Artify Brush and Chisel Tip Marker Review
Artify Brush and Chisel Tip Marker Review.
In this review we take a look at the Artify Brush Tip and Chisel Tip markers. I know lately I have been posting quite a lot of marker reviews and I still have more to come, however, there are a lot of marker artists and mixed media artists out there always on the look out for the next best and cheapest markers.
Using alcohol markers in the mixed media context is my own personal favourite way to create art, I love the ability markers permit, with a quite lay down of color, whilst still accomplishing a seamless gradient with the excellent blending abilities markers present. Then, with your colored pencils, coming in and providing the detail to breath life into the piece. It is a much quicker way of completing a piece over say an entirely colored pencil piece, which is a nice change when completing only colored pencil pieces.
Artify Brush Tip Marker Characteristics
If you look through my catalog of marker reviews and in particular, brush marker reviews, you will see that there are quite a lot. There is always a question as to what makes one marker different from the next marker and this is something I will be showing you all at a later date.
For now however, we shall look at the Artify Brush Markers and their characteristics and performance. Artify also sell Bullet or also known as Fine Nib markers, double ended with the Chisel or sometimes refereed to as Broad Nib marker. In my opinion both Bullet Nib markers and Brush Markers have their place in the Mixed Media and Marker artist world, but I just feel the Brush Markers have a little bit more to offer regarding variation and flexibility.
The Barrel of the Artify Brush Marker is a rounded triangular shape, this helps to prevent the markers from rolling off tables and falling on the floor. The rounded form of the Artify Markers does still allow the markers to roll a little bit, but not to the same level a round barrel will.
On both ends of the markers are lids that indicate the marker color and of course the color number. the Artify markers are alpha numerically labeled, so in this case R218, with the R representing a color from the Red family. The same is true of other color groups throughout the Artify Marker Collection.
The Artify marker is indeed double ended, one end sporting that all important Brush Nib and the other sporting a Broad or Chisel Nib. On selection of an ratify Marker, there is a Grey ring on the end of the Brush Nib, showcased beautiful against the white barrel of the marker, to help identify that the artist is removing the lid of the Brush Nib.
There is of course another form of identification with regards to selecting the right nib when the markers have their lids attached. The identification comes in the form clearly marked icons, each icon representing a depiction of the Nib present on that end of the barrel.
Along the middle of the barrel is of course the Artify name and logo, following this is printed the term “ANB-18 Art Marker” There is no pigment name present on any of the markers or the Artify website, however, as I have mentioned, there is an alphanumerical number present on the lids of the markers, citing color groups and numbers.
On a much less important but no less relevant matter, the packaging the Artify Brush markers come in are well thought out, they double up as storage for the markers as well as a really good protective method for the markers in transit.
The Artify markers are only sold in sets and so are not sold open stock. I know this can sometimes be an issue for artists, but I also feel that companies such as Artify are stuck between a rock and a hard place. In order to keep the set prices as remarkably low as they are, I can’t see how selling the markers individually would keep the company in business, thus eradicating competitive marker sets such as Artify.
Inside all sets of the Artify Markers you will find already printed swatch sheets, this s a fantastic touch making swatching your markers an easy task, plus you can keep the swatch in the set and you will always have something to reference with using your markers.
Artify Brush Marker Sets and Prices
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, Artify sell Brush Nib and Bullet Nib markers and I have listed the prices for both in this review should you be interested, however, make sure you double check your selection before purchasing as it is easy to select the Bullet Nib Markers when wanting to purchase the Brush Nib markers.
The Brush Nib sets available in the Artify range is a 108 set, 80 set, 48 set and a 24 Skin Tone Set. With regards to the Bullet Nib Markers there is an 80 Set and a 40 Set
Here in the UK, if you wanted to purchase any of the sets above you can expect to pay the following. For the 180 set of Brush Tip Markers you will pay £65.99, for the 80 set of Artify Brush Nib you will pay £55.29, for the 48 set you can expect to pay £29.99 and finally, for the Artify 24 Skin Tone set you will pay £23.99.
In the UK if you prefer the Bullet Nib Markers you will pay the following. For the 80 set of Artify Bullet Nib Markers you will pay £26.21 approximately and for the smaller 40 set you will pay £18.17.
Here in the US, if you wanted to purchase any of the sets above you can expect to pay the following. For the 180 set of Brush Tip Markers you will pay $59.99, for the 80 set of Artify Brush Nib you will pay $42.99, for the 48 set you can expect to pay $27.99 and finally, for the Artify 24 Skin Tone set you will pay $18.99.
In the US if you prefer the Bullet Nib Markers you will pay the following. For the 80 set of Artify Bullet Nib Markers you will pay approximately $28.99 and for the smaller 40 set you will pay $17.69.
Here in the EU, if you wanted to purchase any of the sets above you can expect to pay the following. For the 180 set of Brush Tip Markers you will pay €76.08, for the 80 set of Artify Brush Nib you will pay €49.99, for the 48 set you can expect to pay €30.99 and finally, for the Artify 24 Skin Tone set you will pay €23.99.
In the EU if you prefer the Bullet Nib Markers you will pay the following. For the 80 set of Artify Bullet Nib Markers you will pay approximately €40.99 and for the smaller 40 set you will pay €22.99.
Artify Brush Tip Marker Performance
As I have mentioned many times before concerning markers, the COPIC marker has long been the industry standard but with the huge price tag and sometime overwhelming number of colors, many marker, crafter and mixed media artists are on the look out for alternatives.
Recently there has been a huge increase of affordable brush marker contenders and whilst they line up side by side to the COPICs at a fraction of the price, they is often a small sacrifice to pay. With the Artify Markers that is the number of colors, with the 108 set and 24 Skin Tone set, they are absolutely well on their way. I feel if they added a 30 or 40 set of Pastel Tones and a 24 set of Greys, Artify Markers would be the perfect alternative to COPIC.
I completed a swatch of the colors from the 108 set and 24 Skin Tone set and you can see yourself, that although small numbers in comparison to the COPIC, the selection is fantastic. For me personally, there is just the right mix of each color group and there is a perfect skin tone selection for the likes of Manga and Anime.
The Brush Tip on the Artify Markers is perfect, the Artify brush tip provides a real level of detail when drawing and this is down to the sharp point of the brush. I personally am not a huge fan of the Chisel nib, I would love to see Markers provided with a bullet nib and brush nib as opposed to the traditional Brush and Chisel combination. Of course, this is my own personal preference, but quite a selfish one as I am aware those who enjoy using the chisel nib would not approve.
I completed my own artwork with the Artify markers and absolutely loved using them. The drawing I completed was not very big and so the detail that was needed on the face of the character and other areas was easily accomplished with the Artify Brush Nib. You can watch the Speed Drawing on The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel and see from the demonstration just how well the markers proved.
Occasionally when using alcohol markers, you can come across markers that are either dry before use or overflowing with ink and thus making a mess. Of all the Artify Markers I tested, I am happy to declare, none of them fell into these categories.
I also completed a simple blending test using both the Artify Brush Nib and Chisel nib, you can see the test in real time on the YouTube video review, however I have provided an image of the test results here. Hopefully this will help to give you an understanding of the excellent blending ability provided with the Artify Markers. I will confess that I am not very proficient with the chisel nib and so that particular test result may be a tab untidy.
Artify Brush Marker Conclusion
There is no doubt about it, COPIC should feel under pressure from companies such as Artify, they once had the market cornered but over priced their products and unfortunately have continued to do so. As a result, companies such as Artify have seen a market area crying out for high quality competition and in my opinion, Artify have answered the call.
I was incredibly happy with the overall results to the artwork I completed using the Artify Brush Nib Markers, I think for any young artist wanting to expand their artistic view and jump into markers, Artify markers are an excellent choice for getting started.
Hopefully with the growth of Artify, they might be able to add a few more pale pastel tones to the collection and one or two additional grey tones at which point, in my opinion would be an outstanding selection of markers for any artist to own.
don’t forget you can watch my YouTube video review of the Artify Markers by following the link, to watch my speed drawing demonstration of the artwork I completed again simply follow the relevant links. Finally I have added a page here on The Art Gear Guide where you can check out some still images of the artwork at various stages of completion, by clicking on the image it will enlarge allowing you to inspect the results much more clearly and in your own time.
