Best White Pens for Coloring?
Everyone loves a good white gel pen.
C’mon, you know you do. You whip out your white pen at the end of every Copic Marker or colored pencil project, to add realistic highlights and shine to everything.
Hold on there…
Does white gel pen actually look realistic?
But what else is there? What do artists use to color white?
White gel pens are for craft-level coloring which you’ll eventually outgrow. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by artist grade white products. In this article, the Vanilla Team shares their favorite white pens and pencils for artistic coloring with Copic Markers and colored pencils.
Realistic looking Whites?
As you learn to color with more depth, dimension, and realism, you’ll notice a growing disappointment with gel pens.
White gel pen simply doesn’t look real. It always looks like white gel pen.
Gel pen dries shiny and plasticky. It sits raised on the surface, never sinking into the paper fibers the way Copic ink does. Plus, gel pens are small. You can’t fill large areas with a tiny white pen.
And honestly, many of you are starting to notice that white objects aren’t very white. So it’s time for a more mature approach to white.
The problem is, everyone recommends the same darned gel pen.
And colored pencils? You’re a marker person, not a colored pencil person… where do you start and what should you look for?
Let’s take a look at the Vanilla Team’s favorite white coloring supplies.
A little white goes a long way!
The final step for most Copic or pencil projects involve small white pin-points and glints. Here’s a bonus Vanilla Arts article on how to get perfect white dots from your colored pencil, paint pen, and even your Copic Markers.
Cupcake Crazy
Kathy, a long time student of Vanilla Arts loves to color food. What’s more gluten free, calorie free, and everlasting than a colored pencil cupcake?
Kathy used Prismacolor Premier White pencil (PC938) on the daisy petals, the highlights of the frosting, and the shine on the metallic wrapper.
Also note Kathy’s choice of paper. The mid-tone gray makes the white look brighter. Kathy’s favorite gray paper is listed in the products below.
Here are some fun workshops that will get you coloring with white in no time at all:
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Vanilla Arts Company is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for use to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com.
The Vanilla Team’s Favorite Whites:
Colored Pencils
You can learn a lot about a pencil brand from the quality of their white pencil.
White formulas are often the base recipe for the lighter colors in the full set. For example, if the white from your favorite brand has a very opaque and sticky white, their soft pinks will have a similar sticky, opaque quality. If the white is very translucent, you can safely assume that most of their light colors will share the same translucent quality.
This is just a general rule and there are exceptions! Swatch your whites and frankly all your pencils to test their consistency and opacity before you start.
FAVORITE WHITE PENCILS:
Listed in order from most opaque to least.
Note: we do no recommend anything lower than semi-opaque.
1. Derwent Drawing Pencils, Chinese White 7200: To date, this is the most opaque white pencil that we’ve found but it’s technically not a colored pencil, it’s a drawing pencil. This is a chameleon white which looks opaque on toothy paper but semi translucent on ultra smooth marker card stock.
This pencil has a soapy feel and lays down thick. We love the feel but it takes a bit of getting used to. This pencil should be hand-sharpened due to the extremely soft core.
Chinese White is not a true white— it has a sligh yellowish cast which is most noticeable when used near other whites or directly on white paper. If you need a pure white ultra-soft pencil, try Holbein Soft White #501 (more info below).
Elena loves to use this pencil for highlights and reflections when coloring glass objects. Lisa uses it as a water resist.
2. Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, White 938: A semi opaque white which allows some of the base color to show through. Has a smooth buttery feel.
Amy keeps a Prismacolor white in all her pencil kits. If you open her Holbein or Luminance zipper case, there’s a Prismacolor white in it. It’s her universal favorite.
3. Luminance (Caran D’ache), White 001: A semi-opaque white, slightly more translucent and slightly firmer than Prismacolor White. Some Luminance pencils have a gritty feel.
Amy likes to use this pencil when she needs an opaque white over the top of many layers; the sandy texture helps it adhere when other pencils won’t.
4. Also notable- Luminance Buff Titanium 801. Few companies make a subtle beige like this. If you’re looking for a warm white, this is highly recommended.
6. Holbein Soft White 501: Holbein pencils feature an extremely smooth, buttery formula; they’re even softer than Prismacolor Soft Cores.
Amy absolutely loves Holbein pencils. Their whites are almost opaque with a hint of translucency.
Do not be confused, they’re both the same color. “Soft White” refers to the texture, not the color. Soft White is comparable to the Chinese White Derwent Drawing pencil listed above. Holbein Soft White is useful for top layers as it has more adhesion ability.
7. Uni Mitsubishi Colored Pencil, White 501: If you can’t find Holbein pencils, Uni pencils are incredibly close in both texture and adhesion. Amy reports that Uni White is just a wee-bit more translucent than Holbein but otherwise, they’re clones.
Not available open stock in the US but sets can be found on Amazon.
WARNING: Uni-Posca Colored Pencils are different. The Posca version is student grade and not recommended.
8. Pablo by Caran D’ache, White 001: A semi opaque white with a very firm core. This is a chameleon pencil which can be used with pressure for opaque details, but at softer pressures will create a lovely sheer effect.
Frankie recommends this pencil when you want crisp details. Kathy is also a big fan of the Pablo line and this is her #2 white, just behind Prismacolor. Amy uses Pablos for sketching and the white is perfect for black or mid-tone gray papers.
Gel Pens
We’ve tried them all and while we’re not raging fans, there is one gel pen we all use fairly regularly.
1. Uni-ball Signo Broad, White: A temperamental pen that dies easily but when it does work, it lays down a generous and smooth coat of opaque white without leaving railroad tracks as many gel pens do. Once flowing, the Signo also has the ability to stick to layers of colored pencil when other white gel pens won’t.
This pen must be used slowly. We suspect most of the bad reviews on this pen are from people drawing/writing too fast. The ink is thick and you’ll get a better quality line when you slow down and take your time.
The Signo is water-based, so Amy frequently uses a dampened paintbrush to smooth Signo ink or smear it for an attractive fade-out.
Markers
2. Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen, White 101: True white markers are rare, most white “markers” are actually paint pens. The Pitt is white India Ink, waterproof and lightfast. It’s not the most opaque white ever but the Big Brush style makes excellent snowflake dots and smears beautifully for Amy’s windswept cloud technique. Ink can be scribbled onto glass and then picked up with a damp paintbrush for further dilution or control.
Paint Pens
Amy teaches with poster paint pens because they’re basically gouache in marker form. They are very easy to control, travel well, and last a long time if stored horizontal and properly capped.
3. Uni Posca, .7mm White: Almost a clone of the once popular but now discontinued Sharpie Waterbased White. The Posca has always been our recommendation to anyone outside the US who didn’t have access to the Sharpie. The formula of both pens seem identical as does the marker body and nib. The only differences are the caps and the fact that the Posca seems to require more shaking and doesn’t seem to last as long.
The Posca appears on many of Amy’s class supply lists but it’s rarely used without either tinting or softening with water.
Brush/Paint
4. ZIG Cartoonist Brush Pen by Kuretake, White: If you like the feel of a waterbrush, this is a lovely pen and a nice opaque white which dries quickly. Kathy is a big fan of this white and uses it a lot. Refill cartridges available.
5. M.Graham Artist’s Gouache, Titanium White: An opaque white that dries matte and relatively flush with the paper surface. Must have good brush skills to apply (which is why Amy usually teaches with the Sharpie/Posca Paint Pen). Makes excellent splatters and snow.
6. Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White: An opaque watercolor for covering dye colors, markers, and designer colors. Doesn’t stick to colored pencil well and requires good brush skills but Amy really enjoys this product (when she remembers she has it).
7. Brush & Pencil Touch Up Texture + 8. Titanium White: A 2 part product that was especially designed to stick over layers of colored pencil. We love the look of this product, we just wish it didn’t have to be hand mixed. Opaque and matte, dries mostly flush (depending upon the ratio you mix.)
Notice what’s not on this list? We are NOT fans of Copic Opaque White Ink. It’s prone to lumps, hard to apply, smells funky, and dries with an undesirable shiny and raised surface. Every bottle Amy has ever owned has dried into a rock, no matter how tight she keeps the cap. The nail-polish style brush applicator is too short to offer much control and the bristles become less useful as the product evaporates. Save your money and buy the Zig pen or gouache.
Kathy’s Midtone Gray Paper
Toned Gray Sketch Paper by Strathmore: Shown here with the Daisy Cupcake project. Kathy loves to use this paper anytime she is doing a colored pencil project that has a lot of white in it.
Our Favorite White Coloring Tools:
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