Alcohol Markers First Trial
Greetings from Michigan! Today I decided to delve into alcohol markers. There is tons of information out there about them. Take a look about the internet and you will see all sorts of neat comparisons. Systematic approaches where they look at color spread, how many layers for an intense color, blendability of the inks and of course price points. This is not that article, maybe once I feel that I am passable with them I will add my own systematic approach. My day job has required me to do scientific research in the past so maybe it would be fun to break everything down about alcohol markers. I will only do it if I feel I can bring new insights to the product. My goal was to determine how much am I willing to spend on the product based on my trial of a few different markers. Copics are the most expensive but the refill aspect is fabulous so over the long haul they actually end up relatively cheap after the initial amount. Spectrum are also refillable and slightly cheaper than copic. Bic and sharpie are super cheap but not refillable and I wanted to see if they were even usable.
Today I used a simple process of stamping the same image on the same type of paper and using my four different brands of alcohol based markers to see what happened. These little girls were all stamped on Neenah solar white 80# paper with memento ink. I used a combination of Bic, Sharpies, Spectrum Noir, and Copic Markers to color them. I am focusing mainly on the dresses for my comparison. I only own 3 Copics, one set of Spectrum Noir and a hand full of Bic and Sharpies.
I am focusing on the dresses in the comparison because because those were the only areas I could shade with specifically one brand of markers given my lack of supplies. My first girl in red was done with Bic and Sharpies. I was actually surprised with how she turned out. Considering there are no codes on the markers for color, shade or brightness. Would I want to color regularly with these, nope but in a pinch with a simple stamp when you don’t have the color you need in another brand then I would not hesitate to use them.
This little lady was colored with three Copic markers bought as a blending set. Specifically designed to allow for shading so you don’t have to guess. I like how her dress and socks turned out for never picking up an alcohol marker prior to this. Later I try several different papers with the markers that I end up buying. I have learned that paper does make a difference with all things paper crafting. I will talk about that at a later date. Please ignore the hair on this poor child. Again I had no markers in correct shades to make realistic hair. She is waving hello to get attention so maybe she wanted to make her hair stand out and be noticed too!
Here is my last little summer girl done in Spectrum Noir markers. I bought the yellow pack on clearance at JoAnn Fabrics to see how they compare. They did not have a brush tip with this set. I will say I liked the brush tip on the Copics. I liked how they worked. Again I don’t know what I am doing but I would happily give these cards away. That being said if I were an artist making large poster are or beautiful nature scenes I would spring for the big guns.
So the final question is what did I decide to buy. The argument for refillable markers was great…. The one thing that held me back is I don’t really know how much I will use them. I ended up buying Master Markers from Amazon. I will do a blog on them at a later date. I received a lot of colors for a decent price point. they are not refillable. As I figure out what colors I need and love I will replace them with a similar color of Copics or Spectrum Noir as the lower cost markers dry out.
Die cutting
