prismacolors are not made for dry paper, so a fade can be tricky. canson makes a paper for artist markers. its silky not dry, so a fade is pretty easy. it looks a little watery though. i usually use sharpie ultra fine point markers for the letter outline and in a detailed fill in. regular tiped shrapies for the outline. sharpie aslo makes a ultra fine point white/silver paint marker. sharpie only makes 29 or so colors, so not much of a selection. trial and error, and practice is really the only tip.