SO I use gel pens (tanmint and Aen brand) gel pens and all kinds of colored pencils..I have crayola,castle arts botanical set,a small prisma set, some other colored pencils similar to Crayola. Ive had the crayloa and other pencils for years...The Prisma and castle arts are my only sets and there my newest as far as colored pencils go.. Im no expert with anything.. the gel pens Im still experimenting with my glitters and metallic ones.. I finished a coloring page today where I used colored pencil and gel pens. I did use glitter and metallic. going to see what else I can finish then hopefully film (my coloring channel is in my signature). It has been a rough year with my cats and dogs passing then this week 1 of my 2 birds passed.(he was a old bird) not sure how old the other one is..I know im it's 2nd owner.The one that passed came from a pet store it was free they went out of business so they gave him to me.(a individual owned the store)

Anyway since it's been a rough year.. Im trying to clear my head and relax by coloring in some coloring books. I personally prefer coloring by hand. I know there is color by number app out there but to me it's not worth it.. I prefer doing it myself. Im also trying to save money so im not buying anything except the must haves like household stuff,groceries,ect..

So do you like gel pens? I like how easily they glide on the paper.

I need to get more used to gel pens myself! I'm more of a colored pencils type of person, but I'm willing to experiment! The last gel pen set I had easily stopped working after just a few days..

I highly recommend Tanmint brand and or Aen brand gel pens. I got mine from amazon Tanmint sells a big set with refills and I have had no issues with it. Just remember gel needs to dry.

I'll keep that in mind, thank you very much!

Dervish: I like gel pens but not as much for coloring - this body struggles with writing (been questioning for years if we have dysgraphia), so the way gel pens write and how smooth they are makes it easier.

Coloring with colored pencils can be nice, recently we've also been finding painting to be relaxing. We got a set of a acrylic paints and so we've been painting custom toys, currently we're working on an Idog and a robot cat we got at a flea market. Colored pencils work too but I can be more uncoordinated with writing motions while painting motions are easier for some reason.

I don't paint cause I can't handle the smell.. I tried acrylic paint..ended up breaking out..Asthma and paint don't mix for me. Only time I did water paint was in school I believe we used the cheap crayola stuff..Honestly I had no clue what I was doing I added to much water and got the paper very damp..

I use prismacolor colored pencils for coloring my own illustrations, but I like to use white gel pens on top to add little shiny highlights.

As an example, here's a drawing I did with colored pencils, but I used gel pen for the shiny bits and the stars!

SPOILER (click to toggle)

Sorry about your pets. Wish they lived longer.. I do like gel pens. I've never thought about mixing them with colored pencils. I like mixing marker/sharpie with colored pencils (like in the darker fine details and outlines). I love mixing gel pens with watercolor though - especially white and metallic/sparkle gel pens to add a little extra pop since watercolor can be quite flat and matted.

I got the big set of prisma in June for my b-day. Im still learning how to do things.. Never actually tried highlights.. Been trying to focus on color combos.. however Ive taken a break due to pain in my hands..(not sure if it's arthritis or what it is..One day they swelled up..) Ive not really messed with white gel pens..

The cats you did are very good. Ive been researching how to make things look transparent (like the cats helmets)..I was thinking about doing it to some fairy wings

I do have some alcohol markers but the smell of them I don't like.. Sharpies have a really strong smell..(I have asthma and some things bug me more than others). Ive seen some mettalic watercolor..it was very shinny..Seen all kinds of mediums(watercolor,colored pencil,stickles,ect..) on a youtubers channel she is called colouring with K

Oh oof, I know what you mean when it comes to hand pain! I've got both rheumatoid arthritis and mild carpal tunnel, so I know how much of a roadblock that kinda thing can be when it comes to creative endeavors. Good on you taking a break, it's important to take care of yourself! You're more important than the work you produce; after all, if there was no you, who'd make your art in the first place?

Fairy wings sound super cool! If it helps, whenever I wanna make something transparent, I lay down the color of the background/objects behind it first, then build the colors of the transparent object on top! In this case, it was just glass, so I mostly just did the background as usual, then finished it off with white colored pencil and the shines from gel pen. Good luck with figuring out the fairy wings though, that sounds tricky, but I bet it'll turn out awesome!

my boyfriend got me a whole set of gel pens and I love them, the only issue with mine is that they're super smear-y and I need to wait a long time for them to dry

I really only use the Sakura Gelly Rolls in white but even then the problem I have is when the ink doesn't come out nicely or when the tip of the pen starts to scrape the gel back up. But I've been using the larger sizes and find those amazing. Mainly for adding things on top of markers and whatnot but I've never done a full illustration with them.

Although the Sharpie S-Gel pen is also pretty cool. I recently got one and the flow on those pens is enough to convert a person. If only they sold a white pen version haha.

Although when I walk down the art isles and I see the wall of pretty gel pens, I have to remind myself not to buy any because I probably won't use them based on my past experiences with colorful gel pens.

Also I'm sorry for the loss of your pets, losing a pet will never be easy but it's always good to have an outlet. I always find art to be a great one.

I don't think I ever tried gel pens but I think I will after I move. I have used colored pencils from Crayola, Staedtler and Caran Dache (sp?)

I have a couple of coloring books for teens and adults and it is interesting how the type of paper can affect how the pencils look when coloring.

Some paper can be either too smooth or too rough but I don't paint because my hands shake too much, it can even make drawing itself a challenge so maybe one day I will get another digital tablet from Wacom or something, that helps quite a bit but even at that there is still nothing quite like drawing and coloring on real paper.

Not a big fan of gel pens, but I love combining watercolor pencils like Aquarells with ink brush pen, I can get some nice color blending quickly without the long dry time of gels.

I love gel pens! I always loved taking notes with them, they're so smoooth. Occasionally I'll color a whole piece with them, but mostly I use them for metallic accents, and white for highlights. I appreciate the brand recommendation! My favorite that I've used so far is the Milky line from Pentel. They were discontinued for many years but they brought them back!

I love using gel pens in colouring books and on greeting cards. I really like the smoothness of them!

I enjoy experimenting with different shading and blending techniques with colouring pencils, although I will admit you do get what you pay for a lot of the time. I currently have mostly cheap colouring pencils and they are not especially great for doing anything fancy!