If you got the March ArtSnacks Box or if you've seen it at this point, perhaps by watching
my unboxing video from two weeks ago, then you probably know purchasing that box came
with a free second box from Tombow. That box shipped separately, and now it's here! Let's
check out what's in it. Hello, and welcome back to Jenna Gets Creative!
So the Tombow Bonus Box sent out to March ArtSnacks subscribers comes in a regular basic
tier ArtSnacks box, but without the ArtSnacks branding. It contains three different cards,
a round Tombow sticker, a sheet of mystery paper, and seven art supply goodies from Tombow,
including a 5 pen sampling of their new ABT Pro markers. I'm going to go ahead and guess
that "ABT" stands for Alcohol-Based Tombow, since these are indeed alcohol-based markers
and all the included materials phrase it that way.
Let's read all the included cards, and then I'll give you my first impression run down
on the markers. The footage will no doubt get ahead of me, so I'll pop unboxing clips
of items back up in the corner when I introduce them during the card readings. Okay? Okay.
The smallest card with mosaic artwork on the flip side says "We're so excited to partner
with Tombow and introduce ArtSnackers to a totally new marker: the ABT PRO. After testing
it over a year ago, we fell in love with this product and knew it deserved its own box.
This palette of five colors was specifically curated by the ArtSnacks team, so you won't
find this combo anywhere else. We hope these deep, jewel-toned hues inspire you to create
something beautiful!" The ABT Pro info card, bookmark thing, with
some featured artwork features an infographic about the ABT markers on the reverse. The
Tombow ABT Pro markers are available in 108 colors, and include the following features:
flexible brush tip for varied strokes, broad chisel tip for consistent lines, fast-drying
permanent ink, rich, vibrant color saturation, great for layering and shading, and slender
barrel for comfortable grip. US and Canadian customers can go to the TombowUSA.com website
and use the promocode ArtSnacks25 to get 25% off orders with the ABT Pro markers. (Not
sponsored) On to the actual menu card, which is shaped
like the usual ArtSnacks menu card, but longer. Everyone got a Tombow Mono J Drawing Pencil,
though I do believe lead weight was random in each box, either HB or 2B. Mine is a 2B.
The info blurb says "For over 100 years, Tombow has been producing high quality wood-cased
pencils. Extra-refined, high density graphite allows smooth drawing and crisp, dark lines.
Perfectly centered lead core adhered throughout entire wood-case for break resistant lead,
even sharpening and slow wear for sharp point retention." The card then says a 6 pack of
these pencils retails for $6.99 USD. That's RRP of course, not necessarily the price you'll
find in the wild. And as usual, I'll have prices and other research in the description
box down below, complete with conversions to CAD and Pounds Sterling.
These are nice drawing pencils, for sure. My sister actually got a full 12 set of these
over Christmas while I was visiting, so I did sample them, and they're just as good
as any other professional quality graphite pencils I've tried.
Next up is the Tombow Mono Drawing Pens, and everyone got either an 01, an 03, or an 05.
"Water-based pigment ink drawing pens produce smooth, skip-free drawing and writing with
no smudging – ink dries instantly! Durable nibs withstand firm pressure without bending
tips, ensuring steady ink flow. Great for use with drawing, marker, watercolor and mix
media paper. Odorless. Black ink, non-refillable." The card says a 3 pack set retails for $8.67
USD, again RRP, and mine is an 01. These are Japanese style (duh, Japanese company) metal
clad nibs, and the sizes of course correspond to the width of line they draw in mm. 01 produces
a 0.1mm line, 03 produces a 0.3mm line, etc. These are nice pigment liners, for sure. They're
comparable with Microns, Copic Multiliners, Staedtler Pigment Liners, all those good brands.
Something I'd like to note, though, is that the labelling on the barrel is a sticker.
The only labelling that's permanently part of the packaging of this pen is the number
on the end of the cap. And of course when they say non-refillable, they mean they don't
sell replacement nibs and cartridges for these barrels. You certainly can still put more
ink into these barrels if you can get them open without breaking them. My friend Weblight
Dreams experimented with refilling some of her "non-refillable" liners with India Ink
not too long ago, if you're interested in that.
Now on to the part we're all here for, the Tombow ABT Pro Alcohol-based markers. The
cards says RRP for these markers open stock is $5.49 USD, 5 packs are sold for $26.99
USD, and 12 pack sets are sold for $64.99 USD. This makes them comparable to North American
prices for Copics at RRP, before sales and store loyalty discounts. The card says "ABT
PRO is a permanent dual tipped art marker with flexible brush tip and chisel tip in
one. Brush tip works like a paintbrush to create fine, medium or bold strokes by simply
changing brush pressure; chisel tip provicds consistent lines and broad coverage for coloring
large spaces. Single ink reservoir for both tips ensures you won't run out of ink on one
side. Permanent, fast-drying alcohol-based ink produces rich, vibrant colors that can
be layered to create rich saturation, shading and color gradation."
I did my swatching and testing on the included mystery paper, which seems to be some sort
of coated card paper, but we don't have any information on what it is. You saw me fighting
to make it lay flat in the beginning. It did NOT appreciate being rolled for transport.
I decided to do my actual first piece with these markers on X-PressIt Blending Card,
so let it be known that my evaluation of these markers and the result I got are from using
them on top quality marker paper designed for Copics.
I tested these with a Copic colorless blender to see what would happen, and the answer is
not much. The blender picks up a little colour, but that's it. Not a huge amount of transfer
to the blender, no notable dilution to the ABT ink.
The nibs on these markers are quite nice. The long brush nib is just flexible enough
to get the variation you want without being so soft that it's hard to control or feels
like it'll degrade quickly. The chisel nib has both straight edges and some rounded aspects,
so you can also get a wide variety of shapes out of that nib, too.
They layer more than they blend. You can create secondary and tertiary colors by layering,
but you're not going to get smooth gradient blends between different colours without owning
the full set. They do have a strong layering effect even on the same colour, which is both
a good and a bad thing, depending on what you're trying to achieve. If you want to shade
with the same marker you just used, you absolutely can! You can also get 3 or so different values
of the same colour out of a single marker, just by applying more layers. On the other
hand, If you're trying to cover a large area and you don't want streaking, you're going
to have to use multiple layers and commit to the darkest value the marker can produce.
The colours of the caps are accurate to the darkest value you can get out of the marker,
after a couple layers, but the first layer always comes out quite a bit paler. This is
of course because the ink is translucent for layering. The caps have no writing on them,
and the barrels have no colour name, just the pigment number, so if you happen to own
several ABT markers of similar colours, be very careful not to get the colour caps mixed
up! For those who care about whether or not caps
fit and stay on the other end, the larger cap from the brush end will fit over the smaller
cap on the chisel end, but they don't click together, so it can easily come flying back
off while you draw. The smaller chisel end cap does not fit on the larger cap at all,
even though the inset design of the cap ends makes it look like maybe they were meant to.
I looked up the colors we got on Tombow's website, and the colours are: P993 Chrome
Orange, P757 Port Red, P636 Imperial Purple, P565 Deep Blue, and P296 Green. 18 of the
108 ABT colours are unique to the ABT line, but none of these are them, which means if
you own Tombow's water based markers, these should exactly match some of your other markers.
I'd love to hear whether or not they do, from anyone who works with the Dual Brush markers.
These markers also do have a strong smell to them. They smell more like a Sharpie or
a dry erase marker than most of my other high end alcohol markers do. And remember that
price? $5.49 USD? Well actually, as I'm recording this voice over the Tombow USA website actually
lists them for $5.99 USD, so basically $6. There's no way that these skinny little barrels
have even as much ink as a Copic Ciao, never mind the Sketch and Original, which is the
price range they've put themselves in. At this time Tombow does not produce or sell
ink refills or nib replacements, so when your ABT markers dry out, you have to replace them.
Fortunately they do sell them open stock, so if you started with a set and only one
has run dry, you don't have to replace the whole set.
My overall impression of the Tombow ABT Pro markers is that they're good at what they
do, but what they do is not the same as what Copics do. If Sharpie markers had always been
made as an art supply, rather than an office supply that eventually gained an expanded
color range to pull in a secondary market, I think this is exactly what they would be.
If you also got this box, or if you've also tried the ABT markers, I'd love to hear your
opinions in the comments down below. I'd also love to hear from anyone who's been curious
about these markers but hasn't tried them yet. What were you expecting them to be? Are
you still going to try them? If you're looking for something to watch next,
I've put some suggestions up on the left of the screen. I upload art content twice a week
at minimum, every Tuesday and Thursday, and if you like to live life creatively, whatever
that means for you, I'd love to have you along for the ride. See you on Thursday!