SHARPIE Creative Markers are water-based acrylic markers and feature a felt brush tip. The set I purchased includes all 12 colors ($17.99) in a standard mass market blister pack.
The packaging is not reusable or functional so be prepared to have a place to store these markers once you’ve had to destroy the packaging to get to them.
The color indications are on the tops of the caps. The pen bodies are slick black. There is a little edge between the cap and barrel that hints at the color but is not as quick a read as the caps. There is a note printed on each pen that says “store horizontally” but the color indication is on the cap so…. WTH? Not the best design to make the pens easy to use.
However, that is pretty much the extent of my gripes.
The pens came pre-primed so I didn’t need to do anything other than uncap the pens to use them. The pens have a note to “shake before using” so going forward, I’ll give them a quick shake before using but know that all the swatches I did were straight out of the package and I’m still thrilled with the results.
My biggest concern with the pens is the felt fabric tip wearing out on rougher or textured paper. So, I would say either be prepared for nib degradation if you use these pens on rough paper or use them on smoother paper only.
As acrylic based markers, these pens include opaque colors that will show up on darker papers which was the first thing I wanted to try.
I was not disappointed! The colors were bright and vivid, even the white is chef’s kiss! The opaque white may be come my new favorite white pen. The tip provides a nice, springy brush tip that’s perfect for lettering and does deposit a lot of paint onto the page which would make it good for painting as well. The paint may take a bit longer to dry than a standard marker so you will want to watch. The paint goes from glossy to a matte finish when its dry.
On plain white (Tomoe River) paper, the colors are bright and the paint looked even more opaque than on the kraft paper. So fun.
The packaging says that these acrylic markers don’t bleed so I flipped the Tomoe River over and the packaging seems pretty accurate. No bleed through. On other papers, I would definitely test before using or put a blotter sheet under the page you’re working on, just in case since these markers do apply a good deal of paint.
Overall, for the price point, these markers definitely hold their own against brands that have been around for awhile like the Posca AND these are brush tips while most other brands are only available with a bullet tip. To that end, the Sharpie Creative Markers are also available with a bullet tip if that’s more your speed. I think I might need a set of those too!
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I’d love to see you compare the performance of some of the other paint pens that are out there now, both fine tips and broad tips. I have several sets from Amazon and love them for all kinds of projects. I can’t see spending so much more for what seems to be the exact same thing???
The only other paint pens I have are the poscas. Do you have any brand
names you have used in the past?
I recently got these, and they are now my favorite, especially the white! Wish I could get individual colors, since I know I’ll use white the most, but the other colors are great, too!
I’ve been eyeing these. Thanks for the review.
These are by far the best paint markers I’ve ever tried, and as an avid crafter I’ve tried A LOT of brands! My complaint is why, oh why?!, do they ONLY have a set of 12 colors?! If they would expand their color options and make larger sets like all other paint pens/markers do, I would buy nothing but these for all of my needs!!!