Those who draw with professional markers know how expensive they are and I think many of you have thought about an alternative: that is, markers from “AliExpress”. So, in this article I will tell you about my experience: buying and using “Touch New” markers from “AliExpress”.
I like to draw with markers “Copic” and “Touch Twin” - these markers are alcohol-based, made in Japan and Korea. When the dollar was 32 rubles, these markers were quite affordable, but at the current rate, a set of 72-color “Copic” markers costs from 30,000 rubles to 57,000 rubles, and “Touch Twin” markers of 60 colors will cost you about 25,000 rubles. Not every artist can afford such expensive markers.
Therefore, just as many of you think, I thought about markers from China. I will say right away that this was my first experience of ordering something on the Aliexpress website and I can say with confidence that it will remain the only one.
I watched a lot of videos on YouTube where people were talking about the markers from this site and surprisingly there were a lot of positive reviews, which strengthened my idea of buying markers made in China.
After looking through a lot of stores on “AliExpress”, I did not find markers with “Brush” brushes, which I really love, by drawing with which you can control the force of pressure, which gives more possibilities in drawings, and also by painting with a brush “Brush” transition from one the colors in the other is more smooth.
Before writing this article, I went through the site again and found out that China already makes “Brush” markers, so you can find them in stores on “AliExpress”.
In the end, I opted for the “Touch New” markers of 60 colors, where I could choose all the colors myself. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a link to the store where I ordered the markers, since this store is no longer there, after all, many years have passed. But the same markers can be bought in other stores on “AliExpress”.
I forgot to say, all this happened in May 2016. And I can even tell you the exact amount of how much the markers cost me: 2,916.62 rubles (free delivery), the dollar exchange rate at that time was about 67 rubles. Agree that the price is very tempting.
I thought that I would be waiting for my parcel for a long time, but to my surprise, 10 days after the order, they called me from the courier service with the question “can the courier come to you today?”. I was very surprised by the speed of delivery and the fact that the courier brought the parcel to me right at home.
The markers were well packaged and they came with a bag, which is convenient enough to store the markers. And also the seller put a white gel pen of the same brand as a gift. You can see from the photo - the markers looked very presentable.
And now about the markers themselves. Of course, I immediately felt the difference. Anyone who has drawn with good markers such as “Copic” or “Touch Twin” will immediately notice this. The marker’s brush tip is significantly stiffer than the “Copic” and “Touch Twin”. Perhaps this detail may seem insignificant to someone, but I used to enjoy drawing with good markers, and because of this rigidity, it seemed to me that I was drawing with ordinary children’s markers. Although I will not hide the fact that for the first couple of hours I was wildly delighted with the number of flowers, I even left a positive review on the page of the store where I purchased them.
Like everyone else, I started by painting the entire palette of colors on paper and regretted that many of the colors did not match the color on the cap at all, especially #123 and #147 markers. In addition, some colors were absolutely identical, despite the fact that the caps were completely different colors.
In the photo, the painting was done now in 2019, so several colors are no longer written, the rest, as you can see, given that they have not been used at all, have not dried out over the years.
I also want to note that the numbers of the markers are very easily erased from the caps. This makes drawing difficult due to the fact that the color of the cap does not match the color of the marker. It would be possible while drawing to put a sheet in front of you with your coloring of all the markers and where all the color numbers are written, but such a trick will not work due to the fact that some numbers have been erased.
Some companies of expensive markers also erase the numbers from the caps, but on the side of the markers next to the barcode there is always a marker color number. But on Chinese-made markers there is no number next to the barcode and the funny thing is that all my 60 markers have exactly the same barcode number 😁
The main disadvantages of the markers “Touch New”:
1) They don’t mix like expensive markers. 2) They are strongly blurred beyond the outline of the pattern, so you should not reach the outline of the pattern by about 2 mm. 3) Hard brush tip.
These markers are completely unsuitable for professional drawings or sketches when you are doing work for a client. I also do not advise taking them to lovers. They are only suitable for children. I made a conclusion for myself: if you have a budget of only 3,000 rubles for markers, then it is better to purchase 5-6 good markers for this amount, which you will really enjoy drawing with, than to have 60 colors of bad markers.
Thank you for reading my article. I hope it will help you decide on the choice of markers. I would be glad if you share with me your experience of using any markers below in the comments ✌🏽
