So remember last February, when ScrawlrBox sent out some Karin Brushmarker Pro watercolour
markers? Yeah, I got the full set. Let's check them
out! Hello, and welcome back to Jenna Gets Creative!
This is not a sponsored video, no one reached out to me to do this, I bought this product
because I wanted it, but I would like to thank Marker Universe and specifically whoever it
was on their marketing team who decided to host their Easter egg hunt event for making
it possible for me to AFFORD this set. I found a high discount egg and I ran with it.
So what these are is a pen, obviously, with a nice flexible brush nib, and 2.4 mL of liquid
watercolor. The info pamphlet that came with it says the nib is a Japanese style nylon
brush nib, not felt, which means they're also quite durable. They technically aren't refillable,
because Karin doesn't sell refills at this time, but like any marker, that's really the
only reason why they aren't. This is the 60 colour set; their original
60 colours. They have also come out with a handful of neon colours, so you can buy those
separately or in an even larger set. Both big box sets with and without the neon colours
come with three blender pens, and smaller sets come with just one or two depending on
the size of the set. You can also buy these in colour family sets or open stock. For the
North American market, if your local art store doesn't carry these, Marker Universe carries
them, and while their prices convert a little higher than the manufacturer's price, it's
accounting for the extra shipping and import taxes to get them over here to this continent
from Poland. For everywhere else, your best and cheapest bet is to order directly from
the manufacturer at karinmarkers.com. The reason I waited so long to order is because
I figured ordering directly from Karin would be the cheapest option for me too, because
their free shipping threshold on their website is listed in all the relevant currencies they
list in, so there is a CAD threshold for free shipping. When Marker Universe announced their
egg hunt event, I actually put this in my cart on karinmarkers.com and went to the checkout
screen just to double check, and actually there is no such thing as free shipping from
Karin to Canada or the USA, even though the free shipping threshold is listed in CAD and
USD. So then accounting for that, Marker Universe's slightly inflated prices are actually fair,
and then I had the opportunity to get a nice discount, making it worth risking duties at
the border. I did pay duties, but it was less than the discount, so I still saved.
Anyway, the original 60 colours are all dye-based, which means they likely aren't super lightfast,
so that's something to keep in mind if you're considering these. Generally markers aren't,
so I'm not extremely worried about that, and if I'm doing a piece where I'm worried about
the longevity of the original, I just won't consider using these markers. The neon colours
are all pigment based, which means they're much more likely to be lightfast, though there
isn't any lightfast testing information available from the manufacturer. That said, they also
have a metallic paint pen like called the DécoBrush, and those DO claim to be lightfast
and permanent after drying. Storage information on these markers says
that they should be stored capped (duh) with the tip pointed up, presumably to discourage
leaks. That said, if the tip dries out due to the cap being left off, or going a very
long time without using the markers, leaving them tip-down with the cap on for about an
hour will circulate fresh ink into the nib and re-wet it. They shouldn't be stored in
direct sunlight or exposed to very high temperatures, and they shouldn't be used while flying, though
the pamphlet does note that they can be transported on a plane with all the caps well secured.
It doesn't mention avoiding extremely cold temperatures. I know from experience with
my Bombay India Inks arriving frozen that the ink itself would be fine once it thaws
out again, but I wonder if there's enough room left in the barrel of new markers for
expansion during the freezing process, and I wonder if ink freezing in the nib would
ruin the nib itself. Not going to intentionally find out!
So there are multiple ways you can use these markers in terms of getting different tones
out of individual markers and blending different markers together. You can use either the blender
marker or a brush with water to dilute the markers for lighter tones and to create gradients
that fade out. You can use the tip-to-tip method between two colours or between a colour
and the blender to get gradients directly from the marker nibs similar to Chameleons
markers (or any other alcohol marker, Chameleon just packages the technique.) You can also
colour on a non-absorbent surface and use the blender marker or a wet brush to pick
up the watercolour from there, either as a single colour or mixing multiple together
in the process. You can also pick the colour up with a brush directly off the marker nib,
though you want to be careful not to introduce too much water or any contaminates into the
marker with that method. The blender markers are simply the ink base without any dye in
it, and work the same as a wet brush. You've been watching me make my preliminary
swatch chart and play with some blending on the side. Now we're going to do two quick
illustrations just to get a feel for what these markers can do. I'm using Strathmore
Vision watercolour paper, which is a 140lb coldpress paper, sadly not pure cotton, so
it's not the highest quality paper out there, but it's good enough for this.
First up I'm doing a warm sunset gradient with a silhouetted palm tree. This is inspired
by the multitude of silhouetted tree, gradient sky illustrations I see done with these in
quick little videos on Instagram all the time. I chose to blend a few colours together for
the sunset gradient, let that dry, and then go directly in with the black marker to create
the palm tree. I ended up unintentionally smudging the black with my hand and repaired
my mistake by creating a misty ground form around the base of the palm tree. I noticed
with this method of using the black marker directly on the paper on top of the dried
first layer, there was a little feathering that ended up making the edges of the tree
trunk not as crisp as I wanted. Obviously I also wasn't expecting to be able to smudge
it so easily! When I let this all dry again after the black layer, I also noticed that
there was some blossoming in the background gradient where I used more water to blend
out the nebulous black ground thingy. That's to be expected with watercolour inks. The
difference between a watercolour ink and something more permanent like my Bombay India Inks by
Dr Ph Martin is that they aren't permanent. They behave like watercolour in that you can
re-activate and move them around on the page. You can probably also lift them to some extent.
Each colour is going to have a different level of staining, depending on what went into the
dyes used to create each colour, but none of them are going to be India ink permanent.
So that's great for getting watercolour effects in your illustrations, and it means activating
these with water will help you get a really smooth, even colour coverage, but it also
means layering over it with more water or more of this or similar water-soluble paints
is going to cause re-activation and mixing with the previous layers. It's watercolour.
You may also be wondering what's the difference between a watercolour marker and a water-based
ink marker that claims to be water soluble, and that's that these will dissolve completely
on paper when you work it with a wet brush, given that you haven't left it to dry and
rest for a long time, whereas water soluble markers tend to leave evidence of the original
pen strokes behind. My second test piece is inspired by a demonstration
I saw done by Calligraphy by FK. I'm doing a misty mountains and trees scene against
a blue sky gradient. This time I chose to do all of my additional layers with a paint
brush, which means I was able to be much more precise. There wasn't any unintended feathering
or interaction with the first layer. If I were doing this as a serious piece and not
as a test, I would want to add stars in the sky and probably work on leaving more gaps
in the colouring on the mountains to imply differences in the terrain. Adding stars would
be most easily done by coming in with a white gel pen or white paint of a more opaque variety,
such as gouache, but you could also try sprinkling some fine grain salt into the background while
it's still wet for a more stylized effect. I already knew I liked these markers from
the couple I got to play with from that past ScrawlrBox, but it's nice to finally have
a full range of colours to play with. I definitely want to really get used to using these and
do full pieces with them, and I think for the foreseeable future I'll be doing the Marker
Universe #ColorsoftheMonth challenge in these to get used to working with them.
I can see these being a great tool for calligraphers and crafters, and they're absolutely a much
more convenient way to work for illustrators who are photographing or scanning their work
to digital or print uses, but given that they aren't a truly lightfast material, I would
caution you against investing in these if you're looking for materials you can confidently
use if you want to sell the original artworks you create with them. Let me know in the comments
down below if you have any questions about these markers that I haven't covered, or if
you've got any suggestions or requests for pieces I could do in these markers in future
videos. If you're looking for something else to watch,
I've got some suggestions up on the left side of the screen now. I upload art content twice
a week at minimum, every Tuesday and Thursday, and if you like living life creatively, whatever
that means to you, I'd love to have you along for the ride. Bye guys!