(This is a guest post by Nick Folz. You can find more of Nick and his work on his blog, Smallberry Drive, Twitter, and Instagram.)
I am barely scraping by here on a technicality. Sure, this is a watercolor set, not a pen ... but it comes with a water brush that could be loosely defined as a brush pen?
Regardless of the rules here, this watercolor set does indeed rule. The Sakura Koi Watercolor sets come in a wide variety of sizes, from 12 to 48 color palettes. I picked up this 30 color variety because I wanted to try out a new range of colors. I had been using an Artist Loft 36 color set which was fine, but was running low on a few hues and wanted to try something different, so I picked up this kit at a local art store.
First impression is that the kit itself It’s neat and cute. It is a small rectangle clamshell that snaps open and shut. Inside is a small pallete to mix colors with, two small sponges, a water brush, and 30 pigment cubes. The pallete has short legs that slide into small holes placed around the base. The water brush must be dissembled to fit back into place but it has a small stopper so you can leave it loaded with water for travel. On the back side of the case there is a small ring that can be flipped out so you can hold it easier if you are painting outside, or on the couch.
The 30 colors are pretty decent. I like a few less yellows, but your mileage may vary. Some of the color cubes are very dark, so you might not know what pigment you are picking up until you mix it on the pallete. I noticed that if you don't go pretty light on some of the colors they don't break down completely and you end up with a chalky tone, but if you start light and work darker they are fine.
The water brush included is serviceable, but nothing great. It does have an odd feature in that the tip screws on in the opposite direction than you would expect: Righty loosey, lefty tighty. The water flow is slow and deliberate, but if you don't have that sucker lefty tightened all the way down then water will come out of the seam and not the brush tip. I want to replace it, but my other brush pens are filled with ink, and it isn't so bad that replacing it has taken priority, so it stays.
The sponges are something I didn't think I'd use, but I use them all the time. I didn't ever keep sponges around when watercoloring before, I always kept a paper towel with me instead. The sponges can be used to clean pigment off the brush, remove excess water, or to make textured patterns on the artwork. Their addition makes this a one stop shop for watercoloring and I find myself using them more often because of the convenience.
Convenience is the key for me here, because I'm not alone or unique in that I feel busy all of the time. Free time is rare and short, and there are no shortage of things vying for a slice of it: Books I should read, shows I want to watch, games I want to play, episodes of a certain pen podcast I want to listen too. Anything that removes some barriers gets bumped up in the queue, and since I've purchased this kit I've found myself watercoloring more often, and enjoying it more than before. Is the water brush great? No. Are there better quality watercolors out there? Sure. Does this kit make me a better artist? Well, it allows me to paint more often, and that is worth the price of admission.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
