Art Product Review | Touch Ten Watercolor Brush Pen
Hi all, how have you been? I had a busy weekend especially on Sunday whereby my family and I attended the Hope Worldwide Malaysia Charity Fun Run and Masquerade Walk. I will write about that event on my next post because today I am going to write a product review! Nope, this is not a Steemhunt post but a review of an art product I purchased recently - Touch Ten Watercolor Brush Pen.
I purchased this set of watercolor brush pens from Lazada Malaysia about a couple of weeks ago (8 June 2018) but since the vendor is from overseas, I did not get my item until 20 June 2018. I did expect the delivery to be delayed because of the Hari Raya holiday. However, the package still arrived within the promised time period which was within a couple of weeks upon purchased.
The package was carefully wrapped and secured and I am happy with that. However, I totally forgot to take the picture before I tear off the wrapping. Anyway, here's the product (I opened the flap):
1) Leaking pens
When I opened the flap I noticed one disappointing thing: the pens were leaking. There were 20 pens in total and about 8 of them leaked. It wasn't too bad except for a couple of them. I did read some online reviews (mostly from Amazon) about this product and most of the reviewers mentioned this leak. However, I was willing to take the risk mainly because the pens are very affordable and I wanted to buy some cheap pens before deciding to splurge on the premium brands. So I knew the risk beforehand. I washed the pen caps with water to remove the leaked inks.
2) Watercolor brush pen
The set came with a watercolor brush pen. A watercolor brush pen is a synthetic tip brush with a refillable water chamber. This type of brush is very convenient for watercolorists who are always on the go. Here's the photo of the brush. On the left (brown tip) is my large-size Pentel Aquash brush and on the right is the brush that came with the set. The brush is of decent quality but the bristle is a bit stiff compared to my Pentel Aquash brush.
3) Product testing
To test the product, I decided to paint a simple galaxy art. I chose four colors - purple, light blue, light green, and yellow. I began with purple on top, followed by light blue, light green, and finally yellow at the bottom. By the way, the brush tips are soft and easy to bend.
Next, I used the watercolor brush pen to blend the colors from top to bottom. Even though the colors dissolved easily they didn't blend really well. I had to go through the layers several times trying to blend them together. I managed to do it finally but as you can see the result is not so satisfying. See that thinning layer between purple and light blue? I used way too much water trying to blend those layers. Also the light blue and light green layers didn't blend really well at all.
I had to apply another layer of paint to cover the thinning layers and try to blend them again. I think the result is better now. After it dried up, I used a black marker to draw the trees silhouette and finally a white gouache paint to paint the stars.
Here is the completed art!
And also a time-lapse video of me blending the colors.
4) My verdict
I am giving this product 3 stars. Here's why:
The pros
a) The price is very affordable. After discount, I paid MYR37.31 (US$9.30) for this product. That is the cheapest one I could find. Some vendors are selling this at a ridiculously high price, which is not worth it at all.
b) It has 20 colors, which is more than enough.
c) It comes with a watercolor brush pen.
d) The colors are very vibrant.
e) The colors dissolved easily.
f) Soft and easy to bend tips
The cons
a) The paints are leaking on arrival.
b) They don't blend well.
The 3-stars is mainly because I am quite disappointed that the colors do not blend well. That aside, I still recommend this product if you have never tried this medium before or you just want to use it for calligraphy/art journaling/card making/doodling or any other personal art projects. Do not use this product if you intend to sell your art. I can't comment on the light-fastness of the colors but my rule of thumb is if the price is cheap, it usually doesn't last long ;). Don't buy this product if you have high expectations. If you want to create some serious art and intent to sell them, please purchase the premium brands like Tombow Dual Brush Pen. I also recommend the seller because she/he offers the cheapest price, the product is well wrapped, and it arrived within the promised period.
That's it for now, I hope this review is helpful to anyone who is thinking of purchasing this product :)
Thank you for checking out my post!
My previous posts:
Stencil Painting | Stranger On the Street
Stencil Painting | A Despairing Angel
I am selling some of my paintings over on Artfinder. Shipping is FREE worldwide. You can check them out here: ARTFINDER.
My gifts & merchandise available at REDBUBBLE (international), & CreativeUnited (Malaysia).
Thank you!
![FINALUSE3.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmX4B5sbMqBkGGihb5CWcuiFo6f7W93cLusQUi2znWBvJp/FINALUSE3.jpg)
Hmm, it doesn't look that bad. But you're right that you can't use it if you want to sell your art. Still, it's quite cheap and look easy enough to use. Thanks for the review.
You are most welcome!
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