pen 115: prismacolor premiere fine tip

today's pen, the prismacolor premiere fine tip is the precision version of the  prismacolor chisel-fine double ended art marker from back in post 80. these pens are mid range pens as far as pricing goes, they seem to be a little more expensive than pens like sharpie and even microns, although not by much. at one point i would have recommended these pens as the brand to get, however, over the years i have come to discover better quality pens for around the same price and, not surprisingly, as i gain a wider range of experience with pens of this type, i have found there to be equals if not better choices to this line that wont cost you an arm and a leg. i,m not saying that these are bad pens, even crayola markers have their uses, but experience has shown me that there are others out there that seem to work overall better for my uses.

the premiere pens are fairly solid construction, they have moderately durable plastic porous tips, they have good flow with little, if any skipping or stuttering, the line is consistent, with little bleed (out - and no bleed through) although, like the sharpie pen and the new bleed-free ink option, the ink is not as dark as those pens like original sharpies, microns, or staedtlers to name a few. while the ink is not as fully saturated, it does have a limited value range, and falls into that category of being an all or nothing pen - its just that it's all is not as dark as some of the other pens out there.

these pens come in a good range of sizes and types, like chisel and brush tips, and come in a modest range of colors. prismacolor has even made sets containing different types of tipas and colors geared to specific uses, sets like:

primary: black (also sold separately) red blue and green
fashion: brown, purple, orange and sepia
sepia: brown
manga: a mix of black and sepia pens and some assortment of tip sizes and types.

as far as whether or not i think these pens are a good buy? i'm not the fan i was back during my college years. i wouldn't buy another set unless they improve their quality. there is one exception, however, i do like their sepia pens and would recommend these to anyone who likes coloring in muted/desaturated color schemes.

pricing:
individual pens seem to start around $2 for an individual pens, sets vary considerably depending on where you find them .

amazon.com

$5-$8 +s/h (7 pen assortment pack)

websites:www.prismacolor.com
www.dickblick.com/
www.amazon.com/

what they say:

prismacolor.com
These markers have you covered no matter the task at hand. Take your pick from multiple tip sizes to experience paintbrush-like strokes in the convenience of a marker. Go with the fine tip for serious precision and control. Lettering, outlining and free form drawing look exceptional with the chisel tip. But why limit yourself? Pick up an assorted set with a variety of tip types for all your drawing needs.

Archival quality, lightfast ink. is smear resistant when dry.

Available in Fine Line, Brush and chisel tip sizes for excellent technical and artistic drawing applications.

dickblick.com

• These markers contain premium pigmented acid-free, archival ink that is lightfast, permanent, non-toxic, and water resistant.
• Use these markers for crisp, detail work in artistic and technical applications.

amazon.com

• Ideal markers for the aspiring artist and scrapbooker
• Non-toxic
• Conforms to ASTM D4238
• Archival, acid-free premium pigmented ink prevents work from deteriorating over time
• 
  
• Fine Tip great for detail work
• Lightfast colors maintain their vibrancy
• Permanent, water-resistant ink will not bleed through and is smear resistant when dry

pen 80: prismacolor chisel-fine double ended art marker

okay, so it only took me eighty posts to get to the single largest art supply investment (in terms of non-electronic) that i have made, these pens are hands down the standing titan of price tags that i have yet to surpass.

so since i've made a big deal about the price, i guess i should address the pricing on these pens. when i discovered these pen, around 2000-01, they were selling them individually for around $2-$3 as i recall (note that the pens that i own from this era are slightly different that the pens they sell now, i believe its mostly cosmetic changes but i haven't taken the opportunity to try one out) they came in different sets as well, primaires, metals, warm/cool/french grays, that were like twelve pens to a set. there were also sets of around like twenty-four, thirty-two, 120 and the holy grail, aka, the 144 pen complete set.

as i recall i think that i found that set, on sale, from an art supply store on lower market street in san francisco, a few blocks from the main campus of the college i was attending. the sale price was like 10% off and i believe that i paid around $300. i just looked this set up online and discovered that the price i remember paying is pretty damned close to what they still are selling for, go here: Sanford Berol Prismacolor Art Marker 144 Color Set if you're curious.

at the time of this purchase, i was still in the more traditional art classes, not so much the computer editing and animation courses and these pens made my life so much easier. the mid-term and final projects looked really sharp and professional, and over time i learned how to work around the peculiarities of these pens.

so let's start with the praise: these pens are bold, saturation is awesome, the bleed is potentially moderate but if you have something under the page you are working on its not all that bad, and when coloring around the outlines of whatever you can start to anticipate how much the bleed will creep and let the ink work for you, especially if you are moving slow. the pens dry very quickly, it is alcohol based and that means it evaporates, the smell of the ink is not unpleasant, and really the only thing that i can think to compare it to is itself which really doesn't help out much if you've never smelled one.

the inks can overlap to get some interesting results and the strength of their gray selection is extensive making for extremely fun layering work in monochromatic backgrounds, storyboards and concept art, this also lends itself to the other lighter colored pens and the darker ones will have limited effectiveness with the grays that fall into the 60%+ range.

the drawbacks are unfortunately numerous, however, many of them can be worked around if you're careful. first, when got the set home i discovered that several of the pens were dry, as in never had ink in them, lame, i had to argue with the store to get a replacement pen, luckily they were common colors and the store had them on the shelves, the other annoying discovery was that a few of the labels were all crooked and in some cases backwards indication the wrong direction for the wrong tip. i know that this sounds picky but come on, i paid $300, sale or not it was a lot of money at the time... who am i kidding, it still is. the ink, while it does dry quickly can be blended with the blending pen which is nice but that blender gets all mucky after a few uses so meh, also the caps, if not SECURELY, like fort knox secure, and you might think you've capped it but double check, for serious, because if any air gets to circulate inside the pen will dry out faster than something that's like crazy fast. i dunno, its late, sue me. the caps are tricky, they don't seem to stay on the pen very well, and if you're carrying them around in a bag they tend to fall off on their own. i have used up an entire pen several times from usage, mostly the black and various grays, but i have lost more pens to a loose cap than i'd like to remember.

i know that this post seems to be focus on a lot of negative things, but for the price tag, these pens should work better. as i mentioned earlier, they have made some changes to the pen design and i do not know if they have addressed any of these shortcomings.

i should also point out that even though they were expensive, they were incredibly useful, i loved these pens at the time, and the only reason i would not buy these pens now is that there are other brands, like copic, that are better quality and yes, more expensive. the other reason i don't think i would but a set like this again is that i do most of my coloring digitally these days, for the price of the pens i could get a pretty snazzy printer - yes, i know it's not the same, but that's just where my focus is these days.

website:

www.prismacolor.com

what they say:

Every artist can appreciate these double-ended art markers. The ink is formulated to give the richest color saturation with silky smooooooth coverage. The duality of the thick and skinny tips let you change it up whenever the mood strikes. One ink source ensures color consistency from either end. It’s an alcohol, dye-based ink that’s non toxic.

pen 79: prismacolor premier chisel tip

i believe that i bought this pen as part of a set around a year or two ago. despite the fact that i love microns, and to a lesser degree, staedtlers (these were in my pre-copic-era days) i decided to sink invest waste around $15 on this prisma set based on the fact that i thought i liked the prismacolor pen line that i bought and used back in my college days.

sadly this purchase was the final straw and has soured me on the prismacolor brand.

since i'm not reviewing the chisel/fine marker until tomorrow i won't get into the frustrations that i experienced prematurely, but i will say that with the perspective of hindsight i really see that i probably should have not been so surprised.

so to start with the positive. these pens have good flow, they have no odor, they dry instantly and is a very clean pen. i should also mention that they don't have any noticeable bleed, including (mostly) through the paper. the felt tip of the chisel model is fairly rigid but wears quickly, especially with heavy use. the price for a single chisel tip pen on amazon is around $2, you can also find the sets for a fairly wide range of prices, but if you're under $15 you are probably doing ok (don't forget to figure shipping into the price, yo.)

sadly that's the limit of things that i can point out as positive features.

the ink is rather light, it takes a few passes to get a fully saturated color, in this case, black. its a good thing that it takes a lot to bleed through the paper - you really have to be trying hard to do so - because of the lightness of the ink. this pen, like the other chisel tipped pens that i have reviewed, is an äll or nothing" pen which is a little ironic in a way because the lack of deep color doesn't really translate as a useful shading technique... although that joust might be me and my skill level with inking. the other major flaw that i have noticed is that if you decide to erase the pencil marks you used as guides, the ink will rub off as well, requiring a second round of inking to touch-up parts that lightened during the cleaning process.

overall, i would not recommend this brand of pen to anyone, they are too expensive for what they are and there are other brands out there that cost the same and work so much better. if you are thinking of buying this for yourself or as a gift for a developing artist i would strongly urge you to go to an art supply store and pick up either a micron set or a staedtler set, it's not that much more and the pens are far more durable than the prismacolors. meh.

website:
www.prismacolor.com

what they say:

These markers have you covered no matter the task at hand. Take your pick from multiple tip sizes to experience paintbrush-like strokes in the convenience of a marker. Go with the fine tip for serious precision and control. Lettering, outlining and free form drawing look exceptional with the chisel tip. But why limit yourself? Pick up an assorted set with a variety of tip types for all your drawing needs.

These markers contain premium pigmented acid-free, archival ink that is lightfast, permanent, non-toxic, and water resistant. Use these markers for crisp, detail work in artistic and technical applications.