Review: Spectrum Noir marker system

I've finally managed to buy the full set of Spectrum Noir markers to review for you all (it took a while to save up!), and I'm so excited because I absolutely LOVE them. Like, I'm finding it really hard pressed to use any thing else when I colour now, neither my felt tips or pencils. As these are quite expensive and a serious purchase, I'm going to give you the pros and cons so you can make your own mind up about whether these pens are for you.

First of all you may have noticed I titled them as a 'marker system', which sounds a bit odd I know, but there's no way you can class these as a just bunch of coloured felt tips. These pens were created with crafters in mind, and with practice can produce some stunning, professional looking results. The tones are vast- 168 in total- and none are duplicates. Such a large range of shades means you can blend colours in a light to dark gradient seamlessly- more about that later. The coding system of the pens is a little bewildering to start with, but once you understand the way it works it's actually a very helpful and practical way to sort the different tones into families.

The letters on each shade indicate the family they belong to, eg. PP stands for Pale Pink. The number which follows specifies the intensity of colour: 1 being lightest, through to 11 which is the darkest shade.

Here's where it can get confusing: colour families are not all found in the same pack of markers. For example, OR1 is in the 'Yellows' pack, whereas OR2 & OR3 are found in the 'Brights' pack. Should Spectrum Noir have divided them more simply into pinks, reds, blues, or have they created more categories so you have to buy more sets to get the full range of each colour? I don't know. 

Physically, the pens themselves have been through some changes over the years. The most recent generation is 3rd, which is the version I'm reviewing. These have a hexagonal, double-ended barrel with textured soft grip areas on each side. Each pen has a chisel tip and a bullet tip, and you can also buy brush nibs if you prefer. They are refillable, and replacement nibs are available to buy if they start wearing down. I must say that they have a real quality feel about them, and it does feel like you're using artist grade materials when colouring. That said, they do take some getting used to.

These are alcohol markers, which means you can blend and shade with ease due to the way the ink fuses with other colours. For example, if you go over the lines (which you definitely will at some point due to spreading) you can just grab your blender pen and nudge the ink back in, sort of like a magic eraser. It's so handy to have that clear alcohol pen for when you make mistakes.

I mentioned the blending capabilities of these pens earlier, and whilst it is true you can create some amazing artwork, it takes time and practice to get it right. I've been using these markers for a while now and as you can see, I still don't have the seamless blending down to pat. You have to perfect your technique and get used to how these pens handle before expecting results like you see on YouTube and crafter's pages. 

I've touched on it slightly but now I'm going to explain in more detail the difference between Spectrum Noir markers and normal felt pens. The alcohol is the main distinction, as it provides a beautiful,even lay-down that you just can't acheive with felt tips. I compared one of the markers to a Triplus pen and you can see that even though I didn't colour over the same place twice, the Triplus feathered and became uneven quite quickly, whilst the SN pen looks smooth and perfectly even on the paper.

Now onto one of the biggest problems with these pens and something which is a steep learning curve- how quickly and easily they spread and bleed if you're not very careful. In the red picture (right) I coloured just up to the black line and as you can see the ink spread straight past the line, leaving a fuzzy edge. This is the thing you have to practice most with SN, how to use them precisely and minimise the flow. It depends how long you leave the tip on the paper, and whether you leave a slight gap to accommodate the spread. Another thing to remember is that all alcohol markers bleed straight through most papers, so you need to put a piece of scrap paper in between the pages and totally avoid double sided colouring books (unless you don't care about the design behind getting ruined).
In the photo opposite I show the spread of ink when the tip is left on the paper for 1, 2, 5, and 10 seconds. Quite a difference in size from one touch to paper, isn't there? As I said, as long as you practice with them and figure out the little tips and tricks in your technique, you'll soon get used to how they work.

Here are some pictures I have coloured with these pens so far, both for practicing shading and simple block colour use.

The pens come in twelve colour families (6 markers per set) for around £6-7 each, and then the bigger 24 packs of which there are 4: Lights, Brights, Darks, and Pastels. These packs are around £20-25 each, so as you can imagine, buying the whole set at once is a purchase most people would have to really think about before investing. As always my opinion is my own and I wouldn't allow anyone to coerce a false review, so you can be assured when I say that these are hands down the best colouring materials I own. Yes they take some figuring out, but just look at the results you can achieve if you're willing to put in the effort :) Here's one of the Spectrum Noir Pinterest boards to inspire you. There are loads of YouTube tutorials demonstrating techniques and tricks to help you, too.

Follow Spectrum Noir's board People, Fairies & Mermaids - Spectrum Noir on Pinterest.

If you have any questions or want me to clarify anything just comment below and I'll do my best to help with more info & pics :)