I have been trying to work with COLOURZENDO markers from Walmart. At a price point of about 10 Canadian Dollars per box of 4 dual tipped water-based markers, advertised as being blendable with water, i figured it was a good choice to try them out and picked up two boxes of different colour sets (Seascapes & Pastels). Overall the ink itself is very transparent and looks streaky when laid down on the page. This is remedied by the aforementioned water blending, unfortunately, many of the colours do not blend sufficiently (my local water hardness is 0.5PPM, if that has anything to do with it).
The darkest colour, Marine, and the palest blue, Aquamarine, seem to afford the best blending, thinning, and consistency, but all other colours either refuse to blend, are too permanent (resulting in a square, or streak within the blended area) or the ink pigment cause the paper to rip up when water was gently applied (Using both Canson Watercolour, and Strathmore Sketch paper) with a lot of time and effort, and the right ratio of water to marker usage.
Its also worth noting that the markers themselves have a really high rate of bleeding on both these papers.
You can achieve really nice looking effects, but I feel the negatives far outweigh the positives.
Overall I feel like these markers are best used in popular adult colouring books with limited use of water blending, or in the hands of children and very young novices, given that they do not have any fumes or smell and are water soluble which would make them perfect starter markers.
I am trying new art supplies, so you don’t have to.
