Arteza Pro Series Everblend Ultra H2O
These are one of Arteza’s watercolour markers. There are 120 colours in the range, although I’m a little disappointed at the lack of a “red” red and the large amount of repeated yellows and greens instead of better variety (like more purples or pinks). The colours are bright, but not very saturated. They are water-soluble and have a medium smell (more than most of the water-based markers I tried). Because these are intended for watercolour, they’re not great for normal paper or colouring books and ruin the paper quickly. I’d recommend using them with a watercolour or mixed media paper.
Set Sizes available: 12 / 24 / 36
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Arteza Premium Real Brush Pens
The Arteza Premium Real Brush Markers are a watercolour marker, so they’re not intended for general colouring or use without water. But I was honestly a little disappointed, even at their performance as watercolours. The quality varied between the markers I tested – some were far more moist than others, and I found a few that weren’t properly assembled. The amount of colour/pigment was lacking when compared to other similar markers, and so it was hard to create vibrant colours. They weren’t as water-soluble as I would have liked for a watercolour marker.
Set Sizes available: 36 / 49
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Arteza TriMarker
The Arteza TwiMarker markers work well with cardstock. They are nice to use, easy to blend, and are easy to spread evenly. Unfortunately they aren’t as good on thinner copy paper. In my testing, they frayed the paper quickly, couldn’t layer, and the nibs began to wear quickly. They are slightly water-soluble, but I’ve noticed that water changes the colours of the ink, so it’s not something I would recommend. The colours were vibrant, with a good mix of light and dark. My range of 48 markers included a huge variety of pinks, but not many greys or browns.
Set Sizes available: 48 / 100
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Artline Supreme
The Artline Supreme are a thick fineliner, great for tiny details or for journaling and writing. I purchased my small set of Artline Supreme, expecting my colours to be pastel – but they ended up being much brighter colours. They are slightly water-soluble and have no smell. I probably wouldn’t recommend these for general colouring books, because they don’t handle more than 1-2 layers before damaging the paper.
Set Sizes available: 5
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
BiC Intensity Dual Tip Felt Pens
The BiC Intensity Dual Tip markers are a pleasure to use. They are water-based and water-soluble and have only a mild smell. The bright range of colours are properly saturated and provides a very even layer of colour on the page. They are easy to use, good at blending, slow to damage paper, and have a good quality feel. Overall, these are great markers, but I wish they had more than just 12 colours in the range.
Set Sizes available: 12
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Caliart Dual Tip Brush Marker
These water-based markers look and have a similar feel to the Ohuhu Maui marker. They are water-soluble, but have a slight smell to them which I don’t love in a water-based marker. Unfortunately, some of my Caliart markers arrived damaged, they were quick to damage printer paper and didn’t feel great to use overall. Also, the colour range could have been better as they didn’t include many greens or brighter yellows and, just like their alcohol markers, Caliart didn’t include many lighter colours.
Set Sizes available: 34
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Caran d’Ache Fibralo
The Caran d’Ache Fibralo markers are nice to use and the tips are very good quality. They are a thick fineliner, which is good for ‘small-ish’ details and provides a very even application on the paper. The colours are very saturated, though some that I tested were faded, and others did not match the colours on their barrels. They are slightly water-soluble and would work well with colouring pages, although I was hoping for a much nicer marker overall, given the Caran d’Ache brand.
Set Sizes available: 10 / 24 / 30
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Chromatek Watercolor
The Chromatek Watercolor markers are a real brush marker, and don’t work well without water. Even with the water, they weren’t as vibrant as other similar brush pens, although they had a nice variety of colours. For some reason, these came with 3 watercolour blending brushes—I’ll let you decide if that’s too many. Overall these markers were quite disappointing, especially after using other watercolour markers like Zig. In general, I didn’t find many of the real brush pens to be beginner-friendly, and I don’t recommend them for regular colouring books.
Set Sizes available: 30 / 54 / 108
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Crayola Signature Water-Based Marker
The Crayola Signature range are marketed as art supplies for adults, so I was surprised and disappointed at the quality and presentation of these water-based markers. In my testing, the brush tips felt cheap, scratchy and noisy. One of mine was already dried up. They’ve chosen to have a different colour on each end of the marker, but ALSO a different tip, which is a strange decision… Does the person designing these know how to use them? Even with these 2 colours per marker, they were not paired well, produced inconsistent results. The colour range was also a disappointment – not many greens, no ‘normal’ yellow, and only 1 grey with no lighter colours at all. They are water-soluble, but I wouldn’t recommend using them with water. I love Crayola, but I’d prefer their kids Supertips markers over these.
Set Sizes available: 16
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Crayola Supertips Water-Based Marker
The Crayola Supertips performed surprisingly well in all categories tested, with bold, easy-to-use and blendable colours. They didn’t damage the paper and handled a lot more layers than other comparable markers. The colour does tend to build towards the end of each stroke, which is more noticeable on thinner paper. They also do not have any numbers or names of colours on the markers, which makes them hard to swatch (I solved this by using a permanent marker to make my own numbers). They are water-soluble and I recently used them to create a detailed watercolour portrait, with surprising results. The colour range is very saturated, with lots of pinks and lots of natural colours but lacks greys and has no lighter colours. These are one of my favourite water-based markers, and their price is unbeatable.
Set Sizes available: 10 / 12 / 20 / 24 / 50 / 100
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Ecoline Duotip and Brush Pen Marker
The Ecoline Duotip and Brush Pen markers are exceptional watercolour markers. They have great colours and high quality tips that produce a lot of moisture and colour, making them a joy to use with watercolour paper. Both the Duotip and Brush Pen performed the same, with the only difference being the tips. They’re great at blending between colours (with or without water) however their high level of moisture means they aren’t suitable for general colouring or cheaper paper. But as watercolour markers, these are a great choice!
Edding 1300 and 1340 Brush pen
Edding makes a variety of similar markers, and I was able to test the 1300 (bullet felt tip) and the 1340 (brush pen). Both seem good for writing and lettering and are fairly nice to use. Their tips seem decent, but the brush was a little squeaky in my testing. They are water-soluble, but the colours do change when interacted with water. The biggest let down with these is the colour range, with only 20 colours available, so it’s not leaving much room for choice.
Set Sizes available: 6 /10 / 20
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Etchr Fineliners and Brush Pens
I was given these markers by Etchr a while ago, and haven’t had a chance to try them until now. I’m not sure if my set just didn’t age well (despite never being used) because the colours were far more faded than I expected, and were inconsistent between markers in the set. I found that the tips are extremely fragile, and the fine tip felt scratchy. These markers may be good for journaling and lettering but would not work well with colouring. They have a very limited colour range and were stronger smelling than other fineliners and water-based markers.
Set Sizes available: 16
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour Marker
The Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer are enjoyable to use as watercolour markers. They have a lot of moisture, so they are much better on watercolour paper than on normal paper, and wouldn’t be suitable for general colouring. But as watercolours, they were fun to use and had great colours. They didn’t quite make my finalist list for watercolours, but they’re still worth a try!
Set Sizes available: 10 / 20 / 30
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Faber-Castell Connector Pen
These are an Australian childhood classic. Their connector caps allow you to connect them together to make towers, boats, planes and more, giving these markers an unusual creative outlet that is endlessly fun. But most adults will have memories of damaged tips (being pushed in) and torn paper from too many layers – and my testing confirmed this isn’t just a user issue. The markers are quite inconsistent, with some being softer than others, some having smaller nibs, and the moisture changes marker to marker. They are slightly water-soluble, but the colour seems to change when using water. They are nice for drawing, but not for colouring. The colours are very saturated, but I’m not sure I’ll buy these for my kids again after seeing the many other options available. Maybe they’re more nostalgia than art supply?
Set Sizes available: 10 / 12 / 14 / 18 / 20 / 28 / 30 / 36 /40 / 60 /80
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Faber-Castell Goldfaber Aqua
The Faber-Castell Goldfaber Aqua markers are my choice for the best watercolour marker on the market. They are nice and vibrant, they layer easily and evenly (on any paper), and the tips are really nice to use. They have the same high-quality manufacturing as other Faber-Castell professional art supplies, and it’s really easy to blend colours together. They are probably a little too moist for general colouring, but they work like magic with watercolour paper. If you’re only going to purchase one set of watercolour markers, these are the ones I recommend.
Set Sizes available: 4 / 6 / 12 / 18
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Karin Brushmarker Pro
Karin Brushmarker Pro is clearly a high-quality marker. The nibs are firm but moist, and they are really nice to use. They are easy to apply evenly and blend well between colours. The colour range has some good vibrancy and variety, although I felt it was missing a good red. Overall, this marker is good for both colouring and watercolour, being one of my top 10 for watercolour markers.
Set Sizes available: 12 / 26 / 63
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Karin Realbrush Pro
The Karin Realbrush PRO markers are an excellent example of good watercolour markers. They are a little too moist for cheaper paper; but with the right paper they are excellent at blending and layering, they are easy to apply evenly, and have wonderfully bright colours. The real brush is very soft and might take some practice to get used to, but any streaks disappear quickly when you add water. These were a strong contender for ‘Best Real Brush Watercolour Marker’, but took 2nd place just behind the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers due to their higher price.
Set Sizes available: 12
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Koi Marker
Overall, the Koi markers seem great. The brush tip feels nice to use, and they are good at blending between colours, although they can be a little streaky on cheaper paper. They seem like a good marker for colouring books, lettering or calligraphy and even worked ok with water.
Set Sizes available: 6 / 12 / 24 / 48
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Lyra Aqua Brush Duo Marker
The Lyra Aqua Brush Duo markers ended up in my top 10 watercolour markers. They are nice to use, blend really well, colour evenly, have a great range of colours that are properly saturated, are ‘okay’ at layering, and are water-soluble. You’ll need to be careful with these markers though—the lids can feel like they’re on when they’re not, which can dry out the markers very quickly. But if you’re careful with them, these markers can be quite good.
Set Sizes available: 12 / 24 / 36
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Molotow Aqua Twin Marker
I have had the Molotow Aqua Twin markers for a while now, although I’ve barely had a chance to try them! These have beautiful colours and are great as watercolour markers, when used on paper than can handle a lot of moisture. I wouldn’t recommend them on anything other than watercolour paper, because they did warp and damage my cardstock quickly. I was disappointed with their brush tip quality, with a few of mine already being worn or damaged when I bought them. I’d like to see Molotow work on improving these, because for now, there are a range of other better watercolour markers available on the market.
Set Sizes available: 2 / 6 / 12
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: Yes
Where to Buy: Amazon
Mont Marte Discovery
The Mont Marte Discovery water-based markers were okay at blending, but not very good at layering. They have a very vibrant colour range; but they had a lot of similar greens, no light colours, and a lack of greys. They had no numbers or names on the markers themselves, making them harder to organise or rely on swatches. The marker build itself wasn’t too bad, but the lids were hard to remove. They’re quite a cheap marker, and ok quality for the price, but not one of my favourites.
Set Sizes available: 54
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Mont Marte Fine tip Marker
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 12
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Mont Marte Signature Duo
The Mont Marte Signature Duo markers are an affordable water-based marker with a brush and fineliner tip. They weren’t great at blending or layering, and were quick to damage my paper. The colour range is vibrant, but doesn’t include any proper yellow or lighter greys. The lids are a bit stiff and hard to remove, and some of the nibs in my set arrived damaged brand-new. I do think there are many higher quality markers available, even at a similar price.
Set Sizes available:
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Mr Pen Felt Tip Pens
The Mr Pen Felt Tip Pens are designed to be used for writing. They write quite well, and are also good for lettering, and some light calligraphy. However, despite the name, these don’t appear to have an actual felt tip, but instead, have a plastic bullet nib. The nib works well on an angle, but it would’ve been good to see a proper felt tip on these, especially since they’re marketed that way. To be expected, these aren’t great for colouring or other heavy use due to their thin tips. Their range of 16 colours are slightly muted, are water-resistant, and have a slight smell to them.
Set Sizes available: 8
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Ohuhu Maui
The Ohuhu Maui were very nice for blending, pretty good at layering, and were gentle on my paper. They have a huge range of colours, but have a lot of repeats and a lack of darker red-oranges; and for some reason, a whole lot of pink. I’ve had an older set for a few years now, and I still use these regularly for colouring. They aren’t the BEST water-based marker out there, but they are very good quality for their affordable price. I recommend these as a good marker in their own right, but I double recommend them if you love pink.
Set Sizes available: 36 / 60 / 100 / 120 / 160
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Ohuhu Watercolor Brush
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 25 / 48
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Pentel Art Brush Up
The Pentel Art Brush Up markers have a flexible nib that feels more ‘brush-like’, rather than a proper brush. It requires you to use very light pressure in order to get good results out of it, and even when I was careful, I found the colour to be inconsistent, and streaky. These markers performed much better when I used them for writing, lettering, journalling, and light calligraphy; which is what they are advertised for, rather than colouring.
Set Sizes available: 6 / 12 / 24
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Pentel Color Pen
The Pentel Color Pen is well-suited for writing, journalling, lettering, and calligraphy, with a tip that works smoothly from any angle. While it can be used for colouring, it doesn’t appear to be specifically designed for that purpose. The pen offers a bright and varied range of colours, that would be welcome in any bullet journal or notebook.
Set Sizes available: 12 / 18 / 24 / 36
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Spectrum Noir Aqua
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 4 / 12 / 36
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Spectrum Noir TriColour Aqua
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 3 / 24
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Staedtler Double-Ended Fibre-Tip Pens
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 36 / 72 / 120
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Staedtler Triplus Broadliner
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 4 / 20
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Staedtler Triplus Fibre-Tip
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 6 / 10 / 20 / 26
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Staedtler Double-Ended Watercolour Brush Pen
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 18 / 36
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Talens Pantone
The Talens Pantone markers are a unique marker and a pleasure to use. They felt a bit like an alcohol marker (but not quite), despite being water-based. They are very easy to blend, and layer very well, and the brush tips are high quality. These stood out as one of the best lightfast markers, holding their colour even in direct sunlight, making them a great choice if you plan to sell or display your artwork.
Set Sizes available: 9 /27
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Tombow Dual Brush Pen
The Tombow Dual Brush Pen markers are very popular water-based markers, and for good reason. They blend well for a water-based marker, and are pretty good at layering without damaging the paper. They offer a huge mix of bold, saturated, and muted colours, with a good variety of lights and darks. They’re nice to colour with, but also work really well as watercolours. I’ve had my set of 90 for years now, and they still work well and are my go-to water-based marker for many of my projects. Even after all this testing, they’ve come out on top again as the best water-based markers for colouring books.
Set Sizes available: 6 / 10 / 20 / 96
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Tombow Fudenosuke
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 2 / 3 / 6 / 10
Available as open stock: No – Only Blacks
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Winsor & Newton Promarker Watercolour
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 6 / 12 / 24
Available as open stock: Yes
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Zig Clean Color Real Brush
The Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers were excellent for both blending and layering. They worked really well with and without water, and didn’t damage my paper. The real brush nib was very high-quality, but takes a little practice if you’re used to a regular marker. They also have a great variety of very saturated colours in their range, which keep their saturation when turned into watercolours, making these my pick for the best real brush watercolour markers on the market.
Set Sizes available: 6 / 22 / 30 / 39 / 90
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
Zig Fudebiyori
‘Coming Soon’
Set Sizes available: 12 / 24
Available as open stock: No
Refills Available: No
Where to Buy: Amazon
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