How to use posca pens for the first time

A Posca pen allows you to control the application of rich, opaque water-based paint, in fine or broad lines, making it perfect for painting and drawing! The markers are real paint that dries permanent and they are very versatile. Illustrators love the bright colours on paper; painters use them for fine lines, highlights and details in acrylic paintings; sculptors use the markers to colour outdoor work; curators use them to write information in the windows of their show; street artists use the large markers for work on concrete and brick walls; hobbyists use Posca to paint on textiles, stones and flowerpots and they are great for semi-permanent drawings in cafe windows.

Customer review:
“Really versatile pens with great coverage and range of colours. I’m glad I found them!”

All seven sizes of Posca pen.
Doodles by Kay Gasei.

Posca pens are actual pigment paint with a small ball inside the barrel to shake and mix the paint to the right consistency. Application is similar in feel to applying acrylic paint. The paint is fluid and smooth with great coverage. It is so opaque and dense that you can paint light over dark. They are fantastic for applying highlights on top of an acrylic painting. The control of the pen sizes means adding lines, hard-edged shapes, and text to an acrylic painting is very useful. The marks are fast-drying like acrylic paint and the paint is water-based. It doesn’t run on a painting and allows a very controlled application. You can also paint on a wet painting for blending.

For this acrylic painting on canvas – After the acrylic paint was dry I easily added the highlight using a Posca white marker (PC-3M size). The opacity of the Posca Marker Pens allows white over dark which is especially useful for highlights. A paint pen is also useful to paint any fine details or lines on an acrylic painting.

Control the width of your line

Posca markers are available in seven tips:

0.7mm ultra-fine pin tip
0.7mm extra-fine bullet tip
0.9 – 1.3mm fine bullet tip
1.8 – 2.5mm medium bullet tip
8mm chisel tip
15mm extra-broad tip
a brush pen tip

All tips can be rinsed with water and some are reversible.
Read this PDF to compare all the Posca Pen tips.

Left to right: 0.7mm ultra-fine pin tip, 0.7mm extra-fine bullet tip, 0.9 – 1.3mm fine bullet tip, brush pen tip, 1.8 – 2.5mm medium bullet tip, 8mm chisel tip, 15mm extra-broad tip.

Use on almost any surface

Amazing adherence to almost all surfaces, with very little bleeding or show-through.

Paper – All types of paper and cardboard such as tracing paper, photo paper or cardboard. The paint does not bleed through paper.
Acrylic paintings – permanent – best sealed with varnish
Stone, concrete and plaster – best on sealed surfaces and then with a few thin coats of MSA spray varnish.
Ceramics – permanent (for light use) after baked.
Glass – semi-permanent for window displays (draw on the inside of the window and remove by scruubbing off with window cleaner), on glass items you can fit in an oven they are permanent (for light use) after baked.
Fabric – permanent after ironed (iron on reverse)
Plastic and latex – permanent
Metal – great for outdoor metal works, best with a few thin coats of MSA spray varnish.
Wood – best on sealed surfaces and then with a few thin coats of MSA spray varnish.

Posca have tested their markers on many surfaces. They cover all the materials on their website.

Artists Who Use Posca Pens

H Locke, Margate-based illustrator

“Posca are great for non-porous surfaces, I use them for drawing on glass and plastic. Because the drawing will clean off glass, I have used them for site-specific, semi-permanent window installations so I don’t damage or permanently affect the immediate environment. I also use white for drawing on dark surfaces, I haven’t found any other marker that is opaque enough to do that.”

One of 35 parts of ‘The Journey’ installed in St John’s Church, Leytonstone for the exhibition Seeing is Believing, July 2016. Posca marker pen on plastic sheet, temporarily attached to church pews.
by H Locke

H Locke drawing on the window with a Posca pen during the ‘Colourful Language’ exhibition at Hoe Street Central 2015

Part of H Locke’s very large drawing on the windows of the ‘Colourful Language’ exhibition at Hoe Street Central, East London, 2015

Kay Gasei , London-based illustrator

“As an illustrator/artist, I like to keep an emergent tone about my work, I have a thing for my body of work to all look and feel different. The brightness and range of colours Posca provides suits/reflects the vision of certain pieces I have in mind. I mainly use them for larger pieces, like murals or one-off posters because they offer the range of nib/tip sizes. Being water-based is also a plus, because after window pieces have run their course, they are easily wiped clean with no stain and ready for the next project.”

Kay Gasei
Darkroom Espresso window mural

Sophia Swift, North London artist

“I use Posca pens a lot in all my work, mostly for drawing outlines over acrylic paint on mixed media work, and for writing text on and over works as well. They are very opaque, solid and beautiful to use. They dry super-fast, so are really good for layering. They are very smooth and glide across the surface, the flow is 100% perfect. They work well with acrylic paint for highlights and layering effects. They are the elite! Much better that any other paint marker I’ve ever used.
I was working on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle guidebook using a 1mm black Posca pen, but I couldn’t get the size for a while so I didn’t continue my work, as no other marker has the look I wanted. I’m so excited to have the Posca back in my hand again, so I can continue working!”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Guide
by Sophia Swift