Mark Off! A Professional Marker Comparasion (2013)

Comparing nine professional markers from yesterday and today.

Article Transcript

If you make a living drawing caricatures at parties or in a retail setting like a theme park or zoo, chances are you have had to invest in a good, black marker that you feel comfortable using and can rely on every day. The quality of your marker can make or break the quality of your artwork. It needs to be durable enough to hold up to daily use indoors and out. It also needs to be delicate enough to allow you to draw razor-thin lines or quick, thick strokes. The ink needs to flow quick enough to cover large areas, but it has to dry fast enough so that it won’t slow you down. We are talking one very agile drawing tool, ladies and gentlemen.

Personally, I have used many different markers over the 27 years I have been drawing caricatures. Some I replaced because I found better ones. Others have ridden into the sunset, never to be seen again. The latter has been a really annoying issue as of late. It feels as though every time I find a marker I love, the manufacturer either stops making it or changes the design and renders it useless. It feels as though we are left with fewer and fewer options as professional caricature artists when it comes to our choice of drawing tools. As grim as that may sound, there still are quite a few options out there for artists who need a good marker for their craft. In this article, I’ll be discussing nine permanent markers that vary in size, line weight, nib type and reliability. If you are trying to find a decent marker, I hope this guide will help.

Sharpie Fine Point and Extra Fine Point Permanent Markers $1.00 each There is a reason why I have listed both of these Sharpie Markers together. In order to get any variable line weights in your caricatures, you will need to switch back and forth between both. Neither will allow you to vary your line width at all. Plus, the Fine Point turns into a Mush Point marker after about three drawings. I used to do all of my studio work using Sharpies, because they were cheap and easy to find. They still are. However, they are my least favorite because they are unforgiving and smell pretty bad to boot.

DE SIGN Art Marker 229-LF discontinued This marker is considered by many artists to be the best art marker that was ever created. The 229-LF was manufactured by Eberhard Faber and was mainly used in ad agencies for storyboarding and ad comps. Ahhh, those were the days; overworked graphic designers burning the midnight oil creating artwork for client pitches with a table full of those awesome markers. They came in a variety of colors. They had only one major drawback: They used a nasty ingredient called xylene. Xylene made the ink dry quickly. They also were thought to be toxic and had a pungent odor as well. Imagine a small room with multiple artists using several of these bad boys until the wee hours of the morning and it gives a whole new meaning to the term “Madmen”… and women.

Alas, when the digital revolution came, the demand for these kinds of markers fell sharply. First, Eberhard Faber eliminated all but their black markers. Then, around 1996, they stopped making them as well. It was a sad day for all caricature artists as well as cartoonists. This marker used a flexible but very durable bullet tip. It allowed you to draw very fast, going from thick lines to hair-thin curves in a single stroke. The barrel was made of metal and was quite sturdy. The xylene fumes were simply a bonus. That may have also been a factor in their disappearance. They are now very rare to find in working condition.

Dixon Markette Thinrite Permanent Ink Marker 690 $2.30 ea. To the rescue! I was introduced to this reliable marker at my first caricature convention in 2004. Lar DeSouza pulled one out of his shirt pocket and said it was as good as the Design 229-LF. He was right. This marker used the same dynamic bullet tip as the Design 229-LF but in a longer-barreled marker! It soon became the most popular marker for caricature artists in the U.S. It lasted longer than the 229-LF and tended to be a bit juicer than its cousin as well. Its only major limitation was the issue with the same main ingredient, xylene. It also used a long, metal barrel that was hard to hold after a couple hours. My hand would get sore from squeezing it while bearing down on the nib for thick lines. I had to invent a spongy grip to wrap around each marker to allow me to draw for extended periods of time.

Aside from that, it was a solid replacement for the defunct Design 229-LF. That is, until about three years ago. That’s when the manufacturer, Dixon Ticonderoga in Canada, decided to begin using factories in Mexico to produce the marker for less money. Almost immediately, the quality suffered. Dixon could not produce enough reliable markers to ship. Then it got even worse. About a year ago, Dixon decided to replace the reliable nib with a cheaper version. It was an artistic disaster. The new nib created thick, bulky lines with no variation at all. The marker was now useless as a caricature marker. Back to the drawing board.

DeMar Quickdraw Marker Pro
Chartpak Finepoint Marker $3.49 ea.
This marker is only sold from Art Supply Warehouse in California. But fear not. If you really like it, you can also buy the Chartpak Finepoint Marker for less money at multiple retailers on and off the web. In fact, if you scan the UPC code with an IR reader, it will come up with Chartpak as the manufacturer. So the two are identical. Only the labeling and prices are different. That being said, these markers use a large, conical nib that will allow you to vary your line weights. It lays down nice, solid black ink without any skips or dry spots. Your fingers will get a workout, however. Mine begin aching after the first hour. These markers do have a long lifespan so it’s likely that you will wear out before your marker does.