Marker Fading Experiment

This post has been a few months in the making!

I like working with markers. Whether or not they're expensive Prismacolors or cheap Crayola Super Tips, they're fun. But at the start of the summer something caught my eye: a doodle of mine done with Crayola Super Tips had some noticeable fading. It had been done a few years ago, and it was hanging in my room. I could tell the colors, especially the deep blues, had faded. But I hadn't scanned or photographed the original artwork, so I couldn't really document to what extent. So that got me thinking about the quality of materials...which led to this experiment in marker fading. I've been working on this since September! It's April now! So without further delay, I present to you....

THE ULTIMATE MARKER FADING SHOWDOWN: PRISMACOLOR VS. CRAYOLA SUPER TIPS

PM-42

B5

First, allow me to present to two colors participating in this showdown. I tried to pick two similar colors. To the left, there's PM-42, a Prismacolor marker. To the right...well, Crayola doesn't give the Super Tips names that I can find. I call this one B5, because I consider it to be the 5th darkest value of the standard range of blue colors in the Super Tips set of 50. This is what both of the colors look like when they're freshly put down on paper. Let's see what they look like after just over seven months of direct sunlight....

Yikes. Guys. Look at that mess. Both of these babies have been baking in the sun since September 7th, 2015. It's now April 12th, 2016. Again, that's PM-42 on the left and B5 on the right. It's clear that the Prismacolor held up better, but it's still significantly discolored compared to how it looked originally. The Super Tip...it doesn't even look like the same color. It's a lovely speckled lavender or something. It's definitely not blue. So, yeah.

I also had a sample of each color in a protective sleeve in direct sunlight and....

PM-42 - B5

Yeah, it didn't really help much. The Prismacolor is exactly as faded as the one that was not in the sleeve. The Super Tip is a little bit darker than the one that was not in the sleeve. But it didn't really help enough, obviously.

B5 no sleeve, B5 in sleeve, Original B5

PM-42 no sleeve, PM in sleeve, Original PM-42

Make of this what you will. Neither marker will truly stand the test of time!