Prismacolor Premier Marker Review
Prismacolor Premier Marker Review.
Right from the beginning of my art journey, I have loved the mixed media form of marker and colored pencil, a blend of speed from the markers and detail from the colored pencils. Every marker artist that I know has their own personal favourite nib combination bit it Brush Nib and Chisel Nib, Bullet Nib and Chisel Nib or Brush Nib and Bullet Nib. Each combination gives the artist exactly what they need, however, for those artists who like the Brush and Bullet nib combination, this is difficult to come by on one marker.
Prismacolor are a huge name in the world of Colored Pencil artists, but they are not only known for their soft silky Colored Pencils, they also manufacture Prismacolor Premier Markers and for the longest time I have wanted to try them out. With Prismacolor being an American / Mexican company, they are not always easy to come by in the UK and when you do encounter them in the UK, they are very expensive. This is when having lovely friends in the US comes in handy as was the case for me. Rhonda from Ann Kullberg Color Magazine got a 24 set of Prismacolor Premier Markers for me and posted them over, I was of course very excited at the chance of testing such a prestigious companies marker. So without any further rambling from me, lets get right into the review.
Prismacolor Premier Marker Characteristics.
I asked for and was sent the Brush nib and Fine Nib Prismacolor Premier Markers to review, however they also provide a marker with the Fine Nib and Chisel Nib, which we will talk more about further into the review. The Barrel of the Prismacolor Premier Marker is round with slightly tapered ends where the lids are situated.
The 24 set that I was sent arrived in a very unique and pleasing case, the case is made of a black canvas material making it very tough against weather conditions should you take your markers out and about with you. There is a card sleeve wrapped around the case providing palette information and diagrams on how to use the case.
Along the spine of the Prismacolor Premier Marker Case there is a rope like carry handle, which can of course be used for the purpose of carrying the case, however, on opening the case, you can fold the case in half and using the draw string, using the toggle to adjust, you can turn the case into and neat and easy method of selecting markers without having them spilled out all over your desk.
Each marker is held in place with a thick elastic band and the case can also be zipped closed to ensure all your markers are safe during transit. The zip itself is pretty well made and a lengthy toggle is applied to the zip allowing those who may suffer with dexterity problems to open and close the case much easier. On the top of the case there is also a small fabric loop, big enough for a finger to go through allowing the artist to carry the case by this method should you chose not to use the longer rope string along the spine of the case.
The barrels of the Prismacolor Markers are all black but they do indicate which color is present in the marker with the patterns printed along the barrel. Along one side of the barrel there is very clearly printed “Prismacolor Premier”. Slightly further round the barrel the color name is printed in two languages as well as an alpha numeric number which also represents the color.
As is the case with my Prismacolor Markers, there are two nib types, one on either end of the barrel, to help the artist select the correct nib he or she wants without having to remove the lids, there is patterns printed to indicate this. For the Brush Nib side of the marker, there is a wavy band printed all round the barrel and this wavy line is also the same color as the color present in the marker. For the Fine Nib, there is a simple single band, again completely wrapped around the entire barrel on that end. Both images depict the thick and thin lines you can obtain using a brush nib and the single uniform line depicts the expectations of the Fine Nib.
Both lids on the Prismacolor Markers have smalll protruding wedges placed on them to help prevent the markers from rolling of your studio desk to the floor. This may not sound like a huge thing, but if you are an artist and you have spent the best part of the day bending over to rescue escaping round barrelled art supplies, I am sure you can completely empathise and understand. On the very end of each lid, there is also an indicator of the color present in that particular marker along with the same alpha numeric number on the barrel, this also makes selection simple if should you have your markers stored in the horizontal position, stacked upon each other.
The Brush Nib is slightly longer than some of the other marker brush nibs I have used and thus allows an extra amount of flexibility, I found the brush nib of the Prismacolor Premier Marker to be almost identical to the Winsor & Newton Brushmarker which I have also reviewed. I don’t want to make this a comparison video, however I will be briefly highlighting slight similarities in the Prismacolor and Winsor & Newton Markers and at a later date will complete a full and through comparison review of all markers.
The Fine Nib or Bullet Nib, whichever you prefer of the Prismacolor Premier Marker is much finer and detailed than most bullet nibs in other markers. A lot of other markers that provide bullet nibs or Fine Nib markers provide much more rounded nibs, the Prismacolor Fine Nib is pointed, almost chamfered at the end allowing the artist to use the nib for the most intricate detail or place the nib on a 15 degree angle and produce a slightly thicker mark. This provides co much versatility to the Prismacolor Premier Marker overall that I find it very satisfying to work with.
Although Have not tried the Chisel Nib of the Prismacolor Marker, I do know that it is nothing like many of the other square blocky chisel nibs used by other markers. The Prismacolor Premier Marker is of a more rounded structure but with that one nib, multiple marks can be applied once again adding a level of versatility to the Prismacolor Markers that I fail to see in other brands.
Prismacolor Premier Marker Performance.
I was actually sent the Prismacolor Premier Markers about a year or two years ago and to be quite honest with you, I am not altogether sure why it took me so long to deliver this review or even put the Prismacolor Markers through their paces. I think it was to do with the limited palette, 24 colors may sound a lot, but to complete a fan art piece, you really need a lot of different tones from one or two color families and I just didn’t have this.
It wasn’t until I completed my review of the Arrtx Acrylic Marker Pens and The Simpsons artwork that I got the idea for the art I could do. I needed to draw something that was going to demonstrate and put the markers to the test and so I decided to go down the route of Manga and Anime. I personally absolutely love the Manga and Anime art style, I know some people do not see it as art, but I love it.
I selected a Pokémon scene to draw, Pikachu, Ash and I think Serena. Now I have to be honest and up front with you all from the very start, I am afraid Pokemon skipped past me, I was too old for it and just never got into it, however my eldest daughter and son loved it, so I know that fans of the show can find it disrespectful not knowing the correct names of characters. Please know that this is not my intention at all, I would never ever set out to deliberately disrespect anyone.
But before we get to the art, lets take a look at the testing I completed with the Prismacolor Premier Markers. the first thing I done was select a good paper to swatch the markers on and for this project I selected Hahnemühle Bristol Design paper; this paper is perfect for marker art as it is a good weight 120lbs and has a film coating it allowing for a few extra seconds of blending time.
As you can see from he image, when I completed the swatch, I used the Brush Nib for the block of color and then I used the fine nib to produce the thinest line I could complete using the very tip of the nib and then a slightly thicker line by placing the fine nib on its side.
For these small spots of color I had no issues at all, the ink from the Brush Nib was clearly very juicy, on pressing slightly harder with the brush nib, you could visibly see the ink flow to the surface of the nib and if you would like to see this in real time please check out my YouTube video review of the Prismacolor Markers.
With regards to the colors chosen to be part of the 24 set, I guess that is a personal thing, I myself would have liked to have seen perhaps the red, blue, green and yellow have a dark, mid tone and light for each family and then with the remaining 12 colors add in perhaps a Lilac, Aqua, Grey, Brown and Black, but this is just my own opinion on color selection.
The next thing I completed was a blending test and you can see from the image that the Prismacolor Premier Markers worked beautifully on this test. For this test I used the Canary Yellow as the lightest, Spanish Orange as the Mid, Orange as a mid to dark and finally Poppy Red for the Dark. I was really happy with the final result and as I say the markers worked beautifully on this small area.
As I was laying down the Spanish Orange, it occurred to me that the colors in the Prismacolor Premier Markers, matched those names of the Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, so I wanted to see just how close the marker color and their counterpart colored pencils were, or not.
I used the Orange first and I was really surprised at just how close both these colors were. I know a lot of you are probably saying, “Harry, Orange is Orange no matter what you are using?” but this is not always the case. The Next test I tried was the Spanish Orange, a slightly paler tone and one I thought if there was going to be a difference, it would be seen here. As was the case with the Orange, both the Prismacolor Premier Marker and the Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencil Spanish Orange were incredibly similar.
I found this to be amazing, I know, simple things amaze simple minds, but in this case all I could think of was completing a huge piece using the Prismacolor Markers and Colored Pencils together. I thought for any artist who owns all of the Prismacolor Markers and Colored Pencils, they are pretty much set and can produce any art piece they so desire. By owning the entire sets for both, would allow you as a mixed media artist to lay down you bulk color with the markers and then with the same color, colored pencils, provide detail and refine gradients that need it. I already have the full 150 Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils and hopefully one day I will own all the markers, only 126 colors to go and when that day comes, I am going to draw something using them all.
As I mentioned I completed a Pokemon art piece and this is when and where you really get to test the product, it is all very well and good providing swatches and blending tests, but using the product in the way it was intended is the only method in which to test.
I can remember when I first started out doing reviews and many people said this very thing to me and I can remember taking offence to those comments, however, as is the case on so many occasions, you guys who said this couldn’t have been more right. Providing art, working with the product is the only real way to find any flaws or find those little bits that draw you into the product and make you fall in love with it.
With the Prismacolor Premier Markers, I did discover one small issue and this was an issue of ink flow. I will describe it here in this post but I also demonstrate this in my YouTube Review which might prove to be more beneficial to your understanding.
As I would use the brush nib to lay down color on a slightly larger area, I found that as I was doing so, occasionally the brush nib look as though it was drying out and this would also be evident on the paper. I found myself occasionally having to stop and allow the ink to refill the brush nib and of I would go.
The best way I can describe this is when you have an Ice Lolly and you such all the juice from the bottom corner of the lolly, you can see the juice actually leave the lolly and you are left with tasteless ice. This was happening with the brush marker and so I wanted to know what was happening and why it was happening.
I tested the Prismacolor Brush Nib against a few other brush nib markers in the video review and I discovered that the Winsor & Newton Brushmarker Nib did exactly the same thing and the other markers tested didn’t experience the same issues. I feel that this is caused by a link between the reservoir in the marker which supplies the ink to the nib, I think given the brush nib on both markers were quite long, this may have been the problem. I will be further investigating this for my comparison video of all markers and we will talk about it more in that review.
Prismacolor Premier Set Sizes and Pricing
As I mentioned at the beginning, my biggest issue with the Prismacolor Markers is the pricing here in the UK, when I check out prices in America be it Amazon or some of the more popular art stores, the prices for Prismacolor Markers are considerably cheaper than the same set sizes here in the UK. I am sure this is down to import and export duty that has to be placed on the shipments, which is just one of those things.
The actual sets for the Prismacolor Premier Markers are quite varied, ranging from individual markers open stock, to sets of 10, 12, 24, 48 and 156 count which is the entire collection. the other set sizes range so much from Grey Sets, Multicolored Sets, some of the sets are in the canvas case I showed and others in the box, there really is a wide variation on sets.
Unfortunately with the pricing and the way things are in the world at the time of writing this review, there does not appear to be very many sets in stock so I am unfortunately unable to provide links for all of the sets but I will of course update as and when sets become available.
Incredibly, I was able to get more links and prices for sets on Amazon UK than I was Amazon US so I would advise if you are wanting to try the Prismacolor Premier Markers on the back of this review, if you live in the US, shop about, check Jerrys or Blicks etc. For artists in the UK you only really have ebay, Amazon or friends in the US.
In the UK on Amazon the prices below are what you can expect to pay for the following set sizes.
12 Set of Prismacolor Premier Markers Chisel and Fine Nib - £39.95
12 Set of Prismacolor Premier Markers Design Set Chisel and Fine Nib - £29.95
24 Set Prismacolor Premier Markers Brush and Fine Nib - £59.95
24 Set Prismacolor Premier Markers Chisel and Fine Nib - £59.99
12 Set Prismacolor Premier Markers Grey Set Chisel and Fine Nib - £77.74
156 Set Prismacolor Premier Markers Brush and Fine Nib - £1,143
In the US Amazon I was only able to locate a couple of prices and links.
12 Set Prismacolor Premier Markers Chisel and Fine Nib - $42.99
Prismacolor Premier Marker Conclusion
If you have followed me, or The Art Gear Guide, for any length of time, you will know that my favourite medium to work with is marker and colored pencil and so when it comes to both these mediums I really take reviewing them seriously.
I had wanted to review the Prismacolor Markers for such a long time after watching artists such as Brandon Green, Roger Cruz and especially the amazing Will Terrell, all truly magnificent illustrators in their own rights, but I am a huge huge fan of Will Terrell and it was him I first watched perform magic with a Prismacolor marker.
Obviously I have not been able to give a full and balanced review of the Prismacolor Marker system as I was unable to try and test the very unique chisel nib on the Prismacolor markers. However this is something I hope to change soon, but in the meantime my conclusion will only be based on the Brush and Fine nib marker.
The only issue I encountered with the Prismacolor Marker was the ink flow and how on larger areas I had to allow time for the brush nib to regenerate with ink. Now I know that if you go really mad with any brush nib marker the same will happen, but this was not how I tested the brush nib on the Prismacolor, no matter what marker I am using, I always treat it like a precious item, just as a watercolour artist would care for a beautiful brush, same for the oil and acrylic artist, also for us colored pencil artist we treat our fragile pencils with the upmost care, ensuring they don’t drop on the floor.
Other than the expense of the Prismacolor Premier Markers, I really think they are a special art product, given their versatility across both fine and chisel nibs, their ecosystem connection with the Prismacolor Premier Pencils, the entire package is amazing and I would truly love to own a few more colors and really put the markers and pencils through their paces in creating a huge art piece, perhaps one day. For now though thank you all so much for checking out this review and I recommend stopping by the YouTube review to see the marker in action, also you can check out still images of the art by following the link or if you would just like to watch the art come to life check out the speed drawing of the artwork.
