🩵 REVIEW - Arrtx Simptap Markers - NEW AND IMPROVED!

🩵 Hi rainedrops!!

   It's been a while, I know. But I plan to get this platform back. I have missed it here! 

  So, what brings me back? Well, I once again have the AMAZING privilege of working with the art company Arrtx! They have an all new version of their famous acrylic simptap markers, and I am here today to tell you all about them! I have discussed the previous version of the simptap marker on this platform before, so if you are interested in seeing a full review on those markers, you can read it here!

Arrtx Simptap Marker Review (ORIGINAL)

  Now before I begin, I want to establish..

Who are Arrtx? They are an absolutely awesome art supply company that focuses on making affordable yet high quality mediums that make art accessible to all artists, beginners or advanced artists alike! I am a huge fan of the mentality of Arrtx as a company as well as their products, so I totally recommend giving their about page a read! 

About Arrtx!

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Now, on to the main event!

  What are the simptap markers? Well these are acrylic paint markers similar to Posca pens or Arteza markers! As I mentioned above, I was super happy to work with Arrtx in the past reviewing their original simptap markers, which have been one of my absolute favorite sketchbook supplies ever since! But today we are looking at their new and improved version of the marker, with new sets taking the total color range from 24 to 48! Arrtx was actually kind enough to send me both the new 48 set and the 36 set with just 12 less colors, so I will be showing them both below. Let's do it!

Price: $44.99

Set: 48 Colors

Link: Buy Now

Here are the beautiful new markers! As always, one of the things I really love about Arrtx is their super inviting and fun branding, and these markers fit right in! The barrels have a really professional feel with a nice weight that make you feel like you are using a much more expensive supply, and the packaging never fails to have cute patterns and funky colors. Just a little added bonus with these that I love! 

So, what is new and improved? Well, the valve system has had a total update! One of the new features highlighted above is the Button Cover, an extra piece at the tip of the marker to help prevent the top press valve from being accidentally pressed. This is a potential lifesaver for messes and ruined paintings. Beyond that, the new colors are nothing to shake a stick at; the new range of colors feels huge in comparison with my old 24 pack! 

Take a look at these colors! (I of course will be swatching them later.)  One of the things I love about these new color options is the addition of new neutral tones, making it possible to create more realistic artwork with these than before! The only color I was really hoping to see added that was left out was a more yellow toned, olive green, which you will see is definitely missing in the real life swatches. But other than that, I am pretty satisfied with the variety of colors in this new set.

Let's take a look at the 36 set!

Price: $32.99

Set: 36 Colors

Missing Shades: J011, J035, J112, J122, J210, J322, J409, J451, J548, J577, J725, and J790

Link: Buy Now

  Still a ton of new colors in this more affordable set! You are only losing out on 12 colors, so all in all still a pretty big set!

  If I had one gripe about this smaller set, I wish they had swapped a few of the vibrant blue tones for some of the duller yellows included in the 48 set, but that's just me. And coming from a vibrant color lover no less! But I just feel like those duller desaturated colors are often overlooked when creating a set and sometimes some of the most versatile art supplies. I am glad they included multiple shades of gray however! 

  But we can't just base our feelings on the online swatches.. let's test these babies out!! (Unfourtanetly I cannot share a video through my blog, but you can click the link below if you are interested in seeing a quick timelapse of me swatching the markers irl!)

Swatching Video

For those who don't want to watch, here they are! 

  Just look at that shiny metallic gray!! Anyway let me stay on track here.. this is the full 48 set swatched on Mossery brand acrylic marker paper! (I chose NOT to swatch them on Arrtx paper, though I do love their mixed media paper, just because I wanted to be sure these markers work nicely with other papers as well.) I do still feel that there are perhaps a few too shades of blue in this pack, again a shocker as my favorite color is blue, and it's the color of pretty much everything I own!! Still i feel like the blues are a bit overbalanced in terms of the full set and I would have preferred a few extra greens in replacement. But again I am very happy with the browns and natural shades included! My biggest gripe is green in general; not really a desatured green here, and some of them are quite similar. But not anything too bad. 

  Below are some of my tests from working with these markers in the past, because I found while swatching that their ink felt fairly similar and they worked the same. A good thing in my book - I love how the old markers worked! 

  Here they are competing against Posca, like I said in the past, these markers have their pros and cons. Up top you can see just how much the brush tip improves the function of the Arrtx paint marker compared to the Posca. Just look at those lin lines! As for the bottom, the purple posca pen was a bit more juicy than the Arrtx, which I would potentially blame on the difficult to push valve button. The older markers valve was definitely sometimes difficult to push. All in all, I use Arrtx markers way more than posca. The brush nib just makes them so much more usable.

  Here you can see that these markers blend amazingly!  A huge huge pro. You can also see that even the oldest version of the Simptap marker beat out previous Arrtx brand acrylic pens of different models in terms of blending. One thing to note is that the white pen is by all means NOT opaque. There are ups and downs to this. No, it cannot create a pure white on top of a color, something that other white acrylic pens surely can do. But to be honest with you, I don't completely mind. I often find myself reaching for my translucent Arrtx white to add tiny highlights, lighten blocks of color, and more. In my point of view, I use the Arrtx white for some purposes and more opaque paints for others. But I can also see how this might be seen as a downside to the brand. 

  Now no real art review is complete without a drawing! Here is what I made using the new and improved Simptaps:

  Its my babies, Rin and Wyatt!  What's a better way to test a new art supply than with characters you love? These two are a great test for new supplies because they come along with some challenging colors. I very often find myself struggling to find the right color for both of their hair, but with this pack, I found good options for each! Of course, this does not reflect on other artist's needs since they won't be drawing MY original characters... but it is a good reflection on the range of colors in this pack! You can also see here they did great with the blending in Rin's hair! Another plus for me is that these markers work a bit like acrylic gouache (a personal favorite medium of mine) in that they are capable of looking bright and full while keeping a bit of transparency to show the pencil sketches through. I LOVEEE this look in my sketchbook!! It is great for adding in color without losing the sketch lines that give the piece their personality. At the same time, with a bit of erasing and layering, you can totally get these markers opaque as well.

  But let me stop gushing and start critiquing. Like I said above, I have essentially reviewed these markers before, so if you want to hear more about why I think you should take a look at these awesome markers, definitely check out my previous review. Instead, today, I want to discuss what has and hasn't changed about these new simptaps in comparison with the older version.  Which is worth it? 

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WHAT HAS NOT CHANGED?

- Amazing Ink Quality! Like before, these markers have high quality acrylic paint inside that is juicy and pigmented!

- Great Design! I love the barrel on these markers and how the transparent strip allows you to see your ink levels at all times. I also love the high end look of the barrel itself, as well as the funky patterns and colors on the packaging.

- Brush Tip! These are paint markers with a brush tip, which makes them just so much more usable on a day to day setting and allows for much more detailed work.

- Swatching system. One thing I wished had changed that didn't? The swatching code system. Every code starts with a J and is followed by a stream of seemingly meaningless numbers. It can make it pretty hard to keep track of, so I definitely recommend having a good swatch sheet for these.

- The caps. Another small complaint is that the cap colors often do not match the true ink colors at all, another reason having a swatch sheet is an essential with these. But I can't fault Arrtx too much for this as it is pretty much a universal issue - but it still exists and I wanted to mention it.

- The box. Probably my biggest irritant with this improvement is that the marker box still does not have inner grooves to fit the markers into! This leads to them falling around loosely in the box and not being able to be kept in any sort of organization, which does bother me to be frank. If I could change one thing about these markers, it would be that. Yes, the box is what I would change. But it is annoying having them slip and slide on you!

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

-  The Box! Wait, didn't you just say it stayed the same? Well yeah, the inside did, but the outside got a total overhaul!  Arrtx heard our cries and responded; replacing the old floppy cardboard container is a solid box which stands up easily on its own and is MUCH less easy to dent and bend!

- The Colors! Tons of new colors, of course!! What could be more exciting? For me, that is really the selling point here. I love color and having tons of options to get some really accurate shades for specific purposes, and now we have a ton more options to work with, including better skin tones, neutrals, and an improved silver metallic! 

- The Button Cover. The cover is the newest added feature that really solidifies these as a new version of the simptap. It's a small plastic cover that sits on the valve to help prevent any unwanted presses. But I do have some issues with it. For starters, the valve itself is easier to push on these new markers, the reason for the button cover's creation. This sounds like a good thing, and in a lot fo ways it is, but in others, it can be more finicky to work with. Lets just say that I ended up with a lot more spills and splatters on this swatch page than the one I did previously using the old version of the simptaps, simply because the valve is easier to activate and send ink to the front, creating some messy accidents. Now, on the other hand, I love being able to get more ink out quickly without having to use all of my strength to do so. But does it make up for the mess? Or better yet, the time it takes to actually remove the button cover? A small thing to whine about yes, I am actually complaining about the mere seconds it takes to remove one more lid.  But when you think about it that way, are you really gaining much time? Not to mention the few issues the button causes.

  For one, you cannot slot the pen cap onto the back of the marker if the button cover is on, it simply doesn't slot, and the few times I got it to sort of sit on there, it fell off quickly. This means you will have a lot of lids laying around. And when the lids don't match the paint, and you're using similar colors. not so easy. Sure you could take the covers off and then put the lids on, but..

  Then you just have the button covers laying around. Tiny clear pieces of plastic that are lost wayyyy too easily. And they don't slot on the backs of the lid either. No good way to keep these things from falling all around.

 Finally, the button covers fall off.  I go to put my markers back in the box and they fall in! Then I have markers of different heights falling in an unorganized box, some without the covers on at all, others with their covers on sitting on top of an already fallen cover, too tall to close the box! Then I am sticking my fingers down in the box to retrieve the cover..

   All in all? I am a bit iffy on this feature. But it is certainly not enough to keep me from using the markers. The ink way outweighs this irritant for me.

Final Review?

  These markers, for me, are fairly equal in quality to the previous set of simptap markers. They are no worse and no better; the fixed issues from the old set are in a way balanced by the new issues introduced. None of them stop me from wanting to use the markers, however. 

Should I buy the new Arrtx Simptap markers?

  YES! If you love bright opaque paint pens, a huge range of color, and high quality ink at an affordable price. 

Do I need to buy the new set if I have the old set?

It depends on what you are looking for. Are they a huge improvement that feel like using a totally new art supply? No. They are the same old (really great) acrylic markers with a few tweaks here and there. 

WHY should I buy them?

If you do not already have the old 24 set, spring for the new markers and get yourself some extra colors! Or even if you do and you just love a big color range like me, you will totally love these, and they will impress you as much as they have me! You will have a big set of super nice markers for a fairly cheap retail price, and be able to make some really professional looking work without breaking the bank.

Who shouldn't buy them?

Anyone who doesn't already like traditional paint pens, as these are at the end of the day, what the simptap markers are. If you already have the 24 set and are not interested in new colors, I do not personally feel that the changes in the new sets are worth the price if you do not care about either having as many colors as possible, or if you do not want to complete the full set. If you will be extremely annoyed by the small issues I mentioned, or do not see yourself weighing features like the brush tip or the ink quality over minor issues in manufacturing.

Would YOU buy them?

Well, I didn't have to as Arrtx kindly sent them my way, but would I? YES!! Despite my complaints and critiques, I love using these markers and I cannot wait to use them more in the future!

Well, that is my full review! 

Thanks once again to Arrtx for working with me, don’t forget to follow them on their socials to be sure to keep an eye out for new products, as well as giveaways and art challenges which they do ALL THE TIME! I absolutely love this brand and how they make amazing art supplies affordable and accessible to more artists. I couldn’t recommend the brand enough!!

Arrtx Website!

Hope this was a helpful review for you guys, be sure to check out my Kofi page if you want to see more new blog posts from me! I am hoping to become a lot more active on here soon so keep a lookout!!

Thanks for reading, have a good day Rainedrops!!

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(This review is not a paid sponsorship. All opinions expressed are of my own free will. I am an unpaid partner with Arrtx.)