I previously proclaimed the opaque goodness of the white uni-ball signo gel pen. Although it’s still the best opaque pen of its kind, Sharpie has now come up with something even better. The Sharpie Poster Paint markers have found their way into my art arsenal. They come in tons of colors, fine, medium and bold points, and they’re water-based so you don’t get the nasty fumes of oil-based paint markers.

I tried them on a whim. The lady at Rubber Stamp Fantasy showed me how the white one worked a few months ago, and I was skeptical. I had my Signo gel pen. Then a few days ago I was doodling to OK Computer with my gel pens, watercolor crayons, wax crayons and some watercolors and my white lines drawn with the Signo were washed away by my paint brush!

I went back to the rubber stamp store to pick up some more Copic Markers to round out my collection when I remembered the Sharpie Paint pen. I picked one up just to try it out. I was floored! This is the most opaque white pen I’ve seen. It writes flawlessly and I love the fine point. It’s not super-fine like my Pilot Hi-Tec-C, but for a marker it’s a good fine point.

I went to Dick Blick and picked up a few more – black, gold & silver and played around most of today. These pens write over EVERYTHING. I’ve tried them on plastic, shiny acrylic paints (dry…), over wax crayon, with Copics & watercolors. This is definitely what I’ve been looking for. In my art journaling, I use caran d’ache neocolors I & II (wax crayons & water-soluble crayons) and writing over a layer of these clogs up most pens. There’s not much more I can do once I use those crayons. It’s also difficult to write on slick magazine pages with most pens. Now I’ll be able to write over these waxy layers. Oh the freedom!

I also tested the pens with watercolors, and once the ink/paint is dry, it’ll stand up to a good wash. Drying time is around 10-20 seconds depending on the thickness of the line, but once it’s dry, it’s waterproof, provided you’re not torturing your paper with your brush.

I’m very pleased – and I’ll probably get more colors later on. You can definitely find them at Dick Blick & Amazon.com, but there are other small stores and online stores that carry ‘em.