Neuland UnderCover - Interim report: What we were able to find out

The Neuland BigOne® Art Cover is a fiber-tip marker with white pigmented ink that works beautifully even on dark backgrounds. The extra-large brush tip ensures effortless pigment transfer, making visualization a truly enjoyable experience.

In our UnderCover series, we have explored the mixability of the cover ink with our water-based inks to offer you another creative option if you are feeling adventurous enough.

Interim conclusion: There are clear favorites among the mixtures.

In our experiments, we found a mixing ratio of 4:1, cover ink to color ink, to be the optimal ratio. The resulting UnderCoverTin mixture is therefore almost exactly enough to fill a Neuland BigOne® Art Empty pen for the first time, as it uses precisely 4.5 refill units.

As part of our UnderCover experiment, we tried out numerous ink mixtures. We disregarded nuances, since the high white content of the cover ink always results in pastel shades anyway.

Our UnderCover favorites:

Of all the experimental mixtures, a few colors emerged as our favorites. This was especially true because they also delivered satisfactory results when working on black paper.

The following color mixtures impressed us in our tests:

• 200 Red
• 201 Dark Red
• 703 Dark Violet
• 705 Blackberry
• 300 Blue
• 304 Jeans blue
• 305 Ocean
• 400 Green
• 402 Olive
• 104 Grey 1

What was interesting was that while yellow and brown tones could be mixed, they didn't produce a satisfactory result on black paper. However, working with the aforementioned UnderCover mixtures was truly enjoyable.

Insider tips on storing and handling the markers:

• Longer storage: horizontal, i.e., lying down
• Before use: Headstand, i.e., point downwards

Why is this? If you were to store your UnderCover markers permanently with the tip pointing downwards, the white pigment would accumulate in large quantities at the tip and clog it with a doughy consistency. To ensure that sufficient white pigment is available at the tip when drawing, it is recommended to store them upside down, for example in a Novario® box, immediately before use.
After the job, you should put them back to sleep.

Conclusion

With a little imagination, you can certainly create other working UnderCover ink mixtures. But keep in mind: as with any experiment, there's a risk it won't work. But if it does, the joy will be all the greater. True to the motto: No risk, no fun!