Arrtx reached out to me via my this blog about a month ago with an offer to review their 60 color direct ink acrylic marker set. After some back and forth via email they decided to send me their 150 color cotton core brush tip marker set. They agreed to my review guidelines and sent the package pretty quickly. 

This isn’t my first experience using Arrtx products or even their markers, which is why I even bothered to respond. I had a favorable experience with their watercolor set earlier this year, but I’ve used their direct ink cotton core markers before- I ordered their skin tone set for work. If you are an art teacher or art therapist you should order full skin tone sets for your classroom of every art supply you use for teaching. Arrtx offers a remarkably full skin tone set that offers the palest of the pale creamy peach colors as well as deep dark browns and a range of tan colors. Their set of skin tones is top notch and the kids I work with are absolutely DELIGHTED to find a match for themselves in that set. 

When it comes to their markers I’m always surprised by the great flow. The markers keep up with my use in sketching, with just a few moments of dry brushing, which is a pro in my book. I really like to have some areas where I get that dry brush look, but you have to work fast to capture it.

This was captured with only 14 of the 150 color set.

Their brush tips survive an acrylic toned page but get a little scrubby after use on rough gessoed surfaces. I use these only on smooth gesso or acrylic primed and not my preferred rough Liquitex Basics gesso. The brush tip is durable when used on smooth mixed media paper and offers a surprising amount of flex and springiness. It pops back up even after rough handling. The amount of line variation is great. I can get thin strokes as well as very wide swathes of color.

This is the final piece wit oil pastels over the underpainting done with the Arrtx markers.

I find the paint to be somewhere between transparent and somewhat opaque. Some colors are more opaque than others but with a few layers they become more opaque. I really liked building up layers with these markers and I was able to build up the glow of sunshine through the trees with a little bit of work. On raw paper these dry with a matte appearance. On toned or sized paper they dry with a satin finish.

Overall I really like these markers. The color selection is great and very useful. There are a HUGE selection of light colors as well as mid tones. However there are very few deep darks. This is an issue I have with most paint markers out of 150 markers I’d say that there are 5 true deep darks with maybe another 5 or 6 that approach dark but IMO stay in that mid tone range. The lack of deep darks really limits these markers as a sketching and art making tool. 

While these markers are available in smaller 30 color sets there doesn’t yet seem like there is a way to buy singles. This really means that every time I run out of a color I’m looking at buying another 30 or so markers. I also know that the colors I’m going to run out of are those deep darks and light lights.

For my art practice they serve a few purposes. A handful tossed into a bag allows me to capture really quick studies of an area. While taking a few more allows me to create an underpainting that I can work on top of with oil pastel, crayons, or other media. They dry quickly even in cooler weather. Adding a water brush means I can create a soft flowing underpainting that really shines for mixed media and a sketchbook. I could really see these being used in an art journal. But again, I don’t think there is a need to get all 150 colors. 150 colors is overkill for most artists. The 60 color set will give most of us all the colors needed and can be supplemented with additional sets.

Combining these markers with their watercolor set would really be a great way to expand into mixed media for plein air or for art journaling. I find most paint markers to act a lot like acryla gouache. So a layer of watercolor followed by the markers would be great. 

If you are interested you can view a video where I use these markers to create an underpainting for oil pastels here:

This review is cross posted at the same time instead of the usual month wait due to Arrtx’s preferred timeline.

Helen Cryer did a lightfastness test of them here, the performance was decent and kind of surprising. Arrtx 90 Acrylic Brush Marker Set Review, with Swatch, Painting & 6 Month Lightfast Test (of 60 Set) I have been pleasantly surprised at the lightfastness of Arrtx products. Some are fugitive but many do so much better than expected. Paint markers are often fugitive and fade fast. That the colors survived as long as they did for 6 months in direct sunlight is great.