Tombow or WHSmith Dual Brush Pens - review: half the price, but which is best for urban sketching?

I love Tombow dual brush pens for urban sketching or nature sketching, but they are REALLY expensive. So when I spotted that WHSmith do a dual brush pen, I wondered if they would be any good. They are half the price, but are they half the quality?


Two artists I really admire, Ian Fennelly and John Muir Laws, both recommend the Tombow Dual Brush Pen, so I gave them a go and I love them. It's great for your initial sketch and the lines will melt away when you put watercolour on top. They are good for adding tone, without adding water - so important when working on location. And the brush pen is fabulous for window panes! You are often fighting with time when sketching, so anything which saves a bit and lets you get information down is alright with me!



After a quick internet search, all I could find were reviews from calligraphers and they seemed to think the WHSmith ones were okay. In fact, more than okay. But hand lettering people don't ask the questions I need to know the answers to, so I decided to do my own comparison. As an artist, I need to know about the colour range, the blendability, transparency, light fastness.


In this film I compare the two available grey sets. Costs are correct as of April 2021. I compare the colour range and how they blend on cartridge and watercolour paper, along with whether they are warm/cool and if they split when thinned with water.


I won't give the conclusion away, but I think you might be pleasantly surprised! It's worth a watch if you want to save yourself some money.


If you enjoyed this review, then you might like to know I do a weekly watercolour tip, trick or technique which I wish someone had told me when I started to paint. I usually post it on Sunday evening, so if you want to be kept up to date, please subscribe.





Tags: Liz Chaderton, Ian Fennelly, John Muir Laws, urban sketching, usk, plein air, Tombow dual brush pens, WHSmith dual brush pens, review, how good, how to use, grey, gray, tone, detail, sketching, drawing, which is better, blending, uv resistance, light resistance, permanence, brush pens, dual brush pens, fray, fraying