Ohuhu Markers: Dry and Under-weight Markers in a New Set?

Testing Ohuhu Markers

“Apple Blossom” a Copic Marker illustration by the author, Amy Shulke, 2023. 12x18 inches on Strathmore Bristol. Details with Holbein Colored Pencils. Advanced level Apple Blossom coloring kit available here.

Hey there, my name is Amy and I’m a technical illustrator and marker art instructor. I’ve worked professionally with artist grade markers since 1989. I specialize in Copic Markers.

After all the recent hype about Ohuhu Markers, I’m finally trying them.

Actually, I’m testing them. Are they really as good as Copic?

I mean real testing. I’m analyzing the Ohuhu marker body, the nibs, and testing the ink for lightfastness, color chemistry, staining, lift, and cap accuracy.

You know, the stuff marker artists should care about?

In this series of articles, I’m sharing the good, the bad, and the really, really ugly. Honest observations from a professional marker artist who isn’t paid to review Ohuhu and isn’t trying to sell you markers.

Today, let’s cover the dry and dying markers I received in my new set of Ohuhu Markers

DRY OHUHU MARKERS?

FULL DISCLOSURE: I didn’t open my Ohuhu package immediately when it arrived; then it took a couple of weeks of swatching for lightfast testing before I found the dry markers.

To be honest, I don’t weigh my markers on arrival. Who does?

In any case, I missed the 30 day exchange window so I can’t tell you how effective their customer service is. More on this subject below.

I am not sponsored by Ohuhu or any other art supply company. I do not accept free art supplies either. Every product shown on MarkerNovice.com and VanillaArts.com has been purchased by me with my own funds.

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Are Ohuhu Markers a money saver or a budget buster?

Now that I have all 320 Honolulu colors, I’m testing every marker the same way I’ve been testing Copic Markers.

• lightfastness

• color chemistry

• value

• reactiveness

• staining

• lift

• cap accuracy.

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dry or Under-weight Ohuhu Markers in a brand new set?

I’ll be honest, I’m biased.

I expected Ohuhu to look and behave like a low-quality alcohol marker but I didn’t count on buying dead markers.

In my set of 320 Ohuhu Honolulu markers, seven markers arrived dead or dying.

I was about 2/3 of the way though swatching the entire set before I found the first dead marker. At that point, I started weighing each before swatching.

I still need to circle back to to the beginning to weigh the first two hundred markers. I won’t have an accurate under-weight marker count until I do.

How Low Are the Dying Ohuhu Markers?

The seven markers are all well under the average weight of a full Ohuhu marker. There are no visible cracks and all caps were secure when I discovered the dry markers.

Ohuhu G030 Crescent Yellow on the scale. The full Ohuhu Markers in my new set average about 16.2 grams. This dead marker weighs 3 grams short and both nibs are pale and hard.

Full Honolulu “Brush/Fine” Markers (with both caps on) are averaging about 16.2 grams, give or take a tenth.

Note: I can’t confirm this average until I weigh all 320 markers.

In my new set:

2 dead Ohuhu weighed 12.9 and 13.2 grams

The under-weight Ohuhu weighed between 13.7 - 14.4 grams

For clarification, I consider a marker “dead” when the marker barely leaves a mark on the paper and when one or both nibs are hard and crunchy.

A dying marker is too low on ink to leave a consistent mark. The nibs may have whitened dry spots or even darkened sticky areas where the nib can’t draw enough ink from the marker core to stay fully moist.

One interesting point:

My dead/dying colors included only one dark marker (E080).

The remaining six are all light yellow, light yellow greens, and light greens. Two of them are numbered “030” which is an interesting coincidence.

Most art supply companies produce colors in batches— for instance, one month they make all blues, the next month they switch to red. It’s not a stretch to wonder if there was an issue at the factory during Ohuhu’s pale yellowish green batches.

Customer Service: Ohuhu’s return policy

From Ohuhu.com:

Read Ohuhu’s return/exchange policy page very carefully. It seems designed to make returns difficult. This is one reason I decided to order through Amazon rather than directly from Ohuhu.

I live in a rural area. I can return to Amazon from several local businesses but the nearest Fed Ex or UPS is an hour away.

As I stated above, I missed the 30 day return window because my package sat unopened for a couple weeks and then it took a while to swatch the whole set. The bad markers were concentrated on the far right and I started swatching from the left.

But also, I was hesitant to contact Ohuhu. I’m testing their markers and was already seeing things I don’t like. I didn’t want obligate Ohuhu to send free replacements for an unfavorable review.

Why not purchase refills for the dying Ohuhu Markers?

I purchased seven new Ohuhu Markers to replace the seven dead/dying colors.

Why didn’t I just purchase refills and fix the markers?

It’s not as easy as you think.

First, Ohuhu claims their markers are refillable but that’s misleading.

Ohuhu makes 320+ colors but they only sell 50 refills.

Of the seven dead & dying, only one marker has a corresponding refill.

There’s also a nib issue. The nibs on both ends of all seven markers are damaged beyond repair.

Ohuhu only sells replacement brush nibs. Ohuhu does not sell replacement chisel or fine nibs.

So the best I can do is replace the brush ends but my fine ends are just dead forever? No thanks.

An under-weight, dying Ohuhu Y030 Lemon Chiffon. This dry marker is new, directly out of the package.

Here’s the last problem:

Contrary to popular myth, you can not fix a dead marker by simply refilling it.

Refills are for markers that running slightly low.

Refills can not raise the dead.

Most people think of a marker like a car with a gas tank. When it runs down to empty, just add more juice and you’re good to go.

But alcohol markers don’t work that way.

Inside every Ohuhu and Copic is a soft and spongey core. The core keeps the ink from sloshing around inside. The core also feeds ink to the nibs on both ends.

Ohuhu and Copic inks contain shellac. Shellac is a fixative; it hardens and cures as it dries, preventing color transfer or smearing after your coloring has dried.

When a marker dries-out below a minimum weight, in the absence of ink, the soft core cures and hardens. A crusty core can not hold ink.

Note: This is why ink sometimes pours out the other end as you refill a marker, the damaged core can’t absorb new ink.

My dead Ohuhu can not be saved. They’re toast.

My dying Ohuhu are close enough in weight to the dead markers that their cores are certainly toast too.

Besides, there’s a fatal flaw with the resurrection theory:

Even if you could revive a dead marker with refill ink, the color of the marker would be darker than normal.

The alcohol (solvent) in the marker evaporates, the dye doesn’t. Adding fresh ink adds more moisture AND more dye. To keep an R13 marker the true color of R13, you should add straight solvent, not more dye!

But it doesn’t work anyway. No sense wishing and wasting refill ink.

Refills won’t help my markers, even if Ohuhu did sell ink for them.

But Copic has issues too!

I hear ya!

I’m not making excuses for Copic— they’ve had problems with marker cracks and shipping dead markers for the last several years.

I hear about it from a lot of students.

But I’m not reviewing Copic markers today. We’re talkin’ Ohuhu here.

I’ve read a lot of dead Copic rants on Facebook, Quora, and Reddit. People are mad at Copic so they’re buying Ohuhu instead.

Which seems dumb. You’re mad at the good markers so you’re gonna suffer with the bad in protest?

My set of Ohuhu had similar quality issues to what I’m hearing from those buying Copics made in the last couple years. At least with a dried-out Copic, there’s usually a crack in the body or cap you can point to. With my Ohuhu I don’t see anything wrong with them, other than the fact that they feel comically lightweight.

I’m not saying it’s okay to sell people dry markers,

I’m pointing out that Ohuhu has similar problems to Copic.

Neither company is an angel here.

Oh, and by the way:

I’m missing one color from my Ohuhu set

In the swatching process, I found two WG3 markers.

But I’ve got 320 markers which means I’m missing a color.

And it’ll be a total PITA to figure out which one because Ohuhu’s numbers are a joke.

Ohuhu Honolulu Markers 320 Set purchased by the author in May 2023.

Unboxing Ohuhu Markers: Ordering and Packaging Review

Ordering Ohuhu Markers From Amazon

Hi there, my name is Amy and I’m a technical illustrator and marker art instructor. I’ve worked professionally with artist grade markers since 1989. I specialize in Copic Markers.

After years of hearing about Ohuhu Markers, I’ve decided to try them.

Actually, I’m going to test them. Are they really as good as Copic?

I mean real testing. I’m analyzing the Ohuhu marker body, the nibs, and testing the ink for lightfastness, color chemistry, staining, lift, and cap accuracy.

You know, the stuff artists should actually care about?

In this series of articles, I’m sharing the good, the bad, and the really, really ugly…

Honest observations from a professional marker artist who isn’t trying to sell you markers.

Today, let’s cover the purchasing process and packaging.

I ordered Ohuhu Markers online

This wasn’t by choice.

I prefer to try my art supplies before I buy them. With markers, simply picking one up and feeling it tells me a lot. I’ve avoided a lot of badly made markers just by holding a sample.

But Ohuhu markers are not sold in stores, at least not near me.

Ohuhu Honolulu Markers 320 Set purchased by the author in May 2023.

Granted, I live in the middle of nowhere but I travelled an hour to my favorite hole-in-the-wall independent art supply store. They carry lots of markers but not Ohuhu. The store owner knew about them but said they’d never been asked to stock them or sent a product catalog. He gets tons of catalogs but never one from Ohuhu. Weird.

Then I struck out at the chain stores:

No Ohuhu on the shelves at Dick Blick, Michaels, Joann’s, Hobby Lobby, or the college bookstore (which sells Copic).

I looked online and saw Walmart.com carries Ohuhu but there were none at my local Walmart.

So I ordered off Amazon.

Ohuhu also sells markers from their own website but given the size of my purchase and that I’ve never dealt with this company before, I wanted the customer service team at Amazon behind me if the box arrived damaged or (yikes!) not at all.

With the order placed, I spent several days worrying that I’d just spent $165 on really bad markers.

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Are Ohuhu Markers a money saver or a budget buster?

Now that I have all 320 Honolulu colors, I’m testing every marker the same way I’ve been testing Copic Markers.

• lightfastness

• color chemistry

• value

• reactiveness

• staining

• lift

• cap accuracy.

---

Ohuhu Packaging: securely padded in protective boxes

Despite my worry, the Ohuhu set arrived intact and pristine.

I ordered the 320 set of Honolulu markers in the Brush/Fine Tip version. They also come in sets of 104 and 216. Because I eventually want to test every color Ohuhu makes, I purchased the full set.

The markers come in a zippered canvas bag which was wrapped in a plastic bag, then double-boxed with plenty of cardboard protection.

Thumbs up for Ohuhu’s excellent mail packaging!

They also placed a foam piece on top of the markers inside the bag to keep them from jostling during transit. Nice!

Ohuhu markers are dumped into the bag in random order

Ohuhu Honolulu Markers 320 Set purchased by the author in May 2023.

Here’s where every artist dies a little inside…

When you unzip the canvas Ohuhu bag, you expect to see a rainbow of joy. Instead you’re confronted by mass color chaos.

The markers arrive in a jumbled mess of colors. You really can’t tell what you’re looking at because every color is jumbled with every other color. This photo was taken after I spent TWO HOURS rearranging the markers in kind’a chromatic order.

Am I being nit picky about this?

No!

Chromatically organized markers are a reasonable expectation and it’s easy to arrange this at the factory— if you care enough to make the effort.

NOTE: Even children’s art supplies take the time to arrange their products in chromatic or at least appealing order!

Color organization is important because we can’t get a feel for the color palette when the colors are scattered willy-nilly.

Once re-arranged you can see that Ohuhu is heavy on the pinks, purples, and grays with alarmingly few yellows and greens.

Floral and landscape artists beware! Yellow and green are important.

I can’t help but feel the scattered presentation is meant to obscure something more than the overall palette. I’ll talk more about this when I write an article about the Ohuhu numbering system.

Ohuhu provides a Complementary Vinyl Coloring Surface

I’ve purchased Ohuhu marker sketchbooks before and each sketchbook comes with a complementary vinyl sheet to place underneath your coloring page to protect the paper or the table from marker bleed though.

I’m iffy about Ohuhu marker journals but I’m madly in love with the sheet of vinyl!

In my classes, I teach students to color on non-porous surfaces like acrylic clipboards or glass desk tops. The non-absorbent surface improves the smoothness of your marker blends.

Ohuhu’s sheet of vinyl is perfect because it’s portable. I was thrilled to see they included a vinyl sheet in the marker bag. My only gripe is that the protector could have been cut larger, a full page size like A4 or 8.5x11” would have been better. Heck, I’d pay for a larger one!

But they didn’t have to put on in the bag at all, so I do really appreciate the gift-with-purchase.

Thanks, Ohuhu!

Ohuhu Swatch Cards are A Joke!

Ohuhu includes four swatch cards which sounds great until you touch one.

First, the paper is not identified— makes it easy for them to choose the cheapest paper and switch when another paper can be found cheaper, eh?

And they’re definitely switching and swapping because my cards do not match. One is printed on bright white, the rest are ivory-white.

But wait, it gets worse. The swatch cards are printed on an absorbent paper which is a big no-no with alcohol markers. The paper is also extremely toothy— toothy paper over time will wear-down your marker nibs. Whatever this awful paper is, it’s not a paper I’d recommend to students and a marker company should be ashamed for encouraging customers to use this kind of paper.

How hard can it be to call up a marker paper company and say “hey, we’re giving our customers free swatch cards. If you cut us a deal on the paper, we’ll print your logo in the corner and recommend your paper to our customers.”

Heck, Ohuhu SELLS marker sketchbooks!!! How much money are they missing out on by not promoting their own paper?

The printing on my cards is poorly done, as if the machine was running low on ink. One card has an ombre’ effect where the top third is dark and fades to light gray at the bottom.

The swatch squares are small and the text is uncomfortably hard to read. I’ve done a fair share of pamphlet and poster graphic design and these swatch cards were intended to be printed on cards 2-3 times this size. Ohuhu simply shrank the image to fit four to a page without scaling the text and strokes for readability. Doofus move, Ohuhu!

Now for the kicker which says a lot about Ohuhu: the swatches are not arranged in either numeric or chromatic order. Basically, the swatch cards are as badly organized as the markers arrive in the bag.

My recommendation: Burn the free swatch cards and purchase a download file online— find a swatch chart created by someone who cares about Ohuhu more than Ohuhu cares about Ohuhu.

Grading the Ohuhu ordering experience and packaging:

“Easy as Pie” a Copic Marker illustration by the author, Amy Shulke, 2023. 12x12 inches on Strathmore Bristol. Details with Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils.

• Ordering was quick and easy through Amazon and I felt a sense of security that I wouldn’t have had ordering through Ohuhu. Call me chicken but markers this inexpensive make me nervous. Amazon gets an A+

• Ohuhu packages their marker sets securely and my order arrived without damage. There was enough cardboard and foam to keep the markers from shifting at all PLUS they bagged the canvas bag in plastic to prevent water damage. Ohuhu gets an A for packaging

• I did not appreciate the jumbled mess of colors inside the canvas bag. Not only is it a let down to see markers out of order but it also hides the fact that the Ohuhu color palette is long on colors I rarely use and short on markers I need. I’ll discuss Ohuhu’s deceptive moves more in future articles. Ohuhu organization gets an D+

• I love the Ohuhu vinyl page protector. I have one from an Ohuhu sketchbook and was thrilled to receive a spare in my set of markers. Ohuhu gets an B for the page protector because with a bag this size, the protector could have been a full 8.5x11”.

• Ohuhu’s swatch cards are terrible! It’s the wrong kind of paper, the print is badly done, the writing is too small, and the swatches are not organized. Ohuhu gets an E for swatch cards. In fact, I’d rather they just give a link to print from home!

And to follow up:

Earlier in this article I mentioned that I can usually tell whether a marker is high quality by feeling the weight, shape, and plastic in my hand?

I was worried about buying Ohuhu markers sight-unseen, without feeling the the quality first.

Now that I’ve held an Ohuhu Marker in my hand, would I have purchased them based upon my decades of marker experience and my artistic Spidey Sense?

NO

Ohuhu Markers feel like a low-grade marker.

The kind of marker you buy for kids, not an adult hobby and really not for serious marker art.

After years of using artist-grade illustration markers from the major pioneering brands, Ohuhu markers feel like a waste of my time.

But now that I have them, I’ll test them anyway because maybe modern markers are meant to feel disposable? Maybe this is what today’s artist market wants?

I’m giving Ohuhu Markers the benefit of the doubt but there’s a cricket on my shoulder telling me this isn’t worth it.

And hey, guess what?

Some of my new Ohuhu markers were dead on arrival!