Manga/illustration type markers

Ok, hoping someone can help me. Months ago I was looking at a marker set that was pretty expensive ($200-300 iirc). There were at least 3 sets by this brand. One was a basic set, one was flesh/natural tones, and I can't remember the third. I am pretty sure they were not COPICs and they definitely weren't prismas. I really am not thinking they were PITT artist pens either. anyone have an idea of what they were?

Anyways, I didn't have the money then for them but would like some markers now just to play with.

ETA: I saw them on Dick Blick, but I can't find them now...?

ETA 2: Maybe they were Copics? Those seem to run about $350 per set and I see 4 sets of 72, which could be what I was thinking of. The flesh tone set is $500 though! That's kind of insane.

What markers do you recommend?

my boyfriend is a freelance illustrator, i will ask him his favourites as soon as i can peel him away from his video game!

Used to use Prismas, then switched to Trias and never looked back. That said, I hear amazing things about Copics, but haven't used them enough to decide for myself.

Good illu markers are really expensive. $3-4 per marker is not uncommon, and more commonly $5-6 for the better ones.

Yeah I had a prisma set and bought some individual Copics. I liked the Copics much better than the prismas. I'll have to look into Trias.

I bought a bunch of oil paint at Hobby Lobby and the lady checking me out kept gasping and exclaiming 'These are so expensive!' I'm like... yeah, I know. xD

I have a couple of Copics, and they are really nice for building colours and layering. The tips are sooo nice. But they're really expensive. I waited until Hobby Lobby had a 40% off coupon, then went and bought a single marker haha.

That said, I use (or used to, I haven't actually drawn anything in over a year so they're probably all nice and dried out now) Prismacolours. I like Trias okay but holy cow there's a ton of colours! I bought a massive set for dirt cheap at a flea market one year and used them once because I was so overwhelmed, I could hardly decide which colour to use. I ended up selling the set to another artist instead and just stuck with the Prismas. I didn't find a huge difference between the two anyway honestly, but it probably has a lot to do with how I use my markers. I do a lot of blending, plus layer marker and pencil together. So I think it really depends on how you're using them. I have heard people don't like Copics because it's 'grainy' but I think if you're layering (which is their strong point IMO) you aren't going to get that, the colours will smooth themselves out as you blend...

Copics are supposedly the gods or markers. I don't use them, or other markers though.

If you are ever in need of watercolors, I can recomend Dr. Ph. Martins. I use them and they are beautiful, even if they are over 5 years old! They a concentrated in little bottles. http://www.dickblick.com/products/dr-ph-martins-radiant-concentrated-watercolor-sets/#description

I got to play with some concentrated watercolors the other day at a workshop, not sure the brand. They were really neat but so different from my watercolors. Those might be a good purchase, never thought of using them for graphic art type things. I tried to use them as a regular watercolor and they were just so bright it didn't work. I usually use Winsor Newton watercolor tubes.

I have a prisma set of markers but they are dried out pretty bad. I really could not use them well when I got them and ended up probably wasting it, but it's been about 8 years now since I got them. So I think I probably would have a better idea of where to start. I had a lot of issue with being able to see the lines where I layered the marker over itself.

There is so much art stuff I want.

Do you guys have any examples of your marker/concentrated watercolor work?