The Best Pump Action Acrylic Paint Markers

I had a good first impression of the Amsterdam Acrylic Markers. They are a valve-action style marker, and took about 3-4 pumps to activate at first. I did find that they needed a LOT of shaking before activating, and they didn’t stay mixed for long. From what I can find online, a lot of people report them running dry or being streaky. I noticed the streakiness too in my stamina test, where the colour also faded after the first line. They were watery on the rocks, slow to dry overall, but were able to layer better than other pump-action markers.

I was really intrigued by the Simptap brush valve system, but the novelty quickly wore off. My biggest pet peeve with these wasn’t the markers themselves, but the tiny loose caps that cover the button on the end – they were so loose that they constantly fell off, and I ended up with a pile of caps in every other box during these tests. I don’t think a single cap survived by the end! The markers themselves were unpredictable. Some activated really quickly, but others wouldn’t soak into the tip – leaving me tempted to activate them again… which created a big mess. I had a lot of spills and drips, and they weren’t easy to use. They had a weird reaction to the primer I used on the plastic test, and I was overall underwhelmed with their performance. On a positive- they include spare nibs! And I like that Arrtx are trying to think differently about the brush nib.

Click here to get them on Amazon.

This is the brand of extra fine tip paint marker that I’ve used the most before this testing. I LOVE the Artistro white paint pen. It was the best performer in my past testing, and was one of the most opaque in this testing too. However the other colours were quite disappointing in comparison. They worked well on pencils, but not on markers, rocks or black paper. A lot of online reviews also commented that they seemed more watery than similar brands.

The white Arteza extra fine paint pen was one of the best performers in my white pen comparison, so I had high expectations from this set. They are easy to activate (1-3 pumps) and worked well on pencils. They are good for line work, but not good for colouring bigger sections – which is what you’d expect for a fine tip marker. They splattered more than similar markers on the rocks, and many of the colours were very transparent on the plastic. Overall, the colours weren’t nearly as good as the white, and scored quite low on alcohol markers and black paper.

These acrylic paint pens performed mid range in most of my testing. They took a lot of pumping to activate (10-20 pumps) and the colours dried unevenly or separated on several tests. Most markers don’t have a smell – but these did. However I do love the giant clear barrel that allows you to easily see if the paint is mixed properly!

Click here to get them on Amazon.

These are the homebrand markers from Officeworks in Australia. They were better than I expected in my first testing. They were nice to use and layered with little paper damage. They didn’t really work well on the cassettes, and some reviews online agree that they were watery, even after priming. They worked well on coloured pencils, but average in most of the other tests.

I had high hopes for these after I was able to use the white one in a livestream with artist, Kat Young. And they were great! They currently only offer a super fine tip, which means you have to be careful not to clog them. I found they were easy to block, and splattered with too much pressure. But with a light touch, they were some of the best fine tip paint markers I’ve ever used. They were the most opaque out of every marker tested – one of the few perfect scores for opacity. I’d like to see them bring out a bigger range, but I’m excited to keep using these!

Get these on Amazon.

I was excited to try the Derwent Paint Pens. They only have a small range of colours and come in the extra fine tip, but they were very really nice to use… until I tried to layer them. They clogged right away, and I found myself trying to re-prime and ending up with puddles and a messy tip on more than one occasion. They were a little trickier to use than I hoped, and they were one of the worst on coloured pencils – which is a shame for Derwent!

Click here to get them on Amazon.

I didn’t have a great first impression of the Edding markers. They soaked right into the rocks, an they’re not cheap. They were very hard to prime and many were watery or scratchy to use. They didn’t last long in the stamina test, and the opacity was one of the worst, even after many attempts to reprime or better mix the paint inside.

Click here to get them on Amazon.

I really enjoyed the Faber-Castell Black Edition coloured pencils, so I had high hopes for their paint marker set! They only have 16 colours for now, and I’ve already seen announcements that Faber-Castell are also working on a Goldfaber set of paint markers… I can’t wait to try them! These were fairly good overall, although didn’t particularly stand out. I enjoyed using them, and the colours were really bold (except, unfortunately, the white). They layer really well (rare for paint markers!) and they were better than many of the pump-action markers, with the dual ends being a nice bonus.

Click here to get them on Amazon.

Flysea are the factory that make several of the other brands of markers I’ve tested. So this was more about testing the standard than comparing this specific brand, especially since they are commonly whitelabeled for other brands. They performed mid-range overall, but were quite good on the rocks!

Flysea are the factory that make several of the other brands of markers I’ve tested. As mentioned above, this was more about testing the standard than comparing this specific brand. These worked well on pencils but ranked in the mid-range for most tests.

I’ve started seeing the Kent Urban markers in all the local shops here, and so I was hoping they’d be a good new Posca alternative. They are designed like a traditional Posca with the valve-action pump, and they do have a really good flow and decent opacity. I liked my first impression of them, but they were an average performer on all the surface tests, and I found that they needed to be reactivated more often than I would expect.

Let’s Resin have a range of acrylic markers, and they sent me these dual-tip pump action ones to try for this video. I was quite impressed overall. They were some of the most opaque markers I tested, and performed wonderfully on the alcohol markers. They soaked a little into the black paper and rocks, but were mostly still vibrant. And their fine tips were some of the best at not clogging, and at being easy to get working again when they did. Overall, a great marker!

You can get it on Amazon here.

These were some of the first paint pens I tried, other than Posca. They scored above average on most tests. I did find them harder to activate than most. The tip fibre is quite dense and dry, so it took the ink a long time to soak through. They also unfortunately had a smell during some of the tests, which is uncommon for an acrylic paint pen.

These were some of the first paint pens I tried, other than Posca. I used them to decorate the rotary phone that’s been on my set since my first year of YouTube. They work well on rocks and coloured pencils and ranked about mid-range on most other tests. And even some of the pens from 4+ years ago still worked!

For a brand known for their paints, these markers were disappointing. They had some of the lowest scores across the board, and constantly unmixed during all my tests. They were watery, dried unevenly, and the tip fiber feels firm and scratchy, making them harder to use and more likely to create streaks. I’d like to see Liquitex try again and improve their formula, because these should be great!

Click to get these on Amazon.

Information coming soon.

I had mixed results from the DecoColour Acrylic Markers. They unmixed regularly, dired unevenly and were really easy to accidentally pump and spill… not fun! They didn’t layer at all, and the colours weren’t opaque at all. They do have a glossier finish than most other brands, and they were above average on the coloured pencils. Overall, I probably won’t be using these again.

The Meeden acrylic markers were hard to work with. The tips were so dry and dense that they couldn’t absorb the ink and were one of the hardest to activate from all the markers I tested. I also found many reviews online with the same comments – dry and hard to prime. The stiff tips also made them scratchy and squeaky and hard to use. They do seem to have a high quality paint that worked exceptionally well on the alcohol marker test.

Click here to see these on Amazon.

These were good overall – better than most of the valve-action markers I tested. They were above average on all my tests, only lacking in their ability to layer on other media. On my cassette test, they pulled up the dried paint underneath them, and absorbed the colour from the ballpoint pen ink on a lower layer. But overall, I did enjoy using these.

More Info on Amazon.

Information Coming Soon

Check these out on Amazon.

I was overall impressed at the Pilot Pintor markers. They came a close second to Posca in many of my tests (for the valve-action category) and have a great range of colours and sizes available. They are very opaque, flow smoothly and worked well on everything I tested them on. The extra fine tip had less splatter than other brands and they were easy to reactivate without needing too much remixing and shaking.

Find out more on Amazon.

I’ve detailed my great impressions of the Pilot Pintor above- but I wanted to test the extra fine tip separately to compare it better to some of the other brands that only offer the small size. It was again, one of my favourites!

Buy these on Amazon.

Much like the rest of Posca’s acrylic markers, the fine tips were some of the best available. They are quick to activate, they flow smoothly, and they were less scratchy and splattery than other fine tip markers, especially during rock painting. They were able to layer a few times, whereas most other fine tips blocked almost immediately when layered. They do require a bit of technique to make sure you don’t overflood them, but I’m a big fan.

Read More on Amazon.

It’s no surprise that Posca have been one of the biggest markers in the paint marker industry for so long. They had almost perfect scores across every test, and their score was highest overall. The have a huge range of colours and sizes available, although I deducted some points from the “easy to use” score because they spilled multiple times in my testing. They were easily the best pump-action markers, but I’d love to see them bring out a direct ink option. The only thing they lack is a really good white. But I’ve had some of my Posca pens for 5+ years and they are still going strong!

Check these out on Amazon.

After seeing all their ads of “more opaque than other brands”, I can confirm that Surfpaint acrylic paint pens were one the most opaque paint pens I tested. If only their ads showed actual results instead of the stock photos they currently use  – since their markers speak for themselves and the ads are doing them an injustice.

I did have a few disappointments. They were average on some of the tests and the paint didn’t stay mixed for as long as Pilot or Posca. But overall, they outperformed many of the traditional brands and I’d rank them 3rd place for the pump-action category!

Tooli-Art are one of the most popular paint markers among rock painting groups, and I was surprised at just how good the fine tips performed. They didn’t splatter as much as I expected on the rough surface, and were one of the stand-out performers in the fine tip category. They were one of the most opaque markers overall, and performed really well on the alcohol markers and black paper. Overall, a really good marker!

Find these on Amazon.