List Price: $64.95
Sale Price: $39.11
Today's Bonus: 40% Off
******FIRST THING TO NOTE These markers are $3 $5 at Blick stores. You can get a set of six for twenty five bucks or the sets of twelve for about fifty. With their membership card (it's free) you get ten percent off every purchase. I don't work for them, I just know, as an artist, how expensive supplies can be and wanted to save you from overpaying.*********
I'm a painter working in both digital and traditional media. While I love the tactile nature of traditional painting on canvas, sometimes not having to worry about brushes, cleaning and mixing paints is nice with digital painting. When I saw these I thought it'd be a best of both worlds situations, and it is.
The markers have paint and a ball bearing in them to make sure the paint is properly mixed. You push the tip (it's on a spring) into the marker to load it with paint. A little paint goes a long way and although I was worried that there wasn't very much paint in each marker when I initially purchased them, it's no longer a concern.
Overall what I really like about these is that they are quick. It's easy to get your ideas on canvas quickly and build from them. It has a nice rough style that comes from the layering. They're also great for touch up. I find that I use them on my more involved airbrush paintings to touch up or make tiny corrections, things like that. It's acrylic so it blends right in. Clean up is essentially putting the caps back on the markers. Can't beat it! If your an artist looking for something new to try, this is it!
**Note** I have not bought this specific set but I have the same markers I bought with other sets or individually. Individual (refillable) colors can be bought for three to five dollars at art stores like Blick so keep that in mind when pricing these.
Some things to take into consideration:
-When painting you generally mix colors for gradation and custom shades. With these, I layer one color and then, before it dries, use another color directly on top of the first. This actually produces some nice effects.
-Tips are replaceable, but generally you can just wipe mixed paint off of them.
-SOME markers are refillable (YAY!) The markers in this set may not be(BOO!). I picked up a bunch of single markers from Blick that are all refillable.
-You can refill them with any acrylic. This is great for me because I also airbrush and use Golden acrylic that I can just pour into these markers. Montana also sells their own refill paint. I've been meaning to order some (it's good paint) but haven't got around to it.
-You can buy empty markers and fill them with your own premixed colors or clean out used up refill markers and do the same.
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Montana markers have recently been ushered into mainstream craft supply stores (to clarify, I mean chains like Michael's, and soon to be Hobby Lobby, I am sure), and thus pushed out their primary previous competitor, Zig (IE: "Posterman"). Basically these are the exact same markers in terms of width, opacity, and low-gloss matte type finish, but not the same in price, tips or color range.Tips: There are some key differences between Montana and the Zig brand, in that the Posterman (Zig) were sold in multiple tips, predominantly a tapered chisel tip, and less commonly a round tip like these Montana. I will admit that the actual material of the Posterman tip, combined with the chalky pigment, can cause a bit of a particle accumulation issue, but that side-effect combined with the tapered chisel shape created a very nice brush-like point.
Paint: The paint is for the most part no different. It is very opaque, and has a very slight almost eggshell shine, but is mostly very flat to the touch, to the eye in most lighting, and in terms of response on top of various other mediums (on top of slicker/plastic-like surfaces they both come out more shiny than normal). However, Montana's designer-type color selection has almost no shades in common with Posterman, except black, red, silver, and white. The dark and light blues, the pink, the yellow, the orange, the greens, brown, etc are all varied from not just Posterman, but also varied from Elmer's "Painters" variety, and also varied from the other brands (which are mostly higher gloss enamels and not what is commonly referred to as "acrylic" or "pigmented ink"). For this reason, I think it's a shame that they seem to have pushed out Zig "Posterman." It's also a shame in terms of price. Both brands, however, will hold their color very well after years of exposure to indoor lighting and low levels of natural light, but fade considerably if left in the elements (direct sun and rain) for months, years, etc. But, with some kind of sealant they may retain their pigment a lot longer.
Price: While I admit that this 12 pack is economical, the craft stores sell these as individually priced, and even in a 6 pack they come out to about $5 each, whereas you only have to buy an 8-pack of Posterman to get the same per-marker price as a 12-pack of Montana.
Overall: I recommend that this 12-pack of Montana round tip acrylic markers is a sound purchase, but I also recommend that you get an 8-pack of Zig Posterman chisel tip (they come in multiple tip shapes) pigment ink markers at the same time. This will expand your color palette, as well as your nib shape variety, and provide you doubles of the common white/black/red colors. The two types of paint, although labeled as different, are really no difference at all. They blend into one another seamlessly. However, buying 6 or less Montana at a time will cost you (in many cases, but not all) twice as much per marker as any other option I mentioned.
Footnote of other brands and refill ability: As I mentioned, the Elmer's brand "Painters" markers are also excellent and the most similar paint to these two brands I primarily discussed here as far as not being enamel and thus not having much shine. The Painters come in a more slender casing, but they, along with the brands above, at least fill that casing as much as possible with plenty of ink. I cannot say as much for the Sharpie variety. Although Sharpie provide a metal casing and lower gloss than the classic Decocolor (the ones they should really lock up from taggers more than Montana), the Sharpie paint markers seem to come only half-filled with paint. Montana is the only brand that advertises that their markers are refillable, and sells those refills (in somewhat questionable quantities), however, all paint markers can be refilled and there are plenty of people on Youtube excited to tell you how (it involves a pair of pliers and little finesse). Not only that, but there is a science as to what types of ink and paint can go through what types of carburetor, and it has a lot to do with just experimenting to get the result you want. With a little rubbing alcohol, you can get many paints to flow very well, such as On The Run brand Soultip paint (their silver black is an essential), Molotow All-for-one (I do not like Molotow markers messy carburetors because they don't take other brand paints well), Ironlak (who make a very uniquely chalky high-alcohol acrylic), and even some paints that are closer to enamel, like Grog (which is very shiny but fades very bad), or even some alcohol-based inks like Marsh 88 (available in large cheap quantities, but can be a bit runny in paint markers, and only comes in a few colors).
In closing: Most people who were familiar with Montana prior to their recent craft store take-over, are very aware that the world of refillable paint markers is one of the most experimental areas of street art style supplies. With spray cans you just have various tips and pressure levels to experiment with, but with paint markers you can try anything that you feel is cut with a similar smelling alcohol. I have even attempted blending ink with nail polish in a narrower "Painters
" marker, but to make any experimental blend ideal, you will need to try a cutting agent like rubbing alcohol, and yes there is some risk of toxic effects, but it's NOT like mixing bleach with ammonia because essentially most of these just use variations on alcohol. If all of this sounds scary to you, don't worry, because Montana and Zig Posterman are both zero fumes in their native blend. It's only once you start scouting for refills that you will need to consider ventilation, etc. Both this Montana 12-pack, and the Posterman 8-pack are by far the most economical options in markers that can be refilled, and their wider bodies makes them hold a lot of paint both when they are purchased and when they are refilled.
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