When it comes to adult coloring, most individuals opt for more popular mediums such as colored pencils, markers, or watercolors. However, for artists looking to begin working with a pen or for artists looking to get more out of their pen work, here are the best coloring pens for adult coloring.
The Sakura Gelly Roll Gel Pens are the best pens for adult coloring because of their high-quality ink, durable construction, and diverse set of gel pen styles available to colorists upon purchase.
Best Over All: Sakura Gelly Roll Gel Pens
What Comes With The Purchase?
If you decide to purchase the best coloring pens in the game, we highly recommend you do. Here’s what to expect. The Sakura Gelly Roll 74 pack of gel pens includes five different styles available to users::
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- Six fine-tip classic pens (0.3mm)
- 11 medium-point classic pens (0.4mm).
- 14 metallic pens
- Five gold dual-color
- Five silver shadow dual-color iridescent pens
- 13 Stardust pens for extra glittery punch
- 10 Moonlight 06 pens
- 10 Moonlight 10 pens for a variety of gleaming colors that beam through a dark paper background.
That said, the best doesn’t always come cheap, be prepared to shell out $80.00 to 90.00 dollars whether you are buying from an art store, a general store, an online retailer, or even from Sakura themselves. Rest assured, however, every Gelly Roll owner I’ve talked to would buy again in a heartbeat.
History and Company
Sakura invented gel ink — a combination of pigment powder and water-gel solution — in 1984 and continues to have the best in the industry. Though other ink types for coloring pens do exist, such as oil and water-based ink, it’s gel ink. Specifically, that excels in the coloring niche.
As a company, Sakura has been specializing in pens and pen ink since around 1982 with their first break-out pen-marker, the Pigma Micron line became highly popular with comic book colorists for the expressive pigment Sakura provided. Two years later, in 1984, Sakura debuted their Gelly Roll ballpoint gel pens, the first of their kind and the innovative invention that would go on to spark and inspire hundreds of other pen and art supply companies to compete.
Though Sakura was founded in the 1920s as a crayon company, as well as the inventor of the first-ever oil-pastel coloring product, the company is world-renowned for its pens. Pen’s in both the writing and lettering vein and most notably for this article, pens in the world of adult coloring with their Gelly Roll line of gel pens.
Pen Construction
The reason gel ink is much better suited for coloring is that compared to both oil and water-based pen inks, gel ink has a higher viscosity. This means that instead of the pen ink dispensing the liquid thinly with very little body to it, gel ink’s higher viscosity provides more body and a thicker texture to the pen’s solution. The thicker texture is a good sign that there is a lot of saturation happening in the ink solution. As many colorists may or may not know, higher saturation equals a bolder color appearance.
On top of the top-quality ink, the Sakura Gelly Roll gel pens are also constructed with durability in mind. The pens are a simple build containing the essential barrel, case, and pen cap in strong plastic, as well as their patented ballpoint design. Conveniently the color-coordinated pen caps do fit on the back of the pens, and the case of the pen is thick enough to comfortably hold. When it comes to the tip on Gell Roll gel pens, you don’t need to worry about scratching through the paper.
Effects on the Page
Remember the high viscosity? Well, when it comes to blending and mixing colors, the thicker substance comes in clutch for optimal “pooling.” Pooling occurs when the ink of the pen has yet to settle into the tooth of the paper and is sitting at the top of the paper, ready to be mixed or blended with other inks. Keep in mind, however, that to pool pen ink successfully, you’ll need the right kind of paper. In the world of adult coloring, there are generally two styles of mediums — wet mediums and dry mediums.
Dry mediums like colored pencils, crayons, and pastels all require paper with a matte finish and thick tooth since the dry pigment needs to lay into the paper as quickly as possible. Similarly, wet mediums also need a thick tooth to hold on to all the pigment required for coloring; however, unlike dry mediums, wet mediums need a glossy or slightly glossy finish.
This is because the gloss prevents the solution of a wet medium such as gel pens, markers, and watercolors, from settling into the page upon application and losing any sort of chance at mixing or blending colors. Essentially the gloss of the paper will give the colorist more time to manipulate the wet ink and create both color and texture effects that are beyond the abilities of one pen before sinking into the tooth of the paper.
So what does all that mean in terms of visuals? Bold, saturated, and vibrantly bright colors. Since there are trace amounts of metals in gel pen solution, the ink has a vivid appearance of color that drier mediums like a colored pencil cannot achieve without excruciating effort and a good amount of practice. This is especially true for the Sakura Gelly Roll gel pens since their ink is specifically made for filling out coloring pages and original artwork. Gelly Rollers are known for achieving high-intensity gradients that transition smoothly from color to color. Though you may not have the same color control that comes with colored pencils or all the color options that a full set of Prismacolor Premier or Faber-Castell Polychromos offer,
Pros
These pens are highly praised and for a good reason too. The first thing colorists notice about these pens is they’re organized. Not only do buyers receive a diverse set of gel pen styles, but all the pens come in hard plastic, labeled, and a durable case built for safe storage.
Speaking of diversity, though Gelly Rollers only come in 74 colors, each color is unique from the others, and buyers receive multiple styles of pen. Having 120 colors of a pen is great until you start finding duplicate colors with different names and are limited to one gel pen effect. The fact that each color of Gelly Roll gel pens has its character and the fact that the pens can seamlessly blend and create more complex colors goes to show that you don’t need eight shades of orange that all look the same. Furthermore, having access to metallics, dual colors, moonlight pens, and more goes a mile when compared to pens of only one style.
When it comes to application, coloring with Gelly Roller is also a dream experience separate from the inspiring visuals. I have yet to meet an artist or read a review where the smooth feel of Gelly Roll gel pens isn’t mentioned. Sure, each color is vibrant and brilliant with highly saturated pigment, but it’s a whole new world when what your eyes see as smooth and vivid is also a smooth and vivid experience for your hands to color with.
Cons
A strong pen design does not mean it’s invisible. Please refrain from dropping the pens; they might survive the first few falls but don’t be surprised if you’ve got an inky mess on the floor after a nasty slip off the table.
Additionally, though the high viscosity of Sakura’s Gelly Roll gel pens creates intense color and textures, it also means that the ink may gum up at the tip of the pen with residual ink. The best way to think of this is to picture an old bloodhound dog with big floppy ears and a droopy face. Now take that mental bloodhound and picture all the copious amounts of saliva and dripping dog spit. That’s kind of what happens with Gelly Roll gel pens when they aren’t taken care of with proper storage.
The best way to avoid these cons? Store the pens horizontally and occasionally check in to see if the pens are leaking from the tip or not. Oh, and while you’re there… test some colors out, the worst that could happen is you get distracted by coloring, and oh no… what a shame.
Learn more about gel pens HERE.
What the Pens Do Best?
The expressive colors and creamy smooth experience of the gel make the strongest argument for why the Gelly Roll 74 pack is the best in terms of feel as well as visual effect! So what’s the number one area where these pens outperform all other pens on the market? Simply put g r a d I e n t. Like an expression of sunset, the Sakura Gelly Roll gel pens are a pure dream to create gradients with. Not only by feel when coloring but also by the visual boldness of color on the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What If I Need More Pen Colors?
If you find yourself underwhelmed by only 74 colors, or maybe you need some extra colors, Sakura sells smaller sets of Gelly Roll pens with specific color intentions such as their Gold Silver Shadow, Classic, or Moonlight sets with additional niche gel pens. And if that doesn’t do it for you, well, there’s no shame in combining different pen brands. Feel free to color as much as you can with the Gelly Roller and if you happen to have some extra pens from a different set with colors you love, throw them in the mix!
Is There A More Affordable Option?
Not everyone wants to shell out the capital for Gelly Roller, and that’s understandable, especially if you’re just starting to experiment with pen in adult coloring. That said, options always exist, and here is a good alternative that is easier on the pocketbook. The Shuttle Art 120 pack of gel pens at the typical cost of $20.00 to $22.00 at most art or big box stores as well as online retailers.
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