WOndering what opinions people have of various markers?
Have to Buy for school this fall. Please help
chartpaks
copic
trias, prismas, or copics if you do the Xerox thing
Chatpak, Ad markers, if you marker traight onto your ink sketch(these dont bleed the pen)
Also depends on what medium your on… Copics are great but $$$$$$$$ not really worth it…
Go for the chartpak set…they smell, but you dont have to do the xerox thing
chartpaks are good but not very compatible with pencils - the “watercolor” effect. Very painterly. Copics are $$$$$$$$$$ but refillable.
Don’t worry about brand, buy a handful of markers: black, range of greys (pref? warm, cool, french, basic) and some colors you like. Don’t go out and buy a big set. Waste of money. You can always buy more as needed.
Ad Markers are only good for thick paper like canson. It bleeds like hell and kills you with the fume. If you stack yout marker rendering/sketches together, even with a layer of newsprint in between, the ink will still bleed all over the place, and you won’t know till the next time you take them out.
Prisma is a waste of money. Why? Cus Copic is better… why? I’ll explain.
Copic’s ink is definitely better. You get a whole lot range of colors and tones. The nib is SUPERB!!! It’s precised and replacable, unlike Prisma’s bulky easily polluted nibs.
A Copic marker costs $4.25 online in the US. The trick is, you got to use the refill, which costs $5.25 each. Each refill can last about 6~7 times of refills, so it is actually much cheaper to use than Prismas.
I can finish up a stick of Prisma if I get lot’s of assignments. Ever since I switched to Copic, I never looked back.
Also with Copic’s refill, you can rub it onto your pad with the wibral pad( spell?) The pad you use to smear chalk. This allows you to apply the ink to a large area with speed and without the marker stripes.
Another suggestion, which is Copic works excellent with Tria’s Letra set marker pad, the one with red cover.
Also copic makes all kinds of nibs of different size and shapes. It’s even got the brush nibs. If your nib gets polluted, you can replace it easily.
Trust me, Copic is the best marker ever produced.
Fuck prismacolors…pencils and markers, the shittiest quality for that kind of money…
Better pay a couple bucks more and get something that will last more than 2 minutes.
I’m a big fan of Chartpak, I adjusted to their bleediness (and smell) and made it a part of my sketching…I find it very useful to have several marker brands, as they use different solvents, allowing you to overlay the colors without bleeding… for rough sketching, I, personally, use chartpak to do a kind of a gesture thingy, and then go with a pen to do the line work. For more refined stuff, I usually like to use some Tria Letraset markers over chartpak to get crispier details…
It’s the cheapest to get markers on-line… especially if you’re buying ‘em in bulk. Last year I saw Chartpaks 92 cents a piece on some website…I use a lot of color in my sketches and rends (toys…duh), so I got a big set of chartpaks a while ago, I had more money at that point of my life, too…it was 210$ for 100 markers with free delivery at dickblicks. Can’t beat the value, really…
Chartpaks will last years, I have a 10% gray that is still as juicy as a brand new, and I’ve been abusing it for 1.5 years! Trias last a rather long time too. Prismacolors…the ones I had were running out of juice after a week of moderate use…
I like the middle thickness Tria nib…Charpak’s nib is lovely, too…after you got a hang of using it…gives a really good line variation… Used Copics only once at work, can’t give much of an insight.
Your choice I think should also depend on your general sketching style, I’m somewhat painterly and funky, the watercolor-like quality of chartpak fits me the best, if you’re more of a dry and proper person…Copics or Trias are better for you as they offer more of a precise control over ink flow…And even then it’s not what you use, it’s how you use it, you can do amazing renderings with Crayola markers, hot pink highlighter and a green ballpoint pen. I’ve seen it done.
It doesn’t matter what brand you choose, but try to stock up on lighter shades, you will use them a lot more than the darks.
[quote=“molested_cow”]Ad Markers are only good for thick paper like canson. It bleeds like hell and kills you with the fume. If you stack yout marker rendering/sketches together, even with a layer of newsprint in between, the ink will still bleed all over the place, and you won’t know till the next time you take them out.
quote]
I uses Marker Paper with Ad markers or Prismacolor, no bleeds at all! you should always uses marker paper unless you don’t mind pay more money for the ink! Also marker paper protects the marker’s tip so it last longer.
I uses Schoellershammer ( found in Europe) or Letraset bleedproof Marker Pad.
Prismacolor gives the best color I think. ( don’t bleed sharpie)
AD marker does smells bad. ( don’t bleed Uni-ball waterproof pen, u can uses lighter fluid and creates interesting watercolor effect on Vellum paper)
Tria is nice too, but a bit pricey. ( color quality falls in between Ad and Prismacolor.)
I have a set of each brand, but still love AD marker because they are just sooooooooooooo 
“CHEAP”
i work both sides of marker paper so Chartpak works well for me [almost never use Canson paper]. and they do last years. takes practice to really use the nibs. and trick is to move fast when laying them down to avoid too much bleed. probably best on large drawings though. oh, and those Chartpak fumes are a bonus.
buy 10%, 20%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 90% greys. those and a few colors are all you need imo.
in case u don’t know…
AD is Charpak!
and I just register.
IMO
Letraset Tria…works better than Prisma when photocopying directly onto velum or marker paper. You can even use laser and inkjet prints directly onto markerpaper with no smudging. Also available in Pantone colors and best of all REFILLABLE.
Chartpak all the way. I bought some Prisma color cool greys and blacks when I started University. All of them died within two years. I am still using the Chartpaks that I bought at nearly the same time! (5 years).
YKH is 100% right. Even though that 10% looks like a waste of money, get it! It’s very handy later on. I only use the colors for buttons and arrows today. Let’s face it, if you want to spec a color, you aren’t going to have the marker for it.
Yep, its a great debate. I remember my first day at design schol walking in to the local art supply store and slapping down $300 on this glorious set of PRISMACOLOR markers, hundreds of em. Every shade of greys and other random color (except a true red) I could imagine, oh it looked so cool when I got it home and set it all up.
A week or two later, WHEN THEY QUIT MARKING I made my way back to the store and started to buy individual TRIAS ($5 a piece, crazy, eh?), fabulous fabulous things. And they last, and they last, and the color is better, and the tips are better, photocopy better. I really like em on everything.
But then a guy told me about AD MARKERS, which work a lot better for a few things, especially canson paper. Since I bought a set of ADS, not only have I been halucinating great visions due to the fabulous fumes, but my canson renderings have looked fabulous. They are really REALLY wet though. So careful.
I guess as long as you dont waste any coin on PRISMACOLOR, the rest are great. But it really depends on what media you are markering? on.
Zig Kurecolors!
good for rendering fast. good colors!
1$ one marker!
refilable
good smell —> alchohl!
the nib is good shaped for several thickness lines.
Yeah ziggy’s kurecolor by kuretake are the best! they last years and the thick barrel means a bigger bladder size / less refils. Prior to my kuretake discovery I had Tria’s… always buying costly refils for those skinny things.
WOA; Get plenty of grey’s and pastel tones and a few primary based colors - thats all you’ll need, also buy them online and and you save $'s over high street prices.
crayola markers are really good.
and they come in lots of great colors.
black, red, orange, yellow, green, black, brown.
and pastels too!
^^^^ Oh! Don’t forget the ones with glitter! They’re perfect for drawing and coloring.