I wanted to tell you guys about the 48 Watercolor Real Brush Pens by the brand Arteza. In the interest of full transparency, Arteza did graciously send me these brush pens to try for free but they did not require me to review them. I’m doing that on my own and all opinions are mine alone. If you’d rather, you can watch the video version of me demonstrating these interesting brush pens.
All 48 brush pens come in a plastic case with trays. I’ve been keeping them in the original box for the time being but I would recommend getting a new container made of sturdier material for long-term use.
Each pen has a single tip as opposed to Copics, Tombows, Prismacolors, ProMarkers, and so forth, that have two different tips on each pen – usually a chisel nib and a bullet nib. These particular brush pens are also much thinner than Copics. They’re more comparable to the Tombow brush pens in size and shape, however, I found the plastic to be more durable on Arteza pens. None of them cracked for me. Since I’m a disabled artist who uses these tools in my mouth, I much prefer my pens to have a single tip with the other end capped off like these Arteza pens. The barrel is sturdy and not easily cracked, even with how hard I have to bite.
What makes these pens different is the brush tip itself. You’re drawing with a marker-paintbrush hybrid. The tip is a literal brush and it behaves on paper like a brush. You can use these pens alone or you can use a separate paintbrush with water to create a much stronger watercolor effect. I like this a lot because my disability makes it difficult to keep track of separate tools for paint, water, brushes, towels, and so on. These brush pens combine several tools into one, which makes my work a lot easier.
The colors blend together fairly well without water too, although I recommend blending colors in the same family like you do with Copics unless you’re going to use water too. Without water, these brush pens don’t blend well if the colors are too far apart. I also wish there was some sort of numbering system or color names on the pens because I had trouble remembering which ones I was using by sight alone. The pigments are intense, which is great, and the moisture is at a good balance between those who will add water and those who won’t.
All in all, I was really happy with these pens. I wasn’t sure what to expect but with my disability, these work better for me than other water-based brush pens. They’re easier for me to hold in my mouth because the ends are solidly capped off and I’m not so focused on being careful of popping the pen and having ink all over my mouth. I think these pens are a good alternative for other disabled artists who have difficulty managing paint, water, and brushes in separate parts.
The 48 set of Watercolor Real Brush Pens by Arteza retails for $87 but you can find them for $37 on Amazon and $30.99 on Arteza.com. They make a line of fine liner pens, metallic pens, colored pencils, various kinds of paper, and quilting supplies too. I’ll do a few speed drawing videos in the future with these pens so you can see them in action on my YouTube channel.
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Art By Jessica Jewett 