Unboxing and Review of Jusart Water-Based Markers, 60-Color Set

 

Any of you who have read about my illuminated manuscript series (if you haven't, start here) are probably aware that I've had problems from time to time with colors bleeding through from the other side of the page, which is a bummer. I do now have a small collection of markers that are “safe”, but I thought it would be nice to have more of a variety, so I went searching for a larger selection, entering “water based markers” and “no bleed” as my search terms. This marker set from Jusart seemed to fit the bill, having received good reviews. Some people cautioned about bleed, but since most didn't, I rolled the dice (the set was pretty inexpensive, so no worries taking a chance).

My set arrived, and I must say, it is very nice! Everything is organized in a zippered case, there are more colors than you can shake a stick at (okay, 60), and there are some cool extras – extra nibs for the pens, a swatch chart to fill out yourself (just like the more expensive sets!), and an actual mini coloring book with some pretty sweet designs:

I noticed upon flipping through that the coloring book has extremely thick pages – it's basically card stock. So yeah, the markers are not likely to bleed through that, but...would my sketchbook paper stand up to them? Sketchbook paper is heavier than, say, copier paper (~60 lb vs. 20 lb for the copier paper), but it's certainly not thick like some of the coloring books, which are closer to 80 lb or even higher.

First things first – I swatched some colors. The markers have dual nibs, a brush tip and a fine tip, and the swatch chart cutely has a spot for each one, so I dutifully switched from brush point to fine point when filling the large and small areas, respectively. With some larger sets, I've seen people complain that some colors just don't seem different enough, but even the closest-together colors were visibly different when swatched, so that wasn't an issue.

Time for the moment of truth: testing for bleed. Obviously I didn't want to put these markers into immediate service in the illuminated manuscript sketchbook and find things out the hard way, so I used my other sketchbook, which has the same paper, as a guinea pig. I've been mostly using just one side of each page in this book, so it was no danger if bleed were to happen, and since it's the one I use for Inktober drawings (more on that here), there's no shortage of black and white line art to color in. I chose my cheerleader (Inktober 2021, Day 6, “Spirit”) as a good subject for some bright color, and went to town.

The verdict? Well, these colors are pretty slurpy, and the brush tip is not as precise as a bullet point, so I strayed outside the lines a bit. I'm not super fond of that, but coloring the background mostly obscured it. The color went on extremely patchy, which is typical of water-based markers; going over it a second, even third, time evened things out a bit. Having a nice variety of colors enabled me to add layers of darker hues for modeling and shading. But the most pertinent factor, here – the reason I ordered this 60-color water-based marker set when I already have Ohuhu's amazing 360-color set of alcohol-based markers – is whether my illuminated manuscript would be safe from bleed.

So, once I was finished fully coloring the picture, I flipped the page over, and, sadly, there was some bleedthrough. Just some, mind; it had basically been the places where I had placed several layers of color, either for shading, or, in the case of the background, to try to build up enough color to obscure where I'd initially gone outside the lines.

So, does this mean these markers are useless? Well, they definitely do bleed with what I consider to be pretty normal use, so that's a fail. However, since I supplement my markers with colored pencil for the illuminations, I think it may be safe enough to use them, as long as I just do one layer and sort out the shading and opacity with the pencils. I also think I will have to stick to using the fine point, as most of my illuminations are pretty small, and I can't go blundering about with that big, sloshy brush tip. So with a caveat, maybe they will be okay. Obviously, I would rather color with reckless abandon, but I do have to remind myself that this project is for practice and for fun, and not to make it less so! The markers will certainly be useful for coloring one-sided work without fear, and that is, as we say in the review business, not nothing.

More product reviews:

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2026/03/review-of-colored-pencils-and-drawing.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please visit my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache Color Review #7: Black and Nude

Goodness, it's been a while since I made a post on this. My apologies to those of you who have been waiting in real time for the final post in this series (although if you followed my page on Facebook, I'm sure you saw the finished painting quite some time ago). 

This is the seventh in a series of reviews of the individual colors from the Miya HIMI brand 24-color “jelly” gouache paint set. This review will concentrate on the Miya HIMI Black and Nude jelly gouache paint colors and will also include updates on my Star Trek painting and how my swatch chart is coming along.

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Black

Last time, I painted Captain Picard's uniform tunic, using Deep Red for the shadow areas and Ponceau to balance out the bright, neutral red. I needed to paint the black part of Picard's tunic, and I decided to paint his horse body in a grey Appaloosa style, both to match his grey hair (he has some hair!) and to contrast with Kirk's golden brown satyr body. It also coordinated nicely with his tunic, like Kirk's coloration coordinated with his. I used the Black and White colors to do this and also to paint Kirk's horns and hooves so they would stand out more from his hair and furry legs. 

The Black swatched out with a high opacity and medium granularity on the black and white charts.   

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Nude

I chose to paint the faces and hands of Kirk and Picard before painting their instruments, which were in front of their mouths (as we've learned through this series, I always start in the background and go forward, even when it gets granular, like this). 

The Nude had medium opacity and granularity on the black and white swatch charts. 

The Nude color was quite pale. Suitable for Patrick Stewart's British pallor (or should I say pallour), but I did need to mix in a little of the previously-opened Burnt Umber and a smidge of Ponceau to paint that tan Canadian, Shatner. 

I used some of the more tan color for Picard's lips and cheeks. After that, I was able to paint Kirk's pan flute with the Umber and Earth Yellow. I painted Picard's flute and added details with White, like the Captain's rank (four dots) on his collar and the "silver" background of his communicator badge. With these finishing touches, the painting was complete! 

I must say, it has been a real pleasure working with the Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache. It's very easy to use and to reactivate when dry. The colors mix well and it applies evenly. Of course, the colors dry either lighter or darker than you'd expect, but that's gouache for you. That's why we make swatch charts! 

For the original post describing the unboxing of the Miya HIMI jelly gouache paint set, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html

For the first review in the series, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

Review of Colored Pencils and Drawing Supplies from the Artownlar 72-Piece Art Supply Set

 

So far, I have written about unboxing the Artownlar 72-piece art supply set, which features a large assortment of different kinds of pencils – colored, graphite, charcoal, and watercolor pencils – along with the typical accessories pencils need, like a sharpener, erasers, sanding block, and blending stumps, and a self-wetting brush (the handle can be filled with water) for the watercolor pencils. These supplies are neatly packed in a zippered case and accompanied by a generous pad of paper, which I examined in detail in its own post.

Now that I've given everything a good look, it's time to start using these supplies and see how well they do. I like to do an actual project, rather than just scribbling “test marks”, so for this project, I chose to do a portrait of my late Aunt Myrtha, who was an army nurse in World War II. I had this lovely old photo of her to use for reference. As you can see, it's sepia-toned with a little bit of color added, but I decided to make it full color.

My weapons of choice for this piece would be a graphite pencil for sketching, a pencil sharpener, a kneaded eraser, and colored pencils for the color work. For the paper, I chose one of the tan pages of the provided sketchbook, since the reference photo had that golden undertone. As I mentioned in the sketchbook preview, the tan pages had different textures on each side. The smooth side wouldn't do for a medium like colored pencil, which must be built up in layers for best results, so I chose the side with a noticeable texture (you may need to click the picture to enlarge it).

The provided pencil sharpener was small and simple, but it worked fine on the graphite pencil and the colored pencils. 

There is a nice range of graphite pencils, all the way from 5H to 8B, but I wasn't doing a graphite piece, so I used a 5H for the sketch. If you would like to learn more about the different grades of drawing pencils, I made a blog post that explains it. The harder pencils have less of a tendency to smear, and it's important not to get grey or black pigment mixed into a color portrait – especially in the skin tone. We don't want our subjects to look dead! The pencil worked very nicely for the sketch.

For my eraser, I chose the kneaded eraser, which I prefer over hard erasers. It worked as expected, picking up both the graphite and even the colored pencil, which is usually a little harder to erase.

There are 12 regular and 12 metallic colored pencils in the set. Since I was doing a very traditional portrait, I chose not to use the metallics, this time; I'll save them for another project. The 12 regular colors are very basic, bright colors, but as an experienced artist, it wasn't too difficult to make more subtle and specific hues by layering the colors to blend them. The pencils were very easy to use! They were soft enough to get a pretty satisfactory coverage and blending experience. The paper took the layers of color well, and the portrait came out well, I think. 

I was very pleased with the results. Considering how inexpensive this set is, the Artownlar supplies I've used so far have been a good quality for the money.

Thanks for reading my review! Here are some other reviews of art supplies I've done: 

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/07/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-white.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/09/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-3-pale.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2024/04/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-4-jade.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2025/06/miya-himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-5.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2025/07/miya-himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-6.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache Color Review #6: Deep Red and Ponceau

This is the sixth in a series of reviews of the individual colors from the Miya HIMI brand 24-color “jelly” gouache paint set. This review will concentrate on the Miya HIMI Deep Red and Ponceau jelly gouache paint colors and will also include updates on my Star Trek painting and how my swatch chart is coming along.

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Deep Red

Last time, I painted Captain Kirk's yellow uniform jacket, and now it was time to do Captain Picard's tunic. Judging the colors by how they showed through the unopened containers, I thought the color called Ponceau was too light and orangey for Picard's uniform, so I opened Deep Red to see what I could see. As you'd imagine from the name, it's somewhat dark, but it's also a very cool red that I would liken to Alizarin Crimson.

To me, Picard's jacket is a very neutral red, neither extremely warm nor cool. Since lightening a cool red gives a rosy pink, I was definitely going to need Ponceau, as well. Cool colors are nice for shadows, though, so I used the Deep Red for the darker areas on Picard's uniform jacket.

As you can see from the white swatch chart, the granularity of this color is quite high, and the opacity ain't no great shakes.

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Ponceau

Ponceau is a color name that I have never heard before, but this one would go in the Cadmium Red (warm red) slot in your color palette. It's very warm, but not quite as orange-y as I'd feared. It made a good foil to the Deep Red and kept Picard's tunic very balanced, overall.

As with the Deep Red, the granularity was high and opacity was pretty wimpy. That said, I didn't feel like I had to glob it on to get sufficient coverage for the painting. I might be singing a different tune if I weren't working on a medium-value brown background, though.

One more review to go to have this Renaissance/Classical Mythology/Star Trek extravaganza finished. Stay tuned!

For the original post describing the unboxing of the Miya HIMI jelly gouache paint set, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html

For the first review in the series, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

Basic Information about Gouache Paint

If you are unfamiliar with gouache (pronounced GWAHSH), it is typically described as an opaque watercolor, although when diluted with water, it can be used transparently, as well. As with traditional watercolor, it doesn't dry waterproof, so be aware that if you paint over it, you could activate the dried layer if you use enough water. This can be great, as it makes the colors blend easily and gives you the ability to soften edges and spread color. It can also be annoying, of course. Be careful not to get drips or spatters of water on the dried paint surface, as this can create spots.

The opacity enables you to use the paint on dark surfaces, though, which can create interesting results. I painted this nighttime scene of my bedroom with white gouache on black bristol board. I especially like the reflection of the edge of the pillow against the night-darkened window glass. That kind of effect would be harder to achieve with a different medium. 

Gouache paint dries matte, like that tempera paint you probably used in grade school. The two paints actually look very similar in their finished state, but tempera dries permanent and gouache is rewettable/reworkable, as we've discussed. The paints have different binders – traditionally, egg yolk for tempera and gum arabic for gouache. There is also a type of gouache called acrylic gouache that dries permanent, like acrylic paint. I prefer workable gouache, since I already work in acrylic and can use that if I want a more permanent finish. 

Gouache has been around for quite a long time, but it was considered more of a designers' medium (that is, more for advertising and design layout sketches than for finished pieces - even my painting above was just a tonal study for a larger piece). However, it's been getting a bit of a renaissance lately, via art YouTube channels, since it is colorful, fun, and easy to use. I have been getting back into it myself and really enjoying it! I bought myself a set of Miya's HIMI jelly gouache and am in the process of posting some reviews of it showing the different colors and a gouache painting in progress. 

For the initial unboxing: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html 

The reviews start here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

All images are copyrighted property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

The Best Drawing Paper to Use with Drawing Pencils

As I mentioned in this prior article about the different grades of drawing pencils, the paper is an important part of the drawing experience. The way pencils (and other dry media, like charcoal and pastel) work is that when you draw, you leave a trail of the graphite powder that, when compressed, forms the pencil "lead", on the surface of the paper. The various pencil grades indicate exactly how much of the powder you will leave, which determines the quality of the mark you make. 

So, let's talk about that paper surface, which is the other part of the equation. If you've ever tried to draw with a pencil on a piece of slick posterboard, you'll have learned you can't get very artistic with it - the slick surface doesn't have enough tooth (texture) to abrade the graphite particles off of the pencil. It's fine - posterboard is designed for ink, which likes a smooth surface to sit on. For pencil drawings, however, you will want a paper surface with some tooth. How much depends on what hardness of pencil. 

If you are using very soft pencils, use a paper with more texture, like pastel/charcoal paper, which is designed to grab those particles and hold them in their nooks and crannies, allowing you to build up layers of tone. For harder pencils, use a smoother surface, so your pencil won't catch or "skip" on the texture. You'll want to display the sharp, clean line a hard pencil makes on a surface with just enough texture to grab those graphite bits but not enough to dull or smear them. Vellum is a great choice for use with hard leads. 

Just as with any job, having the right tools makes the work a whole lot easier! 

The portrait above was completed with a 2B pencil on Strathmore 400 Series Drawing paper. Strathmore is my favorite brand. It's Scottish, so it's nae crap! 

Other articles about drawing you might like: 

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2016/02/learning-to-draw-first-step-have-right.html

http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/03/i-have-been-professional-portrait.html

http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/03/figure-drawing-101-wacky-secrets-of.html

http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/05/figure-drawing-101-so-you-wanna-be.html 

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart 

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache Color Review #5: Earth Yellow and Burnt Umber

 

This is the fifth in a series of reviews of the individual colors from the Miya HIMI brand 24-color “jelly” gouache paint set. This review will concentrate on the Miya HIMI Earth Yellow and Burnt Umber jelly gouache paint colors and will also include updates on my Star Trek painting and how my swatch chart is coming along. (The previous review can be found here:

 https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2024/04/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-4-jade.html )

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Earth Yellow 050

With the background finished, it was time to start on my figures. Animal bits aside, this was still Kirk and Picard, so I needed to ensure they were recognizable. The easiest way to do that was by including their uniform jackets. Despite the whole green/gold controversy surrounding Kirk's uniform, I always saw it as gold, so I needed a yellow ochre-ish color. The HIMI set has a color called Earth Yellow that is the right shade, so I busted that out and swatched it, then painted the base color of Kirk's jacket. It was a very straightforward match – no color-mixing necessary. 

As you can see from the swatches, Earth Yellow has a strong opacity with some marked granularity, typical of earth tones.

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Burnt Umber 046

Next, I needed a brown color for Kirk's goaty lower body. I also needed to mix a shadow color for his jacket and some brown for his hair. Burnt Umber, a slightly cool, dark brown, blended well with the Earth Yellow gouache to create a neutral, mid-range brown to create the shading on Kirk's jacket and his brown hair. 

Then I flipped the script and used the Earth Yellow to create highlighted areas on Kirk's satyr legs and hair. The colors mix very well and application was smooth, as with the prior colors. 

The Burnt Umber was a lovely chocolate pudding color – very tempting! As with its fellow earth color, Earth Yellow, the Burnt Umber had strong opacity and granularity. These are also probably the most lightfast hues in the collection, another feature of earth tones.

A look at the swatch chart shows several of the color mixes as well as the comparison of the lighter and darker and warmer and cooler colors. I've only done a few 50/50 mixes so far, as I was focusing more on getting the painting done for my friend's birthday, but I did swatch a mix of the Earth Yellow and Burt Umber, which appears halfway down the right edge, where the two colors converge on the grid. As you can see, it makes a lovely golden brown. 

The birthday card was starting to take shape - as you can see above, I filled in the lettering, since the background was complete. 

Next review can be found here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2025/07/miya-himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-6.html

For the original post describing the unboxing of the Miya HIMI jelly gouache paint set, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html

For the first review in the series and an explanation of the painting and its very particular subject matter, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart