Art Product Review: Molotow Art Masking Liquid Pump Marker

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Art Product Review: Molotow Art Masking Liquid Pump Marker

This is a watercolor artist’s review of the Molotow masking fluid marker. I usually use Windsor Newton masking fluid and apply it with a rubber-tipped color shaper (so as not to ruin any brushes) but still have some difficulty with fine lines and details with any level of control. I saw another artist use it in one of their painting videos and figured I’d give it a shot, so the goal of this review is to help other watercolor artists know what to expect.

Materials:

Arches 140lb fine grained cold press watercolor paper (This is the paper I use for everything)
Windsor Newton tube watercolors
Various camel and synthetic watercolor brushes
Molotow art masking liquid pump marker (2.0 mm fine tip)
Soft rubber eraser (mine is a cheap one from Daiso and smells like blueberries, it’s not fancy, any eraser you trust will do)

Process:

I chose to paint a still life of mackerel nigiri sushi, which requires me to mask out the main sushi shape against the color wash background, and then do a secondary masking pass to pick out the white highlights on the sushi itself. I sketched the drawing directly onto the paper and then used the masking fluid pen to trace around the edges.*

*Note: I didn’t find it necessary to mask out the entire subject, just the outlines to protect the edges against the background. I felt this was the safest bet when trying this tool out. See my summary at the end of this review for my conclusions on this method.

Allow ample time for the masking fluid to dry before you start painting, which you can test by touching it with your finger. It will be tacky, and you’ll see some blue come off on your fingers if it’s still wet. The fluid remains blue when dry, and I gave about 20 minutes in this trial. Paint as you would normally. Here, I began blocking in the background colors by wetting the paper first and adding pigment. I was very liberal with the moisture on the masking fluid to test its resilience.

After allowing the paint to completely dry, you can then begin removing the masking fluid. This is where I noticed a significant difference compared to the Windsor Newton fluid, which is basically latex/rubber and can be easily lifted off by rubbing your finger against it or picking it loose with tweezers. You can’t do this with the Molotow pen fluid once dry, as it’s a much thinner application that adheres closer to the paper. To remove, I used a rubber eraser.

It takes some elbow grease to get it off*, but once it’s off it comes off cleanly. Here you can see after some vigorous rubbing the white holes where the paper shows through the stubborn fluid.

*Note: It’s at this point I’m very grateful that I used a substantial paper. I would not recommend Strathmore (the “practice” variety of watercolor papers), any "cheaper"/student watercolor papers, and absolutely not Bristol of any kind. To withstand the amount of rubbing necessary to remove the dried mask, you should use a hearty paper if you plan on using this pen. I cannot vouch for any other papers other than the one I use personally, but try it out yourself on a test piece first.

And the image is clean! One concern some people had with this product was whether it stained the paper blue. It unfortunately can, but it’s not that noticeable in my experience. Here is a spot where you can see that some of the blue is still there (as well as a spot where I tried to rub it off with my finger and accidentally pulled in some of the pigment into the white area. I don’t recommend doing this, stick to the eraser.)

Next, I wanted to mask off some highlights that would remain white while I paint the rest of the fish, using the same wait times listed above to allow the fluid to dry.

Done! Last was the nerve-wracking part of erasing the remaining masking fluid by scrubbing a rubber eraser over my entire painting hoping none of the pigment slides into other areas, which fortunately everything worked out perfectly. I also didn’t have any leftover blue spots, bonus! Here’s the finished image (color in final is matched to reality, as the above phone snaps don’t do it justice)

****Click here to buy a print!****

Now for a breakdown of the pros and cons.

Pros:

Easier to control line weight compared to fluid and brush.
Creates sharply masked areas without bleed.
Easy to see masked area due to blue color.
Accepts heavy water saturation.
The fluid itself doesn’t damage the paper upon removal.
Perfect for small details.
Refillable (with both official refills or you can use your own masking fluid/water mixture)

Cons:

The longer you let it sit, the harder it is to get off the paper. Don’t leave it sit overnight.
Because of the blue color there is a small risk of staining the paper.
Not good for masking off large areas.
Time consuming and difficult to remove.
Doesn’t work with all papers.
It is a little on the pricier side, at a higher cost/volume compared to Windsor Newton masking fluid.

Conclusion:

I absolutely 100% recommend this product. With the right paper, it is a valuable tool and solves my issues of not having enough control over masking off delicate details without bleed and with the level of control I’d like. I haven’t yet tried it in combination with colored pencil as I do with many of my other works, but given that the removal process requires an eraser, I would recommend that you do all of your colored penciling work only after you’re finished needing the masking fluid. Also, because of the time required to remove, I would recommend only using this pen for small details and for the edges of your masked area. Personally, I will still be using my Windsor Newton masking fluid to mask off large “fill” areas within the Molotow outlines as it’s easier to apply in large strokes.

In short, this product is a dream come true, and I look forward to pushing my art further now that I have an easier way to protect smaller details I couldn’t otherwise accomplish with my previous masking methods.

Questions? Send me a message here on Tumblr, email me at [email protected], or tweet at me @ThornwolfArt as I won’t see reblog questions.

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Mar 25, 2016