Winsor And Newton Promarker and Brushmarker Review
Winsor & Newton Promarker and Brushmarker Review
In the few years that I have been running The Art Gear Guide I have tested, demonstrated and reviewed quite a lot of different alcohol based Markers. Of course, nowhere near them all as there are hundreds of different markers available to artists. Marker and Colored pencil art has become incredibly popular among artists and as a result many brands of markers have started appear all over the internet, most of which quite inexpensive.
Winsor & Newton
There are however, a top tier I guess you would refer to them as, of markers that have been around for quite a while. One such brand of marker is the one I am going to be reviewing here today for you. Winsor & Newton are a huge name in the world of art, most of you, if not all of you will have heard of this amazing company, be it through their exquisit range of paints, their reliable papers or indeed their Promarkers and more recently their Brushmarkers.
Winsor & Newton are a British art company , in business since 1835, although I don’t always go into the companies history, the history of Winsor & Newton is quite impressive in and of itself. Winsor & Newton were only in business for Seven years and were given the Royal stamp of approval, which they still have to this day, proudly emblazoned upon their packaging.
Winsor & Newton Marker Ranges
Winsor & Newton have a marker to suit all artists out there, however I will only be reviewing two of them today, never the less, lets take a quick look at the markers in the Winsor & Newton family.
The first of the markers is the Aquarelle Markers, these are basically watercolor paints in a marker delivery form. Next is the Winsor & Newton Pigment Markers, I would absolutely love to test and review these markers. To the best of my knowledge, the Winsor & Newton Pigment Markers are the only lightfast markers on the market. Hopefully one day I will get the chance to get a set and review them for you.
The next marker is the popular Winsor & Newton Promarker and then more recently in the companies timeline, the Winsor & Newton Brushmarkers. These are the two markers that we will be taking a look at in detail throughout this review.
Back in 2012, Winsor & Newtown bought out a company called Letraset, another British based company, In buying Letreset, that meant that Winsor & Newtown also owned the Letraset Markers, with a little bit of rebranding, we were given the all new Winsor & Newton Promarker.
Winsor & Newton Promarker
As I mentioned, the two markers I will be taking a close look at in this review is the Promarker and Brushmarker, they look quite similar until of course you remove the caps and see the nibs. Both markers combine give the artist an all-round ease of control when colouring and endless possible techniques.
The Promarker was the first marker Winsor & Newton produced, albeit via a rebranding exercise, never the less, Winsor & Newton have done an amazing job continuing on with this amazing art tool.
Winsor & Newton Promarker Characteristics
The overall appearance of the Promarker is incredibly streamlined, the marker looks like a large bullet, however, this design aesthetic actually serves quite an important roll. At one end of the marker is the pointed cap and the other end sports the squareness off cap. This helps the artists immediately know when selecting a pigment that under the pointed cap, in the case of the Promarker, is the bullet nib and under the squad off cap is the chisel nib.
Along the barrel of the Promarker is of course the Winsor & Newton Logo, followed by the brand of marker, which in this case is Promarker. The barrel is actually the same color as the pigment within the marker, however the pigment name is also printed along the side of the barrel in three different languages.
On the very end of the squared off cap, there is also a pigment identifier as well as the number which corresponds to that particular pigment. This is particularly helpful when you have all your markers placed in a storage system, as the entire barrels are not always visible in this position.
It is worth mentioning, that at the minute, Winsor & Newtown are refreshing the packaging of their marker range, as a result I have supplied images of both the old styled packaging and the new style packaging. The reason for doing this is because a lot of stores will still have the older styled packaging, but it is important to note that the ink and nibs are all exactly the same. So if you were to order online and the image on the advert was the older styled markers, you may receive the new style packaging and if this is the case, please do not worry as the markers and ink themselves are exactly the same.
New Winsor & Newton Promarker Packaging
New Winsor & Newton Packaging Promarker
Winsor & Newton Brushmarker Characteristics
Winsor and Newton introduced the Brushmarker a little bit more recently to their lin, essentially, with regards to packaging and the barrel information, the Brushmarker is exactly the same as the Promarker, only with the brand of marker being Brushmarker.
With regards to the caps, under the pointed end cap, once removed you will be presented with a gorgeous brush nib and under the squared off cap you will be presented with the chisel nib.
Again, the same applies to the new styled packaging for the Brushmarker, however, it is important to remember that it is only the packaging that is different and not the physical characteristics of the markers.
Both the Promarker and Brushmarker barrels are disposable, once the ink runs out, you simply recycle the barrel and purchase a new one. I think it is this mantra that allows Winsor & Newton to sell the markers so inexpensively as opposed to many of the competitor brands that supply ink refill systems. I guess it is a personal thing as to your own thoughts on this, I personally don’t mind either way, so long as I have access to the color I need once it has run out, I am happy.
Colors Available
As the Promarker is the longer running marker so to speak, there are by far a lot more colors available for this particular range. The Promarker line has a total of 160, this includes the Black and Blender pens. The Brushmarker has significantly less, however, there is nothing to say that as time goes on, Winsor & Newton won’t try to increase the range, bringing the Brushmarkers palette in line with the Promarker. The Brush Marker only has 72 colors total, I say only 72 as this is not a significant palette range and I don’t mean this to be the case; however, in comparison to the 160 Promarker palette, you could be forgiven for thinking so.
Promarker First Level of 40 Colors
Promarker Second Level Of 40 Colors
Promarker Third Level Of 40 Colors
Promarker Fourth Level Of 40 Colors
It is worth mentioning, there are a lot of various sets available in both the Promarker and Brushmarker range, which I will of course be introducing you to further on in the review. However, as you collect your sets, over time you will discover you have collected an unusually large amount of black markers and blender pens. It is not necessarily a bad thing, just something to prepare yourself for.
Brushmarkers First Level of 40 Colors
Brushmarkers Final 32 Colors Totaling 72 Brushmarker Colors
Winsor & Newton Promarker and Brushmarker Performance
I did complete a piece of art with both the Promarker and Brushmarker, my younger brother used to love the Power Rangers and so I drew this image in homage to him. When I joined the British Army aged 16, my Brother who was 10 years younger than me, was only 6 when I left home and I have never really lived at home since then. So, as my own daughter aged 20 has now left home, I felt a bit of a stronger connection to my brother and wanted to do this drawing for him so to speak.
The first thing I would like to talk about is the so called bullet nib of the Promarker, I have tested and demonstrated a lot of different markers over the years, a lot of them sporting bullet nibs or fine nibs, however, there is something incredibly different and unique about the Promarker nib. At first I couldn’t quite work out what it was that I felt made this nib so different compared to other fine nib markers, so out came the magnifying glass and a much closer inspection took place.
Most of the other fine nib or bullet nib markers are shaped just like a bullet, hence the name, however, on closer inspection, to me the Promarker nib is shaped ever so slightly differently. The Promarker nib is more of a dome shape, it appears to be more rounded at the base and shapes beautifully into a needle fine point at the top. I feel it is this more rounded appearance at the base of the nib that allows for the gorgeous distribution of ink that the Promarker delivers.
One of the biggest issues artists have with the fine nibs or bullet nibs is that they don’t deliver adequate levels of ink onto the surface, and with some markers leave a streaky appearance. I didn’t find this to be the case with the Promarker nib, the coverage is even and ample, with no streak marks at all.
So many marker artist love the Brush nib on markers, hence the increase of brush nibs throughout all marker brands. However, getting the right type of brush nib would appear to be quite problematic for some brands and not so much for others.
There is no escaping the fact that the Japanese based COPIC markers are seen to be the industry standard and as a result, so many other companies are trying to play catchup or create something better than the COPIC. One of the biggest issues with the COPIC markers is their price and palette, with over 358 colors at $10 a marker in some places, you are talk $3500 or more for the full collection. The COPIC Sketch is by far their most popular marker and this is due to its brush tip, however, I personally love the Winsor and Newton brush tip and this is the reason why.
The Winsor & Newton brush tip, is perhaps the closest any marker artists will come to using a proper brush tip for disbursing the ink. When I first started using the Winsor & Newton Brushmarkers, it did take me a little bit of time to get used to the brush tip, but this was due to the tips flexibility. Most of the other brush tips on other marker brands, don’t have a lot of give or play in them, they can appear quite ridged. With the Winsor & Newton Brushmarker tip, the give and flexibility within the actually nib is extraordinary. It is the flexibility that allows the artist to deliver a wide variation of line width, as well as detailed work due to the sharp point at the end of the brush nib.
the overwhelming thing that I noticed about all nibs of the Winsor and Newton Pro and Brush markers is the flow of ink and beautiful coverage that you get. Even the chisel nibs deliver a smooth seamless coverage of ink and that is quite significant for me personally as I tend not to use chisel nibs on any of the other brands I have tested, including COPIC.
With the COPIC Eco System, one of the attractive aspects of these markers is that they offer the COPIC Sketch and Ciao which provide the artist with a brush nib and chisel nib. COPIC also provide their Classic Range or Original which give the artist a fine tip marker for detail work. Winsor & Newton have this exact same system with the Pro and Brush Markers, the level of detail and various techniques that can be used with the Winsor & Newton Pro and Brush markers is staggering, making them such an attractive alternative to COPIC.
Hello, World!
With some of the Winsor & Newton pigments, when you first lay them down and they look bright and vibrant, after leaving them to dry, some of them appear a little bit washed out in comparison to how they looked immediately when laying them down. To remedy this, all you have to do with the pigments this occurs to, is simply apply another layer. Like I say, not all of the pigments behave in this way and you will get to know the pigments it does happen to the more you use them. It is like any art supply, the more you use it, the more you are going to notice any quirks that come with that particular product if any.
Winsor & Newton Promarker and Brushmarker Pricing
Winsor & Newton have an extensive selection of sets available in both the Pro and Brush marker range, so whilst I will not be naming every single set available and their pricing in this section, only giving a general price guide, I have provided every single set Winsor & Newton provide in the carrasol blocks provide. You can scroll through and select the image and name of the set you are interested in and purchase the set directly from the link. As always I have provided the very cheapest links I can find on Amazon UK
Pro And Brushmarker UK Pricing.
As I mentioned earlier, you can not refill the Winsor and Newton Pro or Brush Markers, as soon as they run out, you can bin them or more responsibly recycle them and purchase a new marker. Here in the UK, a single ProMarker will cost you £2.49 and a single Brushmarker £2.99. As you can see they really don’t cost that much per marker in comparison to a lot of other brands
As I mentioned, the markers come in many different sets. A set of 6 Pro markers typically will cost £10 and a 12 pack of Promarkers will normally cost £20. Don’t forget exact prices of every individual set is available in the carrasol blocks. One of the 24 Wallet packs of Promarkers typical cost £29.99 . For the larger 48 Sets they will cost £84 approximately and for the largest of the Promarker sets, the 96 set, they typically will cost £189. It is worth mentioning that the larger 48 and 96 sets, come in a packaging unit that doubles as the storage unit and looks awesome. The Brusmarkers are a little bit more expensive, for the 6 Pack of Brushmarkers you can pay approx £10, the 12 pack of Brushmarkers will cost approximately £29.99 , a 24 Wallet pack of Brushmarkers will cost £54 and the largest set of the Brushmarkers, the 48 sets, will cost approximately £94
Pro and Brushmarker U.S. Pricing
For the 6 Set of Promarker you can expect to pay $20 and this is approximately the same for the 6 pack Brush. For the 12 pack Promarkers you will pay $24 but unfortunately I was unable to find prices for the 12 packs of Brush. For the 24 Wallet Promarker sets you will pay approximately $53 For the 48 Brushmarker sets you will approximately pay $114
As you can see there were a lot of sets that I couldn’t find on the Amazon US page, however as and when I am able to add more for the US I will of course do that.
Pro and Brushmarker EU Pricing
For the Single Promarker you will pay €3 and for the single Brushmarker you will pay €6. For the 6 pack of Promarkers €21 you will pay and for the 6 set of Brushmarkers you will pay €21. For the 12 sets of Promarkers you will pay €37 and for the 12 set of Brushmarkers you will approximately pay €37
For the larger sets you will pay the following, for the 24 Wallet set of Promarkers you will pay €53, for the 48 set of Promarkers you will pay €98 and for the 48 set of Brushmarkers you will approximately pay €113 and for the largest 96 set of Promarkers you will pay €230
For most of the sets in Europe, the Brush and Promarkers are the same or very similar prices, only on the larger sets do they start to increase.
Winsor & Newton Total Sets Available
Winsor & Newton Pro and Brushmarker Conclusion
I purchased my first set of Winsor & Newton Brushmarkers quite a while ago, in fact it may have been as long as two years ago. I have slowly built up my own collection and personally absolutely love using them on various art pieces that I do. I can’t tell you the number of times that I have tried or thought about reviewing the Winsor & Newton Pro or Brush Marker, but I just kept thinking that I didn’t have anything to offer this product in way of information that wasn’t already out there.
However, as my collection grew and I became much more familiar with the product, I felt that even if my review didn’t discover anything new about the markers, my own personal review style is slightly different from most and so that might on its own be beneficial to others. The image above shows my own personal collection and in total I have 84 colors, and me being the way I am, due to my love of the product I will continue collecting them until I have the complete collection.
As always guys I have completed a full YouTube review of the Winsor & Newton Promarker and Brushmarker range, as well as a speed drawing using the markers on the Power Ranger drawing, simply click the relevant links that you are interested in. Thank you all so much for your wonderful support and please all stay safe during these times of isolation.
