Review: Arrtx OROS alcohol markers (pastel colour set)

I have actually reviewed these alcohol markers back in Dec 2024. These are quality markers and the main downside is there are no individual ink refills.

Fast forward to Jan 2026, Arrtx asked if I wanted to review their new 66-colour pastel colour set and I said why not? I like markers but I don't use them for urban sketching because there are too many markers to bring out, and I prefer lightfast colours. I'll be giving away these markers are the review at our Urban Sketchers Singapore sketchwalks.

Arrtx sells two types of markers at the time of review, OROS and ALP. OROS has the brush and chisel tips. ALP has the fine and chisel tips. Make sure the type of tips you'll get before buying.

Here are the various sets available at time of review from Arrtx's online store:

• 160-colour set, USD 145
• 90-colour set, USD 89
• 66-colour pastel set, USD 70
• 80-colour set, USD 80
• 48-colour skin tone set

Review

The box set comes with a carrying handle which is useful if you have to bring the box around.

In the box, there's a card with Arrtx social media pages, a paper where you can swatch out the colours, and of course the markers.

The markers are actually held vertically in plastic stands inside the box.

The best way to store markers is horizontally, so that the ink can flow to both ends.

The marker looks big and should hold a good amount of ink.

That's the chisel tip, great for covering large areas.

The brush tip is great for drawing thin lines, tapered strokes, fill in small areas and big areas too.

The brush tip is definitely more versatile.

The cap cannot be posted.

Note that markers work best on marker paper, paper that's designed to be bleedproof and can work with alcohol inks.

You can certainly use alcohol markers on normal paper, but alcohol inks can bleed through normal paper easily, even thick watercolour paper. Normal paper also absorbs more ink and hence will use up ink much faster.

There's one colourless blender and a black marker. I suppose the markers can be blended but I'm good with colour blending with markers so I can't say much.

The colours in this pastel set look light, pale, and not saturated. That's pastel and its limitation. Whether this set of colours is suitable for you really depends on what you draw.

Note that alcohol inks are not lightfast, and colours can fade when exposed to light for long periods of time. This isn't much of an issue if you use them in sketchbooks, but I highly recommend you scan your artwork after you're done, just in case the colours fade in the future.

I personally like to use a lighter colour for highlights and darker colours for the shade. With the pastel colours, I can't quite create the contrast that I need.

There's no red or orange in the set.

There's no dark green for the trees, or shadows on the grass.

There are no grays in the set.

And since many colours look so light, it's difficult to create the mid value.

If you want a more complete set of colours, I would recommend you get the other sets as well, or just get the larger set.

Quality of the markers is good and price is reasonable so these are definitely worth checking out.

Availability

These markers are available for purchase from Arrtx online store and Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | AU)