The Best Acrylic Paint Pens: A Paint Marker Comparison

June 27, 2025 by Michelle Li

The Best Acrylic Paint Pens: A Paint Marker Comparison

Today I will be sharing my journey in finding the best acrylic paint pens for my creative practice. I generally avoid using the words “perfect” or “best” when I talk about art supplies. I believe that there are good supplies available at a variety of price points.

However, when it comes to acrylic paint pens, this is not the case. There are a lot of brands out there, but there are very few pens that I have found that work as advertised. We will be exploring the different brands that I have tried and what I have discovered is the best acrylic paint pen for my creative practice.

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What is a Paint Pen or Paint Marker?

I am calling these paint pens, but paint pen or marker can be used interchangeably when talking about these types of acrylic paint pens. They are usually called paint markers when you are using a thicker, more bullet tip marker to be used for drawing. They are more often referred to as paint pens when using them for writing. For the sake of this article, when I refer to paint pens, I am including both paint pens and markers.

An acrylic paint pen is basically a pen or marker filled with fluid acrylic paint. They write similarly to a marker or pen that holds ink. Ideally, when using a paint pen, there should be a steady flow of paint coming from the pen. There are a variety of tips and sizes for markers including brush, fine, bullet and chisel tip. Acrylic paint pens that have very fine tips are great for writing and very wide chisel tips are great for large surface areas.

My Journey with the Paint Pen

I discovered paint pens several years ago and immediately fell in love with them. The idea of writing on a canvas or in art journal project with acrylic paint was inspiring to me. It provides a different look and feel than using a brush. It is also a great way of adding in fine details on a journal page or painting.

I loved the concept of the acrylic paint pen and purchased a wide selection of paint pens. Unfortunately, I often ended up very disappointed. The pens were hard to get the acrylic paint flowing through properly. When I finally had them flowing, they would leave big splotches of paint on my page. I found them inconsistent and hard to use.

I often only got one use out of a pen. The nibs would get dry, and I could not get them to flow again. I tried washing the nibs, changing out the nibs and still did not get good results. I was so frustrated I stopped using acrylic paint pens and started using a dip pen to add fluid acrylics to paintings instead.

What Changed?

Earlier this year, I was in a creative journaling class and my teacher recommended her favorite paint pen. It was a brand that I had not yet tried, and she said that they were amazing. I was skeptical given previous experiences but I was willing to give paint pens one more attempt.

When I tried them, I was completely blown away! I completed an entire art journal page with the paint pen without any problems. Just to be sure, I used it again the next day and it worked perfectly. I was elated! I could start using acrylic paint pens again in my work and was so excited.

Written by

Michelle Li

Michelle Li

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