12 Best Gel Pens For Coloring
Here are the best gel pens for coloring. When it comes to coloring books, having the right pens makes all the difference, especially for detailed designs or bold patterns. The best gel pens for coloring books glide smoothly, dry quickly, and come in rich, vibrant shades. From metallic gel pens to glitter sets that shimmer on the page, there are so many fun options out there.
So if you are hunting for art gel pens or looking for adult coloring gel pens that won’t bleed through, this guide will help you find your new favorite set. I’ll go over the best gel pen sets that I think you will enjoy using. I’ve tested a lot of gel pens while filming videos for my YouTube channel, where I share coloring tutorials and reviews.
I love how colorful gel pens can bring a page to life, especially in my favorite books and printables. The sparkle or the shine from metallic pens just hits different on camera, and over time, I’ve found a few favorites that I use again and again.
Coco Wyo Coloring Book With Gel Pens. See how this page came to life on this Coco Wyo coloring book review.
Best Gel Pens For Coloring
1. Let’s Resin Gel Pen Set
I’ve worked with Let’s Resin before and love their products. Their gel pen sets have smooth ink and vibrant colors that make writing, journaling, and doodling so much more fun. Every color feels bright and easy to use. Another thing that I love about this shop is that they have lots of supplies so you can get what you need in one place.
2. Shuttle Art Gel Pens
Colorful gel pens from Shuttle Art make any artwork pop, especially when you’re filling in tiny details or adding a creative twist. This set has 360 gel pens so you are going to pretty much have everything you will ever need in one set. Don’t you just love getting in a brand new set of gel pens with so many colors?! This brand also has a smaller set of gel pens if you want to test a more budget friendly set before going ahead with the large set.
3. JoyAsk Gel Pen Set 90
The JoyAsk 90 piece gel pen set is great for using on both white and black paper. The colors show up bright and bold, so your notes, doodles, and lettering really stand out. With so many shades, you can mix and match to create unique designs and add extra detail to any project.
4. LIULIUCAI Adult coloring gel pens
The LIULIUCAI gel pens has a huge range of colors and finishes in one set with storage and a little bonus coloring book included. With so many shades and styles like glitter, pastel, neon and metallic, you get a ton of pens for journaling, art projects and notes. The pens have coded grips to help you keep your colors organized and the soft grips make writing and drawing easier.
One thing I love to do with sets like these are use the glittery ones for when I’m coloring beauty coloring books because then I can put the sparkle on the nail polish bottles.
5. Smart Color Art Gel Pen Set
Smart Color Art Gel Pens are made to glide smoothly over the page without bleeding through, which makes them a great choice for detailed designs. This set here is one of the top sellers. I love the hard case that keeps everything organized. With a wide range of shades including glitter, metallic, pastel, and neon, it’s good for both coloring and scrapbooking. The smooth ink flow and vibrant hues can be used on all types of papers from smooth to watercolor.
6. Sakura Gelly Roll Gel Pens
I absolutely love the Sakura Gelly Roll Pens and you will see me using these on the YouTube channel often. These are some of the best glitter gel pens for coloring. I’ve been using this brand for years and can tell you that over this time, I’ve only run into a few not working properly and this is literally over almost 15 years of using them.
7. Sakura Gel Pen Gift Set
If you’re just getting started with coloring, this set by Sakura is a great pick, especially because it comes with a set of white gel pens. White gel pens are a must for adding highlights, details, and little touches that really stand out. It’s a simple way to level up your coloring or journaling.
8. Sakura white gel pens
The Sakura store has some of the best white gel pens for artists. This is the set I use all the time for getting those white highlights on coloring sheets. When I’m looking for a white art pen, I need good flow so that it doesn’t skip on the page. White paint pens can be used too, but for fine details, these sets are fantastic.
Just a quick note on the white gel pens, they come in different tip sized. I use the fine tip the most but there are fine to bold.
9. Office Goods Black gel pen set
This black gel pen set from Office Goods is for shading and adding depth. It includes tones from light grey to deep black, which makes it fun to experiment with shadows and contrast. This is a fantastic set for having several shades of gray and black which are always needed in coloring. Plus, this set throws in some glitter and metallics, which gives you that extra sparkle when you want to make your pages pop. I like to use metallics for borders and they really stand out on the page.
10. Sakura Neon Gel Pens
I love these gel pens for adult coloring books and have used Sakura gel pens so many times over the years. Neon gel pens are so much fun for adding bold pops of color to your pages. You can use them to highlight designs, create glowing effects, or make your patterns really stand out. They’re also great for adding fun little accents to scrapbooks and cards!
11. Pilot metallic gel pen set
One thing any colorist should have in their stash are Pilot metallic shades. Here’s a set of some of the best gel pens for coloring on amazon that come in shiny metallic colors. I chose this set for this list because they have great reviews but I have not tried this set out yet myself. They can be used for coloring books, scrapbooking projects, and even handmade cards. I love how they catch the light and make simple designs feel a little extra special!
12. Ohuhu White Silver Gold Gel Pens
A brand I always have in my coloring studio is Ohuhu. Customers love that their gel pens are super smooth and the colors pop so nicely. You can use them in coloring books, on cards, and even for little doodles. They’re a fun, easy choice when you use a lot of white, gold and silver. I don’t know about you, but I go through a ton of white gel pen ink.
tips for coloring with gel pens
how to blend with gel pens
To blend with gel pens, start by coloring your first shade and while it’s still wet, layer your second color right next to it, gently overlapping. Use small, quick strokes to lightly mix the two shades together. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, you can make really soft, pretty blends!
gel pen coloring techniques
One of my favorite gel pen coloring techniques is layering light colors over dark ones to create a glowing effect. You can also try cross-hatching, where you layer lines in different directions to build up color and texture. Gel pens are super fun because you can mix glitter, metallic, and neon shades all in one design!
best coloring books for gel pens
You might be asking, what are the best coloring books for gel pens? Well, the nice thing about gel pens is that they glide on really smooth paper and also heavy watercolor papers too. Personally, I like to use gel pens for details. So mandala coloring books or floral coloring books are fantastic for gel pens. A brand of coloring books that I really enjoy are the Coco Wyo, they have little details that are great for gel pens.
So you can pretty much use any type of coloring book for your gel pens. There’s lots of free printable gel pen coloring pages right here on this blog too! Some coloring pages you might want to try are these cute fluffy cat printables and cozy words coloring pages.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have found the perfect set of gel pens for coloring.
Video: Using Gel Pens For Coloring
Here’s a video and you can see how you can use gel pens for coloring. You can see that I’m using the white gel pens to give highlights to the night sky.
More coloring resources
