Prismacolor Art Marker

A classic  

Some facts:

• They have a chisel nib much like the AD-markers, and a fine nib.
• In 2012 they came out with a new marker with a brush nib and a fine nib
• 200 colors (from year 2013)
• Have a blender
• Sanford Corporation
• Exist on Wikipedia
• One of the oldest ones
• www.prismacolor.com 

An older prismacolor and a newer one

Prismacolor case 

I have been thinking a lot about how to explain how I perceive this marker. It’s not easy. I think this is a very different marker. All markers can give a watercolor look but with this marker it is far easier to achieve that look.

Prismacolor brush and chisel 

The nibs
I was so disappointed when I first got my new brush marker and realized they had chosen to have the fine nib on the other end instead of the tri nib. The brush nib isn’t the most pleasant to use at first, it can feel a bit gummy and get stocked on the paper, but the result can be beautiful. It is also very easy to create contrast between dark and light in one stroke because of the gummy-like brush nib. But the same quality has a down side. It is difficult to use this brush nib for larger pieces or larger area because of it´s gummy-like quality. That´s why I which they had a chisel (or their tri-nib) on the other side instead of a fine nib. I never liked the tri-nib on Prismacolors as much as I liked the one on a other American marker, namely the Ad-marker (they two are the only one with this kind of nib). I don´t feel as much in control with the nib on Prismacolor as I do with the Ad-marker. To use Chartpak Ad-markers tri-nib is very intuitive, you know exactly how too use it fully, but with Prismacolors it is a learning curve. 

The Colors

Some prismacolor combinations 

In 2013 Prismacolor came out with 44 new colors; among them there where some light skin colors that had been missing before. They also thought out-of-the-box by using a scale (in their case using a percent system) but not for grey colors but instead for a brownish color (umber) that’s is a very useful color for skin, shadows, hair... and the list go on. It is brilliant!   

Other example regarding the same phenomenon  

The ink
The ink does not become grainy and are easy to blend. The colors become very vibrant and clear. But some behave a bit strange. Its like they separate from each other. For example if you use “violet mist” you will have a small circle around that's looks pink even do the color itself is not pink. I have seen the same concerning violet color in Blick studio and spectrum Noir as well as Copic (depending on what paper I am using). The problem isn´t to bad. It depend on the paper how much it will appear and if you blend a lot it isn´t visible. 

Some of the rich colors of Prismacolor

The color system 
The number system doesn´t mean anything and the colors name are mostly not too informative. They use a little bit different color names then most markers, like “ballet pink” and “avocado”. If you are a Prismacolor colored pencil user the names will be familiar. 

Some grey colors

Drawing made with prismacolor brush

Drawing made with Prismacolor markers

Prismacolor