Watercolor Paper Comparison - Distress Markers

YES, finally getting into the Distress line of products :)  I know several of you have been asking about them so here you go!  I wanted to start with the markers - not because I necessarily like them but because it's been the most requested product.  

There seems to be two schools of thought when using these markers...1 - the wet your paper first folks and 2 - apply them dry then wet to blend.  I figured I'd give them both a try just to see how they looked.   This comparison has had the widest array of results yet!  I couldn't believe how different these markers looked on the various papers.  You'll see what I mean below....  I am using Salty Ocean and the first example is wet the paper first, second example is apply to dry paper then blend.  

Arches 140lb Hot Press - Neither blended very well...the dry application results were really bad IMO.

Arches 140lb - Cold Press -Decent results but the dry side still didn't blend much.

Bienfng 90lb Student WC - Surprising results!  This paper actually worked really well with the markers.

Canson Mixed Media Paper - Pretty good results with both wet and dry.

Canson 140lb Cold Press - Wet results o.k. but very good for the dry application.

Crayola WC - Not great - the wet side didn't blend at all and the dry side only moved a small amount of ink.

Blick Mixed Media - This was the only paper that let water soak though.  Neither results all that great either.

Dick Blick 90lb Cold Press Student - The speckles are where the previous paper soaked through.  Both wet and dry applications worked very well on this paper. 

Dick Blick 140lb Cold Press - Wet side didn't work well at all - dry side ok.

Fabrino Artistico 90lb Cold Press - Great results on both sides!

Fabrino Studio 95lb Cold Press - The wet side was a wild but cool result and the dry side was neat as well.

Hero Hues 100lb Felt Finish - This was the only paper to pill - it didn't blend well on either wet or dry applications.

Ranger WC - Not impressed with the wet application but the dry worked nicely.

Simon Says Stamp WC - The marker almost blended away on both the wet and dry applications.  Not sure why...I blended the inks the same on all of the papers.

Strathmore 140lb Cold Press - When I applied the marker to the wet side it wicked immediately so when I applied additional water to blend on top it blended away to nothing.  On the other hand the dry application blended beautifully.

I hope this helps you figure out a bit better which paper to choose.  Tomorrow I'll share Distress Stains on the papers.  I'm excited about this because they are my favorite "Distress" way to watercolor.  I'm anxious to see the results.