Testing Watercolor Inks From Michaels on a $25 Budget

Sometimes the most fun art challenges come with limitations.

Recently, I had a $25 Michaels gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, and I decided to challenge myself to find a new art supply I had never used before. The rules were simple: spend $25 or less and come home with something interesting.

That sounds easy until you realize how quickly art supplies can drain your wallet.

The $25 Art Supply Challenge

Armed with a gift certificate and a 20% off coupon, I wandered through Michaels looking for something new to experiment with.

I considered buying gouache, but honestly, gouache felt a little too familiar after my recent experiments. I wanted something completely outside my comfort zone.

That's when I found watercolor inks.

I've worked with acrylic paints, colored pencils, and markers before, but ink painting was completely new territory for me.

My final haul included:

• Waterproof black India ink for line work
• Several bottles of watercolor ink
• A healthy dose of optimism

Unfortunately, I accidentally grabbed a black ink instead of the blue I intended to buy. Since my budget was already maxed out, I ended up supplementing the project with a blue ink I already had at home.

We'll call that a creative adjustment rather than cheating.

The Mystery Fountain Pen

Before I started painting, I tried something a little different.

Since I had bottles of ink, I thought it would be fun to use an old-fashioned fountain pen that I'd had sitting around for years.

The pen has a strange history. Years ago, while I was working, a guest randomly handed it to me and said, "Here, have this."

Naturally, I accepted the mysterious free pen.

The problem? I had absolutely no idea how to use it.

I attempted to fill it with ink, guessed at the process, and failed spectacularly. Whether the pen was broken or I simply had no clue what I was doing remains a mystery.

The pen won this round.

Swatching the Inks

Before diving into a full illustration, I created some quick swatches to see how the inks behaved.

I wanted to answer a few basic questions:

• Could they be diluted with water?
• How vibrant were the colors?
• Would they blend together?
• How transparent were they?

The results were surprisingly positive.

The inks diluted beautifully with water and created a wide range of values. The metallic silver-white ink was particularly interesting. Instead of covering colors underneath, it created a shimmering effect that tinted the underlying colors.

Rather than acting as an opaque white, it transformed reds into shimmery pinks and blues into sparkling cool tones.

Not exactly what I expected, but definitely interesting.

The Cat That Became a Wolf

For the main project, I started sketching what was supposed to be a creepy-cute cat.

At least, that was the plan.

As the drawing progressed, it became increasingly obvious that I was not drawing a cat.

I was drawing a wolf.

Sometimes art has its own agenda.

After fighting it for a while, I decided to embrace the transformation and let the drawing become what it wanted to be. The color palette I had available also worked better for a wolf than for the black cat I originally envisioned.

So wolf it was.

My Sketching Process

My drawing process is probably messier than many artists would recommend.

I typically start by throwing down lots of loose lines and gradually refining them until I find the shapes I like. Once the structure feels right, I erase the extra lines and darken the ones I want to keep.

For this sketch, I worked on regular printer paper before transferring the design to better paper using a light box.

This approach gives me a few advantages:

• Cleaner final line work
• The ability to reposition the artwork
• Opportunities to fix mistakes before committing

If you've ever drawn something slightly off-center and realized it way too late, you'll understand why I love using a light box.

A Tool I Can't Live Without

One tool that makes my sketching process much easier is an electric eraser.

If you've never used one, I highly recommend trying it.

They're excellent for removing small details and cleaning up line work with far more precision than a standard eraser. Once you get used to having one, it's hard to go back.

Turning Artwork Into Coloring Pages

One of my goals for this piece was to create a future coloring page.

To do that, I use an app called Adobe Capture.

The app allows me to:

1. Photograph my line art.
2. Convert it into vector artwork.
3. Automatically smooth out rough lines.
4. Transfer it directly into Photoshop.

Because vectors can be scaled infinitely without losing quality, they're perfect for creating printable coloring pages.

If I end up posting this design on my website, visitors will be able to download it for free and color it themselves. If you do color it, I'd love to see your version. Sharing different interpretations of the same artwork is one of the coolest parts of the creative community.

My First Impression of Watercolor Ink

Then came the actual painting.

And almost immediately, I realized something:

I don't think I'm an ink artist.

At least not yet.

The inks weren't bad. In fact, they behaved exactly as they were supposed to.

The problem was me.

As I worked, I found myself fighting the medium. The inks didn't behave like acrylic paint, which is my comfort zone. They didn't work like Copic markers either. They flowed more like watercolor, and watercolor has always been one of my artistic weak spots.

If watercolor and I were in a relationship, we'd probably be "it's complicated."

The more I painted, the more I realized that watercolor ink requires a different mindset and a different set of techniques than the mediums I normally use.

The Finished Piece

Despite my struggles with the medium, I still think the final artwork turned out pretty cute.

The finished wolf has a creepy-cute Halloween vibe that fits perfectly with my style. Looking back, I can also see several ways I could improve it:

• Increase the size of the mane
• Add more depth and dimension
• Create stronger shadows and highlights
• Add additional details and textures

In fact, I may revisit the exact same drawing using different art supplies in a future project.

I'd love to compare:

• Watercolor ink
• Colored pencils
• Acrylic paint
• Traditional watercolor

It would be interesting to see how different mediums change the overall feel of the same artwork.

Final Thoughts

Was watercolor ink a success?

Yes and no.

The supplies themselves worked well and did exactly what they were supposed to do. The inks were vibrant, mixed nicely, and offered plenty of creative possibilities.

The challenge was that I was learning an entirely new medium.

Sometimes that's uncomfortable.

Sometimes the artwork doesn't turn out exactly as planned.

And sometimes your cat turns into a wolf.

But that's part of being an artist. Every experiment teaches you something, even when the results aren't perfect.

Would I use watercolor inks again?

Absolutely.

Would I need a lot more practice first?

Also absolutely.

Have you worked with watercolor inks before? I'd love to hear your tips and techniques. Maybe you can help this spooky cat lady figure out what she's doing wrong.

Until next time, stay spooky and keep creating! 🎨🐺👻