anika mari

Before I came to Mexico, I bought myself a set of 24 Prisma Color Markers. I’ve long lusted for a set of my own, ever since my oldest brother had some. I would steal them to draw with and then he’d yell at me. I think I was probably about 10 or 12 at the time, so he was either 20 or 22.

I know that when I go on vacation, I always end up buying art supplies, and usually they are kind of sub-par art supplies from the corner store or office depot or a sparsely supplied over-priced school store. I thought that the prisma markers would be perfect since they are compact and colorful, so I splurged and spent the $50 on my set of 24 markers.

The first time I used them, I pulled my most comfortable chair out onto the terrace, prepared a nice cup of tea and settled down for some drawing time. I made this series of patterns because I wanted to try out a variety of colors and combinations:

I was quickly disappointed with the overall performance of the Prisma Color markers. The color is great, but I noticed that the ink bleeds quite a bit, and the edges are always a little fuzzy. For the fine detail of these patterns, I did not get the effect that I was looking for. Some of the little patterns “work” a lot better than others. I really like the two left-most red patterns, the left most bright blue/violet pattern, the second to left yellow pattern, and all the green patterns. Some look very crappy, particularly most of the burgundy/dark purple patterns, and the two middle bright blue/violet patterns.

So for a few days I was kind of stuck. These pens just weren’t doing what I hoped that they would do, and most of my drawings lately have been heavy with detail. I could still use my pigma micron pens, but they are all black, and the using them for details and the color markers to fill in color might be ok some of the time, but I had some specific ideas of what I wanted to do, and I’d need a finer line, color marker to do it.

Luckily I found a set of Stabilo fine point markers (point 88) at the Office Depot Express near my house. When I first got the Stabilo markers, I drew some images using only the new fine line markers to test them out and get a feel for them. The first pattern I drew was of peas, using the 3 greens that came in the set:

I was happy with the color and the detail that I achieved. They don’t noticeably bleed, and they maintain a crisp edge. As you can see in the image, it’s difficult to achieve a uniform color in the solid area, but the Prismacolor markers are good for this. It’s nice to have options at least.

Feeling comfortable with my new markers, I decided to test them out for the reason that I bought them: to use them in conjunction with the Prismacolor markers. First I made a sort of “key” of the colors of the Stabilo markers paired with the Prismacolor markers. There are a few colors in both sets that don’t have a close match, but I was pleased to find that most of the colors matched up quite nicely.

For my first test, I drew these weird wingless bird hearts:

I first drew the detail of the birds with a red Stabilo marker, then I filled in the central heart shaped area with the Poppy Red Prisma Color marker. I was very pleased with the result. The color matches pretty closely, and the solid area from the Prismacolor marker is very rich and smooth. The hearts were the only thing on this piece of paper for a long time.

One day I was coloring with Prismacolor markers when I noticed that if the color dried a bit, and I colored over it with the same marker, I’d end up with a slightly darker hue of the same color. I used Poppy Red to draw these poppies (seemed appropriate both in color and in subject to try out this layering technique). I am pleased with the result. The differences in hues are subtle, but they really contribute to the delicate feeling that I was going for with the blossoms. For the stems I used the same technique that I described above: drew the shape with the Stabilo markers, then colored in the area with a similar Prismacolor marker (both dark green).

I have noticed that the Stabilo markers can bleed, and the color will run, ruining the crisp line if I don’t work quickly and precisely. I still have a lot to get used to with these markers, but it’s been a good start.