1/9I have a lot of grey pens and markers, and my idea was to put samples of them all on a sheet of paper and compare them on values and hues – you could use it as a buying guide to get just a few and still have a nice range of values.Note 1 – I'm located in Central Europe, and I buy my art stuff when I see it in physical stores, so plenty of stuff is missing, especially from the US. Feel free to post samples of your own markers.Note 2 – This is not an in-depth technical review. Everything is just based on my observations. Please note that there are a lot of subtle variations in hue, even if you have a 'neutral' or 'warm' grey.Note 3 – When I write 'bought open stock', I mean that these items are part of a much larger range of colours, sold in large sets, but also sold individually. 'Bought loose' means that to my knowledge there is only 1 or 2 greys and limited other colours, if any, besides black.REVIEW INTROThere is not a huge visible variety on how these pens and markers work. It's all inks, dyes and pigments, some waterproof and some not. The biggest differences are in tips (fine point, felt tip, synthetic brush), and of course value and hue.What is worth noting is that many brands suffer from the same problem – a clear difference between the colour on the cap and the actual colour of the ink. This difference can be annoying if you want to pick the right colour for your art.The first few posts will be just the pens with descriptions. At the end I'll post colour samples with comparisons.- PHOTO 1MOLOTOW, Aqua Color Brush.These came in a set of 12 greys. There is a nice variation in values and hues. However, the colour of the cap versus actual ink colour is not so good, especially for what seems to me a premium brand. These markers are actually refillable. The tip is a spongey brush. The cool greys are quite bluish compared to all the other brands. Not Waterproof.
anon?
>>8069744The marker companies did not want anons to be informed of OP's secretsThey thrive off marker misinformation and did what had to be done
Yeah, my IP range keeps getting blocked. It's annoying. If I can post, let's see how far I get.2/9- PHOTO 2TALENS, ECOLINE Brush Pen. Bought open stock. I don't remember seeing sets with just greys. These markers also suffer from bad cap colours (even on occasion using pearlescent plastic for regular colours). These markers are also refillable. The tip is a spongey brush. Not Waterproof. In my childhood, Ecoline was a brand with cheap jars of watery ink to use for colouring with a brush, and these brushes feel like a continuation of that, with a similarly watery ink. Good for large surfaces, but the tip gets rough pretty quickly.MARVY UCHIDA, 'For Sketching', Grey Tone.Bought open stock. There might be a full set of greys though. The tip is a thin, firm, spongey brush. The range from light to dark is decent, but the difference between each value could have been better. Dark grey number 4 and number 5 are almost identical. Waterproof. The pens looked rather cheap to me, but they're quite good.
3/9- PHOTO 3STAEDTLER, PigmentArts, Soft Brush.Bought together in the Grey Colours Set, 5 greys and 1 black. The tip is a thin, fine, spongey brush. Waterproof. Nice range of greys. Good quality, though I'd have preferred the light grey to be a few shades lighter to make it a perfect set.MITSUBISHI, UNI PIN, Fine Line.Bought open stock. The tips vary between 0.1 and 0.5 fibre tips, and a brush tip that I would call 'hybrid' – a small, somewhat triangular and firm sponge tip that allows for some thickness variation. Something I've seen on Japanese fudenosuke pens. Waterproof. Nice basic pens to add to the daily carry. They also have a dark sepia for additional variation.DERWENT, GRAPHIK.I think this is the oldest grey pen I have, bought over 22 years ago. I think it was part of a set, including sepia and black pens. Tiny, hard fibre tip. Waterproof. Nice, but too dark to make it really worthwhile for shading.
HE RETURNS
4/9- PHOTO 4SAKURA, PIGMA, Brush & Micron.Bought as a set of 8 light and dark greys. Tips vary between .01, .05 and .10 fibre tips and brush tips.Waterproof. Good quality and perfect for daily carry. Similar to the UNi Pin in range - the light grey is light enough for light shading, the dark grey is not too dark to be too close to black. I combine these with a set of black Micron, and they're perfect for drawing while travelling.EDDING 1340Bought loose. Somewhat firm fibre/sponge brush tip.Not Waterproof. Nice shade of grey. Mostly useful for quick sketches that you may eventually throw out anyway.EDDING 55Bought loose. Thin, hard fibre tip.Not Waterproof. Not really useful. The fine tip isn't great for shading, and it not being waterproof means you can't fill drawings in with other colours.EDDING345Bought loose. Big chisel fibre tip. Originally meant as a highlighter suitable for the copier. Not Waterproof. Great for big work or filling large surfaces. I use this for throwaway sketches when I need some quick shading and I don't care about lasting quality or fine detail.
5/9- PHOTO 5FABER-CASTELL, PITT Artist PenBought open stock. Thin, somewhat firm, fibre brush tip.Waterproof. These may be the most well-known brand and type. The quality is fine, but the price makes me be too careful with them. The range of greys is a bit mismatched.. The 'Warn Grey I" is just beige. The 'Cold Grey IV' is lighter than the 'Warm Grey IV'. The 'Warm Grey V' is darker than the 'Cold Grey VI'. I understand it is to fit the other ranges of pencils and markers, but still. Other than that the colours are nice.PENTEL Sign Pen TouchBought loose. This one also has what I would call a 'hybrid' tip - a tiny, somewhat triangular and firm sponge brush tip. Same grey as Sign Pen Artist. Not Waterproof. Good for fun, but not being waterproof is a drawback.PENTEL Sign Pen ArtistBought in a set of 12 multicolour. Long, extremely thin and fine, synthetic hair brush. Same grey as Sign Pen Touch. Not Waterproof. I can easily make the thinnest lines of anything with this. With some exercise, you can make lines as thin as a real eyelash. Not being waterproof is a drawback, but those fine lines are amazing.
6/9- PHOTO 6FABER-CASTELL, Goldfaber Aqua, Dual Marker.Bought open stock. Has a large, firm sponge brush tip and a small pointy fibre tip. Although the numbering/naming is the same as PITT Artist, the colours are NOT identical. This may be on a pen by pen basis, but I did notice a subtle difference. Not Waterproof. These are cheaper than the PITT line. These are also nice for casual use.TOMBOW, ABT Dual Brush Pen.Bought open stock. Again, bad cap colours. Has a large, firm sponge brush tip and a small bullet fibre tip.Not Waterproof. This is like a classic brand, but I find them disappointing. They are expensive but the brush tip gets damaged easily and they feel a bit 'dry' to use, as if the ink can't keep up. Would not buy again.PENTEL, Color BrushBought loose. There are other colours available, but to my knowledge not as a set. Has a large, synthetic hair brush tip. The cartridge body can be screwed from the head (ferrule and brush tip), and replaced with a new one. Not Waterproof. Great to use in combination with the black one. This one feels the most like an actual big paintbrush. In this case it not being waterproof is a plus - the design makes it very suitable to make Sumi-e style art pieces.
7/9- PHOTO 7KURETAKE, ZIG Clean Color.Bought as 3 sets: 'Clean Color & Mangaka', 'Cool Grey', and 'Warm Grey'. Has a very fine, thin synthetic hair brush tip. Not Waterproof. Japanese import, and quite pricey. Great range of greys, and great for fine, precise work, or more artistic brushwork. However, the delicate tip isn't very suitable for big work, and I've noticed that the flow isn't that great either. The ink struggles sometimes to keep up. I do like them a lot however.KURETAKE, Fudebiyori.I have only one, because I noticed the colours of these pens is the exact same as the Clean Color pens. The difference is that these pens have a somewhat large, firm, spongey brush tip. I do not know if the colour range is the same. Not Waterproof. These may be better for bigger, rougher art than the Clean Color, but the brush tip can wear down pretty fast.
8/9 COMPARISONThe photo of the chart was taken with a Samsung F20, with a mix of daylight and a daylight lamp with 95+ CRI. (I'll try to borrow a better camera this weekend and get a better pic).The comparison chart I made is divided in three columns – cool, neutral and warm greys. What is truly neutral or warm is debatable, so I just picked what seemed most visually obvious. You're free to decide for yourself.Then, the columns go from lightest to darkest, with samples that are (almost) identical next to each other. There may be some fuck-ups, because the final result was done on a better grade of paper than the swatches, and some colours turned out a little darker.Some colours that were labelled as 'grey', but have a an obvious hue shift towards a specific other colour, like yellow, green or purple, have been put in their own section on the right.9/9 CONCLUSIONA number of brands use a similar type of spongey brush tip (Tombow, Faber-Castell Goldfaber Aqua, Talens Ecoline, Kuretake ZIG Fudebiyori). I am not a fan of these. Brand new, they have a very nice fine point, but after little use they get blunted, bent, fluffy. If you're not careful and you buy open stock in a place where people can grab and test them, you can end up with a bad one right away. I d not recommend them, really, beyond basic usage.Tombow is IMHO very overrated. They are very pricey here, and really not worth it.I like to work on a smaller size, A5 or A4 max, so I prefer pens that have finer tips. The Uni PIN or Pigma Micron pens are really nice basic pens, and the Staedtler Soft Brush grey set has a good range in one set, and they're very portable. All the others depend on your personal choice. On a side note, the pens from Tombow and Faber-Castell Goldfaber Aqua are very long, which makes them annoying to carry.I recommend mixing warm and cool greys, like a light warm grey with a cool dark, or vice versa.
Do you draw?
>>8070971not him, but I don't
9/9NOTES- You may see in the photo a variety of hues within the greys - leaning towards purple, brown, blue, green, etc. My Samsung has exaggerated this effect just a little bit, but it is still visible in real life. Keep this in mind if consistency is important for you.- I preferred to give the numbers of colours, instead of the colour name, because using the names would have created a mess - brand name colours that sometimes do not fit at all.
>>8070970man, that pentel color brush really raped the markers
>>8070970I really appreciate the side by side colors, since I hate when I greys look a bit "brown" greyMy favorite grey marker personally is my tombow N95 because it is so light it can be used as a sketch marker to ink over in my sketchbook, for me tombow markers feel really watery and easy to use I am surprised you dislike themThanks for the in-depth review OP! Neat seeing all the brands you have next to eachother swatches like this are always useful.
>>8070970Thanks for sharing your experience. I use Microns. Since I was happy with them, I never felt the need to try others.You say you use them for shading. Maybe I misunderstand, but they are more lineart tools, right? Not really markers. If so, which more marker style pen would go well with them for wider shading?
