After a month or two of trying out these Bienfang Watercolor Brush Pens, I’m fairly impressed. With caveats. What are they? They’re a set of marker-like brushes filled with thin paint. Squeeze the handles and paint comes into the brushes.
Sure, they look like brushes and you can do some watercolor effect type things. However, they are not watercolors and have to be used as their own medium. I think that’s part of the fun of the product! They’re somewhere in between markers and paints. Perfect for travelling with my sketchbook and adding touches of color.
A few tips for using them:
- Work from light colors to dark. They’re fairly permanent and you can cover up your earlier drafting if you keep it light.
- Give up on the idea of emulating local color. A green object is going to need white and yellow highlights and some red and brown shadows. I even just use the colors for their values often and forget about local color altogether.
- Read the instructions. The instructions have a few tips for blending and smoothing things out. Using wet paper, the blending brush provided and lots more.
Brian E. Young is a graphic designer and artist in Baltimore, MD.
Uncanny Creativity: Art & Design Productivity
We send you our lovely email newsletter with art and design tips and techniques from the podcast. Get more done in less time!