# Pens or watercolour?

**URL:** <https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/pens-or-watercolour/2421>\
**Category:** Art Medium Discussion and Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/pens-or-watercolour/2421 "2022-10-02T15:43:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dannomiss89](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.thevirtualinstructor.com/dannomiss89/32/6213_2.png) [@Dannomiss89](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Dannomiss89)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/pens-or-watercolour/2421/1 "2022-10-02T15:43:12Z")

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I have Just ordered watercolour paints but also seen these alcohol artist’s markers? Is there much difference especially for urban sketching?

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**Author:** ![Buddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Buddy](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Buddy)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/pens-or-watercolour/2421/2 "2022-10-02T23:25:38Z")

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Hi Dannomiss99,

IMO your are asking for completely different tipes of media. When I draw outside, I just take a graphite pencil for the sketch and go over with technical ink pencils.

If I would use colored sketches outside, I wougo for markers or grab some colored pencils.

Anyhow, using watercolors, you might need a decent paper to deal with lots of water. For markers, you very smooth paper might be most effitient to avoid bleeding.