Christina K Christina K

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: Review + Tips and Techniques

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

Today I'd like to talk about my latest obsession and that is the Tombow Dual Brush Pens. What can I say? I'm in love with them! They are so versatile and easy to use, adding colour to my every day life. In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some of the techniques I use, so that you get the most out of them.

The Tombow Dual Pens are water based, odourless and acid free. That means that they are easy to blend and that your designs will last for a long time. They come with two types of tips:

A flexible nylon brush tip

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

And a fine tip

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

The two tips give you lines with a wide range of thickness. With the flexible tip you can create fine, medium or bold strokes by a change in the brush pressure, or you can use the fine tip for more consistent lines.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

As you can see in the image above, you can get lines with thickness from 1 cm to 1/2 mm. That makes them great for any project, including colouring, hand lettering, doodling, journaling and much more!

I'm using them constantly to practice my hand lettering.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

I get my hand lettering practice sheets from the Brush Letter Practice Guide.

And I also use them every day in my bullet journal:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

They don't bleed through the pages, they are easy to blend and they add colour to my pages 😊 They come in 96 amazing colours. Each marker has a number that indicates that colour.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

I'm currently building my collection slowly-slowly, and I hope that very soon I'll have all 96 of them. 😉 I started with the basic colours, then bought the more light and pastel ones, and from there I add as I go along. The ones I've got so far are:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk
Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk
Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk
Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk
Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

You can also get a colourless blender, that you can use with the colours to create a gradient effect and blend them. In the Tombow website

you can find and download the Dual Brush Pen Colour Selector, in order to see the swatches and choose the colours you want. You can also download the Dual Brush Pen Colour Tracker to swatch the colours you have like I did below:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

You can get the whole set or you can buy them individually. They also come in convenient smaller sets.

You can use them as they are and have great results, or you can use any of the following techniques to make your drawings have more depth and dimension.

Tips & Techniques

The Tombow pens are water reactive and they will turn into water colours. All you have to do is use the Tombow blending palette, any plastic surface or a porcelain plate (like I did), some water and a brush. I used my Pentel brush, because I just love it, but you can use any brush you want.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

Take some colour on your brush and then start colouring on your paper. The result will be a really nice gradient effect:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

You can do the same with more than one colours:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

You can also use the blender pen instead of a brush, even without water and have similar results.

One more way to use the plastic surface or plate like before, is to use two different colours. Place one colour on the plate and then use a lighter colour to pick some up like in the picture.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

Then start colouring on a piece of paper and you'll see the transition from one colour to the next.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

The more colour you pick up, the bigger the ombre effect you'll get. In the picture I only picked up a tiny bit and you can see the result. One good thing about these pens is that the tips self clean after blending, so you don't have to worry about ruining them. 😉

You can also touch the tips of two different Tombow pens and have a similar ombre effect too. I like to touch the two tips for about 7 seconds and then start drawing.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk
Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

Using the above techniques you can colour any page you want and add more depth and dimension like I did in my colouring page below:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: In this post, I'll show you the colours I've got, I'll talk about their characteristics and then I'll show you some techniques, so that you get the most out of them. - www.chistina77star.co.uk

By the way, you can download this colouring page from the Resources Library  after you've subscribed to my Newsletter 😉.

I was thinking of creating Colouring Secrets: an e-course that will cover tips and techniques on how to colour using coloured pencils, markers and watercolours. If you'd be interested in a fun and affordable ($20) e-course on colouring, enter your info below and I'll notify you when it launches!

COLOURING SECRETS E-COURSE

If this is a product you'd be interested in buying, enter your email below and I'll notify you when it launches!

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Have you used the Tombow Dual Brush Pens before? What do you think about them? Any colours you'd suggest I buy next?

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Christina K Christina K

Colouring: A Stress-Relief Technique







Coloring books are no longer just for the kids. On the contrary, adult coloring books are the in thing right now, placing them on more and more bestsellers’ lists throughout the world.

Researchers have acknowledged the therapeutic qualities of art for years, and many grown-ups find sitting down with crayons or coloured pencils a way to unwind. Colouring has therapeutic qualities that can help to reduce anxiety, create focus or bring about more mindfulness. Like meditation, colouring allows the brain to switch off other thoughts and focus on the moment.



Personally, I've always liked colouring. Since I was a little girl I remember treasuring all my colouring books that I just loved to fill in with my coloured pencils. This continued through my high school years and university, where I would always add doodles and colour on my notes and books. Even now, every note and diary has colour in it. And of course since I started my bullet journal, this has escalated a bit! You only need to take a look at my Instagram account :)

So, colouring has always been in my life. Lately though, I've discovered (a bit late, I know!) the adult colouring books, and this has opened up a whole new world for me!



Some of these books are more detailed than others, and they have some amazingly intricate designs that you can spend hours colouring! One of my favourite ones that I bought recently is the Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford. I really like her style and I'm planning to get next the Lost Ocean as well as the Secret Garden.



I can literally get lost for hours, when I start colouring with these books. My favourite coloured pencils to use with them are the Pelikan soft coloured pencils and the Staedtler ones.

You don't have to be an expert to start colouring. You just add different colours as you go, and then see the whole picture transform. Of course, if you want you can take it to the next level and experiment a bit with shading that will definitely bring the picture to life!

You can find loads of colouring books online. Some of the ones that I've added to my wish list are:

Left  //  Right











Left  //  Right







Left  //  Right




There is also a box created by Crayola specifically for adults that's called 'Color Escapes' that looks interesting.



If you don't want to buy any books, but you're still interested to see if you would like to start colouring, then you can find loads of adult colouring pages online that are free to download. I really like these ones:

Zen and Anti-Stress Colouring Pages for Adults
Printable Coloured Pages for Adults - 15 free designs
Free Adult Colouring Pages
Free Colouring Pages for Adults

Of course you can also try and create your own designs and get creative! I had a lot of fun drawing this owl colouring page. To create it I used an HB pencil to draw the design, and then I used my Sakura Micron pens in 01, 03 and 05 (depending how thick I wanted the lines each time) to draw the outline







You can click here to download it for FREE! For best results when printing, choose black and white in the settings. Hope you like it :)

So, grab your coloured pencils and let's get lost in the amazing world of colour :) Which are your favourite colouring books?



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