Neuland UnderCover - Chapter 1: Ocean
The Neuland Cover Marker is a fiber-tip marker with water-based, white pigmented ink. For those who find "just" white on dark backgrounds insufficient, our UnderCover series is sure to please, where we experimentally explore the full potential of this new addition from Neuland .
Mix the UnderCover ink and fill the markers.
If you want to recreate our experiment, you will need:
- A refill ink RefillOne Ocean 305 ,
- a RefillOne Cover 050 ink bottle
- an empty refill bottle RefillOne Empty 000 (later called mixing bottle)
- and a Neuland BigOne® Art Empty
Here's how to mix your own UnderCover Ocean ink:
- Shake the cover refill ink until you hear the mixing balls moving freely. Then shake a little longer. This ensures that the white pigments are evenly distributed in the ink.
- Pour 9 refill balls of white cover ink into the mixing bottle.
- Then add 3 refill balls of OCEAN ink 305 to the mixing bottle. Now you have the two inks in a 3:1 ratio (cover : color ink) in the mixing bottle.
- Now close the mixing bottle tightly and shake the ink mixture until the two inks are well mixed.
- Then grab your empty BigOne Art marker and fill it with your custom-mixed ink. To do this, remove the marker's cap and gradually add 4 1/2 refill units of ink. Take your time and pour the ink slowly into the refill chamber. You can find detailed instructions for refilling the marker here on Markerpedia. Now it only takes seconds for the ink to flow to the marker tip, and you can start creating with your custom 305 UnderCover.
Our experience with storing your cover and undercover markers:
If you're storing your cover markers and homemade undercover markers for an extended period, we recommend storing them horizontally. However, before using them, place the markers upside down in a Novario box . This ensures that enough white pigment is drawn into the nib. Don't forget to put them back in their "sleep" position after use. That way, you're always on the safe side!
If you think that's all there is to our experiment, you're very much mistaken. You can also mix inks directly on the paper. This is due to the different formulations of water-based color inks and permanent cover ink.
Mixing on the paper: color first
Let's begin.
First, draw a square filled with 305 OCEAN on a piece of black paper.
You mean pointless because it's unrecognizable? Then take a cover marker and draw any outline on this square. Since the water-based ink doesn't dry permanently, it will be lifted by the water-based cover marker, and the two colors will mix. You've now drawn a heart with the UnderCover OCEAN blending ink. 🙂
Color layers on the paper: Cover ink first
Alternatively, you can simply write on a white area that you have created with the cover marker using a colored marker (here with 305 OCEAN) and thus work with color layers.
If the white paint is not completely dry, the inks will mix. When dry, the color will form a layer on top of the white surface.
Conclusion
With the new BigOne® Art Cover , much more is possible than "just" white outlines on dark backgrounds. In the next installment of this series, we will test a new UnderCover mix and present it to you here.
Stay curious!
PS: If you don't want to find out through your own experiments which color combinations mix well with the cover ink, then we recommend that you wait for the results of our UnderCover research.