WATER SOLUBLE MARKERS SHOWDOWN [Water Based Ohuhu Markers Review]

Today's water soluble markers showdown puts Ohuhu water based markers to the test! How do they compare to SEVEN other water soluble brush pens and fineliners in price, color selection and quality?

​Out of the box, my Ohuhu marker set of 160 provides a gorgeous array of colors, and the price per marker can't be beat! But will they provide the watercolor painting effect I NEED from a water based marker?

Whenever I get a new art supply with multiple colors - whether that's a new set of markers, watercolors, etc. - I ALWAYS swatch them out. That's because I learned the hard way that the color on the cap, tube or bottle often doesn't really look like what ends up on your paper. TRUST ME. Now my rule of thumb is to ALWAYS swatch. 

I actually made a cute FREE swatch sheet for you to download to make your swatching a bit more fun!! Simply click the button below to grab your FREE swatchsheet and I'll send it right over.

I had so much fun making this swatch sheet, I actually turned it into a BOOK with my Facebook group!! I know!! We had a blast doing this together. Each page was created by another Awesome Artist. Here's a link to buy the finished book on Amazon if you're interested.

Before we continue, super quick announcement: All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law, there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support!

Let's take a look at some of the water soluble products I've laid out for us as a comparison to see how my new water based Ohuhu markers stack up.

I'm comparing the Ohuhus to SEVEN other water soluble markers & fineliners:

• Arteza Inkonic Fineliners
• Arteza Twimarkers
• Arteza Brush Pens
• Winsor Newton Watercolour Markers
• Towbow Dual Brush Pens
• Stabilo Fineliners 
• Staedtler Marsgraphic Duos 

The water soluble ohuhu markers are dual nib. On one side you'll find the brush nib (above). On the opposite side, you'll find a fineliner. They come in a set of 160 for just $55, making each marker a steal, at just 34 cents each. I couldn't find my set of 160 for you on Amazon, so here is the Ohuhu Water Based Marker set of 100 for $34. 

The Staedtler Marsgraphic Duo (above left), has a brush nib as well, but it's not nearly as sexy as the one from Ohuhu. This marker also has a bullet nib on the opposite end. Their largest set contains 18 markers, and only costs $12. This low cost set makes it feel like an amazing deal, but when you look at the cost per marker, the Staedtlers are actually more expensive than the Ohuhus at 66 cents each.

Lots of artists enjoy using Stabilo fineliners (above) because they are great for coloring books and getting into teeny weeny spots. You can get a set of 40 for just $28, making each marker $1.43/each. 

I LOVE stabilo as a brand, and if you know me, you know one of my absolute FAVORITE art supplies is my black stabilo all pencil. But when I did this water soluble marker comparison, I was a little disappointed to see how expensive the Stabilo fineliners actually are when compared to the others.

Tombow is another brand I totally love! I take my Tombow dual brush pens everywhere, and have completely fallen for the watercolor painting effect I can achieve with them (below). Isn't that fun?! 

I was a little disappointed to realize just how much my beloved Tombows cost per brush pen.  My set of 96 cost just under $200, making each marker about $2 per piece. (Sadly this set is currently listed on Amazon for $279, but there are three smaller sets for less, saved in my store for you). ​

Next on my list to test today is Winsor Newton Water Colour Markers. These are the only product in today's comparison that contain a fine art product inside the tube. They're lightfast and gorgeous. 

The biggest set you can buy is only a set of 12, and it's about $40. That makes each marker an expensive $3.42 each. They're not cheap, because they are a fine art product. There really is no comparison when I look at the other products on the table today. In a way that's not really fair, because this is the only product from the rest that isn't a dye based craft product.  But I use these all the time, so added them to the test. Here are the current Winsor Newton watercolor marker sets I could find for you on Amazon: Sky, Landscape, and Basic (don't be deterred from the "basic" set - the colors are FAR from basic!).

 The Arteza Brush Pens really don't do anything for me (so no link to buy). As you can see in the above photo, the ink doesn't even really flow the way it should just to write the simple product name on my paper. These are not nearly as juicy as I think they should be for the price. And, there's nothing you can do to get the ink flowing better. 

Their nib is actually bristles like a paint brush instead of a foam tip shaped like a paint brush tip. You would think this is a benefit, but I think it actually makes them harder to work with.

On the other hand, Arteza Twimarkers are a much better value and compare more appropriately with the Ohuhu color markers (shown above). These have both a brush nib and fineliner nib in one. However, you may have seen there are a lot of negative reviews out there on the Twimarkers, because the bullet nib frays easily. It's not encased in metal like the Ohuhu marker, so this creates a problem. 

The Arteza Inkonic fineliners are just a classic fineliner. They come in a beautiful set of 120, but the Ohuhus come with a brush nib too, plus 40 additional colors and are 2 cents/marker CHEAPER! I was really surprised to see this when I did the math. The Ohuhus are killing it so far in value. 

After I run my watercolor brush (with plain water) over each sample, you can see how water soluble each product is. The Tombows disolve the most. If watersolubility is important to you- you might want to keep that in mind when buying a set of these markers - the Ohuhus seem to disolve too, but not nearly to the extent of the Tombows.

To get started with this particular project, I decided to flip through the reference photos for drawing I compiled in my book called The Celtic Collection. 

This is a fun book of copyright free fantasy art reference images I compiled for one of my art clubs called The Celtic Collective, that I run with one of my art besties, Lucy Brydon. If you love fairies and fantasy art, click here to learn more about The Celtic Collective. 

Press play on today's video to see if I was able to achieve the watercolor painting effect I love from the water based Ohuhus.

Thanks for hanging out with me today!

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