White ink pens add contrast on a dark or colorful art journal page, and they are a must-have tool for every mixed media art supply kit.
Tip: When drawing people, whether whimsical or realistic, white ink is a necessity for bringing your characters to life.
Every artist, scrapbooker, and cartoonist has their favorite white ink pen, but if you’re just getting started then this review can help you save time, money, and frustration in finding the white pen that works best for you.
I went ahead and tested eight of the most highly recommended white ink pens on the same black page and took a picture, because that says more in less.
White Ink Pens on Black Paper
Tested in the black Dylusions creative journal …
There are a few things to compare here: the pen tip & width, smoothness, and opacity.
Tip: The more opaque the ink, the more vibrant it will look in contrast to a dark background.
A few of these markers (Recollections, I’m looking at you!) were labeled as opaque, but as you can see they are more transparent and subtle. This doesn’t mean they are bad, but not the best fit when you want vibrancy.
White Ink Pens in Art Journaling
It wouldn’t be a complete test without also comparing those pens over ink…
paint…
and (black) gesso.
The Faber Castell PITT big brush pen, in white, is also less opaque but good if you are coloring large areas in. As you can see, it’s quite large!
One thing that’s not shown as well in the picture above is how smoothly a pen writes. This is where it gets tricky, because there is a trick to writing with paint pens & markers and it takes a practice to get used to, but once you get it then it’s easy to maintain a consistent inkflow.
The Sharpie (water based) white marker wasn’t terrible, but it’s also the wrong size. All I could find was the medium point, so I will update with the extra fine point white (water based) Sharpie for comparison, because that is the one that art journalists prefer.
Also, the Painters Opaque White Paint Marker smelled pretty bad, but it was the only paint marker that had this problem. Ironically, a blob of paint that splattered out from this marker (which you can see above the letter “i” in the second line) is more opaque/vibrant than the writing test.
Gel pens, the other favorite style of white ink, tend to skip. It’s very important to hold them at the right angle to keep the inkflow consistent when doodling or writing, and some just skip regardless. In this test, the Pentel Sunburst Gel Pen and Reminisce Gel Pen were the worst.
Aaaaaand the top 3 choices for white ink pens based on opacity and smoothness:
- Dylusions Paint Pen. Okay, I might be biased because Dyan Reaveley herself introduced me to these markers in an art journaling workshop at Inky Hot Mess. Even though I already had a favorite white gel pen, this is my favorite white paint pen. The valve action tip is smooth and consistent, the paint is opaque (vibrant) and fast-drying, and the width is ideal for doodling, detailing, and precise/fine writing. Click here for tips on using the Dylusions paint pen.
- Sakura Gelly Roll is a popular favorite, especially for zentangling and doodling. It writes smoothly, the ink is opaque, and it has a fine point for small details. It’s also archival-quality white ink, which basically means it’s waterproof and fade resistant.
- Uniball Signo UM-153 is the one pen I knew with full confidence would pass this test. Ask any artist to recommend a white gel pen and this is what you’ll get. It’s the most consistently vibrant white gel pen available, and the proof is in the picture above!
Obligatory disclaimer– I use affiliate links to the products recommended. You don’t have to buy them, and you don’t have to use the links to go shopping, but I’ll make a little money if you do buy using those links and that little bit of money helps support Mixed Media Art Journey. I will never link to a product that I wouldn’t recommend anyways.