A good excuse to color is to test out some new markers.
My niece gifted me Craftgear Dual-Tip Alcohol Markers for Christmas. This week I decided to try them out and see how they compared to other alcohol ink markers I've used in my past.
Quick Note
I'm not an expert or hard-core enthusiast with alcohol ink markers. I probably don't know the proper techniques for using alcohol ink markers to their fullest potential. I also cannot provide a formal review of the pros and cons.
However, I love to complete full pages in coloring books often. Alcohol ink markers are my primary coloring tools of choice. I've bought and tried a range of different brands including: Sharpie, Firefly, Master's Touch, Artist's Loft, Spectrum Noir, and Copic. I have a sense of what I like and don't like to use.
Because of these factors, this blog post is short and sweet, but also opinionated.
The Gift I Received
The alcohol markers are packaged in a hard plastic carrying case, perfect for traveling. There are a total of 24 dual-tip markers that offer bullet and chisel tips.
According to the sticker on the back of the package, Ross sold this for $9.99 USD. My niece works at Ross and likely received a decent employee discount of several dollars.
These turned out to be cheaper than the retail prices for other beginner level alcohol ink markers I've tried like Master's Touch (Hobby Lobby), Artist's Loft (Michaels), and Firefly (Tuesday Morning).
I recommend searching for a sale or discounts for alcohol ink markers if you're in the market for any. I've never pay full retail price for alcohol ink markers if I can help it.
Copics are the only markers I paid full price for just to see what the social media hype was all about. They're fantastic alcohol ink markers! However, I'll never buy Copics again because they're too expensive for me.
My Thoughts
Overall, these are good markers for any beginner or amateur artist. I'd give it 3 out of 5 jelly jam jars! You can't beat the cost if you're lucky enough to find a 24-piece set at your local Ross store.
A removed cap can be placed over the cap of the other end of the marker, but they don't snap on and would fly off with marker motion. I found it easier to leave the removed caps on the tabletop rather than have it fly off onto the floor where my little dog could grab it for his not-so-secret hoarding collection under my Dad's bed.
The dried ink colors on paper matched the cap colors well. I recommend creating swatches to visually see what the accurate colors would look like on paper after it dried.
The markers were "juicy," meaning there was a good flow of ink when using them on paper. It saturated the page well and long enough to blend hues and analogous colors (colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel, e.g., orange and yellow) well.
Attempting to blend complimentary colors (colors directly across one another on the color wheel, e.g., red and green) required the use of a warm or cool gray to achieve an almost seamless blend of the colors.
I couldn't blend contrasting colors at all. This may seem obvious to some, but I'm able to achieve it with some colors using Spectrum Noir and Copic alcohol ink markers when the page section I'm coloring is truly saturated.
When coloring in a large area on the page, the chisel tip left streaks. Fortunately, the streaks mostly disappeared when the ink dried.
It doesn't bother me that there's no brush tip. Personally, I like using brush tips for blending colors which I don't think I'll do much of with this brand. The bullet and chisel tips work well enough for me.
I will use these alcohol ink markers again to complete pages in my coloring books. They're juicier and blend better than my collection of Firefly and Master's Loft alcohol ink markers. Hopefully the Craftgear brand contain more alcohol ink than the Artist's Loft brand alcohol ink markers. Only time and regular use will tell.
In case you're interested, my Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers are my preferred markers for coloring. Copics would probably be my number one choice if I had more than 6 colors and they weren't so expensive.
What's Next?
I'm in the mood to customize more of my things, so I'll hopefully share some more customized arts and crafts projects with you next week.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam