Altering Cards, Need Pen Suggestions.

[KrauserKrauser]

I am planning to alter a stack of around 50 of the same card making them into various Comic Book characters with the end results being to use them n my Type 4 stack (Filler cards that you can sack to play an additional spell per turn, I've seen people use lands, these should be better.)

I want these to look something better than crappy and as such need some advice on what pens to buy to accomplish this.  What pens have you of the card altering variety found to be the best?  I'm looking for your basic black, gold and silver along with blues, reds, yellows,etc.  I don't know if some sort of paint pen exists on the market but that would be the type of thing that I think would work for me.

Any advice would be great and if successful I will gladly post my results as I finish.  Heck if you run into me, or a guy asking for your Ishi Ishi's tell me to bust out the stack to look at the progress so far.

[Kowal]

Thin point sharpies go on thick and dry almost instantaneously.  They aren't the best for coloring in your doodles, but they're the best for sketching and outlining.

For really detailed work, I'd just whip out a paintbrush.

[Jank Golem]

I have found the really fine sharpies are good. You can't just write on the card though, you have to erase where you are going to write first. For eraseing a normal pencil eraser is fine although if the eraser is really soft it takes forever

[KiL0]

When I want my alteration art to be opaque, I use DecoColor Paint Markers. Then details are filled in with paintbrush and Sharpies. Virtual was _supposed_ to post the Death Star alteration to Crucible... we'll see if he gets around to it.

 

[Harlequin]

For modifying a card, I would say use a sharpie.   Mainly because It can write over the plasticy seal each card has.  For coloring a card or detailing it, you might try a calligraphy pen and Ink.  Ink is not opaque however. Basically it only stains the card, so the card image will poke through (so it doesn't work on very dark card images).  Although you can find gold, Silver, and opaque white "Inks" (technically paints) as needed. 

I am currently working on making proxies with a Calligraphy pen and Ink.  You need really really fine nibs for scetching.  If your coloring in your scetches then get one of those circular or solid ball nibs.  The problem is that the ink doesn't really dry correctly on a normal magic card, because of the wax/plastic seal over the card.  To prep the serface I take ULTRA fine sandpaper, 600 or 700 grain if you can find it, and sand off the sealant along with the card image.  You can also use scotch tape to mask off any part of the card you don't want to "wash." Don't sand to deeply because: #1 it doesn't change the weight of the card, and #2 you can tell that the card is infact on a basic land.  This also allows you to use a mechanical pencil to draft what you want on the card before you ink it. 
If you sand off too much of the image and the card feels too "light" when you bend it, in theory you might be able to find some sort of clear spray can sealant to finish the card.  I haven't tried this yet, but its a possability.
Over all a starter calligraphy set, and a box of assorted ink only costs about $30 - $50 so its not too bad.  Its a fun hobby for when your sick of actually playing magic.

[LordHomerCat]

If you are drawing new pictures instead of altering current art, Acetone does wonders in taking off the ink.  A few cotton balls and cue-tips and a little bit of rubbing will pull the ink off the card and leave you with a nice canvas to work with.  You can even use good masking tape (not too sticky, so it wont rip the card when you pull it off) to mask off the parts you want to leave alone, and just get a card with blank textbox and picture (and name, type, etc.), which makes for a very nice proxy and maintains the same thickness and feel of a regular card.  Make sure you get real acetone from like a hardware store though, just Nail Polish Remover doesn't quite get it done.  All in all, a relatively painless process thats cheap too (like $5 for more acetone than you'll ever need, plus some cotton balls). 

For writing, I just use sharpies, but i'm a pretty terrible artist so its not worth wasting my time on paint or something.

[Harlequin]

I havent tried the Acetone, I was afraid it would bleed through to the other side and/or warp the cards face.  I'll definately give it a try.  I will say that 700 grain sandpaper is just slightly rougher than a sheet of construction paper =P   so it really allmost "pollishes" off the ink.

[KrauserKrauser]

Thanks for all the good ideas so far, though they have brought about a few more questions.

Does a white "sharpie"-esque pen that would ignore the sealant exist?  If so has anyone ever used it as a base that you can then color over with other pens/inks/etc?

I have a good vision of what I want to accomplish with current collection of the Lover of Goats, but I don't want to start altering until I have a good plan in place.

I want these to look if not gorgeous, at least somewhat badass, so for the theme would need to be able to use a wide range of colors and use the existing artwork as a base to draw the alteration on.

Hopefully, I'll have at least one done before the double SCG this weekend.