PrismaColor Markers, waste of money?

Im a little hot headed right now, so bear with me. I went to dickblick today and bought $30 worth of markers I needed for a drawing Im working on.

10% Warm Grey 10% Cool Grey 30% Cool Grey 50% Cool Grey Black Clear Blender (blends...not) Yellow Ochre Canary Yellow Light Blue Tulip Yellow
I worked on shading a chrome rim with the markers...wow...it looks like shit. They work like damn crayolas. That damn clear blender doesnt seem to do shit. So far Im pissed...Im on a limited budget and it seems like that was $30 down the toilet.

Any suggestions on how to use them? I dont expect to be an expert right away...but damn, it looks like it was colored with crayolas. with little blending between colors.

Practice. But those blenders are useless.

EDIT

Heres the first and only work I have ever done with them...For an art project...

http://img61.exs.cx/img61/6311/rdsc002495vw.jpg

http://img61.exs.cx/img61/6537/rdsc002536lg.jpg

Mike I am sorry to hear that.

As far as the blender. I don't know about that. I have never used one.

What kind of paper are you using?

I use Bristol Vellum, thick stuff. I can get the exact weight if you like. My guess would be that the paper is the problem. I do know that the markers will bleed when the are new and depending on the paper. Perhaps Bonz will see this thread and offer more help.

As far as looking like crayon I could see that happening I think that is why some artists use pastels for fades and such. I think that look is great (crayon) but if that isn't what you want I can understand your fustration. Post your rim

Kustmace, did you ever post those works before now? I may have missed them, they look great.

al

As far as looking like crayon I could see that happening I think that is why some artists use pastels for fades and such.

al

thats what i do. it took me a while to get the hang of them (im still kinda iffy). i did the same thing. i bought some then tried it and sucked. then went a month without touching them until i forced myself to try it.
good luck

I know Taylor uses marker and pastel together. I know you can do great things with prima markers and pencils.

It really is a matter of practice though. Don't believe me?

Look at the first car drawing you did....look at something you drew last year for that matter.

Al is on point about the paper. Try a vellum, and remember the translucency enables you to use both sides.

oh last thing...have fun! You're drawing...enjoy it, and you will be rewarded.

edit: doesn't lighter fluid extend markers? may help to dip a q-tip and use it to blend. Just a stab.

Nope, never posted em before.

And I still dont like those markers.

Mike, i was considering getting some prisma markers, but now that I've seen this thread, I might not. Al is probably right... it could be the paper. Btw, is there such thing as a colored pencil and marker rendering instead of pastel and marker rendering?

Alex

I did some research last night, you want to use a thin paper so it bleads well. Thick stuff will also dry out your markers faster. For the blending I think I may need to bust out the airbrush and just experiment.

I'll post my rim in a little while.

Alex, yes there is a pencil and marker rendering. I've seen many...done with Prisma's too.

i use em all the time, though not the blender. the paper is also what im thinking, you get professional resluts out of the box, thats why i like em. definitly try some thick (expensive if possible, 100lb or more) bristol paper. heres a peice i recently did, and it came out alot better than i thought. bristol paper.

http://www.deviantart.com/view/13844986/

i use em all the time, though not the blender. the paper is also what im thinking, you get professional resluts out of the box, thats why i like em. definitly try some thick (expensive if possible, 100lb or more) bristol paper. heres a peice i recently did, and it came out alot better than i thought. bristol paper.

http://www.deviantart.com/view/13844986/

I was using thick bristol smooth, and it didnt seem to work, and some tips I read said use thin paper.

Excellent coloring! I'm just going to keep messing with it, except one of the markers I bought is dry...:banghead:

no doubt, i bought some cheapo crayolas for fun, man they are horrible. if you have a careful hand the prismas are smooth enough so you cant see the strokes. they do run dry though, its just the way it is. there are other cheapo brands. if you are paying more than 2.50 per marker you are getting ripped off.

With student discount each marker is $2, normally priced at $2.59.

Last night, on vellum, I ran out of ink on two markers. :( Vellum also sucks for markers.

Hi Mike,

Sometimes I noticed w/ my markers I had to work kind of fast so they would not bleed over line I didn't want them too. You may also need to account for some bleeding and not go all the way upto the line of the next section that you don't want color in.

I am getting ready to do another colored work. I will make some notes on how I use them.

Just to let you know I have two wrecked artworks from using Prisma Marker, but it is not the markers fault. I think it takes a lil practice to get the hang of them. I also test all my markers/experiment on scrap paper (same kind I am using for the artwork).

I know Taylor uses marker and pastel together.
I heard that famous cat asaenz uses them too. I think he taught Taylor a thing or two about rendering autos. :)

Take care, man.

al

Have you tried Chartpak AD markers? thats what i used in school, you can really tell a diiference,they blend very well, they do cost more, but worth it i think. Once you try them you will see. another thing you could do for large areas is use a cotton pad used to apply makeup, some pastels scraped with a knife to create a pile of dust, and lighter fluid. dip the pad into lighter fluid and then into the dust and viola! cheap markers that cover large areas, vary the amount of fluid and chalk to creat different effects.

hope this helps
wes

I'm doing Industrial Design at University, and I strongly recommend you buy some "bleedproof paper" it should be labelled as that. If you dont use the right paper it will either everywhere and go through paper. The type of marker I use is COPIC markers, they are very good.

If your experiencing blotching thats because you are letting the ink dry out quickly, try to aim to keep the paper wet with ink, but if you are doing large surfaces mask areas off you dont want to be coloured with 3M removable tape.

all ad markers of today are gay and of poor quality. i have markers existing from the early 1980's, and they are moist and fat and wet. the poor quality of today is a typical mafia-like planned racket to drive quality into the toilet whilst raping the oft-fiscally challenged artist --i would line up all of the fat assed executives of these companies and have them summarily executed without trial if i could. they are not worth fifty cents each, but the artist is given no choice.

however, i use markers the MOST out of any medium, as any effect you wish may be attained with them if they are mastered. i use plane-jane bond paper you would put into a copy machine. sometimes, i use bristol marker paper. this allows for finer tooth and smoother texture, yet is a little harder to get used to as a support.

markers in general simply take time to master. they seem, at first, to be nearly unworkable and too easily bled. it takes time and developing skill to spank them into submission, as does any craft.

i like them because they are quick to dry, big on color, and easily concealable as to what medium they are. few people are even aware of markers. they automatically assume it is "watercolor." and this is just bullshit and reveals their ignorance very quickly. :)

markers in general simply take time to master. they seem, at first, to be nearly unworkable and too easily bled. it takes time and developing skill to spank them into submission, as does any craft.



Of course they will bleed easily if you don't use the right paper in the first place, if you gonna use these alcohol based markers use the correct paper.

3 of my prismas have run out of ink, its bullshit. I havent finished one rendering with them.

Of course they will bleed easily if you don't use the right paper in the first place, if you gonna use these alcohol based markers use the correct paper.

they will bleed anyway, especially if they are chartpak ad markers and are new. yes, some papers will create more bleed than others, but you really have no free lunch here; it takes time with getting to know the markers before they will become an extension of the brain and hand. at that point, the bleed effect is welcomed because it is needed to achieve some things.

a good tactic, too, is to retain some dried up, or nearly-dry, markers for feathering effects as done in painting. i keep a few of these and put colored electrical tape around them to code them. blue is so-so wet, red is workable but getting dry, black is nearly dead :)

and i hear you, mike, i barely tolerate the deliberately-created short life of the markers. it is utter bullshit, as you well know. i can drop $100 on a few markers and feel like shit knowing they will only be good for one or two jobs.

i dont own prisma markers, but i did use one once. They 'handled' about the same as the markers that i eventually bought which were ZIG kurecolour. they were bought purely due to the fact i couldnt find any prismas or chart pak (it seems that not a single shop in birmingham stocks them, grr). any, back to my point. a visiting lecturer at uni who's task it was to teach engineers the basics of drawing suggested we use a very thin paper that bled a lot. all you had to do was be carefull that you compensated for the bleeding by running the nib close to, but to onto the line. This resulted in a perfect, solid block of that colour, and by layering the marker while it was still wet, a certain about of subtle blending was possible.

i however was not convinced that that type of paper would be best for my car drawings. i bought some bleed proof paper, but it was more likely to show the 'bands' that you typically get from colouring with markers. the best paper i have found so far is regular printer paper. yes, just regular paper. it bleeds enough to get a smooth block of colour yet the ink doesn't migrate much away from where you place the nib.

i now have a good selection of 21 ZIG markers, and im paying at least twice as much as you are. i think they have been a great investment. they do have limitations though. you simply cannot expect to get airbrush style graduations with marker. thats why airbrushes exist afterall. Try using pastel too, thats what i do.

you simply cannot expect to get airbrush style graduations with marker. thats why airbrushes exist afterall. Try using pastel too, thats what i do.

Yup, I really like used Chartpak Ad Markers. The new ones bleed too much and can become impossible to tame at times, making it scary to use them. I still haven't ran out on a Marker yet (maybe its because i have close to 140 of them:lol:), my art teacher told me to once in a while dip it in some alcohol also. Luckily all my Markers were given to me for free!!! Another type of marker i like, and you should try them out Mike, are Letra-Set markers. Their are good for fine lines, thats if you do them quick. This thread makes me want to wip out my markers and use them. I use normal Bristol Vellum, my art teacher gave me some Graphics 360 100% RAG Translucent Marker paper also but i don't know what she wanted me to do with it:lol: Maybe i should try them out. :p

hey i dont get it hove do i do rendering i use a ordenery (hb) school pen to all my cars and how du you do so it says bling i the paint :P i dont get it

Practice is the key. Look at the reflections, then do your best to re-dreate them on paper. It's not complicated, just very precise.

after doing 45 color frames in 3 days and nights, nearly continually, most chartpak markers die out. casual use, yes, they last a while. but during combat, the ammo dries up, seemingly, sooner every job i take,

so before a big job, if i see it coming in time, i will go out and stock up on the most commonly used colors: pale indigo, light sand, frost blue, pale flesh, warm and cold grey 1-4, maize. these are the most run-out prone markers i use. so i typically have about six or seven pale indigos, eight light sands, etc.. and i stagger their use throughout the course of the night so i do not have all of them die on me --alas, this happened on a job recently: i ran out of several of these vital colors all within four hours and it was about 3 o'clock in the morning. so i had to resort to other colors, and digging in fear into boxes in my garage hoping to find a stray flesh tone. it sucked. but i learned to never again assume i had something without looking.

i love/ hate ad markers. so as time has passed, i have learned a little photochop. today i can do like 70% digital/ 30% marker. many now do 100% digital. i falter with finer detail, so i must use marker for that stuff. broad areas is quicker to use digital.

for "fine art" stuff, i use 100% marker. nowadays, many can create entire digital paintings that look like oil paint.