 
• Exploring with media 
• portraits 

I also want to learn how to sew, therefore I will be going to stay with family who can teach me for a bit. I plan on taking fashion illustration a bit further and making new collections. Less of drawing already designed dresses by designers and generating more of my own ideas.

2. Blog and Vlog 

I've been slacking on these two due to time, so summer is the perfect way to just unwind and blog and Vlog. I'll be developing my YouTube channel, possibly renaming it and making videos of better quality. I'm also planning to blog about more real life issues, more makeup reviews and tutorials and more posts with friends. You guys have probably noticed that when I have nothing to post I fill my blog with tags - never again!I had ideas about changing the name but then that's long and I like it how it is, also I am definitely going to do a giveaway soon! When I approach 50,000 views, Currently at 20,200 x

3. DIY my room 

This is something I've been wanting to do for ages but it's not happening because I simply can't at the moment. My room is being extended and I feel like if I do it now it'll get ruined. I have all these really cool tumblr room ideas in my head and hopefully it'll turn out looking good. Expect a lot of blog posts on that. 

4. Go out with my friends 

I go out with my friends often when I'm allowed to, but to local places. This time I'd like to do road trips with my friends; off to places such as the beach, Central London and so on. Also we love just going round to each others houses and watching movies and chilling out. I'm really going to use my summer because next year is my last school year and I know I have to really concentrate and get my head down so there's no way I'll be allowed to go out every minute. 

5. Shop 

Boy, do I need a new wardrobe! With all those sales what's Lauren at home sitting down for? I definitely need new tops and things for summer and things for going back to school. I also want some new art materials, I haven't bought some in a while because my Copics were really costly to me. 

6. Go on Holiday! 

It's not confirmed but I think I am going on holiday for a week to Toulouse, France with family which should be lovely. If not then somewhere out of London in the UK would be nice. 

7. Sort out Junk and Flog some on eBay. 

A great way to make money is to clear out your room and sell some of the things you don't want on eBay. I know that I'm definitely a paper hoarder because I'm an artist. There's so many draws of papers that just need to go in the bin lol. 

8. Do my hair 

I've been having my natural hair out for a while and I think it needs to go back into extensions so it can grow back in time for September. I'd like to get crotchet braids again the trouble is finding a reasonably priced hairdresser to do it! 

9. Go to events and museum

Every year I go to my annual Ghana Party in The Park held in Cockfosters, Enfield. A lovely family fun day uniting all Ghanaians together. This year is its  10th anniversary so it should be really fun. They always invite one Ghanaian musician and have other things such as fashion shows, food and stalls. It's so much Fun! In the holidays I also want to go to more free events just to pass time and I also want to go and visit more galleries and fill my Sketchbook with gallery visits. My friends aren't really the type to go to museums so I'll happily go there myself or hop along with family. 

10. Beau Bloggers 

One of my dreams is to make the Beau Bloggers community come to life (literally). I think one day we should all meet up and just talk and walk around, because it'll be nice! They make really nice online friends so I'm sure they'll be even better in person. As the creator I'd definitely like to do more things with the group, such as competitions, giveaways and more things to Involve everyone. 

So guys, thank you for reading my to do list! Soon I plan on posting a summer to do list for those in London and a summer bucket list so you could just call this a summer series. 

Song of the day: Pappy Kojo ft Sarkodie - Ay3 Late. 

Lauren x