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Just saw two videos on these new pens, and they look VERY interesting, one pen that will provide you with endless shades of the same color......
Has anyone tried these pens? Wondering what you think.....
Here is a link to one video
And here is another video
And a review (no product demo, just an opinion from someone who used them at CHA for a very short time).
I have had to stop buying copics, just too expensive! Have not invested in the Spectrun Noir pens (have one which I like), seems that the color ranges are not as good as the copics. Thus these pens look fairly interesting to me....
Interested in thoughts (I think I will buy one and fool around with it).
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Last edited by UnderstandBlue; 01-17-2014 at 07:51 AM..
Reason: Added embed code for videos
Nice concept but too much waiting. Maybe great for those who have trouble with shading, like me, but I think this is one bandwagon I won't be jumping on.
I was a Copic fan and have invested in a lot of markers, but when I saw these at CHA my interest was piqued. I was lucky enough to get a set to try and have been using them since January. I personally find them easy to use and time wise it is not as long as Sandy suggested in her review, I usually find 5-10 seconds (20 at most) is enough for colouring a stamped image. The result for me is quicker as I am not constantly swapping between pens. I still have my Copics and these pens work with them, but I use the Copic for colouring flat large areas now and my Chameleons for blends, I don't find them fussy or hard to work with at all, I love mine as much as my Copics!
Oh thanks for adding the review - the third video. I was kind of interested, but that review - worth every minute to watch has dissuaded me. Interesting new product though, but I'll stick with my copics.
Hi Debzi333, thanks for your response, I think the key fact in the 3rd video is that Sandy did not have much time to play with these pens at CHA a few seconds is not really enough to form a valid opinion - combined with the fact that the pen she briefly tried was a prototype not the final production pen. Since then I know the company have changed the nibs and the tooling of the pen so that it fits snugly on the nib without risk of damage. I have been using them for 6 months now and like any alcohol pen system you have to learn how to use them, but I think this is a lot easier than trying to get the perfect blend with a Copic. If you get the chance to try one I would recommend it before deciding against them.
Cathren, welcome to Splitcoast! Thanks for sharing your experience with the markers. I hope you'll share some of your colored pieces in the gallery - I'd love to see your results!
These look like fantastic new pens and I hope to one day get my hands on them (if they ever come to New Zealand). I love the colour graduation effect that you can get with these, perfect for getting lights and darks easily. I can see myself living these.
I will be keeping the copics that I already own because I can't myself achieving perfectly flat large areas of light colours (for continuous colour backgrounds). But I don't do those often.
Since the company has posted in here I would like to post a few suggestions. I know the company is new so more colours are probably in the works, but I would love to see some more skin tones (light, olive, brown), earth tones, and wood tones. If these colours come out I can see myself using these in my portraits and my architectural illustrations.
An important thing is for the refills to be attainable. I don't know how they are being sold (if they are ink bottles like the copic system or if they are barrels that screw in like letraset). What I mean by attainable is they should be cheaper then buying a new pen/hold many refills worth in one bottle, and the refills should be sold alongside the pens in shops. There are many pen brands in New Zealand that are refillable but the refills aren't in shops or are more expensive then buying a new pen. Refillability is to prevent running out streaks and enviromental. If refills aren't attainable then it defeats the purpose of having refillability.
__________________ I live in Christchurch, New Zealand.
I know we are taking on a distributor in Australia and they ship online there so possibly they will ship to NZ easily from there too. I have an email in to them and will let you know as soon as I hear.
Sounds like you have really good grasp on how our system works and how it can be used in conjunction with your current systems. Chameleon Pens are great quick color gradation in areas around an inch you can do it in one beautiful smooth blend.
For larger areas you can just work in sections and blend together ... that is what is so great about alcohol inks! You can still use them as flat color (don't fuse) the 20 colors are quite nice. We worked with the 12 from the color-wheel and added neutral tones, earth tones blacks and grey to try and give a well rounded pallet for initial launch
We are looking at building on this to add more earth tones and skin tones we have also been asked to do some more mid tones in reds, pinks and greens and plan to release new colors next year, However the current set can cover a LOT of colors especially if you do color overlays by dialing it down to a hint of a tint. In the long run though I really don't see us launching more than 20 or 30 more colors as the system is so flexible and the whole idea is to do more with less! :-)
The pen and the mixing chamber are completely refillable and the nibs are all replaceable (bullet, brush and mixing nib). We will be posting videos on our company website in next few weeks showing how the system works. These are on the way and will all be available on our online store in about 75 days. We are currently setting up our retail distribution but I can tell you that since there is not a huge line of colors in the hundreds we have found that retailers have expressed a lot of interest in carrying the refills.
Pens are available in singles, 5 packs and 20 pack from our website chameleonpens.com
we do have a bunch of instructional videos.. tips .. techniques and FAQ's that might help you out PLUS we are adding new ones ever week. You can also get more info from our blog.chameleonpens.com but feel free to contact us anytime with any questions [email protected] - we also have a toll free number listed on the site
I was a Copic fan and have invested in a lot of markers, but when I saw these at CHA my interest was piqued. I was lucky enough to get a set to try and have been using them since January. I personally find them easy to use and time wise it is not as long as Sandy suggested in her review, I usually find 5-10 seconds (20 at most) is enough for colouring a stamped image. The result for me is quicker as I am not constantly swapping between pens. I still have my Copics and these pens work with them, but I use the Copic for colouring flat large areas now and my Chameleons for blends, I don't find them fussy or hard to work with at all, I love mine as much as my Copics!
Yippie-o-coyote! I'm delighted to finally see a SCS review...and a glowing one at that! . I put these on my Christmas list for DH to get for me and I was beginning to wonder if I needed to reconsider these. I am copic challenged and was hoping these might be worth trying. Thanks for enabling ! :cool:
Hi Angotti!
We are currently just shipping to Notions Distribution and they service a lot of the smaller stores so I think if you check with your local craft stores they may carry them soon!
I got my pens yesterday and so far I am loving them. The fusing takes a little time (5-15 sec) but when you take in consideration that you are not changing markers to achieve different shading effects, it's nothing.
( I do own the whole COpic sketch markers collection and the SU! blendabilities)
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I got my pens yesterday and so far I am loving them. The fusing takes a little time (5-15 sec) but when you take in consideration that you are not changing markers to achieve different shading effects, it's nothing.
( I do own the whole COpic sketch markers collection and the SU! blendabilities)
Okay so a question for you. Do you think those markers are hard to learn? But maybe if you're really good with Copics you won't be able to answer that question. If you have the knack for coloring, then any medium in your hand works well...that's my theory...I don't have a knack for coloring whatsoever. But I love the idea of not having to use three or more markers to get beautifully blended gradient shading.So if they are easy for a beginner I'd love to have them! And I'm saying this after just having gotten the whole lot of Spectrum Noir markers:oops:
Okay so a question for you. Do you think those markers are hard to learn? But maybe if you're really good with Copics you won't be able to answer that question. If you have the knack for coloring, then any medium in your hand works well...that's my theory...I don't have a knack for coloring whatsoever. But I love the idea of not having to use three or more markers to get beautifully blended gradient shading.So if they are easy for a beginner I'd love to have them! And I'm saying this after just having gotten the whole lot of Spectrum Noir markers:oops:
They are easier for shading than other alcohol markers, you will just need to get a hang of the fuse timing. FOr small areas I do 5 seconds, for larger more. WHat I did first was experiment with the fusing times on piece of paper to see the shades, and then you can use that sheet of paper as reference guide how long you need to fuse the marker.
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Ilina- This is wonderful work! I know the pens are a bit different than working traditional alcohol pens but I think you caught on quickly to the unique benefits you can get from doing a solid color gradation with one pen! We are doing a design team call right now and would love for you to consider sending in some stuff for that here are the details Chameleon Pens -- We plan to get a our gallery up and running really soon as we have tons of great cards folks have created using the pens but please feel free to share what you have in it by tagging your creations with Chameleon Pens
Ilina- This is wonderful work! I know the pens are a bit different than working traditional alcohol pens but I think you caught on quickly to the unique benefits you can get from doing a solid color gradation with one pen! We are doing a design team call right now and would love for you to consider sending in some stuff for that here are the details Chameleon Pens -- We plan to get a our gallery up and running really soon as we have tons of great cards folks have created using the pens but please feel free to share what you have in it by tagging your creations with Chameleon Pens
Thanks! I saw the call the other day and will definitely consider applying.
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Chameleon Pens. Hi Julia, read quite a few posts re the markers.
[QUOTiE=Chameleon Pens;20782962]Hi all
Julia here from Chameleon Pens! We will have a gallery up soon showing work folks have done with the pens- lots of great work to show!
In the meantime if you are looking for other crafters view on our pens - a good video was done by Christina from "Scrap Time"
She also saw the pens in prototype form at CHA and has since got a set in hand and used them- her blog has some good pictures of finished projects[/QUOTE]
I agree with you that she jumped the gun, in my opinion, having never gotten a set of the pens and tried them out. She sounded quite biased and is a Diehard Copic user. And, there is nothing wrong with that. I was told by a local shop owner that I could do the same thing using my Copic pens. I found this not to be the case as it is very hard to keep the tips together to allow the blender liquid to absorb properly. I need to find someone locally here in the Phoenix area who will demo them for me and allow me to give them a try first before I buy them.
Barbara S.
I checked our wholesale customers and so far I only found one in Tucson
not sure if they have in stock so I would call first if you are headed that way
Bluemoon Scrapbooking
11770 E Old Spanish Trail
Tucson, Arizona 85730
United States
+1 520-514-0400
I will keep my eye out to see if we get some in Phoenix and let you know!
I used to have Copics and switched to the less expensive Spectrum Noir but still haven't purchased refills. . .
When I first read about these Chameleon pens, I was quite excited about the idea of being able to store fewer pens. Then I read some negative reviews and had my doubts. But... I checked out a few videos that have convinced me these are worth trying out. Very interesting concept, and I think once learned, it will feel like a more natural way to color.
I tried them at a friends house and loved them. I have many different brands of markers and I like to mix them all so in my mind there is always room for yet another brand of fun markers.
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I'm really excited, my LSS has them and they have a set for people to try out. They sold out of the full set within 10 hours lol. Even more excited that they will carry open stock starting mid-March!!
I got a set and so far I really like them but they are very different from the Copic/Spectrum Noir method of coloring.
I think these will be my travel markers, when I am at swim meets, etc... Much less to carry. I did a quick comparison here Instagram
(Just a photo but you can see they are similar results.) I plan on doing a video on these in the near future.
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Owner- Gina K. Designs
Can anyone tell me if left-handers can use these? I know that may sound silly, but I've found with a lot of ink pens and markers alike, the ink flows differently and makes for inconsistent results.
New Alcohol Ink Pens: Chameleon Color Tones
