Testing Ohuhu: YG080 Yellow Grey 08 for Lightfastness and Quality

You were told “Ohuhu is the Copic slayer! They’re like Copic Markers but better!”

Is it true?

Every Ohuhu Marker has different characteristics based upon its unique ink formula. No matter how great they say the marker is, test results do not lie.

So are Ohuhu markers as great as you’ve heard?

Let’s look at Ohuhu RG030 to find out.

WARNING: Ohuhu markers have numbers on the cap but not on the body of the marker. We do not recommend coloring with both caps off due to the risk of accidentally placing the wrong caps on a marker.

Test results: Ohuhu YG080 Yellow Grey 08

REFILL WARNING! At this time, Ohuhu does not sell refills for YG080. To date, you must purchase a new marker when your current marker runs dry. Ohuhu is deceptive when they advertise that their markers are refillable. In reality, they only offer 50 refills in a line of 320+ markers. See Ohuhu’s current list of refills here.

Temperature: This is a warm… something… Yellow? Gray? Green? Brown?You decide.

Resemblance: to be honest, this is the color of old paint water, not a color of paint you’d ever need to purchase.

Name: “Yellow Grey 08” is an incredibly frustrating name. See the “Ink Color Family” info below for more information.

Actual Value: N5

Unlike Copic, Ohuhu does not measure value— this is a glaring deficiency which makes finding blending combinations harder than it has to be!

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the Copic cap indicates the value. We’re using the Copic scale to measure Ohuhu until Ohuhu releases a reliable value scale.

Cap Accuracy: The plastic on an Ohuhu Honolulu YG080 marker closely matches 1 coat of YG080 ink.

I’ve seen numerous Ohuhu review videos where they complain about massive Ohuhu cap color inaccuracies. I’ve also read this mentioned in blogs and websites. To be honest, I’m simply not finding Ohuhu to be any worse than other marker brands. Yes, some caps are wrong but I don’t think cap accuracy is their biggest problem.

Copic Substitution: The closest color to Ohuu YG080 is Copic’s Y28. Y28 is a bit more golden but the highly desaturated yellow vibe is similar in both colors.

Note: similar colors rarely behave the same way. From experience I can tell you that Copic Y28 is an extremely easy color to blend and layer. Meanwhile YG080 is a color I’d warn against due to the oily blotches it develops on the second layer. See “Overinking” results below for more info. See the test results for Copic Y28 here.

Buildup: YG080 reaches a maximum value at 4 coats.

Overinking: YG080 does not layer well. It develops oily blotches on the second layer which then turns to an overinked appearance at 3 layers. Exercise caution when using this marker in blending combinations— the act of blending may be enough to allow this marker to cast an oily sheen over the entire area.

Shattering: YG080 did not shatter and seems to be made from a single dye source.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected color when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: YG080 mildly stains the paper.

With alcohol markers, a staining ink is generally a sign of a low quality ink. Staining inks bond to the paper fibers and are reluctant to release. Staining inks make blending harder than it has to be!

Lift: YG080 can be lifted somewhat but please look at the dark stripe on either side of the lifted area. This seems to be a common trait with Ohuhu markers, one that artist grade marker companies take care to avoid. What good is a marker if the colorant clumps this badly on contact with solvent? Would you want stripes like this appearing at the edges of your blends or even worse, after trying to make a correction?

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: YG080 faded about 40% during the test period. This is far more than the average Copic.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original marker art under these conditions.

Ink Color Family: In the real world YG universally stands for Yellow Green.

Not in Ohuhuland.

Ohuhu has chosen to confuse all of humanity by inventing a color they call “Yellow Grey” which is neither yellow nor gray.

Does Ohuhu make yellow green markers? Yes, they do. They make lots of yellow greens but because of this Yellow Grey stupidity, they were forced to call their yellow-green markers GY.

They did all of this for TWO markers.

Yes, that’s right folks— there are only two Yellow Gray markers.

And get this, one of the two Yellow Gray markers is actually a Neutral Gray.

Who invents a family for two unrelated markers and then gives them the name of an existing color family which happens to have the biggest color range and is the most popular selling family?

Ohuhu. It’s their way of flipping us the bird.

Cap Numbering: As mentioned above, there are only two piddly YG markers which can be divided evenly into your left hand and right hands for maximum portability.

YG080 is the color of vomit.

YG050 is a lovely Neutral Gray which has already filed for divorce.

I’m still early in the Ohuhu testing process. I will add more info to this article as I learn more and when I spot behavioral patterns.

From what I’ve learned so far, I will not be working with Ohuhu markers and I will discourage students from using them in my classes. They’re simply not worth the frustration.

MG100 Blue Grey 09: Testing Ohuhu Markers for Lightfastness and Quality

You were told “Ohuhu is the Copic slayer! They’re like Copic Markers but better!”

Is it true?

Every Ohuhu Marker has different characteristics based upon its unique ink formula. No matter how great they say the marker is, test results do not lie.

So are Ohuhu markers as great as you’ve heard?

Let’s look at Ohuhu MG100 to find out.

WARNING: Ohuhu markers have numbers on the cap but not on the body of the marker. We do not recommend coloring with both caps off due to the risk of accidentally placing the wrong caps on a marker.

Test results: Ohuhu MG100 Blue Grey 09

IMPORTANT NOTE: To nobody’s suprise, Ohuhu has badly botched their lettering/number system. SEE THE “INK COLOR FAMILY” SECTION BELOW FOR AN IMPORTANT WARNING ABOUT OHUHU MG MARKERS.

REFILL WARNING! At this time, Ohuhu does not sell refills for MG100. To date, you must purchase a new marker when your current MG100 runs dry. See Ohuhu’s current list of refills here.

Temperature: A medium-dark grayed blue-green

Resemblance: this resembles a hand mixed color, possibly Payne’s Gray with a touch of Turquoise

Actual Value: N8

Unlike Copic, Ohuhu does not measure value— this is a glaring deficiency which makes finding blending combinations harder than it has to be!

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the Copic cap indicates the value. We’re using the Copic scale to measure Ohuhu until Ohuhu releases a reliable value scale.

Cap Accuracy: The plastic on an Ohuhu Honolulu MG100 marker matches 1 coat of MG100 ink.

I’ve seen numerous Ohuhu review videos where they complain about massive Ohuhu cap color inaccuracies. I’ve also read this mentioned in blogs and websites. To be honest, I’m simply not finding Ohuhu to be any worse than other marker brands. Yes, some caps are wrong but I don’t think cap accuracy is their biggest problem.

Copic Substitution: Ohuhu BG050 does not have a match in the Copic Marker palette. The closest similarity is to Copic’s B97 but otherwise, they are a near match in hue and value. B97 is bluer, MG100 has a bit more gray and green to it. Copic C Greys are not bluish enough to substitute for MG100.

Buildup: MG100 reaches a maximum value at 3-4 coats. Exercise caution when using more than 3 layer of any Ohuhu ink.

Overinking: We do not recommend using more than 3 coats of MG100 and we do not recommend using this in three or four marker Ohuhu blending combinations.

Shattering: MG100 shattered into at least three colors of ink. We believe this ink is a blend of gray, teal, and a very strange lime green or yellowish color. A higher quality ink company would have chosen a greener teal instead of adding yellow to the mix, to keep their inks limited to only two components.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected color when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: MG100 stains the paper considerably

With alcohol markers, a staining ink is generally a sign of a low quality ink. Staining inks bond to the paper fibers and are reluctant to release. Staining inks make blending harder than it has to be!

Lift: MG100 is not an easy lifting color, it also damages the paper quite badly (as do many of the Ohuhu inks we’ve tested. We expect colorless blender to snowplow a stripe of ink to either side of the test zone, but we find the extreme striping to be a big problem for anyone trying to soften the look of mistakes. Exercise caution when trying to correct this marker.

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: MG100 faded about 30% during the test period. This is more than the average Copic and at least twice the fade of Copic’s C8 which is a similar value gray (but not as blue).

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original marker art under these conditions.

Ink Color Family: Sit down folks, this is gonna be a long one.

Ohuhu doesn’t care about their ink identification system and this means they really do not care about you!

“MG” in Ohuhu markers means “Blue-Gray”

The problem is that Ohuhu has already named their Cool Greys “BG” and they also named their Blue Greens “BG”. They really can’t lump a third group into their dumb BG group of markers.

I’ve been in art 30 years and I have no idea what the M in MG means. It’s nonsense.

There are many names they could have chosen for this color family other than MG. Steel gray? Slate gray?

Or here’s a crazy idea… call all the cool grays CG and give them a better numbering system.

Cap Numbering: There are 4 MG grays which honestly, look like blue markers next to the other grays. I have no idea why these markers were designated gray but now that they’ve done it, at least they could number them well?

Nope.

Folks, MG100 stands for Blue Gray #09. Not #10. They could have given this the name MG090 if they wanted to, the number isn’t being used.

But they didn’t. Because they don’t care about you.

As stated above, the Ohuhu numbering system makes no sense. The markers are not arranged in chromatic order so you can not trust the numbers to tell you whether this marker is lighter or darker than other Ohuhu markers with similar numbers.

I’m still early in the Ohuhu testing process. I will add more info to this article as I learn more and when I spot behavioral patterns.

From what I’ve learned so far, I will not be working with Ohuhu markers and I will discourage students from using them in my classes. They’re simply not worth the frustration.

Testing Ohuhu: RG030 Red Grey 03 Lightfastness and Quality

You were told “Ohuhu is the Copic slayer! They’re like Copic Markers but better!”

Is it true?

Every Ohuhu Marker has different characteristics based upon its unique ink formula. No matter how great they say the marker is, test results do not lie.

So are Ohuhu markers as great as you’ve heard?

Let’s look at Ohuhu RG030 to find out.

WARNING: Ohuhu markers have numbers on the cap but not on the body of the marker. We do not recommend coloring with both caps off due to the risk of accidentally placing the wrong caps on a marker.

Test results: Ohuhu RG030 Red Grey 03

REFILL WARNING! At this time, Ohuhu does not sell refills for RG030. To date, you must purchase a new marker when your current RG030 runs dry. Ohuhu is deceptive when they advertise that their markers are refillable when they only offer 50 refills in a line of 320+ markers. See Ohuhu’s current list of refills here.

Temperature: A warm reddish gray

Resemblance: diluted French Gray watercolor

Actual Value: N4

Unlike Copic, Ohuhu does not measure value— this is a glaring deficiency which makes finding blending combinations harder than it has to be!

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the Copic cap indicates the value. We’re using the Copic scale to measure Ohuhu until Ohuhu releases a reliable value scale.

Cap Accuracy: The plastic on an Ohuhu Honolulu RG030 marker is a bit darker and cooler than 1 coat of BG050 ink.

I’ve seen numerous Ohuhu review videos where they complain about massive Ohuhu cap color inaccuracies. I’ve also read this mentioned in blogs and websites. To be honest, I’m simply not finding Ohuhu to be any worse than other marker brands. Yes, some caps are wrong but I don’t think cap accuracy is their biggest problem.

Copic Substitution: Much to my disappointment, Copic does not make Red or French Gray markers. The closest color Copic makes to RG030 would be Copic’s W3. W3 is warm but a green-gray rather than this rosier “greige” color. Kudos to Ohuhu for giving us a group of beautiful French Grays.

Note: similar colors rarely behave the same way. From experience I can tell you that Copic C3 is an easier marker for layering. See “buildup” and “overinking” results below for why I think C3 is a much better marker for those with a heavy hand or who make many blend corrections. See the test results for Copic C3 here.

Buildup: RG030 reaches a maximum value at 4 coats.

Normally, I rant in this section about how Ohuhu colors reach maximum value at two layers which makes blending harder than it has to be. Ohuhu markers tend to look oily very fast which makes many of their colors unsuitable for underpainting or beginner blending.

However, Ohuhu’s RG030 acts more like a Copic Marker in its ability to layer several times before turning oily. I have yet to test the rest of the RG family but I have high hopes for this group.

For the first time in this series, I can see a place for adding Ohuhu RG markers as a supplement to my Copic collection. The only reason I won’t is because I don’t like the Ohuhu brush nib but also, because to date, Ohuhu does not sell any RG refills. I’m extremely disappointed because I really want a set of French Gray markers!

Overinking: RG030 layers beautifully and the color did not develop over-inked blotches until 5 layers (which is more than anyone should ever do).

Shattering: This is definitely an ink blend. RG030 shattered into a brownish color with gray leakage.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected color when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: RG030 did not stain the paper.

With alcohol markers, a staining ink is generally a sign of a low quality ink. Staining inks bond to the paper fibers and are reluctant to release. Staining inks make blending harder than it has to be!

Lift: RG030 is an easy lifting color. As with most Ohuhu inks, you can make some corrections with colorless blender but use caution because the ink creates dark dry lines which often look worse than the original mistake.

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: RG030 faded about 50% during the test period. This is far more than the average Copic. The closest Copic color is W3 which did not fade at all.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original marker art under these conditions.

Ink Color Family: RG stands for Red Grey which is usually called French Grey in other art supplies. French Greys tend to look brownish compared to other grays and for this reason, they’re excellent organic grays for landscapes, botanicals, and animal fur.

Ohuhu gives us six RG markers, three of which look like true Red Grays, hooray! The other three are Violet Grays which is disappointing.

Cap Numbering: As mentioned above, there are six RG markers which can be divided into two color groups, each with a light, medium, and dark version.

RG030 is the lightest member of the trio of true Red Greys. It can be blended with RG050 and RG080.

This is one of the few times when the numbering within an Ohuhu color family actually makes sense!

I’m still early in the Ohuhu testing process. I will add more info to this article as I learn more and when I spot behavioral patterns.

From what I’ve learned so far, I will not be working with Ohuhu markers and I will discourage students from using them in my classes. They’re simply not worth the frustration.

Learn more about RG030 Red Grey 03, a warm gray Ohuhu Marker. We swatch and test Ohuhu colors- layering, staining, lift, value, lightfastness, saturation, and cap accuracy. | MarkerNovice.com | How to blend alcohol ink markers.

BG050 Cool Grey 05: Testing Ohuhu Markers for Lightfastness and Quality

You were told “Ohuhu is the Copic slayer! They’re like Copic Markers but better!”

Is it true?

Every Ohuhu Marker has different characteristics based upon its unique ink formula. No matter how great they say the marker is, test results do not lie.

So are Ohuhu markers as great as you’ve heard?

Let’s look at Ohuhu BG050 to find out.

WARNING: Ohuhu markers have numbers on the cap but not on the body of the marker. We do not recommend coloring with both caps off due to the risk of accidentally placing the wrong caps on a marker.

Test results: Ohuhu BG050 Cool Grey 05

IMPORTANT NOTE: To nobody’s suprise, Ohuhu has badly botched their lettering/number system. SEE THE “INK COLOR FAMILY” SECTION BELOW FOR AN IMPORTANT WARNING ABOUT OHUHU BG MARKERS.

REFILL WARNING! At this time, Ohuhu does not sell refills for BG050. To date, you must purchase a new marker when your current BG050 runs dry. See Ohuhu’s current list of refills here.

Temperature: A medium bluish gray

Resemblance: diluted Payne’s Gray watercolor

Actual Value: N3.5

Unlike Copic, Ohuhu does not measure value— this is a glaring deficiency which makes finding blending combinations harder than it has to be!

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the Copic cap indicates the value. We’re using the Copic scale to measure Ohuhu until Ohuhu releases a reliable value scale.

Cap Accuracy: The plastic on an Ohuhu Honolulu BG050 marker matches 1 coat of BG050 ink.

I’ve seen numerous Ohuhu review videos where they complain about massive Ohuhu cap color inaccuracies. I’ve also read this mentioned in blogs and websites. To be honest, I’m simply not finding Ohuhu to be any worse than other marker brands. Yes, some caps are wrong but I don’t think cap accuracy is their biggest problem.

Copic Substitution: Ohuhu BG050 is a close match to Copic’s C3 but otherwise, they are a near match in hue and value.

Note: similar colors rarely behave the same way. From experience I can tell you that Copic C3 is an easier marker for layering. See “buildup” and “overinking” results below for why I think C3 is a much better marker for those with a heavy hand or who make many blend corrections. See the test results for Copic C3 here.

Buildup: BG050 reaches a maximum value at 2 coats.

This is especially problematic for those who color with a lot of ink, who have a heavy hand (using a lot of pressure), or those who make many blending corrections. When an ink reaches maximum value, the paper begins to look oily and will eventually turn sticky. Sticky projects actually collect dust! For an ink to reach full value at only two coats is absolutely ridiculous.

If you wonder why this is a problem, consider that most people use THREE marker blending combinations, meanwhile this marker doesn’t want to be touched with more than two layers of any color.

This ink is not appropriate for coloring and especially not for blending. It may have other legimate uses but Ohuhu never should have released such a unsuitable ink for coloring purposes!

Overinking: We do not recommend using more than 2 coats of BG050 and we do not recommend using this in three or four marker blending combinations.

Shattering: This ink did not noticeably shatter in testing but it’s such a light color that perhaps I’ve missed the presence of other colors in the formula. To my eye, this looks like a single color formula.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected color when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: BG050 did not stain the paper.

With alcohol markers, a staining ink is generally a sign of a low quality ink. Staining inks bond to the paper fibers and are reluctant to release. Staining inks make blending harder than it has to be!

Lift: BG050 is an easy lifting color and should be considered “correctable”. No ink is erasable but you should be able to fade most mistakes made with this color.

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: BG050 faded about 30% during the test period. This is more than the average Copic and at least twice the fade of Copic’s C3 which is a similar color.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original marker art under these conditions.

Ink Color Family: Sit down folks, this is gonna be a long one.

Ohuhu doesn’t care about their ink identification system and this means they really do not care about you!

“BG” in Ohuhu markers may mean “Blue-Green”

But BG can also means “Blue-Gray”. Got that? Ohuhu couldn’t be bothered to give their aqua markers a different set of letters than their blue grays. They’re all BG. Thanks, Ohuhu.

From what I can tell, the BG markers with two numbers are blue green. If it has 3 numbers, it’s a cool gray.

But wait, it gets worse! BG050 is named “Cool Grey 05” which should not be confused with Ohuhu CG (Cool Grey) markers or CG II (Cool Grey Series 2) markers.

Hang on again, there’s more bad news. Ohuhu has grays marked MG. I have absolutely NO idea what the M might stand for. And hold on to your socks folks, because MG markers are all named “Blue Gray (something)”

As if this wasn’t all bad enough, none of the BG Gray inks are related to each other. Read on for more on this subject.

Cap Numbering: The BG grays (not to be confused with the BG blue-greens) is a group of 3 markers which have no relation to one another despite being consecutively numbered.

• BG050 “Cool Grey 05” is a very bluish medium gray

• BG060 “Deep Cool Grey” is darker but more violet-ish and noticeably warmer

• BG070 “Cool Grey 07” isn’t much darker than 060. It’s a traditional slate gray, more neutral than 050 or 060.

They do not blend with each other particularly well.

As stated above, the Ohuhu numbering system makes no sense. The markers are not arranged in chromatic order so you can not trust the numbers to tell you whether this marker is lighter or darker than other Ohuhu markers with similar numbers.

Marker Name: Special note… notice above, the three BG grays are not consistently named. Ohuhu doesn’t even care enough to keep the name pattern consistent.

• BG050 “Cool Grey 05”

• BG060 “Deep Cool Grey”

• BG070 “Cool Grey 07”

I’m still early in the Ohuhu testing process. I will add more info to this article as I learn more and when I spot behavioral patterns.

From what I’ve learned so far, I will not be working with Ohuhu markers and I will discourage students from using them in my classes. They’re simply not worth the frustration.

Learn more about BG050 Cool Grey 05, a blue-gray Ohuhu Marker. We swatch and test Ohuhu colors- layering, staining, lift, value, lightfastness, saturation, and cap accuracy. | MarkerNovice.com | How to blend alcohol ink markers.