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[Foxeye]

When I picked up some gray art markers on my vacation, the only ones I could find in a store were Letraset Promarkers (made in UK). I couldn't readily compare them to the five prismacolors I've used before because, well, can't compare much with only five colors. And I'm just not that experienced.

But I was curious to know if anyone else who is familiar with copics or prismacolor has also tried letraset. And if so, what they think of them.

[mischievous_valkyrie]

well I am familliar with Copics I have a small set that I got last year at Anime Expo, I really like them they are very interesting to work with My Avie is mostly copic and a couple of the pictures that I have posted are Copics, I want to get a bigger set one of these days but for now I'll just use what I have and keep working with paints and inks
as for the other two kinds I haven't really worked with either.

[Afke]

I have only copics 'cause I wanted to start cheap, and the copic ciao's were the cheapest I could find with still a very good reputation qualitywise. Plus I'm in love with the brush tip - by now I'm buying the copic sketch ones, 'cause ciao's colors aren't all refillable, both have a brush tip.
I've borrowed I believe pantone markers from a friend way before I bought my own and the biggest difference I found was, that when you've colored with a copic and the surface dried and you go over it another time with the same color, the surface gets darker. Pantone stays the same color. Plus it doesn't have brush, but only a broad and a small hard tip (and even a smaller one for really detailed coloring).
Since I don't like the tight way of coloring you usually get with markers -just doesn't suit me, others work wonderfully with it- I just prefer the copics. You can get really subtle differences in darkness, and the brush gives the picture a looser feeling, more playful, almost like you've watercolored it.

I've seen those others brands you've mentioned, but never tried them, sorry! I hope this is still usefull to you though.
Oh and here's a tip for when you don't have many colors (I have by now, because I have a saving tick), give your picture only base colors and then shade with an ordinairy pencil.

[Eregyrn]

Yeah, I don't know, unfortunately.  The only art markers I've used are Copics.

[joselle]

I stuck with copics too when I did marker work.

One thing I can add is that they're safe. And by safe, I mean there's nothing harmful in them. In the US art supplies are not monitored because there is not unifying "industry"....so company's can put whatever warnings they want on stuff. Rubber Cement...the glue everyone gives to kids is probably some of the most harmful stuff out there.

....just fyi.

[Joyrider1978]

Though I don't use them, I sell markers, and safety-wise Copic and Prismacolor are your best bet, as they're alcohol-based.  Also, once the alcohol evaporates, they're about as archival as markers are going to get.  Tria Letraset markers and AD markers are xylene-based, HIGHLY toxic and ridiculously smelly.  Although the colorless blenders (being almost straight xylene) are perfect for making Xerox transfers...   Xylene markers are less likely to fade though; never *ever* leave your marker work anywhere near direct sunlight!

Also, a tip for any double-ended marker: store them horizontally or eventually one of the tips will dry out. 

...will shut up now since it's Saturday and I'm *not* actually at work...stop it with the lectures...

[Foxeye]

Tria letraset are smelly...? Oh dear, that's dangerous. I'm a veteran marker sniffer. Ever since I was a kid I couldn't resist a good marker sniff.  And certain kinds of foam packaging sniffing. And the air at gas stations.

[joselle]

Actually toxic-wise, smelly is a good thing. If it stinks, you take pains not to breathe it in. Stay away from odor-free Bug spray and stuff like that.....very bad for you, and you can't even tell....

[MatN]

Copics are on the low end of the quality scale for markers.  I prefer Pantone and Prismacolors, but stick with whatever works best for you.

I saw someone mention working with only a few base colors to start.  A tip if you have limited colors is to do an ink wash drawing as your base and then color over it once you have you lights and darks in place.  It's what a lot of watercolor artists do as well. 

-Mat N.
http://www.ElfSong.com

[MatN]

Tria letraset are smelly...? Oh dear, that's dangerous. I'm a veteran marker sniffer. Ever since I was a kid I couldn't resist a good marker sniff.  And certain kinds of foam packaging sniffing. And the air at gas stations.

A marker sniffer?  That's ok as long as you don't move up to eating crayons...or Play-Doh.  That's when you know you have a bad habit.

-Mat N.

[Eregyrn]

Copics are on the low end of the quality scale for markers.  I prefer Pantone and Prismacolors, but stick with whatever works best for you.

Can you elaborate on that a bit?  When you talk about the quality scale, what do you mean?  Color fidelity?  etc.? 

[MatN]

Color consistency between markers, how the inks age, how the markers work with each other, how long they last...there are a lot of factors. 

[Afke]

I think preference and your own skills are the biggest factor. No matter how bad your material is, if you know how to work the stuff you can still get great pictures. Me, I like what the copics do, it matches what I do/did with other materials - that is, if I use the brush ones, the one with the hard tips I don't like at all. And I've tried other brands but just didn't like 'm. :]

[Eregyrn]

Yeah. I don't disbelieve about the quality scale!  (I was just curious to hear more.)  But for me, the two biggest things are... the BRUSH TIP (which AFAIK the other marker brands just don't offer), and the ability to refill.

Meanwhile, how the inks age doesn't really matter to me at all... every piece of art I do gets scanned (and often retouched in various ways) anyway!  Not that I've gone back to look at what my Copic pieces from 2 years ago look like, but I'm also not sure why I'd care.  (Okay... no, I would care if for some reason all of my scanned art disappeared, and the hard copy was my only backup.  Sure.  But then I could always use the hardcopy backup to recreate and recolor the art if the original was that degraded.)  But then, after all, I'm not someone who sells original art pieces, nor am I the sort of artist who anyone is going to care to buy a 20-year-old original from me.

(I'll tell you what irks me a bit about the Copics -- trying to tell from color swatches what color the ink is.  This is just a pain when ordering, though, added to by the fact that I don't live somewhere with a full range of Copics in a store, where I could test them.  I have to guess and hope that what I'm ordering is what I'm aiming for; sometimes, it hasn't been.  Every time I go into an art store, the gigantic display of Prismacolors taunts me. ;-)  But they don't have the brush tip, so... )

[Faerydae]

I keep wanting to play with markers, but .... the thing I hated as a kid was the l.ines that would show up when you went over previously colored areas - I HATE that.

Do the art markers REALLY not do that? I just have a hard time believing it enough to shell out any cash for a set. LOL.

And refillable? Really? ::perkperkperk::

[Eregyrn]

I keep wanting to play with markers, but .... the thing I hated as a kid was the l.ines that would show up when you went over previously colored areas - I HATE that.

Do the art markers REALLY not do that? I just have a hard time believing it enough to shell out any cash for a set. LOL.

My experience with the Copics, certainly, (and I think that the other brands are the same), is that this still happens -- but, you can come up with techniques to overcome the problem.

I'd be interested to hear other people comment regarding their experiences with this.

What I've found is that, in the first place, it depends on the type of paper used.  I use a coated heavyweight paper, and yes, when I'm first laying down color, I can see the issue you're talking about. My workaround has been that I obliterate the lines by saturating the area with that color.

What this also means, for me, is that I have developed my style to create a lot of smaller areas that can be more easily filled and saturated so as to avoid areas of too-inconsistent color.  Obviously, once you start doing shading in those areas, that breaks things up too. I simply never do a very-large area of a single color with the markers; that's what Photoshop is for!  (I use that pretty often for a cloudless sky, for example.)  But any other area of any piece I'm coloring is usually being colored in such a way that it's a lot of little areas of color variation (shading and so forth), so slight inconsistencies in color coverage don't matter.

Another factor is that I believe some of the art-markers offer "blender" options.  Maybe someone else here can speak to those; I haven't really used the technique.  I get the impression from others that it only works on certain types of paper.

And refillable? Really? ::perkperkperk::

Well, the Copics are.  I don't know about any of the other brands, although I'm pretty sure that the Prismacolors aren't.  (I recall that from when I was comparison shopping before making the big investment.)

[Foxeye]

Letraset Tria are refillable, though Letraset Promarker are not.  And I recollect the same as Sgaana, regarding Prismacolor. 

[Afke]

I keep wanting to play with markers, but .... the thing I hated as a kid was the l.ines that would show up when you went over previously colored areas - I HATE that.

My experience with the Copics, certainly, (and I think that the other brands are the same), is that this still happens -- but, you can come up with techniques to overcome the problem.

I just want to point out that these markers are nothing like the markers we used as kids. Those kid markers make stripes WHILE you color, while these professional markers don't as long as the ink on the paper is still wet; so color fast. It helps when you draw small or interrupted areas like Sgaana says (a hair here, a crease there), so you can take breaks. But let there be no doubt about it that they cannot be compared to ordinairy felt markers.

When an area is dry the Copics indeed make the surface darker when you go over them again with the same color. I noticed the Pantone ones don't really do this. And here comes the preference, 'cause I actually like that property of Copics while others might not. I expect them to do this, and so I make use of it.

[AngelsEmbrace]

My main vehicle is the Prismacolor markers and they've served me well since I learned how to do large areas with them.  They used to be designed with these sharp pen tips that NEVER worked and have since been replaced with more reliable felt tips that do wonders for tight spaces.  However, the thick end got pointier and can't cover as much area as easily so I suppose it's a bit of a trade.

Chartpak Ad markers are FANTASTIC for covering large areas with a relatively smooth and consistent color, but are only really good for that since they tend to bleed into the paper.  You don't ever want to use them for fine detailing.

Copics I've not tried yet, but they're on the list.  They seem awfully pricey for the size, so they'd better be worth it when/if I invest in some.

Letraset Promarkers combine the best of all worlds, since they also fit into an airbrush device that shoots a stream of air thru the sharp tip and allow airbrush effects. 

[Startear]

I used to have nine copics, but I cannot find the six others these days. Strongly suspect they have fallen into my mother's hands, and she often throws away things she deems useless.  But anyway, I have three copics that I use for skin, and recently got some letraset promarkers. Haven't used them much, since I got them four days ago. However, the main difference besides having a bullet tip and not being refillable is how they dry. Copic tends to dry darker, letraset dries lighter.

Haven't tried prismacolors, so I don't have anything useful to add there.