Specific Acrylic: Posca Paint Pens

With the evolution of art supplies over the years, paint had remained an inconsistent medium--until now. While painting with brushes (or even fingers) gave less control to artists than a pencil, one brand combined the control of a pencil tip with the opacity of acrylic paint--and the quality is outstanding.

Precious Posca Pens

Posca paint pens, made by the Japanese-based art company Uni Mitsubishi Pencil, are designed to hold acrylic paint in a pencil body that can be carried and used at the artist's convince. Instead of having to pour paint onto a palette and use it immediately before drying up, the paint pens allow artists to use the paint whenever and wherever. 

However, there are a few downsides to the paint pens. With a pen, you can not create custom colors, which can be a hindrance to blended or more-detailed pieces. Also, paint can leak from the tip. Since the pens are activated by pressing the tip down repeatedly, an excess flow of too much paint can unexpectedly ruin a work (As such, I recommend testing the pens on a scrap sheet of paper before each use.) 

I personally use Posca pens to achieve small details in acrylic paint on different canvas surfaces. My main art project involving paint pens detailed over 30 different frog designs on shrink-plastic sheets, where the colors came in handy to keep vibrant designs that would shrink after baking. Despite a few challenges with layering paint, the Posca pens created high-quality designs.

So, if you're an artist interested in acrylics and prefer pens, give Poscas a try. Let me know your thoughts on the popular product. Pen a post about paint pens.