(DISCLAIMER) Artistro reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try some of their products, so I said yes. I want to make it clear, that this is a 100% honest review, they simply sent me the products to try out. I was not paid for this review.
Artistro is a company that sells both oil and acrylic paint pens. I was sent some of their acrylic paint pens to try out! I am not used to using paint pens for art, so it was nice to have the challenge. When testing these out I compared them to the only other type of paint pen I have tried, Posca pens, so I wanted to see if they were any better.
I was mainly curious because Posca is such a popular brand and I wondered if they were worth all the hype they have.
My first impression when testing the Artistro pens was how well they worked on paper. I used watercolour paper and I only had minimal paper beading, much less than when I used posca pens. Both of these brands work best on surfaces like ceramic and rocks. Posca is known for its huge colour and nib range, and although they still reign supreme, Artistro still has many great colours, including metallics and pastels.
This brought me to the next question, the price difference? To give Posca and Artistro a fair comparison for price I found similar packs on Amazon. A 15 fine-tip set of Posca pens cost $30.80 (CDN) and a 12 fine-tip set of Artistro pens cost $23.99 (CDN)
This means Artistro pens cost in this pack, $1.99 each. Posca pens cost $2.05 each... Not a big difference, but if you buy Artistro's 30 pack set the pens come down to being only $1.50 each. The price for Artistro pens stays consistent as it's easy to buy straight from the supplier, but when it comes to Posca, so many different people sell the pens for fluctuating prices.
Personally I believe Artistro pens are better than Posca. They are a happy medium for paint pen users. They are affordable and come from a reliable brand, they have great colour variety and they work on many different surfaces.
If you are interested in trying Artistro paint pens for yourself you can buy them here.
Artistro is a great brand. All of the colors in this collection are vivid. I enjoy how bright and brilliant they seem even when used on rougher surfaces like wood. Because the ink dries quickly, there was no spreading, even on smooth, non-porous surfaces like porcelain or glass.
You helped me a lot by posting this article and I love what I’m learning.