The 10 Best Watercolor Brush Pens of 2021

Watercolor brush pens can give a beautiful watercolor effect when you dip them in water or use a water brush pen. They are more convenient to use than traditional paintbrushes and paints.

As versatile writing utensils, they can be used as quality markers for coloring, painting, drawing or sketching. You can even use them for calligraphy if they have a flexible brush tip.

With a love for decorating and organizing our lives, we have become experts on writing utensils. It’s important to have the best watercolor brush pens instead of the mediocre because they will last long and write smoothly. Low-quality brush pens often have problems with fraying, and they can be aggravating to use.

We analyzed the following products based on brush quality, color selection, and miscibility to help you make the right decision for your needs.

10 Best Watercolor Brush Pens on the Market:

1. Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pen Set

Featuring traditional Japanese colors, the Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pen Set is perfect for manga, Japanese calligraphy, and other Japanese art. These pens are also the best watercolor brush pens for coloring in adult coloring books.

Well, and of course it is advisable to use the best Japanese notebook. The handmade tips are soft, flexible and of good quality. You can draw thin to thick lines by how hard you press.

Like in Japanese art, the colors are vibrant and beautiful. You can create many effects with these brush pens, including shading, watercolor and gradation.

Conclusion

Because of its unique colors that are common in Japanese art, this set is recommended for anyone who does Japanese-style art, including manga, calligraphy and painting. It’s also suitable for coloring and brush lettering.

2. Tombow Pen Dual Brush Markers

If you like vibrant colors, the Tombow Dual Brush Pen Art Markers 10-Pack Bright Set is for you. These water effect brush pens excel at fine art, watercolor illustrations, brush lettering and faux calligraphy. You can use them for journaling and illustrations too.

This set consists of one blender pen and nine colored pens. The blender pen works well to create a watercolor effect and to soften and blend colors. A convenient feature, the watercolor brush markers clean themselves after blending.

As dual brush watercolor brush markers, each pen has a brush tip and a fine tip. You can create thin, consistent lines with the fine tip. The brush tip creates medium to thick lines depending on how much pressure you apply.

Conclusion

This watercolor brush pen set is excellent for blending colors because it comes with a dedicated blender pen.

3. OOKU Watercolor Brush Pens

With this watercolor brush pen set, you can add ink into the pen you want to use. It comes with seven brush pens of varying tip sizes. You can achieve greater control with this watercolor brush pen set.

Five of the pens are multi-purpose pens that don’t need to be squeezed. The water dropper brush is squeezable, so you can adjust water output, and the tuner watercolor brush has a bulb you use to fine-tune water output.

The OOKU Watercolor Brush Pens 7-Piece Set is perfect for artists, whether you’re a professional artist or do art as a hobby. You can use these brush pens with markers, watercolor pencils,and crayons for smoothing and spreading.

The brush pens are made with artist-grade nylon tips. They last long and don’t have issues with smearing, spraying or spreading. OOKU provides a lifetime defect guarantee, showing confidence in the quality of their watercolor brush pens.

Conclusion

Choose the OOKU Watercolor Brush Pens 7-Piece Set if you like using a wide variety of colors or if you like having greater control over the pen’s functioning. They are excellent for creating intricate watercolor art.

4. ColorIt Refillable Watercolor Brush Pens Set

The watercolor brush pens in this set are refillable, so they will last a long time. They have flexible tips that can create thin or thick lines based on the pressure applied. The ink is easy to wash off of skin and clothing; it’s non-toxic and odorless as well.

There are 24 colors to choose from, and you can mix colors on a palette to get the right color you want. To get a gradient effect, you can touch two brush pen tips together.

These refillable watercolor brush pens are amazing for coloring, calligraphy, drawing and lettering. They come in a travel-friendly case that has individual pen slots to keep your pens organized and protected.

Conclusion

The ColorIt Refillable Watercolor Brush Pens Set is a high-quality set that gives you flexibility in colors. It’s also convenient if you need to take the set with you outside the house or studio often.

5. Spectrum Noir Aqua Artist’s Water Based Marker

These watercolor pens work well for art. Customers have found they deliver quality results on many mediums, such as card stock, paper, wood, photo paper, and canvas. The ink is a dye-based solution that dries quickly.

You can draw precise lines and details with the fine tip end of the pen. On the other end of this dual-tipped watercolor marker pen, there is a soft, flexible brush tip when you need loose, broad coverage.

When you dip the pens in water, they diffuse and blend effectively. You are able to create translucent washes of color and other background effects with these marker pens. There are 12 beautiful, vibrant colors to work with in the pack.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for dye-based watercolor brush pens that dry quickly to use in your artwork, these Spectrum Noir SPECN-Aqua Artist’s Water-Based Dual Nib Markers are an excellent choice.

6. Arteza Real Brush Pens for Watercolor Painting

You have an abundance of color options in this pack with black, grey and brown colors included. It comes with a water brush pen for high-quality blending. Other techniques besides watercolor that you can do with these pens include gradients, subtle shading, and pastel washes.

The brush tips are made of nylon for durability and quality. You can draw fine, medium and bold strokes by adjusting how hard you press down. They are suitable for watercolor art, dry brush painting, coloring, sketching and calligraphy.

Conclusion

The Arteza Real Brush Watercolor Pens 48-Pack is the best watercolor brush pens set for those who want a lot of options in colors, especially if you use neutrals like black, grey and brown in your art.

7. Kuretake ZIG Clean Watercolor Pens

This watercolor brush pen set comes with several shades of gray, brown and skin tones as well as black. It’s great for artists who frequently use neutral colors. All colors of the rainbow are included, so you can easily create colorful artwork as well.

The nylon brush tips are flexible and durable. You can draw thin to thick lines by adjusting pressure.

These brush pens are easy for beginners to use, and they are easy to blend. They are great for drawing, calligraphy, Japanese-style art, coloring and lettering. Colors layer well as long as you wait for the ink to dry before adding another layer.

Conclusion

The Kuretake Fude Real Brush Pen 36-Set is used by some professional artists, so you know it’s a great watercolor brush pen pack. It’s recommended for those who like using earthy tones and neutral colors in their artwork.

8. PILOT Enso Artful Collection Watercolor Brush Pen Set

The brush pens in this set are good watercolor brushes in pen form. They mimic the feel of watercolor brushes for an enjoyable yet clean experience. It only takes a slight change in pressure to thicken the lines as you draw with these watercolor brush pens.

They are great for calligraphy, hand lettering, personalized greeting cards and wedding invitations. The set has a total of eight brush pens. One of the pens is a bold brush pen, and the remaining seven are extra fine. Because the brush pens are extra fine, they allow for detailed hand lettering.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for watercolor brush pens to use for hand lettering, these are one of your best options.

9. Talens Ecoline 10 Brush Pens

The Royal Talens Ecoline Liquid Watercolor Brush Pen Set has all colors of the rainbow, a pink brush pen and a black brush pen. They excel at coloring digital designs because the set consists of subtractive primaries like lemon yellow, sky blue cyan and magenta. Other types of art they are good for our lettering and sketching.

You are able to make precise lines and broad strokes with these watercolor brush pens. The inks dry fast and are easy to blend. Mediums they work well on include canvas, watercolor paper, marker paper and mixed media paper.

Conclusion

These pens are the best watercolor brush pens for coloring digital designs because the color palette includes magenta, lemon yellow and sky blue cyan.

10. Aen Art Colored Brush Markers

This is a good budget watercolor paint brush pen set. There is a good mixture of bright colors and neutrals, making it a well-rounded set. The brush tips are made of high-quality nylon, so the tips will maintain their shape for a long time. They are also flexible, allowing for a range of fine to broad strokes.

The Aen Art Watercolor Real Brush Pens are great for calligraphy, drawing, sketching and lettering. You can create plenty of effects, such as gradients, subtle shading, light pastel washes and watercolor. The pens blend easily with water, and the set comes with a water brush pen that offers great control over blending.

Conclusion

The Aen Art Watercolor Real Brush Pens Set is ideal for someone who’s looking for cheap watercolor brush pens that are of good quality.

Tips on Choosing the Best Watercolor Brush Pens

Dryness Isn't Necessarily Bad

Juicy pens tend to be popular because people don’t want ink flow problems. However, pens that are on the dry side are helpful for use on thin paper. They are also easier to control since the ink flow is slower.

If you want to use watercolor brush pens for journaling, then dry pens are usually the better choice. Juicy pens are excellent for artwork and those who enjoy the feel of pens with good ink flow.

Nylon Tips Last Longer than Felt

You usually want to avoid watercolor brush pens that have felt tips because they fray easily. Brush tips made of nylon are typically quality, long-lasting brush pens to use. The watercolor brush recommendations listed above all have high-quality tips.

However, felt tips have their benefits too. They are easier to use for making thin lines due to their greater firmness.

Check for Good Blendability

Blendability — how well colors mix with each other — is an important factor to consider when choosing watercolor brush pens. Not all watercolor brush pens blend well, so you need to check reviews to make sure they do. Brush pens that have poor blend-ability won’t deliver the beautiful, professional results you desire.

Pay Attention to Color Selection

Do you have patience for mixing colors to get the color you need? If not, you’ll want to choose a set that has a lot of choices in colors. Are you happy to mix colors? You may find a smaller pack suitable for your needs, especially if you feel overwhelmed by too many choices.

Write down which colors are most important to you, and check that each set you’re considering has those colors. Some sets don’t have brown or black pens, which may or may not matter for you. It depends on what your personal style is and what other art utensils you have on hand to use.

Does Dual Tip Matter to You?

The choice between dual tip and single tip brush pens comes down to personal preferences. There are pros and cons to each. Dual tip pens are for those who like working with just a fine tip to create detailed lines, then switching to a brush tip for medium to broad strokes.

Others prefer the convenience of a brush pen that can create thin to broad strokes based on how much pressure they apply. They don’t want to switch between pens frequently. It makes calligraphy easier as well since it’s an art form that relies on changes in pressure to adjust the thickness of the lines.

Making the Decision

The most important factors in choosing the best watercolor brush pens are brush quality and blendability. A poorly made brush will fray and cause errors in your work. You don’t want that frustration, so always choose watercolor brush pens that are known for quality brush tips. All of the watercolor brush pens on this list have well-made brush tips.

Aside from brush quality and blendability, consider color selection and what you plan on using the watercolor brush pens for when making a decision. A lot of the sets on this list are great for numerous purposes, such as calligraphy, lettering, and coloring. Some of them have received positive reviews from professional artists.

If you like Japanese-style art, choose the Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pen Set or Kuretake Fude Real Brush Pen 36-Set. They have colors suitable for Japanese art, whether you’re going the traditional or inspired route.

Almost all of the brush pens from this list are excellent for calligraphy, including the ColorIt Refillable Watercolor Brush Pens Set, Kuretake Fude Real Brush Pen 36-Set, Arteza Real Brush Watercolor Pens 48-Pack, and Pilot Enso Watercolor Brush Pen Set. Choose one that has your favorite colors.

Regardless of which set you to choose, you’re receiving one of the best watercolor brush pens sets. Just keep in mind if you’re a beginner, some of them will take practice to master.