I mentioned, in a post last week , that I would do a review of the Arteza 0.4 fineliner pens. Here it is!
Note: this is not a paid review. This product was purchased from Amazon and not provided by Arteza for review.
I purchased this set of pens from Amazon along with a couple of other things. They arrived in a large box, with another box containing the pens inside. The pens, themselves, come packed in a very nice, hinged tin, as you can see in the image above.
When I opened the tin, the top layer had shifted around and some pens were out of place. I put them back in the slots, but the image above may not reflect the original order.
There are three plastic trays of pens, stacked on top of each other.
This was a pen in the bottom tray. It had apparently leaked somehow.
I wiped all of the ink off the pen, and out of the tray. When I opened the pen, there was ink inside the cover and on the point assembly, which I also wiped off. Then I discovered there was ink on the bottom of the tray above this pen, which I also had to clean up.
When I was creating a color chart of the pens, I found a second one which leaked, although not as much.
I also found one pen with some kind of crust on the nib. I wiped it off, but this pen acts kind of dried out when I draw with it.
Over-all, between these three, and one other pen which was almost dried out, the rest of the pens functioned normally.
The tips of these pens are very nice. They are firm, draw a fine line, and are encased in metal.
I love the triangular shape. It keeps the pens from rolling off the table and makes them easier to hold.
These are advertised to be fast-drying, wont bleed or smudge your desk or hands.
I had very little smudging, only if I rubbed hard immediately after drawing a line. So the ink did dry quickly and didn’t smudge under normal use. That’s really nice when you’re trying to draw with them.
Some of my pens were very “juicy” and others were drier. The juicy colors might bleed through a light-weight paper. They did leave shadows on the back of drawing paper. The drier pens did not.
They are not advertised as being waterproof, but I always test my pens so that I know for sure!
One problem that I did find is that there are no numbers or color names on them. I used a permanent marker and wrote a unique number on each barrel. This allowed me to create a number color chart for reference. This was done in the order they were in the tin, which is the order I numbered them in.
Although there were several colors that were very close to others, each of the 102 pens were truly different!
I really prefer a system where the colors are in some kind of “rainbow order” so that similar colors are close or next to each other. I decided to make an individual swatch of each color.
Then I could punch a hole in one corner and put them all on a binder ring.
I will laminate the original color chart, but I will probably end up using the ring with the swatches much more often.
In conclusion this set is good. They aren’t perfect.
I would say that my biggest issue is in the consistency of the amount of ink in each pen. It varies from overly juicy to not quite enough ink. I hope the company addresses this in the future. I think the pens that leaked might have been from being over filled. The amount of ink affects the thickness of the line. While it wouldn’t bother most people, I prefer to have them as equal as possible because I use them for tangling!
The color range is really nice. I am looking forward to creating SpundalaZ with these. Having a wide color range will give me lots of options.
It’s annoying that there are no color names or numbers on the barrels.
This is a set of 102 pens for $38.99, so they end up being about 38 cents each. The closest comparison, Staedtler Triplus fineliners, run about 50 to 60 cents each. While the Triplus are more expensive, the quality and features are a bit better but the color selection is less. So I’m going with: good value for the price!
I’m rating these as student quality.
Whether or not you would like these pens depends, to some extent on how you work and what your budget is!