top of page

Tombow Dual Brush Pens Review

The Tombow Dual Brush Pens are probably the #1 brush pens on the market in North America. They are incredibly popular with letterers and illustrators, as well as bullet journalers and avid colourerers who want a high quality brush pen. People love them — for a good reason.

 


Excellent Quality

Tombows, as brush letterers often refer these pens as, are great quality. They have very bright ink, as well as high quality tips. The tips will last a long time without splitting and the ink stays vibrant after multiple uses.



Two Tips

One of the many features of these pens is that they have two tips. One side is a bullet tip, which is basically a regular marker tip. This end is very useful for journaling, colouring, writing or doing detail work. This tip also works well for monoline lettering.

The bullet tip is perfect for detail work.


I have to admit that I don’t use the bullet tip very often in lettering, but if you were into doodling or bullet journaling it might be different. 🙂

The other tip (what I want to focus more on) is the brush tip! I had to add an exclamation mark because this is what makes the Tombows different from regular markers. This tip is used for my favourite thing — brush lettering, as well as colouring and watercolouring.

The brush tip is used for my favourite thing — brush lettering!

By varying your angle and pressure, you can transition from thick and thin lines. This is necessary for brush lettering, as the entire style is based of the variety in line thickness.

This brush tip is made out of flexible nylon, which allows for a lot of pressure without damage. Unlike some cheaper brush pens, the tips bounce back into their original shape instead of staying bent. Be aware, though, that if you use excessive pressure or smush your pens in an upright angle, the tips will fray and not go back to the crisp shape you want.

The brush tip bounces back to a point even after multiple uses.

The Best Part — Blending!

One of the best features of the Tombow Dual Brush Pens is that the ink is water based. This means that you can do a ton of beautiful blending techniques as well as use these pens in place of watercolours. One of my favourite blending techniques with Tombows is applying ink from one colour pen directly on to another colour pen tip. I will explain how to do this in a tutorial soon! 🙂

This quote was written with the blending technique above. You can see the colour starting out strong and gradually lightening for an ombre effect.

Another way to use the blending capabilities of the Tombow Dual Brush Pens is to use them in place of watercolours. To do this, scribble a little bit of colour onto a piece of plastic, ceramic or the Tombow Blending Palette. Then use the marker ink as you would a regular pan of watercolours.

This piece was done entirely with Tombow Dual Brush Pens.

Over 100 Colours!

There are currently 108 (!) colours of Tombow Dual Brush Pens (including a colourless blender)! You can purchase the entire set or, for a more affordable option, buy packs of 10. These pens are also available individually, but make sure if you buy at an art or craft store that you check the brush pen for fraying. Because they are usually displayed open and bulk, people (and little kids!😨 ) tend to doodle with them and fray the tips. So watch out!

There are currently 108 colours of Tombow Dual Brush Pens!

I have only purchased two of the 10 packs (and a few neutrals) so I haven’t tried out all of the colours, but I do love how vibrant and vivid my bright and galaxy palette colours are.



The Downsides

I was hesitant to write the negative side of a pen I love so much, but I felt it was important to share with you. There are really only two downsides of these pens and the first can be easily avoided, so my review is definitely mostly positive! 🙂

Fist of all, the beautiful sharp brush tip can be completely destroyed if used on the wrong paper. Anything that is not extremely smooth will wear down and fray the brush tips in a very short amount of time. The biggest mistake you can do when caring for these pens is to use them on regular printer paper! Trust me, I know for experience! 🙂

The beautiful sharp tip can be destroyed if used on the wrong paper. Don’t use printer paper for brush lettering!

Second, these pens are a little on the pricey side. Individual pens are about $4 CDN each, and 10 packs are around $30. I buy my pens at Michaels and make sure to use the 50% off coupons!

Other than that, there are really no downsides to the Tombow Dual Brush Pens. 🙂



Should I Buy Them?

My answer is YES! These are the best brush pens for lettering (in my opinion), and I think anyone interested in starting brush lettering should invest in a good set of brush pens like these.

But if you are brand new to lettering, you could find the brush tip hard to control, so try something cheaper and easier to use like the Crayola Broadline Markers first.


I hope this review was helpful in finding the right brush lettering supplies for you! 🙂

24 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page