23/7/2018
I’m excited to announce that recently at Sketch Group we launched Graphic Gear, an online store selling markers, refill bottles, and accessories for illustrators, facilitators, and visual practitioners.
Wait, what? Let me explain …
My first graphic recording gig, seven years ago, was in front of 3,000 people. I was on stage at a Microsoft conference on the Gold Coast, and nervous but quietly confident in my ability to listen, synthesise, and capture the content in real-time.
Unfortunately, the tools I’d chosen for the job were whatever markers I had lying around, purchased over the years and in various states of use. They bled through the paper, they dried up on me halfway through the gig, the colours were limited, and the fumes got a bit much after two hours of sketching.
Matt’s first graphic recording. Not the colourful canvas he is proud to produce these days!
Fast forward to the modern day, and I’ve become somewhat of a devotee of the Neuland brand of markers for every sketching job I tackle. Made in Germany, the reason I’m such a fan is:
- They come in a wide range of muted and vibrant colours
- The ink lasts for ages
- They are refillable (22 refills out of one bottle!)
- They are non-toxic, so no nasty fumes
- They don’t bleed through paper like other pens, and
- The black and colour inks don’t run together
After attending the International Forum of Visual Practitioners in Atlanta last year, I’ve realised that pretty much every professional graphic recorder and facilitator uses Neuland markers, for the same reasons. And every illustrator that I put one of these markers into becomes a fan of the brand and can’t get enough of them. Neuland have created a great product.
The problem is that ordering them from Germany is slow and the shipping is expensive. So I decided to fix that. I signed up as the official Neuland reseller for Australia.
If you’d like to get your hands on the very same markers that the Sketch Group team use when we sketch events, now you can! Just visit graphicgear.com.au and make your mark today!