Hello hello! Over the winter, I randomly acquired several different brands of metallic pens. I started with some metallic pens in the 2020 Holiday Sketchbox, and in a set of acrylic paint pens I bought for my daughter. Then, I picked up a cheap set on Ali Express and Zulily. Finally, in preparation for this blog I purchased two more budget brands, one on Amazon and one at Dollar Tree. This ALL started because I noticed that my expensive set of metallic pens seemed to look a lot less shiny than my other, cheaper sets. Therefore, I set out to see which ones were worth the money!
I did a full test on black paper, which is the main place I would use metallic pens.
I did NOT consider the following things:
- Ability to work on non-paper mediums
- Longevity of use - I didn't consider this because most of the time, metallic pens don't last a long time. I'm lucky if I can get 1-2 years of use out of them, regardless of their price. Because of this, I didn't buy copies to try to run them dry.
- Nib size - A lot of these pens had nibs that were similar in size but not exactly the same. I did not feel it necessary to buy new ones in matching nib sizes, and also did not count that for or against any of the pens. I *did* note if you could only get the pen in one nib size because that does seem important!
Here are the things that I DID judge each one on:
- Price, both total price and per pen price. I also considered if you could buy the metallics separately from larger sets of markers as that can also not be cost effective.
- Pigmentation
- Shininess once dried
- For the gold specifically, the ability to look gold and not "silver gold." Some metallic pens have a lot more silver in them than their actual pigment color.
- Accessibility for me. This won't be the same for everyone, but should be pretty similar for most in the United States at least.
Ok so without further ado, here's my swatch AND my thoughts on each pen set. The list is in the swatch order, I will discuss favorites/least favorites at the end of the blog.
1. Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen
Pros:
- Accessible. Amazon and Blick have them.
- They come in packs of 3 or 4, so you don't have to buy a bunch of things you don't need to get the metallic pens.
- Nibs are high quality
Cons:
- Expensive. These were at the high end of our prices, which would be ok except...
- Poor pigment payout. This set was by FAR the worst pigment payout of all the pens tested. It was really disappointing!
2. Baoke Metallic Craftwork Pens
Pros:
- Accessible! I got these on Ali Express, which takes awhile to get, but I also found them for a little more money on Amazon. The Amazon listing, depending on how many you bought cost anywhere between $1.74 per pen (4 pack) to the same $0.83 per pen (12 pack).
- Pigment!!!! Holy moley these pigments were beautiful! I didn't think I would get pigments this good from a non-paint pen.
- They come in packs of gold and silver only, so you don't have to buy other colors to get the metallics.
Cons:
- These only seem to have one size of nib, and while I'm not holding the nib quality against it, you would not be able to get fine details easily with these pens.
3. Crafter's Square Metallic Marker
Pros:
- Affordable! Price is $1 per marker and you buy them separately.
- Markers are smooth and pigmented.
Cons:
- I know on the swatch I said these are accessible, but that's because I have a Dollar Tree right near my house! These are only available at the Dollar Tree, and so if you don't have a Dollar Tree locally, they might be hard to find.
- This is one of two gold pens that has that "silver gold" sheen that I was talking about. But the pigment payout is STILL better than the Faber Castell Pens in my opinion.
4. Sargent Art Metallic Markers
Pros:
- Accessible. I bought these from Zulily with other art supplies, but Amazon also sells them for the same price.
- Affordable!
- The nibs on these markers are really nice and flexible and felt very high quality. These were my favorite nibs!
- Pigment payout on these markers was good and they were shiny!
Cons:
- The markers come in a pack of 6, which has other colors. This is a con for me, because I will definitely use the gold and silver faster than the other colors and won't be able to easily replace the gold and silver.
- This was the other set of pens with the "silver gold" sheen on the pens, and it was probably the worst of the two.
5. Miaosun Acrylic Paint Pens
Pros:
- Accessible. I got these on Amazon.
- Reasonably affordable. These were actually on the higher end of our price point at $1.25 a pen.
- Excellent pigment payout. Being a paint pen, this one was immediately superior to everything that came before it.
- Pack of 8 had 3 gold, 3 silver, 1 black and 1 white in it. This is good for replacing the pens.
Cons:
- These *were* on the upper end of the price point at $1.25 a pen, but I'm really just stretching there to find a con.
6. AROIC Acrylic Paint Pens
Pros:
- Super affordable! This was the most affordable pen I tried!
- Accessible! This one was an Amazon buy.
- Excellent pigment payout, very similar to the other paint pen above.
Cons:
- These two metallic pens came in a set of 24, and I couldn't see a way to just buy the gold and silver on their own. I've already used both the gold and silver quite a bit from this set, and so I wish they would sell the metallics separately.
- The gold had some glitter in it, which helped with the shine but was definitely a surprise.
Specialty Pen: Molotow Liquid Chrome Pen
Pros:
- Best silver color that I own. Pigment payout is incredible, and shine is beautiful!
- Accessible! These can be purchased on Amazon or Blick.
- Comes in several different nib sizes.
Cons:
- Each pen runs about $10-12 depending on nib size etc. These are SUPER pricey pens! I got one in an art box after I bought one myself, otherwise I wouldn't have two of them!
Ok, so who wins the battle?
Top 3 picks (one for large coverage, one for details, one special consideration):
- Baoke Metallic Craftwork Pen
- This pen was affordable and had excellent pigment payout! It comes in metallics only sets, and has a nice sized nib for coverage!
- Miaosun Acrylic Paint Pens
- These pens are affordable and also had excellent pigment payout! This comes in a metallics plus black and white paint pen set, which is very reasonable for the price. These pens also had the best pigment payout AND have a nice, fine nib to get into the details!
- Molotow Liquid Chrome Pen - Special Consideration
- This pen is amazing but it was EXPENSIVE. I've only had both of mine for about 5-6 months, but so far they both still work great. This is definitely not a budget brand, and doesn't have a gold counterpart that I have discovered to date. But this one does work really well!
Bottom 2 picks:
- Sargent Art Metallic Markers
- These weren't expensive, but they were the same price as other budget pens that performed better. They also only come in a set of 6 colors as far as I could find, and so you cannot buy the gold and silver separately.
- Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens
- Easily, these were my biggest disappointment! I got these in an art box, BUT they are expensive pens and they had a really disappointing pigment payout! I would definitely pay for any of the other brands before I'd buy these again.
I know I didn't test every type of metallic pen or marker out there, but I figured I had a pretty large cross section here to consider! Which brands would you like to see me test in the future? Sharpie? Posca? Let me know in the comments below!
