VIDEO | Arteza Real Brush Pens Colouring & Review

Hello there, I was kindly contacted by Arteza to ask if I wanted to receive some products in return for a review (all opinions, as always are my own). I received the Arteza Real Brush Pens 96 Set and that is what I will be reviewing today. I do already actually have a set of these that were given to me for Christmas a couple of years back. Therefore, I am not new to them, but there are some differences in that pack to the new ones, so of course, I said yes to Arteza!

 

The Arteza Real Brush Pens are a water based ink. This means that they can be blended with water but once dry, are almost completely permanent (unlike a watercolour). This is great for layering but it does mean that you have a fairly short window of opportunity to blend the colours. As long as you know this, this is fine. You do not have to work really quickly, but know that if the pigment is sitting on the paper for too long, it will be very difficult to blend them out with water.

 

The nibs on the pens are made from nylon fibres so as the name suggests, they are a real brush. I really like this feature and feel that they work really well for colouring. The barrel of the pen is black in colour and has the name/number of the colour printed on it. This is one of the features that was not on my original set of pens. I found it really frustrating that there was no number/colour system, so I am really glad that they have that now. They show this on the back of the packaging too.

 

 

The sets come in sizes 12, 24, 48 and 96 but they do not have open stock. You can buy individual colours in packs of four though. I am assuming that they do not have open stock because of the price point. These are quite a lot cheaper than other brands on the market. As with all of these types of pens, the paper that you use with them is key. I tried Strathmore Bristol Smooth and Arteza Watercolour Paper and they both worked beautifully with the pens. I did also try Tim Holtz/Ranger watercolour paper and other brands of Bristol with less good results.

 

 

For my project, I started off by stamping the peony cluster from the Clearly Besotted Pick A Peony Stamp Set on to Arteza Watercolour Paper using Nocturne Versafine Clair Ink. I applied Clear Embossing Powder and heat set. I then got to work on the colouring. I first laid down a layer of the lightest pink colour that I was using over the petals of the flowers. I applied the colour directly from the pen on to the image. I then blended this out with a wet paintbrush.
 

 

I then added a second layer of colour with a slightly darker shade of pink. This was then blended out in the same way, followed the darkest colour. I used a few different shades of yellow/orange/red for the centres of the flowers and then coloured the leaves in the same way using two shades of green. The colours that I used are listed below the supplies area. Once the image was coloured, I went around the edge with a blue-grey colour to help the image pop.
 

 

Once dry, the panel was adhered to an A2 white card base with tape runner. I stamped the sentiment from the Clearly Besotted Tiny Type Stamp Set on to black cardstock and heat embossed in white. This was cut in to a strip and added to the card base with foam tape. To finish off, I added a few Iridescent Jewels.

VIDEO:

Here is the video showing the colouring of the image and also information about the pens themselves:

If you are viewing this blog post via email subscription, you can watch the video HERE on YouTube. 

SUPPLIES:

Here are the links to what I have used on the card. Affiliate links are used on some products. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on my link, I receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support when using these links. Please click on the logo below the product to shop at your favourite store. All products were personally purchased except those from Clearly Besotted, Hero Arts or those marked with an asterisk (*) which were kindly sent to me to use. You can read my full disclosure here. 

 

ARTEZA REAL BRUSH PENS: Flower petals - A163 Blush Pink, A190 Rouge Pink, A160 Rosewood. Flower centres - A121 Honey, A169 Orange Rust, A118 Autumn Red. Leaves - A153 Bright Green, A127 Turtle Green. Outside shadow - A143 Parma Gray.

My final thoughts on the pens is that they are great! I think that they are a great price point. It is a bit disappointing that they do not have open stock of the pens (apart from buying a set of four) but I guess that that is the compromise for the price. The pens blend out really nicely with water and you can layer them up easily. Although I purchased the watercolour paper myself, I did just want to mention that the pens work really well on it. I also really love the texture of the paper and it has a nice weight and thickness to it.

If you like the look of the pens and want to make a purchase, I do have a code for my readers for 10% off any order made on the Arteza US Website or on the Arteza UK/EU Website before 25th November 2019. Use the code: MichelleShort3

 

Do you have the pens? Do you like them? I would love to know! Thanks so much for stopping by today, I really do appreciate it. I hope you have a great day!