After drawing the image loosely with the pen, take a medium sized brush, say a number 8 round, and with clean water, go over some or all of the lines. The wash or colour, in this case, comes from the diluted ink in the pen line. EASY TO USE, FILL AND CLEAN The watercolor pen comes with upgraded barrel, easily to add water or ink and squeeze to control water flow.
When I don’t want the worry of a refillable pen, I use the Pigma Microns or my Sharpie Pen. The Microns come in a variety of sizes, though they have fragile tips. A lovely variation on pen and wash is to use non-waterproof ink or pens and to create a monochrome picture. SET OF 9 WATER PENS Small, medium and large watercolor brush pens (6 point tips and 3 flat tips) for kids, art students, amateur and professional artists. Copper Mountain Fire Lookout, 5″ x 7″ ink, watercolor, and gouache field sketch, completed with a Micron or Sharpie I’ve used smaller points in the past, but found them even more prone to clogging and damage. It’s not for everyone, but I love the needle point and scratchy sound it makes on the paper. Update: see my video demo of the above painting.The Rapidograph is my hands-down favorite sketching pen. It also hasn’t leaked on me! I recently carried it around the North Cascades (where I completed the above sketch) without problems.
The brush pen has a flexible synthetic tip that can create energetic calligraphic marks, as well as beautiful broken dry brush lines. My current refillable waterproof pens are the Pentel Brush pen and my 0.35 Rapidograph technical pen. For these reasons, I have a collection of disposable pens I use primarily when traveling or in the backcountry. The downside is they’re often more prone to clogging or exploding from changes in altitude, pressure (plane flights, hikes/drives over mountain passes), or neglect. Whenever possible, I use refillable pens to avoid adding waste to landfills. Sadly, this pen is not lightfast, waterproof or archival, and therefore it doesnt hold up to water at all. Muji - Gel ink Ballpoint Pen I love using this pen for journaling, to-do lists, and everyday writing. I typically prefer waterproof pens, as they don’t smudge (like a pencil) and I can apply watercolor washes over them without bleeding. For inks, I recommend the Speedball Super Black India ink and the Daler Rowney F.W. I love sketching with ink and watercolor and want to share a few of my favorite tools with you. Italic only 1.5 mm, 2.4 mm, 3.0 mm, 3.8 mm, 4.5 mm, 6.Update! Watch the video of how I created the Mineral Mountain sketch above with ink and watercolor. NameĮxtra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, Left-HandedĮxtra Fine Flex, Fine Flex, Medium Flex, Broad Flex For more fountain pen picks, investigate our guide to the Best Beginner Fountain Pens or browse through all of our fountain pen guides to learn more about this fascinating tool. Whether drawing on the go or at home, adding a fountain pen to your kit will open up a world of art experimentation. If you still feel intimidated, read our beginner’s guide. That said, starting with a cartridge and moving to a converter is a good way to dip your toes into the vast and vivid sea of inks.
These pens are often more expensive, though some options, like the Noodler’s Konrad Flex recommended in this guide, are quite affordable.Ĭonverters and cartridges both have smaller ink capacities than built-in filling systems, meaning you’ll need to refill your pen more often. The second is selecting a pen with a built-in filling system. Whether by turning a knob to draw up a tiny piston, pulling a plunger, or squeezing, operating a converter creates a vacuum that draws up ink from a bottle. The first is a converter, which replaces a cartridge. To use bottled ink, you have two main options. Their plastic shells are also less environmentally friendly than other options. That said, they don’t have the incredible variety bottled inks do, so you can’t select ink properties quite as precisely.
Ink cartridges are arguably the easiest to use–just plug them in and go! They’re also much more convenient for refilling an empty pen when you’re away from home. In this guide, we mention “cartridges,” “converters,” and other “ filling systems.” Simply put, these are all ways to get ink into a fountain pen.