White Gel Pen Problems? Use a White Paint Pen Instead.

If you’re having trouble using a white gel ink pen, then try using white paint instead. Either use a white paint pen, or use a paintbrush and white paint. I am offering this advice after learning the hard way that white gel pens do not work well when used over wax-based colored pencil like Prismacolors or Polychromos. The gel ink gums up over wax-based pencil, does not apply evenly, and looks more translucent than opaque. White paint works far better in this situation, and it looks nicer.

White Gel Pen vs. White Paint Pen on Colored Pencil — An Experiment

To illustrate the performance difference between white gel pens and white paint pens on colored pencil, I performed a quick experiment where I drew a happy face using each pen. First, I colored in two circles using a wax-based Prismacolor Premier pencil. I put down several, equal layers of color in each circle. I then burnished each circle using a Prismacolor Colorless Blender Pencil.

After each circle was sufficiently and equally colored in, it was time to use the pens. Before applying each pen to the colored circles, I primed the pen by scribbling on a piece of scrap paper to ensure that the ink and paint were at a full flow. Each pen was working correctly before I moved on to draw the happy face.

On the right, I used a white Uni Posca Paint Pen to draw the smiley face. I had zero issues applying the paint. The paint flowed out of the pen quickly and evenly with little pressure. I used exactly one layer of paint for the mouth. I could have easily applied another layer of paint to make the mouth a bit whiter and bolder, but I wanted this to be a fair experiment. What you see here is what you get after only one layer of paint.

On the left, I used a Uni-Ball Signo white gel pen (UM-153). The white gel pen was much more finicky than the white Posca paint pen. Despite going over the mouth area several times with varying degrees of pressure, the gel ink barely flowed at all, and did not spread evenly when it did. All I managed to do was create an unsightly indentation with very little gel ink covering it. I had a little more luck creating the eyes by “scribbling” a small circle repeatedly. Note: After each attempt at using the gel pen, I scribbled a bit on the scrap paper to ensure that the pen wasn’t clogged from the colored pencil. The white gel pen worked perfectly fine on plain old office paper, but performed poorly over the colored pencil.

In conclusion, the Uni Posca White Paint Pen performed significantly better over wax-based colored pencil than the Uni-Ball Signo white gel pen. The Uni Posca Paint Pen was quick and easy to use. The paint applied evenly, and produced an opaque white line in only one layer. Given enough time, effort, and layers, I might have been able to achieve a similar result with the white gel pen. The resulting eyes and mouth probably wouldn’t have looked as smooth as the white paint version, though.

Finally, here’s a practice example from my sketchbook from when I was learning how to color gems. The highlight of the gem on the left was done with the same Uni Posca paint pen, and the gem on the right was done with the same Uni-Ball Signo white gel ink pen. Again, the white paint is far more opaque, even, and “clean” than the white gel ink.