Do Gel Pens Bleed?

Gel pens are one of the most popular pens on the market. A rollerball ink, gel pens are notoriously smooth and carry lots of pigment in their ink, allowing for bright, fun color choices. Many artists’ burning questions when experimenting with a new utensil is, “Does it bleed?”

Artists, particularly sketch artists, and journalists, like the smooth flow of ink that gel pens provide. Gel pens are a type of rollerball pen and rarely skip when drawing or writing. Versatility in color is another characteristic that makes gel pens a favorite. The ink used in gel pins is quick-drying, so lefties tend to appreciate that feature.

Gel Pen Nostalgia

Gel pens made a big splash in the mid-1980s when the Sakura Color Products Corporation of Osaka, Japan, manufactured and sold the very first to hit the American market.

If you attended elementary or middle school in the 1980s, gel pens were a must-have on your back-to-school list. All the cool kids had them! Originally marketed to children, graphic artists, and architects quickly realized the gel pen’s importance and usefulness.

The pigmented water-based gel glides on smooth and absorbs, quickly limiting smears and smudges. An essential innovation for left-handed artists, the gel pen promptly became ubiquitous.

Favored for their variety and dependability, gel pens are low maintenance and easy to use. Gel pens rarely skip or blot. They can be counted on for consistency, too.

We Love Gels

I’ve never met a gel pen I didn’t like. Truly. You can’t beat a gel pen for color variety. Because the ink is gelled with xanthan gum, the viscosity of a gel pen is high. This particular thickening agent allows for varied pigmentation. Therefore, you can find gel pens in every shade of every color imaginable – even neons and metallics. Gels are the only ink that can also contain glitter. Now that’s variety!

Gels dry quickly, which is a plus for left-handed artists. It is this quick drying time that limits smearing and bleeding when using a gel.

Although gel pens can be a little on the expensive side if you’re looking for versatility, they are worth it.

Recommended Gel Pens

If you are interested in using gel pens for adult coloring books, you are not alone. Gel pens are a frequent choice by adult coloring book enthusiasts, especially when looking to highlight a particular area or introduce a metallic or glittered ink to a piece. They don’t bleed like felt-tipped pens, plus gel pens provide a dizzying array of colors from which to choose. There are lots of gel pens on the market, but our favorites are:

• • Fiskars. Known for their reasonably priced school and crafting supplies, even the hobbyist on a budget can feel good about purchasing this pack of 48. Under $20, the 48-piece set includes glitter, neon, metallic, swirl, and two black gels.
  • Sakura Gelly Roll. Sakura is likely the most recognizable gel pen brand. They have hundreds of options available to the consumer with varying price points. Notoriously smooth, this pen color is vibrant and thick, even when applied to black paper.
  • Reaneon Gel Pens. For the more advanced gel pen user, the Reaneon gel pens are acid-free, non-toxic, and come with a money-back guarantee. Their set of 200 is divided into 100 gel pens and 100 refills and includes neon, pastel, glitter, metallic, swirl, and classic colors.
  • Pentel EngerGel RTX. This pen gets rave reviews for its quick-drying ability. Lefties love it. Plus, it’s retractable. So, no more keeping up with pen caps. This particular set comes in basic primary colors, making this a perfect fit for the color-coder or journaler. Although the Pentel EngerGel RTX is a little more expensive than some of the others, if you’re looking for ease and functionality – this is the pen for you!

When Pens Bleed

The problem is not the pen. It’s the ink and its relationship with the paper. When ink is applied to paper, the paper should absorb the ink leaving the intended mark. Sometimes, artists use ink that has a low viscosity, or thickness, on paper that has little absorbability. There are a few tips that help control ink bleed.

• • Use thicker paper. Papers that are lightweight or glossy do not absorb ink easily. Artists recommend Bristol paper, Rhodia classic, and Tomoe River paper.
  • Use a high-viscosity ink. Usually, a thick ink absorbs more quickly without much worry about smearing or bleeding.
  • Use a barrier paper. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? If you like your pen and don’t want to change your paper, then put another piece of paper behind what you’re working on to prevent the bleeding from transferring to pages behind the current page.

The Gel Pen’s Downside

If you were making a pros and cons list about gel pens, you’d undoubtedly have way more pros than cons. However, there are always preferences. You make the pen choice that suits you best. There are no right or wrong pens, especially when you are creating art.

Gel pens are incredibly smooth, but the reason they’re so smooth is that their tips release more ink than a ballpoint pen might. So, artists can run through a gel pen quickly. Some would argue that it means you spend more on gels because it is necessary to buy them more frequently. While that may be true for some, refills help cut costs.

There is no room for error with a gel pen. Gel pen’s pigmented ink soaks into the paper’s fibers on which they’re being used, and the ink is permanent. If you think you may make a mistake – don’t use the gel pen until you are sure you are ready! There are some erasable gel pens on the market, but it’s never a guarantee there won’t be a noticeable smudge or erasure marks left behind.

Want to learn more about gel pens? Check out our new article here!

Who’s Who

Artists know that pens are tools. It is essential to know which is the best tool to use for the task at hand. Not all pens are created equal.

• • Rollerball
    Rollerball pens use ballpoint writing mechanisms, but their ink is water-based or gelled, unlike the ballpoint. Typically, rollerball pen ink saturates profoundly and quickly, dispersing ink over the head of the tiny ball writing point (usually between 0.5 or 0.7 mm in diameter) with each stroke. Gel pens are considered rollerball pens. Because the gel pen ink is pigmented, the color variations are countless. Uncapped rollerball pens tend to dry out quickly, so they are highly recommended to be stored capped. Another disadvantage to rollerball pens, they disperse ink in greater quantity than ballpoint. Consequently, they run out of ink more quickly.
  • Ballpoint
    The cheapest pen available, the ballpoint pen, is the world’s most-used writing instrument. Cleaner and more comfortable to handle than a fountain or dip pen, the ballpoint is produced in a disposable and refillable model. Ballpoint pen ink is a paste form – with 25-40% dye. Sometimes this dye “clumps,” forcing a clean-up of the tip. There’s nothing too glamorous about the ballpoint. It gets the job done, and that is its claim to fame.

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