Arrtx Acrylic Marker review: 15mm JUMBO and Standard
Review samples provided by Arrtx
Arrtx is a company that sells art supplies and they have sent me their new 15mm Jumbo acrylic markers as well as the standard ones for review.
Prices of the markers are as follows:
- 15mm Jumbo with 10 colours: USD 26
- 10mm Jumbo with 12 colours: USD 25
- 36 colours with brush tip: USD 33
- 60 colours with brush tip: USD 50
The pricing seems reasonable and rather attractive. Free shipping may be included depending on your country and how much you spend.
These are just some of the many acrylic markers that the company sells. They also have dual-tip acrylic markers, and the SimpTap where you can press a button behind to get ink out.
The 15mm tip is huge.
These thick broad chisel tips are meant for covering large areas. Ink flow is quite good.
It is possible use a corner for drawing, but the big tip will just block your view and make it difficult to see what you're drawing. The edges can be used to create long and short strokes. They may be used to create calligraphy as well since the tip is flat.
The water-based acrylic inks are quite opaque, waterproof when dry, and can work on all types of surfaces.
The inks will dry with a matte finishing.
To create a bold solid line, just use a continuous stroke. Stamping with the tip will cause certain areas of the ink to look diluted or patchy.
The colours look vibrant. For the jumbo set, colours are only limited to just 10 or 12 depending on whether you get the 15mm or 10mm set.
The standard markers with the brush tip can be used to draw or paint details, and create taper strokes.
Here I've created some stamping designs with yellow over green. As the markers put out a lot of it, make sure the ink is dry first before adding another colour.
Here I've created some strokes to create the red flowers.
As an urban sketcher, I find these jumbo markers with big tips difficult to use because you can't use them to draw or paint details. To use them effectively, you have to think about how you can use them first, or think about how you can design with them.
And these are the standard size acrylic markers with a single brush tip. I like the layout of the box where you can see all the colours at a glance.
These markers do not require shaking.
If you want more flexibility, you can go with the dual tip markers.
I don't really use acrylic markers to create full pieces of art. The way I use acrylic markers is to merely use them to add details, highlight or paint over areas that I had forgotten to paint with watercolour.
The colours are opaque enough and have good covering strength, and hence are great for painting over other colours.
One downside to these markers is there's no information regarding the pigments that are used to create the colours. So there's no way to find out how lightfast the colours are unless you test them.
Testing for lightfastness requires having the colour swatches exposed to sun over long periods of time (months) so that's difficult for me to test. Anyway, most of my artworks are created in sketchbooks so I'm not too worried about lightfastness. But for artists who create display art or who need their art to be archival, testing for lightfastness is necessary. Oh, and if you do test for the lightfastness of these inks, share with me your findings in the comments section below.
The quality of the inks look good. The colours are vibrant, opaque and dry with a matte surface. Pricing is reasonable. So it seems like they do provide good value for money.
Availability
To buy the standard markers, you can order them from Arrtx online store | Amazon USA | AliExpress (36 colours | 60 colours)
For the jumbo markers, Arrtx online store and Amazon USA (10mm | 15mm)
You can also find more reviews for these markers on Amazon.
