Prismacolor Markers: A Pencil Brand With a Marker Line
Prismacolor holds 86 products in this catalogue, and only 46 of them are markers. 41 are coloured pencils, and the pencils carry most of the buying and nearly all of the complaints. Anyone reading a Prismacolor rating without separating the two is reading the wrong product. The markers are alcohol-based, dual-ended, and a small part of the brand.
Prismacolor carries 2,440 searches a month across 127 keywords at a keyword difficulty of 0, with prismacolor markers at 1,100. The cluster is small and the confusion inside it is large, because the brand name covers two different instruments. Chemistry-by-chemistry comparison sits with markers for art and drawing; this page separates the marker line from the rest.
Half of This Catalogue Is Not a Marker
86 Prismacolor products sit here. 46 name a marker in the title, 41 name a pencil and five name an eraser. Amazon leaves 59 unclassified, files 24 as Permanent Marker, two as Paint Marker and one as Whiteboard Marker.
That split matters more here than on any other brand page in this set, because the buying is lopsided. The five most-reviewed Prismacolor listings in this catalogue are all coloured pencils:
| Listing | Ratings | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premier Coloured Pencils, Soft Core, 150 Count | 61,824 | 4.8 | $142.99 |
| Premier Coloured Pencils, Soft Core, 24 Count | 23,194 | 4.8 | $24.99 |
| Premier Coloured Pencils, Soft Core, 48 Count | 16,281 | 4.8 | $48.80 |
| Premier Colourless Blender Pencils, 2-Count | 14,199 | 4.7 | — |
| Scholar Coloured Pencils, 48 Count | 12,994 | 4.7 | $23.27 |
The best-selling actual marker is the Premier Dual-Ended Art Marker set at 4,533 ratings. A brand rating built on 61,824 pencil reviews tells you very little about a marker, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
What the Markers Actually Are
The Premier Dual-Ended and Double-Ended art markers state alcohol-based ink in the manufacturer bullets, and several Fine Line listings describe alcohol-based, acid-free ink that is lightfast. That places the marker line in the alcohol row of the matrix, alongside Copic and Ohuhu, and it inherits every verdict in that row.
Tips run fine 24, brush 12, chisel nine, dual nine, broad two and bullet one. The dual chisel-and-fine format is the brand's signature, and it is what the Premier line is sold on.
| Marker type | Paper | Whiteboard | Chalkboard | Glass | Wood | Metal | Plastic | Ceramic / mug | Rock / stone | Fabric | Skin | Car window | Cardboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol Alcohol-carried dye. Blends, but soaks and feathers on absorbent stock. | ◐If… 1,820/mo Feathers and bleeds on anything but marker paper. 1,820 searches a month are people looking for the right stock. | ○No 10/mo Stains melamine permanently. Use a dry erase marker. | ○No no measured demand Porous board absorbs the dye and stains. Use a liquid chalk marker. | ◐If… 90/mo Beads on glass and wipes off with alcohol. Not a glass marker. | ◐If… 170/mo Absorbs into bare wood like a stain. Some people want that. | ○No 60/mo Beads and rubs off. Use an oil-based paint marker. | ◐If… 270/mo Streaks on gloss. Works on primed styrene for models. | ○No no measured demand Beads on the glaze. Use a paint or acrylic marker. | ○No 10/mo Soaks in and dulls. Use an acrylic marker. | ◐If… 900/mo Bleeds into the weave and is not wash-fast. | ○No 900/mo Alcohol dye, not cosmetic grade. Use a body marker. | ○No no measured demand Wipes straight off tempered glass. Use a chalk or washable marker. | ◐If… 10/mo Bleeds heavily unless the board is coated. |
Nothing in the alcohol row is a clean works. Paper is conditional at 1,820 searches a month; plastic conditional at 270; wood conditional at 170; glass conditional at 90; fabric conditional at 900. Metal fails at 60, whiteboard fails, ceramic and rock fail, and skin fails at 900 searches a month. A Prismacolor marker on any of those five is the wrong tool regardless of price.
Where Prismacolor Leads, and Where It Does Not
Prismacolor does not lead alcohol markers. Ohuhu holds 137,571 deduplicated buyer ratings in that category, Copic 65,420, Shuttle Art 35,514 and Caliart 33,096. Prismacolor does not appear in the top four.
It does not lead any of the other nine categories either. Permanent goes to Sharpie, acrylic to Posca, paint to ARTISTRO, dry erase and wet erase to EXPO, liquid chalk to Chalkola, fabric to Zenacolor, washable to Crayola, dot markers to Do A Dot Art! and body markers to BODYMARK.
On the two numbers that matter, Prismacolor sits at a median price of $16.32 against a field median of $13.99, and a median rating of 4.6 against a field median of 4.6. It is more expensive than the field and rated exactly at it. That is the honest summary, and it is not a recommendation on its own.
What Buyers Report Going Wrong
| Topic | Reports | Products | Negative | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 3,865 | 32 | 1,280 | 20% |
| Colour | 3,043 | 19 | 1,090 | 12% |
| Durability | 2,627 | 27 | 2,475 | 65% |
| Quality | 2,355 | 25 | 1,152 | 7% |
| Softness | 2,010 | 5 | 268 | 13% |
| Smoothness | 1,167 | 16 | 50 | 4% |
Durability at 65% negative is the number that dominates any casual reading of this brand, and it belongs to the pencils. The verbatim reports are unambiguous about which product they describe.
"are extremely off center which makes them hard to sharpen and they break easily. Prismacolor really needs to look into their quality control dept." Prismacolor Premier Coloured Pencils, Soft Core, Assorted Colors, 150 Count
"But the lead keeps breaking. I sharpen again and the lead breaks. I have not been able to use the pencils at all." Prismacolor Premier Verithin Coloured Pencils, Adult Coloring, 36 Pack
Neither of those is a marker complaint, and neither should be counted against the marker line. Softness at 13% negative and smoothness at 4% are also pencil attributes, and they are the reason the pencils sell despite the breakage.
What the Marker Reports Say
The marker-specific reports are fewer and they read exactly like every other alcohol marker in this catalogue.
"They bleed but I should have realized that other than that there cool nice pigment." Prismacolor Premier Dual-Ended Art Markers, Chisel and Fine Tips
"I love these pens. There are so many shades and they're super easy to blend as long as you work quickly. They also don't bleed a lot which is nice." Prismacolor Premier Double-Ended Art Markers, Fine And Chisel Tips, Cool Grey
"The markers work great! I like the fine line. For me, the wide tip turns out to be a waste." Prismacolor Premier Dual-Ended Art Markers, Chisel and Fine Tips, Primary Colours
Two things follow. The blending works, and it works on a time limit — alcohol ink blends while wet and stops when it dries, which is why the second buyer says work quickly. And the dual-tip format is not universally useful: a buyer who only wants the fine end is paying for a chisel they will never touch.
| Product | Tip | Pack | Rating | Ratings | Price | Per pen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohuhu Ohuhu Alcohol Markers 48 Colors Brush& Chisel for Adults Cozy… | Chisel | 48 | 4.8 | 17,006 | $49.99 | $1.04 |
| Ohuhu Ohuhu Alcohol Markers 40 Colors Chisel Fine AP Certified for… | Chisel | 42 | 4.7 | 15,224 | $25.49 | $0.61 |
| Caliart Caliart Alcohol Markers 41 Colors Fine & Chisel Dual Tip… | Chisel | 41 | 4.7 | 13,893 | $23.99 | $0.59 |
| Shuttle Art Shuttle Art 51 Colors Alcohol Markers, 50 Colors Dual Tip Art… | Mixed | 51 | 4.6 | 13,281 | $25.99 | $0.51 |
| Shuttle Art Shuttle Art 61 Colors Alcohol Markers, 60 Colors Dual Tip Art… | Mixed | 61 | 4.5 | 10,373 | $25.99 | $0.43 |
| Caliart Caliart Alcohol Markers 100 Colors Dual Tip Fine & Chisel Art… | Chisel | 100 | 4.6 | 10,190 | $35.99 | $0.36 |
The Fine Line Pens Are a Third Product
Beyond the pencils and the alcohol markers there is a third Prismacolor line in this catalogue that behaves differently again: the Fine Line and Premier Illustration markers, whose bullets describe alcohol-based, acid-free ink that is lightfast. Those are technical drawing pens rather than colouring markers, sold in 0.005 to 0.08 widths, and the biggest of them carries 2,093 ratings.
They matter because they answer the question the colouring markers cannot. An alcohol marker laid over an ordinary gel or ballpoint outline lifts and smears it; laid over an alcohol-based pigment liner it does not. Anyone buying Prismacolor markers for illustration needs the liner as well, and this catalogue holds both.
The trade is that these are single-colour black or sepia pens at low volume, and the buyer sample behind them is thin. Where 61,824 ratings sit behind one pencil tin, several liner listings carry fewer than ten. This page will not draw a verdict from six reviews, and neither should a buyer.
Reading a Brand That Sells Three Things
The structural lesson of this page generalises beyond Prismacolor. Where a brand covers several instrument classes under one name, the aggregate figures describe the biggest seller and nothing else. Prismacolor's 4.6 median rating, its $16.32 median price and its 223,024 buyer ratings are, in practice, a report on coloured pencils with markers folded in.
Three other brands in this batch have the same shape. Arteza spans eight marker chemistries plus canvases and tube paint. Shuttle Art spans nine chemistries. Staedtler covers permanent, dry erase, wet erase and fineliners. In each case the honest move is the same one made here: count the listings by what they are, then quote the reports that belong to each.
The alternative, which most brand pages take, is to average everything and present the result as a verdict on the pen in front of the reader. It reads confidently and it is wrong about half the time, and the durability figure on this page — 65% negative, almost entirely about pencil leads — is exactly what that error looks like when it is left uncorrected.
Bleed-through — 1,207 reports, 82% negative, across 17 products
Unfortunately, the markers bleed through the paper, which it specifically states on the paper it is not supposed to do. Very disappointed
Copic Markers PMPADA4 PM Pad A4, 50 Sheets
My daughter who is 13 thought these were great. They do bleed through and are hard to blend because they do dry inconsistently, but for a new artist
Ohuhu Alcohol Markers - AP Certificated 80-color Dual…
4 more verbatim reports
First time using these. Won't buy again. They bleed and there's nothing to indicate what the colors are and don't know which one is the blender
Shuttle Art 61 Colors Alcohol Markers, 60 Colors Dual Tip…
First time using these. Won't buy again. They bleed and there's nothing to indicate what the colors are and don't know which one is the blender
Shuttle Art 101 Colors Alcohol Markers, 100 Colors Dual…
First time using these. Won't buy again. They bleed and there's nothing to indicate what the colors are and don't know which one is the blender
Shuttle Art 30 Colors Skin Tone&Hair Art Markers, Dual…
First time using these. Won't buy again. They bleed and there's nothing to indicate what the colors are and don't know which one is the blender
Shuttle Art 26 Colors Skin Tone&Hair Art Markers, Dual…
Ink drying — 353 reports, 80% negative, across 10 products
Some were dried out. Returned for new set, same thing. Gave up
Copic Sketch 12-Color Set, Refillable Blendable Dual-Tip…
Some were dried out. Returned for new set, same thing. Gave up
Copic Sketch, Alcohol markers, 12pc set Warm Gray (New…
4 more verbatim reports
the initial and replacement from Amazon did not write and were completely dried out
Copic Marker, Copic Drawing Pen F01 Black
swatching there are 18 out of the 120 markers of mine that are completely dried out and 3 that will barely release ink and i did not get a blender
Ohuhu Alcohol Markers Brush Tip -Double Tipped Art Marker…
Great use none were dry which was awesome, I've had them a while and they all still color great I loved the color cards that went with them
Ohuhu Alcohol Markers 216 Colors Brush& Chisel for Adults…
I ordered these for my granddaughters birthday and half of them were dried out when she went to use them. For the price, this is very disappointing
ARTEZA Alcohol Markers – Set of 36 Portrait & Skin Tone…
Bleed — 1,747 reports, 79% negative, across 23 products
excited to use this marker but it's much darker than I expected and it BLEEDS
Copic Ciao Markers, Dark Brown
Prefer these to my Spectrum Noir markers. Yes , they bleed but so do Spectrum Noir and they are twice as expensive. Will definitely order again
Caliart Alcohol Markers 100 Colors Dual Tip Fine & Chisel…
4 more verbatim reports
While they do bleed through the paper, it isnt all that bad
Shuttle Art 121 Colors Alcohol Markers, 120 Colors Dual…
So many colors that are unusable. They do bleed, a lot, but that’s alcohol markers for you. I wish I would have put the $60 towards Ohuhu markers
Caliart 121 Colors Alcohol Markers Dual Tip Art Marker…
They do bleed through pages! We have to stick heavy duty card stock under the sheet of paper they are trying to color on
cloudriver 120 Colors Alcohol Markers, Dual Tip Permanent…
While they do bleed through the paper, it isnt all that bad
Shuttle Art Pastel Alcohol Markers Brush tip, Dual Tip…
Drying out — 1,514 reports, 73% negative, across 20 products
The majority of the markers were leaking and dried out. There’s only about 15-20 markers that are semi-usable
Caliart Alcohol Markers 100 Colors Dual Tip Fine & Chisel…
Some markers were dry and this is an item that has to be boxed and labeled at home
Caliart 121 Colors Alcohol Markers Dual Tip Art Marker…
4 more verbatim reports
Some were dried out. Thought colors would be vibrant like alcohol ink paints
Dual Tip Alcohol Based Art Markers, Lineon 30 Colors…
These would be fantastic markers if they weren’t dried out. Almost half of them are already dried out or I only got one coloring out of them
Shuttle Art 61 Colors Alcohol Markers, 60 Colors Dual Tip…
These would be fantastic markers if they weren’t dried out. Almost half of them are already dried out or I only got one coloring out of them
Shuttle Art 101 Colors Alcohol Markers, 100 Colors Dual…
The only problem was 2 of the markers exploded in the lids and completely dried out. All the tips were smooth and worked good
belleza suprema 101 Colors Alcohol Markers Dual Tips…
Counts are Amazon “Customers say” topic summaries aggregated across every alcohol marker in the corpus. Quotes are printed exactly as buyers wrote them, including typos.
Where a Prismacolor Marker Actually Fits
Assume the buyer wants the Premier dual-tip set and nothing else in the catalogue. The question then becomes which alcohol marker, and the answer runs through alcohol markers rather than through the brand.
Three things separate alcohol sets in the buyer data: how consistently the pens arrive alive, how the colour system is organised, and whether replacements are available singly. Prismacolor is strong on the third — its Fine Line and Premier lines both sell single pens — and unremarkable on the first two, with a 4.6 median rating exactly at the field.
For illustration work specifically, the comparison worth making is against the wider set of drawing markers, where dual chisel-and-fine formats from several brands compete on the same job. Nothing in this catalogue's data puts Prismacolor ahead of them, and nothing puts it behind either. It is a competent alcohol marker attached to a famous pencil.
Read the Listing, Not the Brand
The practical advice this page can give is unusually specific. A Prismacolor search result at 4.8 stars and 61,824 ratings is almost certainly a pencil tin. The marker listings sit an order of magnitude lower in volume, and their ratings are their own.
If the job is blended colour on marker stock and the Premier dual-tip format suits, the markers are competent alcohol pens at an above-field price. If the job is anything on metal, glass, ceramic, fabric or skin, the alcohol row says no and the brand has no second chemistry to offer. And if a pencil was what was wanted all along, that is a different question than the one this site answers.
Frequently Asked
Five questions from the 127 keywords in the Prismacolor cluster, answered by separating 46 marker listings from 41 pencil listings.
Are Prismacolor markers alcohol based?
Yes. The Premier Dual-Ended and Double-Ended art marker listings state alcohol-based ink in the manufacturer bullets, and the Fine Line pens describe alcohol-based, acid-free ink. That places them in the alcohol row of the matrix, which is conditional on paper and fails on metal, ceramic and skin.
Why do Prismacolor reviews mention broken leads?
Because 41 of the 86 listings are coloured pencils, not markers. Durability draws 2,627 reports across 27 Prismacolor products at 65% negative, and the verbatim reports describe off-centre cores and leads snapping in a sharpener. That figure does not describe the marker line.
Do Prismacolor markers bleed?
They are alcohol markers, so yes on ordinary paper. Across all 489 alcohol markers here, bleed resistance draws 6,757 reports at 65% negative and a bleed-through topic runs at 82%. One buyer of the dual-ended set wrote: 'They bleed but I should have realized that other than that there cool nice pigment.'
How much do Prismacolor markers cost?
The brand median is $16.32 against a site-wide median of $13.99, so it sits $2.33 above the field, and the range runs $5.49 to $179.99. That median is pulled upward by large pencil sets: the most-reviewed Prismacolor listing here is a 150-count pencil tin at $142.99.
Is Prismacolor a good marker brand?
Its median rating is 4.6, exactly the site-wide median, and its 223,024 buyer ratings put it seventh here. In alcohol markers it does not place in the top four by buyer volume, which are Ohuhu, Copic, Shuttle Art and Caliart. The pencils are the stronger half of the catalogue.