If you know me you know I’m picky about my paint pens. So let’s see if these babies hold up…
In the video for this post, I give my honest, first try at using these Artistro paint pens. I’m going to relay that information to you here.
Honestly I don’t really need to explain much before I just jump in… you’ll read it as it all happened in real time! Let’s just do it.
First Things First…
The links below may be affiliate links where appropriate. This means that your purchase through these links may result in a few cents in payment to me, to support creating further resources like this one! That being said, I will never suggest supplies that I do not personally use and fully recommend.
Supplies Used
- Artistro Paint Pens
- Pane of Glass
- Black Card Stock
- White Card Stock
Rather watch than read? No problem! You can watch me test these out for the first time in real time in the video below.
Let’s Get Started!
I decided to test on white cardstock, black cardstock, and glass. I most cared about the glass because that’s what I usually use paint pens for. But I was also super curious about how well they worked on paper, so I tried all three options.
First impressions…
Right off the bat, I was impressed that the box comes with 42 paint pens. Normal paint pens come in a box of like four. Super cool to have 42 in one box.
It was also great to see that these paint pens allegedly work on so many surfaces – glass, ceramic, porcelain, wood, canvas, metal, plastic, stone, paper, and more.
I loved that they are water-based too. I typically really enjoy water-based paint pens.
When I first opened the box, I hated that they weren’t in order by colour. That annoys me so bad! I definitely had to rearrange them – I can’t stand it.
I really appreciate the multiple options for each colour – there are five-ish pens per colour. Normally you only get one option for paint pens – one blue, one red, one green, etc.
How to use…
Each paint pen lists how to use it, which was great. Especially for beginners who haven’t worked with paint pens before. It’s pretty standard – shake then push down on the tip to get paint flowing.
These DEFINITELY need shaken up. You can see the pigment that has settled.
The tip of the paint pens…
Next is the tip. I really like this shape tip, kind of like a bullet shape (it’s similar to Posca). It tends to work really well (unlike the shape of Sharpie extra-fine paint pens).
First up – testing this blue/teal colour.
I had to push a few times to get the paint to the tip, but it actually worked pretty quickly. Right away the colour was amazing! A lot of times the paint looks really streaky when you first start a new paint pen, but this one was really solid right away.
This paint pen worked really well on glass. There was no streakiness. No skipping at all.
As expected, it didn’t work great on paper. It bled into the paper quite a bit and was fuzzy (just didn’t look crisp).I decided to scrap the paper altogether and focus on the glass.
Next to test – black and white!
I use black and white the most when working with paint pens, and this set comes with two of each. Bonus points!
The black worked great right away. Not streaky, pretty solid right sway, and didn’t run. Overall, I really liked the black. It was really nice with an opaque, shiny finish.
The white was a little streaky, which is super normal for white paint pens. You have to make sure you shake them reeeeeally well. In comparison to other brands of white paint pens, this one was actually pretty good.
These tips are pretty small. If you want to do a really large glass lettering piece, you probably don’t want to use these. It would take FOREVER. I know Artistro makes one other tip sizes, so you’d probably want to go with multiple sizes. These ones are great for details!
Next was the metallic gold paint pen.
It’s so hard to find a good metallic gold. I’ve probably tried at least thirty different metallic gold paint pens.
Oh my goodness! This one was great! It was solid/opaque, really shiny, and looked great. A lot of times, metallic gold paint pens end up drying and looking really flat. Sometimes even like a mustard colour. Nope – this one was super nice! It wasn’t streaky either. Super impressed for sure on this one!
I tried a peachy colour too.
I’ve never really seen pastel paint pens.
Yup. Super impressed with the ones I tried for sure!
Finally I wanted to try removing them.
I started with the blue/teal colour since it was the most dry and had been on the glass the longest.
Do you think it scratched off easily?
It did! Pretty easily actually. Water-based paint pens are a little more durable than chalk pens but not quite as durable as oil-based paint pens. It might stay on a bit better if you leave it on for longer (I only left it on for a few minutes).
You can obviously scratch it off if needed. But it will come right off with water and a paper towel. You can also remove it with Windex. I was able to completely remove it.
This is typically the case with water-based paint pens. You need to be mindful when going into a project that water-based paint pens aren’t super durable. It really depends on the project and what you’re looking for.
Final thoughts…
I loved the colours. I loved the opacity. And I really liked the tip on them, I think the tips are great. Normally I don’t really like extra-fine paint pens because of the tips, but these are perfect.
Again, Artistro has different sizes, so I’d grab bigger sizes for a bigger project. The paint in them should be the same.
Overall – big fan!
And that’s a wrap!
And that’s it! Hope my review gives you a little insight into these paint pens. Be sure to hit the like button on the YouTube video if this video was helpful for you.
If you’re looking for even more paint pen related content, click here!
And finally, your dad joke…
What is blue but smells like red paint?
Blue paint.
Can I “baked “ the painted glassware to make it permanent