When I started the Living In My GameSpace column, I did so because my gaming hobby has expanded to more than just playing video games. Gaming battlestations, RGB lighting, general tech, and anything else that might cross into my GameSpace is fair game. I have a PR contact who thought that the Ohuhu Dual Nib Waterproof Acrylic Pen 30pk would interest readers of this column, and I agree. Unfortunately, my artistic ability sits somewhere around that of a five-year-old drawing stick figures, and other than being able to say “pretty colors,” I am totally unqualified to do a review of the set. I still thought that the pens would be of interest to any gamers who are also into anime or fan art or happen to be aspiring artists, so I hit up fellow game reviewer, anime fan, and the best artist I know, Ralph Whitmore. Ralph graciously accepted the chance to check out Ohuhu’s pen set. So, without further adieu, let’s see what Ralph says about the Ohuhu Dual Nib Waterproof Acrylic Pen 30pk.
Note: I would like to thank PR for providing a set of Ohuhu’s pens for review, and to also thank Ralph Whitmore for his excellent writeup. You can find Ralph on X, Twitch, and DeviantArt.
Ohuhu has entered the acrylic marker market, and we were given the opportunity to test them out. As an artist, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve mostly only used alcohol-based markers, and when it came to acrylics, I’ve been traditional using the paint brush. As my first time using this type of acrylic marker, I was pretty blown away.
When it came to this test, I wanted to make a few art pieces to test a range of things: how long the paint will last in the tip, how well it works on paper and canvas, and the ease of blending. I tested them on watercolor paper and a black canvas. On the paper, I painted some spirits from the awesome productivity game, Spirit City Lo-fi Sessions. While on canvas, I painted two characters, Aaravi and Hex, from the ever fun Monster Camp.
The Ohuhu Dual Nib Waterproof Acrylic Pen 30pk come in a nice zip up carrying case, with extra tips, two test swatches, and a FAQ sheet on how to use the markers. This set has a good range of colors with some standard colors, some metallic colors thrown in there, though, as well as a few neon colors. Although it has a good range, personally, I would have liked if it had more range in the standard colors. I would’ve loved some deeper hues of purple and green. Hopefully, Ohuhu will give the metallic and neon their own separate packs. This definitely brought forth a challenge in a way because of the limited color palette.
Right from the start, the one thing I immediately noticed was the paint consistency. Usually when painting traditionally I have to figure it, but with these acrylic markers I did not have to. With that being said, they have great spread. When working on the art works, I was able to cover a big area before needing to press and refill the tip.
On the marker, both the fine tip and the round tip have good flow with the paint. I have not run into many issues while painting, though while working on the watercolor paper, I noticed the tips ripped a bit of the surface, leaving the area feeling rough.
While the round tip was bigger, it was not big enough to lay colors down in a big area quickly. It took some time to paint the sky on the Spirit City art. I noticed that it took a few coats for some of the lighter colors to cover up some sketch lines. So sometimes, you might need to let it dry and then go back over it to really cover up any lines and deepen the color.
The colors do blend as well, but that takes some effort. Going back and forth with the colors you are trying to blend. Blending as if you were doing it with just a paintbrush. The downside is then having to do a few strokes with the marker until the blended color comes off, as just wiping it off doesn’t really do it. At least that’s how it goes for the rounded tip versus the finer tip. The bigger marker tip takes a few strokes, while the smaller one comes off pretty fast.
On the canvas, the markers worked amazingly well. I did not run into any issues with ripping. When laying down the colors, the markers laid them down real smooth. Of course, with the canvas being a black canvas, some of the lighter colors needed two coats to fully saturate the area that was being painted.
I would use this set for smaller scale projects or in mixed media projects. Even though they can cover a big area on a single use before needing to press and refill the tip, it takes time to try and get an even uniform coating for big areas as it takes many strokes. It’d be better with a big flat tip, like a flat paintbrush, to fill in huge areas. Also, I would say cell shading method fits these markers better than trying to blend the colors. Even though it’s possible, it took a lot of back and forth, and even then, it did not look as smooth as I wanted it because of how quickly the paint drys once laid down.
Though the markers tips are a lot rougher than I would prefer them being, I enjoyed the experience using it on canvas. With everything said, this is a great set if you want to get your feet wet with acrylic markers and try some ideas out. The Ohuhu Acrylic Markers are affordable and for the price of $34.99 ($29.99 on sale) are darn good at what they do. I highly recommend trying them if you are looking to do art of your favorite anime or games, just check to see if this pack has the colors you would need first if you are trying to get 1×1 depiction accuracy.
You can find the Ohuhu Acrylic Markers available on their site or over on their Amazon store.
