How to Choose the Best Watercolour Pens?

Choosing the best watercolour pens will be based on many factors to increase your artistic experience.

These tools allow you to create a lot of unique techniques for your artwork, depending on its type.

In this article, we will help you explore different watercolour pens and worthy factors to be considered when choosing the best one. 

What are watercolours pens?  

Watercolour markers or pens had brush tips to mimic the watercolour painting effects. 

You can create many colourful, thin, and thick strokes without being bothered by traditional paints’ chaotic mess. 

Hence, they’re popular among artists and illustrators. 

Are watercolour pens different from water based markers? 

Yes, watercolour pens usually have brush tips, and they’re a subset of water-based markers. 

Furthermore, watercolour pens have ink that is designed to mimic traditional watercolour effects. 

Compared to water-based markers’ ink, it can be used for a wider range of applications besides painting, like writing. 

Different types of watercolour pens

Water Brushes

These markers have a brush tip and refillable water storage.

So, you had to use them with water-based art materials like watercolour paints.

Pentel Aquash Water Brushes are examples of these types

Dual-tip markers

These watercolour pens had two tips that allowed the artist to create different strokes using one pen.  

It usually has a fine and broad tip, which provides both functions for drawing small details and wide strokes. 

Examples of these products that have dual tips are Tombow Dual Brush Watercolor Pens. 

Dye-based markers 

By the name itself, these markers use dye-based ink that makes their colours more vibrant and dry more quickly.  

However, their colours are more prone to bleeding because the paper fully absorbs dyes. 

They’re also more likely to fade when exposed to sunlight. 

Crayola Fine Liner Pens are one of the known products that use dye-based ink.

Pigment-based markers 

These types of watercolour pens have pigment-based ink, which makes their colours resistant to fading when exposed to sunlight. 

 Also, this means that their colours are more solid, making them less likely to be completely absorbed by papers and bleed through the back of them. 

 An example of a product that uses pigment-based ink is Winsor & Newton ProMarker Watercolour Markers.

Factors to consider when buying watercolour markers

Since there are a lot of watercolour markers on the market, it can lead you to overthink which is the best one for your artistic journey. 

Don’t fret, dear artist! Here are some factors to consider when buying watercolour pens: 

Price 

Expensive watercolour pens usually reflect their high-quality ink and long lifespan. 

So remember to balance the price and the quality for a better artistic journey.

Lightfastness

Checking the watercolour pens for lightfastness is important if you want to extend the life of your artwork.

This will ensure that you don’t have to worry about your artwork’s colours fading after a long time, especially while being exposed to sunlight.

There are several ways to check the lightfastness of the watercolour pens: 

• Product label: Check if it includes lightfastness categories, with “I” being the highest and “V” being the lowest.
• Manufacturer’s Website: Many manufacturers include information about their product’s lightfastness on their website.
• Reviews from other people: Read reviews from other artists that used the watercolour pens to know how long before the colour fades.  

Check the ink 

Whether it is dye-based or pigment-based, the ink’s chemicals have a huge effect on its performance. 

A high-quality watercolour pen ensures smooth ink application, and colours are fade resistant over time. 

Scan the labels on the products to know the ink’s quality. Here are some things to look for:

• Acid level
• Waterproof
• Permanency
• Lightfastness
• Safety labels

Colour selection 

Make sure the set has basic colours for creating your artwork’s foundation, like:

• Red
• Blue
• Black
• White
• Other primary colours 

Here are some other colours worth considering: 

• Pastels: These soft colours can be added to adjust the primary colour’s vibrancy.
• Metallics: Some sets had metallic colours like gold and silver to add shine to your artworks. 
• Earth tones: Colours like browns and greens are ideal in bringing your landscapes and your artwork’s scenery to life.

Number of colours

Check the watercolour pen set’s colours before buying. 

This will ensure that it has the colours or shades you need for your project. 

The usual number of colours in a set of sizes are 6, 10, 12, and 36 colours.  

There are sets that have more than 36 colours to choose from, but it can be more expensive.

How do you use watercolour pens?

You can use watercolour pens in numerous ways to bring out your creative side. 

So, here are some tips and reminders when using watercolour pens:

Choose the right paper

Depending on your personal taste, you can choose whether you want to use hot-pressed or cold-pressed paper.

Hot-pressed paper has smooth surfaces that are more suitable for precise strokes and details. 

While cold-pressed paper is for better blending because of its rough texture.

We provided a video to further help you decide!

Properly store the pens

To keep your watercolour pens in good condition, clean them regularly by wiping the tips with a wet towel and store them horizontally. 

This will prevent their tips from drying out and fraying. 

Experiment with techniques

Experimenting with different colouring techniques can bring unexpected but beautiful results for your art’s final look.

You can try different colouring techniques like:

• Layering
• Stippling
• Blending
• Wet-on-wet 

If you’re still figuring out how to colour with watercolour markers, here’s a video that we hope can help you.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist, choosing the best watercolour pen is important. 

You had to think about several factors when buying watercolour pens set, such as:  

• Price 
• Ink formation
• Lightfastness
• Number of colours
• The types of colours included

Checking these factors can help you ensure that you can bring out your artistic vision in your artwork. 

Have questions or want to share your story about using watercolour pens?

We’ll love to hear them.

So, put them in the comments below!