Marker Fun, A comparison of the brands I own..

 Hey Y'all!

I've been wanting to do this blog for a while now, and am finally getting around to it. I didn't have exact color matches, but I judged from the caps for the closest I had. As you'll see some (most) aren't even close color wise. I think in the future I'll swatch several to get a closer match, and choose complementary colors, to really test the blendability.

I decided to do a blue and a pink in the following brands, because I had what I thought were "close enough" for comparison.

Brands I own:

Spectrum Noir Tri Blends

Copic

The Fine Touch

Spectrum Noir Aqua

Sharpie Neons

Recollections

The First thing I did was a bit of a scribble and blend test. These are not the right color combinations to try to blend, and really I should have used more than two colors for this. I learn something new everyday. Using the Tri-Blends here felt a bit "cheaty" since really that's 6 markers, to every other brands 2.

I'm not sure about these, and I thought they'd be my favorite.

These both looked lighter on the cap!

I thought this Capri shade would be more aqua than green, I was wrong.

The neon is brighter in person.

This blue (Kingfisher) looks so much lighter on the cap, and the pink looked brighter. 

I made a cheat sheet, that listed all my markers with swatches, but I've misplaced it. I'll have to look for it, I really could have used it here.

Bleed through the back.

All together now!

Thicker paper, and an image to color! (Only used the light end of the tri blends.)

The pink seemed to be okay, but that green really failed. Yuck!

Used the whole tri blend marker here, my blending skill could use some work.

Bleed through.

Positives:

Tri Blends-  Blend well, no guess work with complimentary colors, easy to use.

Copics- Colors layer well, brush tip, lots of colors available.

Fine Touch/Masters Touch- Affordable, vibrant, come in storage case.

SN Aqua- Fine tip (pen like), water based dyes, brush tip. (This one is the best dual tip option in my opinion.)

Sharpie- Easy to find in any retail location, affordable, comes in a wide variety of colors.

Recollections- Doesn't bleed as much as others, easy to use, dual tip.

Negatives:

Tri Blends- Bulky, harder to find, not as much variety in colors as other brands.

Copics- Cost more than the competitors, bled through to the table underneath, wide/chisel tip isn't necessary for me.

Fine Touch/Masters Touch- Bleeds, both through the paper and on the paper into other areas , only available at Hobby Lobby,  

SN Aqua-  Cap colors are WAY OFF across the entire line, water based dyes, bulky (though not as much as the tri blends).

Sharpie- One tip, marker is shorter than other brands, some colors are more saturated than others.

Recollections- Low quality, hard to find, don't preform well.

I really need to play with all my markers some more. I especially want to work on my blending, and see how the Aqua Markers really preform when using them with water.

I'd love to try out ohuhu, prismacolor, and tombow markers in the future!

My final thoughts here are that the Recollections are pretty crappy, I'll see if my niece wants the few I have and if not I'll just toss them. My favorites are TBD as I play with them all some more.

Which did you like? What didn't you like? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife