Acrylic Paint Markers Review

Water-based acrylic paint markers seem to be the new race as far as products marketed to graffiti writers and artists are concerned. Besides your own line of spraypaint that is, which is what *everybody* and their mother is doing nowadays, but anyway… This post will be a review on 4 (four) brands of acrylic water-based paint markers that currently rule the marketplace as far as I can tell. I have a pretty large stash of all four brands so I can speak on the quality and price, moreso than someone who has never used any of these markers. If you get busy in the blackbooks or like doing the 228 labels then you more than likely already have a nice grip of these joints. The four brands we’ll be going over are MTN/Montana Colors, Montana Cans, Molotow, and Posca.

Montana Cans Acrylic Markers

These come in 0.7mm (14 colors), 2mm (36 colors), 15mm (26 colors), 30mm (2 colors), and 50mm (2 colors), although the entire color range is only available for the 0.7mm through the 15mm. The 30mm and 50mm are available in black and silver only. Refills are available in 25ml and 180ml in 36 matte colors.

From personal use I can tell you the fineline markers need work on the nibs. The problem I have with the nibs is since they are 0.7mm, they are kind of sharp or pointy I would say. When you use these on paper, because they are water-based, you can push the nib through the paper or sticker. The 2mm is better because the nib is a bullet-style white synthetic material. They don’t dry out as bad as some of the other brands do which is a plus. The 15mm, 30mm and 50mm I never bought (*bought) because you can’t bomb with them because the ink is water-based and it would wash right off in the rain. They are good for larger canvases though, mainly the 15mm. Speaking of canvases these markers are pretty damn good for canvas work. The ink is opaque, covers well, and dries quickly so you won’t smear it with your hand while drawing.

Prices vary depending on which art shop or website you buy ’em from (if you do in fact pay for them) and the whole range is usually available. Most colors also match some of the colors in their spraypaint lines as well. On a scale of 1 to 10 I’d give these a 7 I guess. If you can get them at the right price they’re definitely worth using.

MTN/Montana Colors Acrylic Paint Markers

When you hold one of these markers it feels heavy, not light like it’s just filled with some watery-colored paint. They could have done a little better with the actual label/packaging but fuck it, I’m buying a product for performance, not what the label looks like.
MTN, like the others, has a water-based paint refill for each color marker (18 colors total) as well as a water-based aerosol range that match colors dead-on for mixing mediums.
The paint refill bottle could have been a bit more sexy or eye-catching but at least they didn’t bite the same exact bottle style from Molotow like German Montana did. The MTN acrylic markers come in 0.5mm fineline (4 colors), 1mm (18 colors), 2mm (18 colors), 6mm (18 colors), 15mm (18 colors), 30mm (4 colors), and 50mm (4 colors). They also sell 200ml refills in all colors, which are well worth it because 200ml will refill these bad boys plenty of times, trust me.

The paint colors are intermixable so you can make custom colors and you can add a little bit of water to dilute them for a semi-transparent finish or glaze effect. The 2mm nibs are actual fiber so they saturate well and you don’t have to keep juicing them while drawing or coloring in. The fineline nibs (0.5mm & 1.0mm) are the same hard plastic as the German Montana markers so I’m not gonna bitch about them again. The paint in these markers flows like butter. If MTN had the same color range as Molotow with this paint they’d shut everybody else out easily.

The paint, all colors I might add, covers evenly, dries quickly and is opaque, even the yellows and white. If your looking for a great marker for any type of media, paper, stickers, vinyl, wood, glass, whatever, these are it.

Posca Water-Based Acrylic Markers

What to say about the Posca water-based acrylics…these are kind of the OG’s of the water-based acrylic markers. They were out before the Molotows, the MTN markers, and the German Montana range as well. I just with they had more colors. Anyway, these markers are all-around great markers. The Poscas are available in 8 different nib sizes including everything from ultrafine & fine line, brush tip, medium bullet tip, chisel tip, and wide/broad nib sizes. They come in 55 colors, including 8 metallic colors, 6 fluorescent colors, and 8 glitter colors. Quite a selection for a half-decent color range but the quality makes up for the lack of more colors.

The ultra-fine line is great, period. The 1mm is the same as the previous, hard plastic and annoying. The rest of the nib sizes are great, never drying out or streaking and I don’t think I ever had to replace any of them. One thing that puts the Posca markers ahead of everyone else is they’re available directly from the manufacturer. If you know where to look you can get the entire range of the same nib size for like $26.00 from Japan instead of paying $56.00 for 20 or so markers. The paint dries really quick so it won’t smear all over when your drawing on paper or canvas. It dries nice and opaque too, even the lighter colors like yellow, white and pink. These and the MTN markers are probably the two best white acrylics to use for highlights outside of using an oil-based paint. You can find Poscas in any art supply shop or on any website and they’re very reasonably priced, at least a buck or two under the previously mentioned, so that’s another plus. Bottom line is if you want top shelf acrylics that are available everywhere (to buy or rack) then Posca is the brand to look for.

Molotow One4All Acrylic Markers

You gotta give it to Molotow man, they really put out a superior product. The quality is five star (usually, depending on the actual product), the packaging is uniform and good-looking, and the products just work. The Molotow One4All acrylic range comes in a total of 54 colors (at time of writing), in fineline to medium, bold and 15mm. They also have a double-ended 1.5mm/4mm nib size as well as 30ml and 180ml refills in 54 total colors. You can color-match the water-based paint with their One4All spraypaint when doing canvases or other mediums. The Germans are known for quality and precision and these products show it completely.

One of the good things about the One4All markers is you can write on pretty much anything with them and they just work. You can write on glass, styrofoam, denim/clothing, canvas, paper, plastic, metal…everything! The paint is also the perfect consistency to use in an airbrush. Two issues I do have with these markers is the nib will dry up and block the valve if you don’t use the marker for a little while. Then, if you don’t have any spare nibs, your fucked. The other issue is some of the colors are kind of transparent when they dry. The yellows, oranges, the fluorescents, all need 2-3 coats to cover well. The color range is great, with your basics, pastels, earth tones, flesh tones, neon/fluorescents. They got it all covered, trust me. And the valve they use, Flowmaster I think it’s called, is made so the paint flows down and covers the nib from every side all the way around. They knew what they were doing with these joints. So that pretty much says it all for the Molotows man. A bit pricey for a 1mm or 2mm nib, which can run upwards of $7.00 but like with everything else, you get what you pay for.