Hey everyone,

For Christmas I was gifted a set of 48 Arteza Premium “Real Brush Pens.” (They were from my boyfriend who is very sweet but also very clueless about art supplies…) They’re fiber-brush, water-based, blendable pens that *kind of* work as watercolor markers.

I was not expecting much at all, since they regularly go on sale for like $20. I doubt they’re lightfast, but I’m an illustrator and once my art is scanned/photographed, I tend to just archive it in a portfolio. I don’t really do fine art or anything, so I’m not that concerned about them being display-friendly.

Surprisingly, I’ve gotten some excellent (for me) results. There is a definite learning curve but I’m fascinated by this medium and may be using it for my big upcoming Tarot deck project.

Attached is a raw scan of a swatch page I made of my 48-set. (they also make a 96 set, which I kinda want…) I did not fuss with the Levels or anything on these images – this is really how they look.

Any thoughts on Arteza or other watercolor pens? I really prefer mixing my own colors, with tube watercolors, but then again it may be possible to layer/glaze these…I will report back when I have explored more.

~Julian