Chameleon Pens were first released in 2014 by Chameleon Art Products, a UK company that has expanded their marketing worldwide. They recently got a boost in public awareness after receiving the Red Dot Design Award in April 2016.

Chameleon pens come in two sets, one with five and another with 22 markers, and feature Japanese nibs at the end, which, when put together with each marker’s mixing chamber, allow for seamless gradation shading.

While the finer brush tip is great for inking and traditional shading, the wider bullet tip is useful when shading with a texture effect, like creating realistic-looking animal fur. Another cool thing about these is that you don’t need special paper to use them, and they also work well with popular drawing and shading tools like colored pencils and Copic markers.

Many artists already swear by them for scrapbooking, card-making, and comic-style art, so it’s no wonder artists in Japan are looking forward to the pens hitting shelves here. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, visit the Chameleon homepage for basic sets of five or 22 markers, priced at around US$27 and US$100 respectively.

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