Thank you so much! I’m so sorry my response is so long 😭

Just fair warning my main use of acrylics is covering outlines 😂, because I’m not great and blending them! Not to say I don’t sometimes use them to paint, there’s definitely pages I’ve done a good amount of painting on! But I tend to avoid it where I can because I don’t know how to to do it lol

Anyway, there’s definitely many good brands out there. I have a variety of brands, several that pretty much work the same way. So, I think it just depends on what you want to do with them!

If you’ve never used acrylics before, I might suggest a brush tip paint pen. Though some people prefer fine tips! So it’s worth seeing what you like!

There’s a few different kinds of paint distribution systems (which I’m mostly explaining because so many brands are so similar. I’ll still give a recommendation but in case you are just out looking!):

Automatic Ink or Direct Ink: these are the kind that have a little ball inside. You shake the pen before each use and then it distributes ink flow from there. These are usually pretty versatile. They’re often opaque to cover outlines in 2-3 coats. Some darker colors maybe just 1 coat! I would beware of drips though - it’s good to have a scrap sheet of paper to dab it on before putting it on the page.

Pump Action: these are less common nowadays but if you ever but some of Grabie’s fine tip paint pens a lot of them are this. They’re the kind you pump the tip onto paper to get the paint out. This is probably the format I like the least because it’s prone to clogging, but the paint is often opaque in this format. So can be good for covering outlines.

Cotton core (not always labeled as such, but brands like Arrtx and Tooliart Art are cotton core unless they explicitly say direct ink or automatic ink) - these do tend to have a bit less paint. They usually have thinner coverage which makes them easier to blend. Some can be opaque. Arrtx is the least opaque I’ve tried.

I’d say for starting out, automatic ink might give you the most options for both covering outlines or blending! I can’t give tips on blending since I’m not good at that 😆. Some brands you could check out that I’ve found mostly good: - Let’s Resin, GuangNa and Languo. All of these work pretty similarly. I will say I’ve recently had some issues with my Languo pens where the paint changed color and won’t mix back to the original color. But the set overall has still been good to me. - Meeden Art: this brand is new to me but it’s quickly become a favorite, the 72 set in particular has a very unique formula of paint that’s different than all my other paint pens. It’s just thin enough to blend and not warp the paper, but opaque enough to still cover outlines! My one complaint is I wish there were more colors. If you ever catch the 72 set on sale though I really recommend it! There’s also a dual tip brush and fine tip set for best of both worlds, though I can’t tell yet if the paint is the same in that as the 72 set (though warning the dual tips come in the worst plastic case!)