STABILO Pen 68 - Premium Fibre-Tip Pen - ARTY - Pack of 18 - Assorted Colours

Good balance, long life!

good quality

good quality

Lovely pens

I love art and stationery products and having found Stabilo stuff interesting, a bit quirky, always colourful but a bit hit-and-miss quality-wise, I was keen to try these out. They seem to be being aimed at students and are pitched primarily as writing pens. They look, to judge by the tips (described by Stabilo as ‘mid’), like Stabilo 68s, but are shorter, a bit more pen-like and have a little inbuilt pocket clip (possibly a nod to their pen/writing use). I have yet to try Stabilo 68s but would love to, especially the metallic ones. There are 15 different colours in this set and I found the exact same colours within my larger Stabilo 88 set. It is good to see a manufacturer showing colour consistency in this way across product ranges so that you can choose the tool based upon its features and usage and not just the colour you want.I believe that Stabilo have 40-plus colours in their range and hopefully they will all be available in this pen, too, in time (only 24 colours in this range at the moment I think). These pens are intended for writing, drawing, mind maps, note taking, journals, doodling, colouring (though most colour book authors recommend pencils), craft, card making etc. for adults and children I would think and that’s a fair assessment but not the limit of their applicability.In use:I used these to draw and write with and tried to get as small and deliberate as I could with lines as was surprised at just how detailed you could get with a ‘medium’ tip. The line width of 0.8mm provided by this tip seems to be a very sensible choice overall. For even finer colour lines an 88 fineliner would be better obviously, but these pens are definitely more versatile and more everyday usable. The quality of the tips on these pens are really good actually and I was very pleasantly surprised at how good they were at both lines and in-filling and are in my opinion they represent the best comprise between every fine (88) tips and chunkier ones that cover paper more easily but are no good for detail. They feel like they would stand up to some hard use as well. The pens were consistent across colours in terms of ink flow, which was good (not too wet, and not too scratchy and dry), though obviously darker colours tend to cover the paper better. I also noted that the lighter colours (e.g. orange, yellow and flesh colour) seemed to fade a bit over time whereas this was not noticeable for the dark reds, purples etc. They do bleed into adjacent colours as do all/most felt tips and this is most noticeable with certain colour combinations. You can still do quite detailed colouring though so long as you are mindful of this.I don’t really use pocket clips but if you are using these as pens for journal writing or at school/college then that might be handy. The lids clip on the end to avoid losing them and they click very firmly on and off as well which inspires confidence and should avoid any accidental drying out. They can apparently be left for 24 hours uncapped without drying out but I am not stupid enough to test that!I also compared these against some of my other felt tip pens, though I acknowledge that they are not directly comparable products in terms of features, colour choices and intended uses.Smudging was apparent with these pens and was worse than with the 88s, no doubt because those dispense less ink. The smudging was comparable to my dual-tipped WH Smith bush pens (non-brush tip) and a bit worse than with my Pentel Sign pens - the latter dispense more ink but the ink formula is probably different which limits smudging. The point max Arty pens infill colour much better than the 88s, less so than Pentel Signs and about on par/slightly better than the WH Smith’s pens. Detail and control, however, is really good with only the 88s providing finer lines.I then tried an experiment with the water-solubility of these pens vs the above-mentioned ones. I used a Pentel Aqua brush pen (very highly recommended) with a medium tip but as it was my first attempt with this tool and this technique I somewhat overdid it and applied too much water. I did this especially to the WH Smith pen test (I had to mop up surface diluted ink with a tissue, that’s why it is so pale) so the results should be taken with my current ineptitude of this technique in mind. What was clear though was that the Stabilo pens transferred ink/colour quite nicely (needing a bit more water than the other pens) but the original ink lines still showed, which was a little disappointing. I expect that with more practise and a visit or two to Youtube for help I can improve upon that and perhaps overcome the issue. In this test though the Pentel Sign and WH Smith pens both outperformed the Stabilo’s for watercolour effects. So what I would say about using these pens for those effects is, yes, it is definitely possible and a lot of fun but other pens will likely do it a bit better.PROS:Excellent colour palette, which is a real Stabilo strong pointGood choice of colours (to my tastes) within this 15 packTip enables good solid colouring ability but also very fine lines for drawing/outliningTip more practical and durable than Stabilo 88s - especially if children will use themActually a decent writing tool - ideal for funking up journals and note takingSupposedly good dry-out protectionSolid click on/off capsSmooth ink delivery across all coloursStubbier form factor more comfortable than 88s (68s too?) and would be ideal for children alsoVery versatile pens and fun to use for all agesWater soluble - so can produce some water-colour type effectsReasonable value for moneyCONS:Like all felt tips they will bleed into adjacent colours somewhat depending on what those colours areThey do smudge, but are generally okay if left to dry for a short whileMarketing these as writing pens may be doing them a disservice!OVERALL:I wasn’t to sure what to expect from these as I have a bit of love-hate relationship with Stabilo products. I like their colour palette but their product line is often confusing with products overlapping and yet varying wildly in price. They also sit in that awkward niche between budget and semi-pro artist products without quite firmly being in either camp for one reason or another. Having been a bit disappointed with my Stabilo 88 Fineliners I wasn’t overly hopeful about these but they have exceeded expectations and restored my faith in Stabilo. Whereas the Stabilo 88s are fineliners but lack the durability, permanence, smudge-resistance, bleed-resistance, and general performance of top fineliners, like the Pentel Pointliners, (but do give you 40 or so colours to make up for it!), these pens are a less ambitious, but deliver more, or even overdeliver. I suspect that these are based on the Stabilo 68s but I couldn’t find enough information on their website or elsewhere to confirm this. The ‘Arty’ moniker seems to be part of a rebrand by Stabilo of certain products and is perhaps indicative of the aforementioned slightly chaotic product range that they have. If these are indeed 68s but tweaked and aimed at writing then I would say that depending on price differences you could get these instead and be happy with them provided that you can get them in all the colours you want. I haven’t tried 68s yet and so I am not trying to put you off those, but having used these I can say that the reduced form factor is very good for control and comfort - better than my 88s - not that they are uncomfortable for an adult to use. The colours are great and the ink flows well (not over-wet) but for adult colouring use pencils are better as they wont bleed. I get though that not everyone wants to use pencils and if you wish to colour with felt tips then these are a good choice. Ideally I would like to try Staedtler pens as well as the two company’s ranges seem to be very similar to each other and in many cases in direct competition. I can though recommend these as excellent mid-priced felt tips whether you or your family write draw, colour, doodle or whatever.

This set of 12 Stabilo brush pens are part of their 68 Arty range but with a flexible if quite small brush tip. The ink is water-based and so therefore can be used (as can the regular 68 and 88 pens) for watercolour type effects, which Stabilo calls aquarelle. They also have their 24 hr dry-out protection if the caps are left off, though that’s something you’d obviously try to avoid doing. As is Stabilo’s style the pen bodies are very slimline and have stripes and caps that indicate the ink colour.In use:I have always preferred the 68 pens to the 88s viewing them as more practical, more child-friendly and just more versatile overall. Producing a brush pen version only adds to all the above plus points in my view.Also, while you can still produce pretty fine lines with these because the brush tip is not overly flexible, pressing down more solidly does give some line variation. It is a bit on-off rather than a smooth transition of line width compared to a Pentel Sign brush pen but it does go wider than that pen does. To some extent though this is about getting used to the pen and how much pressure you need to apply. Being a smaller brush pen you won’t want to be infilling large areas with it but the ink flow is good so you can still use the to colour as well as draw.The water-soluble nature of the ink is great fun. You do have to bear in mind though that the original lines may well disappear when you add water from a water brush and so often less is more to avoid ending up with a bit of a mess.I am no calligrapher but I had a go anyway and found these pens better for me than larger brush pens for that use as I felt like I had more control, though with less line width variation.It is impossible to review these without mentioning the colours. This is an area where Stabilo always score highly and deservedly so. There’s a sort of claret colour included in this set which is just fantastic and odds are that I will end up using up that pen first. The reds, blues and pinks are also very good and generally I prefer the darker colours here as while the lighter shades look good they don’t show up so well.My favourite use for these is as sketching/doodling pens when you want to create something bright and fun and maybe activate some of the ink afterwards with water. I noticed that you could activate the ink quite some time after drawing with them which is good. I prefer these pens and others like them for single colour images as I find that the ink in felt-tip pens blends unpleasantly sometimes when you use two colours next to each other, though I know a lot of people are happy to use them for colouring.PROS:Fantastic colours.Ability to produce fine lines for drawing but also thicker lines and, with some practice, graduation between both for calligraphy or sketching.Excellent, fun sketching and colourful pens.Very water-soluble, which opens up some fun and games with care.The pens have very good ink flow - no dried up tips here.Reasonable value I think given the quality but a case thrown in would have been nice.Versatile with many creative uses.Comfortable to hold and use.CONS:Not ideally suited to colouring larger areas due to relatively small brush tip size.Almost but not quite the best pens of this type that I have used.Line variation a little limited but with the payoff of more control.OVERALL:I really liked these pens and enjoyed using them. This review coincided with me trying a similar pen which slightly edged it in terms of control and results but it was a very close run thing. What I like about these is that they are so immediate. The colours are great and invite you to use them and they are ideal for a quick sketch or cartoon, maybe some activation by a water brush and then onto the next drawing. Quite a few art tools require preparation, draft pencil sketches, fineliner outlining, water colour colouring etc. but it is liberating to just pick up the colour pen you want and start messing about. The brush tips seem sturdy to me and so these should be suitable for children and adults alike and are capable of excellent results. Happy to recommend these.

Great set of 12 versatile pens that are perfect for artists in the making. My son loves to draw and colour and these were perfect for him. I think one of the best things about these pens is that they take so long before they dry out unlike cheaper pens, especially handy if your child. Is anything like my son and has a habit of losing pen lids!! They arrived in a recyclable cardboard box /sleeve which you can use to store the pens and you get 12 x Pen 68 brush fibre tip pens in black, grey, light blue, dark blue, light green, dark green, pale orange, dark red, yellow, red, pink/purple and purple. The pens themselves are very easy to hold and comfortable which again is ideal for my son as he potentially has dyspraxia and struggles to hold pens correctly. They are also very slime. The strips down the side of the pen and the caps indicate the colours so easy to identify. Due to them being brush type fibre tips they can be used to gain a watercolour effect along with shading, lettering and colouring. To vary the lime thickness you just increase or decrease the pressure you put on them. They are very good quality. If you are looking for cheap colouring pens that may or. May not last very long then these wouldn't be for you due to the price but if you are looking for good quality then these are perfect.