12 Different Notecard Designs with very small and intricate details

This is my first set of note cards by Joanna Basford. I was happy to see that there were 12 different designs (as opposed to the 4 sets of 3 available in the Secret Garden set.) The designs are scaled down images from those in her coloring book and, because of that, many of the details are really small and intricate.

My various soft lead pencils were simply too big for me to use. I could not get my points sharp enough to work. What I was able to use were ultra-fine markers (both alcohol and water-based), Verithins hard lead pencils (sharpened to a good point), the brush end of my Tombows markers, and for the smallest details, I used my 0.38 nib gel pens ( Uni-ball Signo and Pilot Juice Ballpoint Pens.) I tried some of my other brush end markers and I simply don’t have the technique of getting into small spaces with those.

This combination worked well but I found some of my markers (water and alcohol) had issues with feathering (bleeding across the lines). It seemed to happen with the markers I had that were especially wet versus the ones that I use regularly and which are somewhat drier as the ink starts to run out.

I personally enjoy working with small details on postcards and note cards and have invested in the special small nib gel pens in order to do so more easily. If you have issues with fine motor skills or vision, this may not be a set for your to color; however, I think that the cards are beautiful as-is and would be great to give or receive without coloring.