Copic acrea paint markers – ruby charm colors

Those of you who know me know I love using a variety of pens and pencils to embellish my colored pencil art with additional dots and other shapes and patterns I draw into my existing coloring book designs. Some of my favorites are the Irojiten pencils, the Caran d’Ache Luminance Buff Titanium pencil, GellyRoll and Sakura Souffle pens, and a mix of metallic pens. But my newest obsession, thanks to the suggestion of my friend, Lora King (@dukewife on IG), is the Copic acrea paint marker.

These fully opaque paint markers are actually water-based, pigmented ink that you can use on just about any surface from paper to glass, wood and even fabric. They are non-toxic, non-stinky, and are lightfast and waterproof once dry. Another bonus is that they do not seem to bleed through your paper. The 0.8 mm tip of the pen may look chunky, but the hard nib narrows down to a fairly fine point and I can get fairly small dots by lightly touching the surface of my paper. I can also draw thicker lines and fill in small spaces with a fairly smooth flow of ink and decent coverage. The colors appear matte once dry and they color over colored pencil (as well as watercolor pencil and marker) very nicely.

The acrea pens currently come in four different sets (Deep, Essential, Light and Vivid color sets of six colors each) and you can purchase all 24 individual colors through Blick. Having the ability to buy individual colors is a big deal for many of us who go through our favorites quickly⎯very helpful and appreciated. I only have 6 colors so far (I chose them individually instead of purchasing any of the sets) and have concluded Snow White is a must-have for those who like creating “snow” effects or bubble highlights, and they work well for covering over lines. And because these pens are opaque, they work on black paper and darker surfaces beautifully.

When you first get these pens, you’ll need to prime them first. I shook each pen for a few seconds (not too hard and with the cap on) then gently pressed the tip down a few times on a scrap of paper until I saw the ink seep down to the tip of the nib. One of the colors produced a sudden blob of ink during this process (I probably pressed it down too many times), but after I wiped it off by gently twirling the pen tip sideways on my paper, the ink flowed beautifully.

TIP: Always make sure you put the caps back on your pens snugly (listen for the click) so they don’t dry out, and also, always store your pens horizontally so the liquid doesn’t pool at either end of the barrel of the pen. Many zippered pen/pencil cases will naturally hold your pens horizontally but always check when you store them after use. You’ll find your pens can last a lot longer this way.

The photo on the left (above) shows how well Snow White covers lines. I had to give the pen a gentle shake and press down on a scrap piece of paper to get the ink flowing again, but once it goes, it’s pretty smooth. The middle and right photos (above) show how the acrea pens work over watercolor and colored pencils. I used the Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer and Polychromos while playing around with this bunny design (which you can find on my website and in my Etsy shop as well).

In the next set of photos, I was playing around with drawing over my lines to see how well the acrea pens resist water. I didn’t take my time drawing careful lines in this experiment (bottom left) but I did make sure the ink fully dried before applying watercolor. It only took a few minutes to dry so I used some leftover blue, green and purple from my watercolor pan with a Sakura Koi waterbrush to add color and painted right over the white lines and blue dots. No smudging of the acrea ink! Since there wasn’t enough contrast with blue acrea ink and my paint color, I reapplied Snow White over my original blue dots once the watercolor dried.

Verdict? I am a big fan of the Copic acrea pens. I’ll eventually order additional colors when I have more time to color again, but if you are looking for a fun and useful addition to your collection of coloring supplies, you might want to give these a try. And to be transparent, if you order these pens through the links on my website, I receive a small commission from Blick. It does not add to the price in your cart in any way at all. It does help support and independent artist, however, so thanks in advance if you order from the links on this page or from the links on my Adult Coloring Supplies page.

Back to work for me on a brand new book of coloring designs and another big project that will be revealed before too long. Happy coloring and cheers to all the wonderful art supplies that make creating an exciting, enjoyable adventure!