Marker pens! Good golly do I ever love markers. And I've used all of them. Every single one. This is not an exaggeration. Every brand, every colour, every tip width – from the top Japanese pen manufacturers to the generic cheapo ones you get from Crazy Clark's in the crime-ridden Home Town centre (is that still there?).
My love for markers started in the mid-'80s as a little kid in London, when my uncle gave me one to draw with. I still remember sitting at the top of the stairs, drawing on paper that the ink soaked straight through. The pen was painted black with 'PENTEL PEN' in silver lettering, as you see below (Vintage 1970s Pentel Pen, 9G model, taken from blackisbeautiful.ca). The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, it must divide. Thus has it ever been. PENTEL PEN is law. PENTEL PEN is sacrosanct.
Whenever I draw with one of those black beauties (which admittedly hasn't been too often between 1984 and now), I feel like I am flying high above the clouds on the back of a condor made of marshmallow and bees. Or maybe that's just the effect of the xylene fumes.
But where I really am is sitting at the top of the steps in 65A Temple Road, Cricklewood.
When I started drawing black-and-white comics in the '90s on – old fart alert – actual pen and paper, I used markers all the time, because several of my characters had black hair and whatnot. So, each page was an inky mess as you might imagine. And over the years I built up quite a collection of permanent markers. Anyway, as you can see, I've rounded up no less than fourteen examples for your perusal. Some of them are quite old and probably no longer in production, but at least they're now xylene free!
Looking at the photo at left, I'll start with the one at the top, which is the Zebra Mckee [sic], made in Japan. I didn't actually buy this one. Not too many people know this, but if you go to Japan to teach English, you get several of these for free. They materialize out of nowhere, usually in the vicinity of your school's staffroom. It is double-ended, with both a fineliner and slightly broader tip. Hard-working and useful, much like the J—no! Must resist the temptation to make broad generalizations.
Next is the Sanford Sharpie, American made. What more can I say? Its very name is used as a generic term for marker pen by Americans, and therefore, everyone else in the world. It's pretty good, I s'pose.
Next we have the Artline 700, made by Shakuhachi, sorry, Shachihata of Giappon. A neat little fineline permanent marker. Below that is the Artline 70 with bullet tip. It's a benchmark marker. A benchmarker, if you will. I'm not sure why they made the barrel yellow. But it is 'HIGH PERFORMANCE' as it says, with a solid black that doesn't fade. I've still got comics I drew in 1998 that I used this on, and while most of the drawings have become ghosts, the Artline ink remains. Shachihata-sama-tachi, I bow respectfully in your general direction.
The one with the yellow cap is the Pilot Super Color Marker (Japan uses American spelling, otherwise I'd have put a 'u' in there sharpish). B for Broad, with a chisel tip. This pen is around 25 years old yet I used it in a drawing only two days ago, so that speaks to its longevity. Although yellow markers don't get a lot of use around here.
Next is the Sakura Pen-Touch. I don't know much about the Honourable Sakura Pen Manufacturing Concern of Ibaraki and Gunma Prefectures (not their real name), but this is the only pen by them I used. It has a fine tip (as in not broad), and can't really match the Artline 70 in robustness, I fear. Its ink is also not as indelible. It's rather delible, actually. It can be delibbed.
The Big Wally at the bottom is the bullet-pointed Bic Permament Marker, which as you might guess is made in France. Unlike the Sakura, it is low odour. A design feature unique to it is the little plastic protuberance at the end of the barrel which prevents it rolling around on the table. Very handy if you take it with you on the high seas.
Clearly coming from the POCKY and CRUNKY school of Japanese nomenclature is the chisel-tipped Uni PROCKEY from the Mitsubishi Pencil Co. They make cars, they make televisions, and they make some fine stationery as well! I don't know what ink they use but it soaks through the paper, through the desk you're writing on, through to the floor and under the carpet as well.
The Artline 170, like the other Artlines, is made in Malaysia. Here we have a substantially chunkier barrel, good for solid blacks, shadowing and bold pen strokes. It's an all-rounder and packs a punch. Apparently it can be left with the cap off for two weeks and not dry out. I've never tried this – I always put the caps back on. What do you take me for, a savage?
Remember the Zebra Mckee? Well here we have its beefed-up upgraded model, the Hi-Mckee. This time we have a medium bullet tip at one end and a chisel tip at the other. Serves all your double-ended marking needs. English teachers in Japan must ascend to the rank of ichi-dan no eigo no sensei before the Prefectural Board will even entertain supplying them with one of these. (Don't ask where I got this one.)
The remaining four pens are whiteboard markers in red and blue ink, so your mileage will vary if you choose to use them for drawing on paper. Incidentally, the ones pictured above were all salvaged by me in December 1993, just before going home on the last day of Year 10, where I found them on the lawn after they were turfed out the door by some teacher doing an end-of-year cleanup.
Mitsubishi's Uni Easyrase was probably the widest-used by the teachers at my school – there were usually at least two of them in every classroom. The Artline 500 was used very infrequently, surprising given the success of the 70 model; and then second-most popular was the uncouthly-titled Pilot Wytebord Marker. Finally, showing that they knew how to spell, the Pentel White Board Marker with its chunky octagonal barrel, was mainly used by my classmates to draw 'swirls' on the rotating hubs of the ceiling fans.
Well, thanks for taking this long and pointless ramble with me down amnesia lane. Now go do some drawing and remember: the marker pen is mightier than the pen!
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