If you’re a serious artist, chances are you’ve heard of both Prismacolor and Chartpak marketing. Both marketing brands are used by professional graphic designers and illustrators to provide mixable, vibrant colors.
Chartpak and Prismacolor are comparable in price; Both shooters’ “suggested retail price” is around four dollars. But the bigger stores art supply sell these on sale for half price and you can save substantially if you want to buy a title set.
Prismacolor guarantees four distinct line weights, a multi-purpose general nib that is responsible for four weights, and a fine line fine lines Nib in the opposite direction. A fine line nib can be useful for delicate work and creating a sharper edge, but it seems to dry out easily. A common nib works well, maintaining its shape and color saturation until the label is almost completely consumed.
Prismacolor’s product design is excellent, with a colored label and a colored dot on the top of each cap to distinguish different brands. Each label base is shaped like a narrow rectangle, giving each label equal exposure. This strategy is especially useful when trying to locate a color quickly.
Color saturation and blending with Prismacolors is good, but it seems to diminish quickly after several uses. Mixing pots in particular are only sometimes useful, which are particularly pungent because they are the same price as the rest of the market. Deep colors are also strongly affected after various uses.
Chartpak pots have few of the blending or color saturation problems encountered with the Prismacolor title. Mixing sticks equipped with Chartpak seem to last longer than other mixing sticks on the market.
This seems to be because Chartpak clays have more propellant and contain less pigment. On the surface, this seems inconvenient, but less pigment makes more of a balance with color mixing and propagation. Colors also remain vibrant, even rich saturated colors such as purple and navy.
Also, the Chartpak markers seem to contain much more filler than the Prismacolor markers. Long after the Prismacolor market had failed to produce any consistent color, Chartpak continued to provide even true color coverage.
While the actual product may be superior, Chartpak’s product design leaves a lot to be desired. Title sets on square bases, more difficult to fix approaches that do not touch the perimeter. The top of each title is numbered, and while that may seem useful when trying to reorder, it often seems daunting, especially if there are several notes from the base at a time.
The title itself has only one end, and it claims three different weights depending on how you use it. Although the fine tip nib is capable of producing a much finer line than a general use Prismacolor nib, it does not produce as fine a line as can be achieved with the Prismacolor.
The title cap is easily removed with a large lip which seems useful, but things can get caught if you carry them loosely in your bag. Although this seems to be more ergonomically designed, it still seems a little unnecessary to have such an exaggerated cap, since the Prismacolor cap is easily removed.
While Prismacolor undoubtedly has a superior product design, Chartpak makes a better label. Not only do they appear longer than Prismacolor, but they blend easily when wet, which can be difficult with Prismacolor. Although harder to find than the ubiquitous Prismacolor, if you plan to invest in marketing, Chartpaks are the marketing tool to buy.
