In this post, I’ll be swatching and sharing my first impressions of the popular Ohuhu alcohol ink based markers.
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This post starts off with a bit of a personal note, but feel free to click here to jump to the Ohuhu Alcohol Markers unboxing, swatches, and review!
One of my goals for this year is to dedicate more time to creating just for enjoyment. Being a multi-passionate creative, I have built my business around art, illustration, and design. While I wouldnโt trade it for the world, I often find myself with limited time and creative energy to engage in art for pleasure or to maintain a consistent creative hobby.
When I do manage to create something purely for fun, I feel the inevitable urge to share it on social media or find a way to monetize it. This continuous tug-of-war between creating for the sake of creation and exploring all potential for business growth can be overwhelming at times.
However, I’ve recently allowed myself to accept the (seemingly obvious) concept that not everything we create needs to be showcased to the world. This is something I will be focusing on throughout the year, and have a strong feeling that I’m not alone on this.
Now it may seem contradictory to dedicate an entire blog post to my new collection of “just for fun” markers. But the beauty of this blog is that it acts as a happy medium for me, providing a platform where I can share creative endeavors that I’m eager to explore, without the need to produce a polished product for market.
One of my favorite ways to tap into my creativity in a relaxed manner is through coloring. Adult coloring has been a popular pastime for a long time. As I primarily create digital stickers for my business, I often spend the majority of my time focused on digital coloring and design.
Even though I appreciate the modern benefits and advantages of digital coloring, I’ve recently found myself drawn to the charm of more tactile and hands-on art. Not to mention, we could all use a creative hobby that gives us a break from screens.
There’s something nostalgic about coloring in a traditional coloring book and this year, it’s all about nurturing our inner child. The sensation of a vibrant marker on paper, and even the clicking of a pen cap, brings a sense of relaxation. Just the thought of it has already made me 10% calmer.
After indulging in hours of watching color-with-me videos on YouTube (so satisfying and relaxing), I was inspired to buy a set of the renowned Ohuhu alcohol markers for my emerging adult coloring hobby.
I know I’m a bit tardy to the ever-so-popular Ohuhu marker party. They appear to be strong competitors to the Copic markers, often referred to as the “Rolls Royce” of markers in the art realm, but at a much more affordable price. So, I decided to give them a try and see what all the fuss was about.
Why choose alcohol markers for adult coloring?
Alcohol markers are a fantastic choice for adult coloring for a multitude of reasons:
- They can be easily refilled and the tips can be replaced, ensuring they have a long lifespan and remain in excellent condition.
- They have exceptional blending capabilities. You can layer colors to create beautiful gradients or seamless blends, adding a level of depth and dimension to your coloring that goes far beyond crayons or colored pencils.
- Unlike colored pencils, alcohol markers layer beautifully under gel pens, fineliner pens, glitter markers, and various other mediums. This versatility allows you to easily experiment with different techniques and textures.
I have personal experience using alcohol markers from my time at fashion design school in college and am excited to reintroduce them to my life through this new creative coloring hobby.
Today Iโll be swatching all of the colors from a couple of Ohuhu marker sets that I picked up recently. And, while I’m not a marker expert and haven’t used this medium much since my university days, I’ll share my honest thoughts and first impressions.
With an expansive range of over 300+ colors in the entire Ohuhu marker collection, including pastel and skin tone sets, it can be a bit overwhelming, to say the least.
After a bit of research, I picked up two different sets that I felt had the most variety of colors and made the perfect “starter pack” for what appears to be a new and fast-growing marker collection. oops!
The 2 Ohuhu Marker sets I’ll be sharing in this post are:
1. 48-color set with brush & chisel tips – from the Honolulu collection
2. 104-color set with brush & fine tips – from the Honolulu B collection
(Note: none of the markers in these two sets are duplicates so you would end up with a total of 152 different colors plus 2 colorless blending markers.)
While I absolutely love the color range, I already have my eye on the pastel set because I find myself gravitating toward some of the lighter shades while coloring and wish there were a few more options.
Unboxing the Ohuhu Alcohol Marker Sets
Each marker set comes with a black zippered carrying case, an informational booklet detailing all of their collections and marker specs, a plastic insert to prevent page bleeding, a colorless blending marker, and pre-labeled blank swatch cards for you to fill out.
While every marker is dual sided, the Honolulu series markers have a brush tip on one end and a fine tip on the other end, and the Honolulu B series markers have a brush tip on one end and a broad (or chisel) tip on the other end.
Each marker also has color-coded caps with both a color number and color name on dual ends. A few of the name and color combinations don’t seem to make much sense, but that’s something I can look past and actually find it kind of funny!
Although the markers have color-coded caps, I highly recommend swatching as the cap colors aren’t always a perfect match to the actual ink color.
I did go ahead and swatch all of the markers on the swatch cards provided by Ohuhu. However, the ink colors can vary depending on the kind of paper you will be using.
Some coloring books provide a few swatch pages at the beginning or end of the book. There are also sketchbooks made specifically for alcohol markers. Whatever method you choose for your coloring hobby, be sure to swatch on the actual paper you will be using before beginning to color to avoid any surprises.
In my case, I knew I’d primarily be printing out my own illustrations (or printable coloring pages from other artists) so I made my own set of swatch cards using my preferred cardstock paper. This 199gsm cardstock paper is ideal for alcohol markers as it’s the perfect weight to hold up the ink, plus the colors are super vibrant and blend like a dream.
Side note: One thing I’ve quickly learned about alcohol markers is that paper makes a huge difference, specifically for things like color payoff and blending. Perhaps I can dive into this topic a bit further in a later post.
I wanted to create a set of swatch cards that would not only serve as an accurate reference for shades but also aid in the color picking process. I came up with a system using a simple hole puncher that I think worked out super well.
Let’s dive in!
My alcohol marker swatching system
Start by creating a grid on your page in pencil, leaving a small margin on one side. Next, write each color number near the bottom of each box. (I decided to combine both of my sets of markers, the 48-count and the 104-count, and swatched them by color and in numerical order which ended up grouping the markers nicely into cohesive color families. Feel free to swatch them in whatever order works best for you!)
Lastly, use the markers to create rectangularly shaped swatches for each color. Try to keep the marker evenly pressed while swatching and avoid adding multiple layers so that you are getting the most accurate color representation.
Once all the swatches are dry, cut across each row to create something similar to paint swatch cards.
Using a single hole puncher, punch a hole on one side of each of the color swatches.
This swatching system is a time saver when it comes to putting together color palettes.
Adding the holes to each swatch will help you better compare two colors side by side. This can help you decide on color combinations, compare color undertones, or find the perfect sequence of colors for a specific gradient blend.
I chose to use a binder clip to keep my swatches together, but you could also hole punch the margins and loop them onto a metal binder ring for ease of use and storage.
To take it one step further, you could also trim the strip of swatches even more until each swatch is separate, and store them in a small container box or zipper pouch.
Overall thoughts and first impressions of the Ohuhu brush markers
The most important thing to mention when it comes to alcohol markers is blendability. This is, after all, what they are made for.
But before getting into that, here are some of my initial thoughts after swatching and using them just a few times:
- The markers are insanely juicy. Not a single one felt dried out or streaky.
- My favorite tip is the brush tip. It’s flexible yet sturdy and the nib tapers to a super fine point, providing a great range of different stroke thicknesses.
- The colors are pigmented, vibrant and buildable. You can add multiple layers to create darker shades of a single color.
- I love the different range of undertones throughout the collection.
- Although I haven’t needed to yet, I appreciate that these markers are refillable and the nibs are reversible. This gives me peace of mind while coloring as I don’t have to worry about purchasing replacement markers any time soon.
- From an aesthetic standpoint, I like that the marker barrels are white. They are also round in shape, but the caps have small nibs to prevent them from rolling around on a surface.
- At under $1 per marker, I think this is the most cost-effective option for top-quality alcohol ink markers on the market today.
As far as blendability is concerned, these markers blend like a dream, especially on this cardstock paper.
I find that it’s best to blend colors in layers, working rather quickly before the previous layer is fully dry. The grey and purple shades are great for creating shadows, and you can even add several layers of the same color to achieve a richer deeper hue. When applying the first layer it may look slightly streaky, but as the ink dries, the color evens out beautifully.
There’s a bit of a learning curve with alcohol markers to get the blending to look just right. But I’d say these are pretty great for any skill level, from casual hobbyists to professional artists alike.
Another thing to note about alcohol markers is that they are best stored horizontally to ensure that the nibs remain evenly saturated with ink over time.
I am currently using two of these storage organizer racks, which conveniently fit perfectly inside the Ikea Kallax shelf unit.
To keep them nicely organized, I combined both sets of Ohuhu markers and sorted them in numerical order within each set of letters. This system works well and makes finding a specific color quick and easy. Plus, I still have room for a few extra markers. Already eyeing these pastels!
So far, I’ve used a few printable line art illustrations from Lucid Neema’s Facebook page (check out her gorgeous character art) to practice with my brush tip alcohol markers. And have also been diving into a few pages from my small collection of coloring books.
The Astrology coloring book by Ana Jaren has stunning illustrations of scenes inspired by zodiac symbols from different cultures around the world.
The Pocket World coloring book by Coco Wyo gives me major nostalgia with its nod to the 90’s Pollypocket aesthetic.
The Adorable Town coloring book by Lainie Dao features some of the most imaginative illustrations in a kawaii style that I just love!
There is such a huge range of coloring books available for all different types of interests, themes, and illustration styles. I currently have the Modern Fashion Illustration coloring book by Holly Nichols on my wishlist – it totally takes me back to my fashion illustration days in college. How full circle?!
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To sum up, the Ohuhu alcohol markers have gone above and beyond what I expected. With their vibrant colors, gorgeous blending capabilities, and a budget-friendly price, I can see why they have quickly become the most popular markers on the scene.
As creatives, it’s crucial to find a balance between creating for profit and pure enjoyment. These markers have helped me rediscover my inner child and indulge in a hands-on, screen-free, just-for-fun creative hobby. I highly recommend giving them a try and exploring the world of adult coloring books if you haven’t already.
Looking for more inspo!? Check out my Pinterest for tons of lifestyle and creative content… updated daily!
This post was all about Ohuhu Alcohol markers. If you like this content, check out these posts below!
– Thriving As A Multi-Passionate Creative | Design Your Dream Career
– 7 Creative Hobbies That Will Make You Forget To Check Your Phone
– 5 Gorgeous Coloring Pages For Adults | Free Download
Xx- Laura
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