Art markers are a very popular medium for many artists, but the problem is most brands are not lightfast. This makes selling the original art difficult and therefore most marker art must be sold as prints. However, Winsor and Newton came out with a pigment marker that is lightfast. How do they compare to alcohol markers? Let's see! For those who want to try these markers out for themselves, I have included my Amazon and Blick Art Materials affiliate links down below.
The Winsor Newton Pigment markers come in sets of 6, 12, and 36. They are also available open stock on Blick Art Materials and Jerry's Artarama. These markers contain pigment inks which are very different from dye based alchohol markers. These pigments seem to be more like paint or acrylic inks.
The biggest set of these markers is the 36 color set with 4 markers being white, black, and 2 colorless blenders. I purchased this set for around $150 a couple of years ago. The price has since dropped to around $86 on Amazon.
These markers have an oval barrel with a bullet nib on one end and a chisel nib on the other. The number and color name are on the marker. The price of the pigment markers open stock is $3 to $4 on Amazon and Blick Art Materials.
Winsor Newton has a chart that you can download with all the colors available for this marker line. There are 118 colors plus 2 colorless blenders.
There is also a blank chart that you can download from the Winsor Newton website and color in the squares to see keep track of which markers you have. You can also use it to swatch your markers. The colors on the marker caps are accurate as far as I can tell.
Doodlin ' Time !
'Otero Mesa'
by Ellie Taylor
So how do these compare to alcohol markers? They are very different! They do not blend on regular marker paper or card stock. They work on a paper with a slick surface such as Winsor Newton's special Pigment marker paper or Yupo multimedia paper.
I made a picture of Otero Mesa which is located where I live in New Mexico. I couldn't really get a flat smooth look in the sky so I made it look cloudy. These markers are like a paint and they leave streaks unless you blend them with a paper towel. You can layer them somewhat, but not too much. Dark colors over light work the best. These markers work well for showing textured subjects, but not so well for showing a smooth surface. As you can see the mountains, grass and vegetation turned out pretty good in my picture, but the sky was harder to do.
These markers definitely take some figuring out. They are lightfast unlike alcohol markers, but they definitely do not blend as well. They are not as user friendly as alcohol markers or watercolor markers. I would say that you should probably get the small set first to try them out and see if you like them before investing a lot of money in a big set.
I think these markers are interesting and I like the fact that they are lightfast, but they have a bit of a learning curve. I am afraid that these are not quite as popular as they once were because of that learning curve, but I do think they can be used to make fine art. To see some fine art created with these markers, check out Lachri Fine Art and The Mind of Watercolor on YouTube.
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