Last Updated on June 3, 2026 by Dee
Okay, friend — grab your tea, because I’ve been having way too much fun with this one. I tested a brand new set of acrylic markers on 40 hand-drawn bookmark designs, and I made the whole printable pack free for you to download and color along with me.
The pack is called 40 Bookmark Designs to Color — 10 themed template pages, 4 designs per page, ready to print on cardstock and fill in with whatever you’ve got. Markers, pencils, gel pens, watercolour if you’re feeling brave. I colored mine with the gorgeous Arrtx 60-Color Direct Liquid Ink Acrylic Markers (they kindly sent me the set to test — full honest review further down, including what I love and the one trade-off worth knowing about).
Grab the printable pack below, then keep scrolling for the marker review, my colouring tips, and the full design walkthrough.
Table of Contents
Why Acrylic Markers Are Perfect for Bookmarks
Honestly? Acrylic markers and bookmarks are a match made in stationery heaven. Here’s why I keep reaching for them over my regular markers when I’m colouring printables.
Cardstock loves them. Acrylic paint sits ON TOP of the paper instead of soaking through it, so even thinner cardstock holds up beautifully — no warping, no buckling, no patchy spots where the ink pooled and made everything sad.
The colours are properly opaque. We’re talking real, paint-thick coverage. Pastels stay pastel, dark colours stay dark, and you don’t get that washed-out look you sometimes get with regular markers on coloured or patterned paper. Layer a pale yellow over a navy background? Easy. The yellow actually shows up.
No bleeding through. This is the big one for bookmarks. You can colour both sides of your bookmark if you want a double-sided design, and you won’t get ghosting through to the back. (I tested this on 110gsm cardstock and a 200gsm cardstock — both totally fine.)
And honestly… they’re just satisfying. There’s something so calming about filling in a chunky shape with a single confident stroke. The ink flows, the colour goes down, and you don’t have to keep going back over patches. It’s a very low-stress kind of art.
The Arrtx 60-Color Set I’m Testing
So, full disclosure first because I want to be straight with you: Arrtx kindly sent me their 60-color set to test — I only feature things I actually love using, and this honest review is mine. Nobody told me what to say. They didn’t ask for approval. If I’d hated them, I’d have quietly returned them and never mentioned it.
But I didn’t hate them. I really, really like them.
Here’s the set we’re talking about: Arrtx 60-Color Acrylic Markers. (Wherever you shop — Amazon US, Amazon CA, AliExpress, or arrtx.com — you can also use this multi-region link to find them in your part of the world.)
What’s brilliant about them
Zero pumping required. This is the thing I noticed first. Traditional acrylic markers (looking at you, Posca) need you to shake them and pump the nib repeatedly to get ink flowing. The Arrtx ones are direct liquid ink — you uncap and they’re ready. No pumping, no waiting, no ink puddling on the nib because you got over-enthusiastic. Just colour.
The nib is a dream. It’s a soft, flexible chisel nib, so you can use the broad side for filling in chunky shapes (perfect for bookmark colouring) and the edge for tighter detail. It glides. It really does.
60 colours = serious range. You get the full spectrum — warm and cool of every hue, multiple pastels, multiple skin tones, proper darks, metallics. I didn’t feel like I was missing a colour at any point across 40 bookmark designs. That’s saying something.
They work on basically everything. Cardstock, sketchbook paper, fabric, wood, glass, mugs, rocks, kraft paper. I haven’t tested them all but the cardstock + watercolour paper performance is genuinely lovely.
Opaque coverage on dark surfaces. I tested the white and pastels on a navy scrap of paper and they showed up beautifully on the first pass. Not many marker brands can say that.
The trade-off worth knowing
The flow is so generous that if you press hard or hover too long, you can get a slightly wetter pool of ink than you wanted. It dries fine, but you do need to let it dry properly before going over a layer with another colour or you’ll smudge. Not a dealbreaker — just a “be a bit patient” thing.
That’s it. That’s my only gripe. For the price, this set is genuinely fantastic and I’ve now used it more than any of my other marker sets this month.
This post contains affiliate links — if you buy through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only ever recommend products I genuinely use and love. Arrtx kindly sent me the 60-color set to test; all opinions are mine.
How I Tested the Markers (Bookmark Project)
I wanted to give the Arrtx set a proper workout, so I designed 40 bookmark templates across 10 themed pages — botanicals, mandalas, cottagecore animals, reading quotes, boho patterns, vintage florals, geometric shapes, whimsical forest, cottage garden, and celestial designs. (Yes, the same 40 designs you’re getting in the free printable pack — I literally tested them so you don’t have to wonder how the markers behave on this exact project.)
Here’s what I did:
- Printed the templates on 200gsm white cardstock with a standard inkjet printer
- Let the printer ink dry for a few minutes before colouring (acrylic markers can lift fresh inkjet ink if you’re impatient)
- Filled in each design with the Arrtx markers, working light colours first and darks last
- Cut them out, punched the hole, threaded ribbon
Observations? The marker ink sat beautifully on the cardstock. No buckling. No bleed-through. The colours stayed vibrant once dry. The biggest delight was the mandala pages — those tiny enclosed shapes were so easy to fill in cleanly because the chisel nib held its edge.
The cottagecore animal page (mushrooms, bees, foxes, hedgehogs) was my favourite. I used a soft pink for the mushroom caps with white dots over the top once the pink had fully dried — and the white showed up like a charm.
40+ Bookmark Designs to Color (Free Printable Pack)
Here’s what’s inside the free pack — 10 themed pages, 4 designs per page, all hand-drawn by me.
Page 1 — Botanical Florals. Wildflower stems, sunflowers, roses, lavender sprigs. Soft, pretty, easy to colour. Great place to start if you’re new to acrylic markers.
Page 2 — Mandala & Sacred Geometry. Classic mandalas, geometric patterns, a lotus design. Lots of tiny shapes to fill in — proper meditative colouring.
Page 3 — Cottagecore Animals. Toadstool mushrooms, honeybees, woodland foxes, sleepy hedgehogs. My favourite page, hands down.
Page 4 — Reading Lover Quotes. “One More Chapter,” “Book Lover,” “Reading is My Therapy,” and “Just One More Page” — all hand-lettered with little decorative borders to colour around the text.
Page 5 — Boho Patterns. Feathers, sun + moon, dreamcatchers, arrows. A bit more graphic, gorgeous in metallic or earthy tones.
Page 6 — Vintage Botanical. A Victorian rose, fern fronds, a lily, and pressed-flower style botanicals. Beautiful in muted colours and rich greens.
Page 7 — Geometric & Modern. Art deco lines, clean shapes, wavy lines, and a little mountain range. Modern, minimal, perfect for bold colour blocking.
Page 8 — Whimsical Forest. Pine trees, autumn leaves, a mushroom forest scene, and a tiny fairy door tucked into a mushroom stem. Storybook-pretty.
Page 9 — Cottage Garden. A herb bundle, a garden gate, a vintage watering can, and terracotta pots with tiny plants. Cosy, slow-living vibes.
Page 10 — Celestial & Moon Phases. Moon phases across the bookmark, sun and moon paired, a delicate constellation map, and a crescent moon with stars. Stunning in midnight blue and metallic gold.
40 designs total. Plenty to colour through over many cups of tea.
My Favorite Bookmark Coloring Tips with Acrylic Markers
A few things I’ve learned the hard way so you don’t have to:
Shake before use. Even direct-liquid markers like the Arrtx ones benefit from a quick shake to mix the pigment. Cap on, give them a wiggle for ten seconds, you’re good.
Store horizontally. This keeps the ink in even contact with the nib so you don’t end up with one dry end and one drowning end. A simple pencil case or a flat drawer is perfect.
Test on scrap first. Always. Every single colour, every fresh page. It only takes a second and it’ll save you from finding out the hard way that your “soft peach” is actually neon orange.
Layer light to dark. Start with your palest colours and build up. It’s much easier to add a darker shade over a light one than to fix a dark patch you didn’t mean to put down.
Let each layer dry properly. This is where impatience gets you. Give the ink a full minute (or two if it’s a big saturated area) before adding details on top. Otherwise you’ll smudge and curse and have to start again.
Use cardstock between 110 and 200gsm. That’s the sweet spot. Below 110gsm and you risk warping. Above 200gsm and bookmark cardstock starts to feel more like a coaster.
Want a wipe-clean finish? Once your bookmark is completely dry, you can seal it with a thin layer of clear sticker varnish or matte Mod Podge. Optional, but lovely if you want a slightly more durable finish.
Other Acrylic Markers I’ve Tried and Love
I’ve tested a fair few sets over the years. Here are the ones I’d recommend alongside the Arrtx — each has a particular strength.
Ohuhu Nahuku. Very similar in style to the Arrtx — direct liquid ink, opaque coverage, generous colour range. If the Arrtx set is out of stock or you spot a deal,
Posca. The premium pump-action acrylic marker, beloved by professional artists. The ink is exceptional, the colour payoff on canvas and wood is unmatched, and the line quality is gorgeous. The trade-off is the price and the fact that they don’t sell replacement nibs in most markets — once a nib’s worn, it’s worn. Worth the splurge if you’re doing canvas or surface art rather than paper. Find them here.
Artistro. My favourite for rock painting. The fine 0.7mm tip is precise enough for tiny details on uneven surfaces, and the colours hold up beautifully outdoors. If pebble art is your thing, this is the set. Find them here.
But for colouring printable bookmarks specifically? The Arrtx set is what I keep coming back to. Direct liquid ink + chisel nib + 60 colours = no notes, basically.
How to Print and Cut Your Bookmark Templates
Once you’ve grabbed the pack, here’s how to get from PDF to finished bookmark in four easy steps.
1. Print on cardstock. 110gsm minimum, 200gsm ideal. Standard letter or A4 — both work fine, the bookmarks are sized to fit either page format. Use the “actual size” print setting so the designs don’t get scaled down.
2. Colour them in. Use whatever you’ve got — acrylic markers, gel pens, coloured pencils, fineliners. Let each layer dry properly before adding the next.
3. Cut along the borders. Each bookmark has a thin border line — just cut along that with sharp scissors or a craft knife. Slow and steady; the lines will be slightly visible after cutting which is fine.
4. Punch a hole and thread a ribbon. A standard hole punch works perfectly at the top of each bookmark. Thread a ribbon, a piece of twine, or a thin satin cord through. Tie a little knot. Done.
You can also laminate them if you want a sturdier, water-resistant version, but I love the matte cardstock finish for everyday use.
Want More Templates Like This? Join Me on Patreon
If you’d love a steady stream of new templates, prompts, and printables every month, come hang out with me on Patreon.
My Tier 2 members get access to weekly drops — drawing template packs, sketchbook prompts, watercolour reference templates, Procreate brushes and stamps, colour palettes, and lots of bonus printables like this bookmark pack. It’s the easiest way to support my work AND get a non-stop flow of cosy, creative goodies delivered every single week.
Come for the templates, stay for the community. I love getting to know the regulars in there — it’s one of my favourite parts of running this little corner of the internet.
If you prefer to buy individual packs rather than join a membership, my full template shop lives at payhip.com/Artsydee — watercolour templates, drawing templates, ACC junk journal kits, and Procreate goodies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use these bookmarks commercially?
The free download is for personal use only — please don’t sell or redistribute the printables themselves. If you’d like to use my designs commercially (for your shop, in client work, in your own product line), the easiest route is The Vault membership, which gives you a full commercial license plus access to my entire template library.
What paper weight works best with acrylic markers?
For bookmarks specifically, 110gsm to 200gsm cardstock is the sweet spot. Below 110gsm risks warping under the wetter areas; above 200gsm starts to feel chunky for a bookmark. Smooth cardstock works better than textured if you want crisp, even coverage.
Do acrylic markers bleed through paper?
Not on cardstock, no. That’s part of what makes them so brilliant for printables. On thin standard printer paper (around 80gsm) you might get some bleed if you really saturate an area — but on 110gsm+ cardstock you’re absolutely fine. I tested both sides during my marker review and got zero ghosting.
Can I use regular markers or coloured pencils instead?
Absolutely. The templates work with anything. Coloured pencils give a softer, more textured finish; fineliners and gel pens are great for detail work; watercolour pencils + a damp brush can give you a really lovely painted look. Pick whatever you’ve got and enjoy it.
How long do acrylic markers take to dry?
Most acrylic markers dry to the touch within about 30 to 60 seconds on cardstock. For deeper colour layers or saturated areas, I’d give it a full minute or two before adding details on top. Fully cured (i.e. completely set and rub-proof) takes around 24 hours.
Where do I get the Arrtx markers?
You can find them on Amazon here, or use this multi-region link if you’re shopping outside the US — it covers Amazon US, Amazon CA, AliExpress, and the official arrtx.com store.
Final Thoughts
That’s the lot, friend. I really hope you love this bookmark pack as much as I loved making it. Print a page, brew a tea, and have a slow afternoon with your markers — it’s one of the simplest, loveliest forms of creative time I know.
Tag me @artsydee_inspiring_creations when you share — I genuinely love seeing your finished bookmarks pop up in my notifications. They make my whole day.
Happy colouring,
Dee x
Pin This For Later
If you loved this bookmark pack, pin one of the images below to your Pinterest board so you can find your way back when you’re ready for a slow afternoon of colouring.
You Might Also Like
If acrylic markers are your new obsession, head over to my 20+ Acrylic Markers Drawing Ideas (with Templates & Tutorials) for the full guide on how to use them, what to draw with them, and which sets I’d recommend.
For more bookmark inspiration, see my watercolor bookmark tutorials or browse the cute kawaii drawing ideas for more simple, satisfying printable projects.
Want more printable templates delivered every month? Come hang out with me on Patreon, follow along on Pinterest, or subscribe on YouTube for slow drawing-along videos.