I’ve been getting into markers recently for journaling purposes. Black ink isn’t enough to express how well I was able to ingest reality, plus it also doesn’t go well on the coated paper I use. Posca was a brand that came into mind at first due to, “Marker. Marker, Japan.” I was surprised, their red and blue were super deep and seemed digitally pure on paper. Although the price was steep, I didn’t know if this was the peak. Looking around, my favorite artist in the whole world ¹ recommended me Shuttle Art, which is known for their cheap price and decent quality. I use them as a daily driver, but their color saturation is mild.

The day before writing this, I got bored at night and searched “bold markers reddit” on Google and found a single person shilling Molotow. They’re a German brand, so they’ve got to be good (s/o to Germans, you know who you are). I went on their website and was welcomed to their ~$300 marker set. Fuck. It made me curious, “if Posca is cheap relative to these then maybe Molotow is the peak?” I found the closest supplier store, which was in San Mateo, and went the next day.

San Mateo isn’t a place I hang around often, so I looked up some food spots to treat myself. I walked into Cruel Donuts and was greeted with an exhausted sounding welcome, it must’ve been a regular day. I got some crème brûlée donuts and house coffee. At the register, I asked the lady if she’d tried out the taqueria next door. When she spoke, it was like I was talking to a different person, energetic and attentive. I’m pretty sure it was because I became a different person to her. Anyways, she told me about this taqueria and how the quesadilla was her favorite, and how the Chinese restaurant next door had great dumplings. She asked me where I was from. I told her I was just visiting to just buy some markers, and she said, “Maybe that’s too much food for you!” Little did she know I was hungry.

While walking into the taqueria my eyes shifted from the menu above to their neat mural in the dining area. The painting was of a couple enjoying a day on the ranch, laying next to each other while the man strums his guitar and sings. I ordered the donut lady’s quesadilla with carnitas, and chowed down while drinking the house coffee. I went to the bathroom to shit and came back to cup of coffee disappearing in thin air. Apparently the workers threw it out. Approaching them, they started laughing at each other and apologized, “I didn’t know!” I guess they both weren’t sure to throw it out or not but did anyways. They pointed me to their own coffee machine, and god I did need it.

Next door was the Chinese restaurant. “Homey” is the best way to describe it. I asked what’s their most popular dumplings and bought the ones with napa cabbage, 12 in 1 order for $11! I walked back to the car and settled the donuts and dumplings on top of the trunk. Damn, it was a view.

Not so far away, I drove to the art supply store and walked by a sick 1990s Toyota Camry. Right next to the entrance was the Molotow markers, the goal. Looking closely I thought to myself, “Eh, they don’t have the colors I want”. The clerk and presumably the owner post-mortem’d me, paraphrasing, “Yeah we don’t have any more, I bought all of the colors that are from {middle man supplier}. We’re sorry.” I was okay with it, but it felt like they were dealing with an unsatisfied customer. I bet it was my RBF that made them act that way and possibly my lack of response. It didn’t help that I was on 4 hours of sleep too. I should probably work on my facial expressions. In a bag, I got the red, blue, white, black, neon pink, neon orange, and “grashüpfer,” which looked like Anby-from-ZZZ-green. ²

Got home excited, shook and pumped the neon pink marker, tested it. Ew. What about neon oran-oh no. Surely the blue is good. Um. What about red? Oh my god. They’re, all below-Posca grade, except for grashüpfer (s/o to Germans)! Apparently, neon acrylics are formulated more translucent to provide the neon effect, so it looks super watery on application unless it’s applied in layers. I should’ve done some research or even asked Claude beforehand. It wasn’t all bad though. Thankfully, the regular acrylics were purely opaque and had great writing consistency compared to Posca but the colors were dissatisfactory, mild. I expected them to be the peak, the best, but it is what it is. At least I found out. Man, ~$70 though for 7 markers, fuck my chungus life.

P.S. after a couple days of using them, the opaque colors are actually really good! I love my chungus life!