Good sepia ink?

[Pfhorrest]

I need a bright sepia and a dull sepia color. Preferably no Noodlers, but if it comes to that I'm fine with it.

[lapis]

Bright = Stipula's Sepia.

Less dright = R&K's Sepia.

Fair to mddling= R&K's Scabiosa (iron-gall).

Dull = Visconti's.

 

Mike

PS: it all depends very much on the width or your nib and its flow.

[tknechtel]

I use Diamine Sepia for all my drawing. It's a bright warm color with a good amount of shading.

[inkobsessed]

Bright = Stipula's Sepia.

Less dright = R&K's Sepia.

Fair to mddling= R&K's Scabiosa (iron-gall).

Dull = Visconti's.

 

Mike

PS: it all depends very much on the width or your nib and its flow.

 

Well, I dissagree Mike!

 

Viscont Sepia isn't dullat all to my opinion. I't hasn't got the reds as Pelikan brown or the high contrast as Waterman Havanna and that's just right. It pleases the eye and is perfect readable for long writings. It has a fantastic shade and looks elegant. So as you'll gues: it's my all time favourite brown!

 

Joop

[Ondina]

R&K Sepia, bright.

Diamine Sepia, duller.

 

Both are nice inks....

Edited February 21, 2010 by Ondina

[Carrie]

I use Diamine Sepia for all my drawing. It's a bright warm color with a good amount of shading.

+1 on the Diamine Sepia. Lovely colour. I bought myself multiple bottles just in case they ever decided to discontinue it :embarrassed_smile:

[lapis]

Okay, I'll now cough out:

"Dull" does have different meanings (OUP says 7). But don't worry, I'm just trying to explain what I meant and wrote.

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Sepias.jpg

Dull as in ink colours for me means boring, tedious, inanimate and unconvincing.

 

Note: all of the above colours on my monitor after my scan seem somewhat bluer than the real colours I wrote on paper.

That's roughly the order I mentioned above.

Sepia -- by definition -- means a dark reddish brown with a hint of purple. At least as far as the cuttlefish's ink is concerned.

Both of the R&Ks aren't really brown enough. Visconti's Sepia is actually a very nice bown indeed, but IMO just "too brown" to be designated "sepia".

 

Mike

 

Ed: please see the new scan below

Edited February 22, 2010 by lapis

[langere]

Well, I can't compete with Lapis, but keep in mind that PR Copper Burst is a great sepia color too!

 

Erick

[lensassaman]

I find Omas Sepia to be one of the best sepias that I've tried -- though Diamine Sepia and Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia are up there on my list as well.

[lapis]

Well I fiddled around with my scanner and tried my very best to get a better picture (at least on my own monitor).

 

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Sepias-5.jpg

Hope that helps: the scan above (#7) was too blue and too un-brown.

 

Mike

[professionaldilettante]

Does anyone have experiance with what real sepia ink look like? You know, like cuttle fish ink, or squid ink?

[lapis]

Does anyone have experiance with what real sepia ink look like? You know, like cuttle fish ink, or squid ink?

Okay, here goes! I just finished watching a TV program about Croatia around the Adrian/Adriatic Sea. They showed a cuttlefish shooting off his ink (underwater). Well done, I must say. Here's how I saw it. The shot was immediately black, after 2-3-4 seconds turning into a very dark reddish black. Note: no brown, no blue, no green or any other colour (IMO). Only a black with a drop of dark red. BTW Noodler's Red-Black is by no means a reddish black, it is just a dark red. Closest thing I have that resembles the real McCoy is CdA's Storm. Only without any purple, blue or brown.

 

Mike

[MJ Vesuvius]

After many years in commercial art, I have always defined

sepia as a warm, desaturated gray. Not brown.

 

The post by Lapis, above, makes sense. Black fluid, diluted

by the water and thus becoming gray, with a hint of warmth (red).

Sounds like sepia.

 

Now where to find a cooperative cuttlefish ... ?

 

– MJ

[JimB]

I associate sepia with the reddish yellow-brown of old photography. Modern photos that use sepia (or a Photoshop filter with that name) have as many subjective interpretations of that hue as we have in the many inks with that same name. Private Reserve's Sepia is, to me, what most correctly represents a sepia photograph. Your conception of "sepia" may vary wildly, and that's okay with me.

[Viseguy]

The original sepia color is, of course, the dark brown-gray secretion of the cuttlefish. Inks that come close are J. Herbin Cacao do Brésil and Rohrer & Klingner Sepia, or maybe Noodler's Walnut. The color range associated with sepia-toned photographs is a lighter, warmer brown -- more like OMAS Sepia.

[tinta]

Check out the sepia comparisons that "dcpritch" has been working on. It's a good place to see most of the sepia toned inks together. A tremendous piece of work.

[ehemem]

Does anyone have experiance with what real sepia ink look like? You know, like cuttle fish ink, or squid ink?

 

Try this link:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/205676-got-some-real-sepia-from-squid-ink-sac/page__p__2122051__hl__%2Bsquid+%2Bink__fromsearch__1#entry2122051

[Viseguy]

Check out the sepia comparisons that "dcpritch" has been working on. It's a good place to see most of the sepia toned inks together. A tremendous piece of work.

 

Excellent (link).

[rudyhou]

everyone has a different interpretation on "sepia" and "dull". well, the only sepia ink i could recommend is the one i use, which is OMAS SEPIA. it has a good brown tone to it, but dark enough to be appropriate for everyday writing. well, that also depends on the nib/pen you use. when using Omas F nib, the color comes out as more like dark clouded brown with a hint of golden brown. but when i use Lamy F nib, it comes out much lighter and less saturated. hope that helps.

[rudyhou]

on second thought, take a moment to go to gouletpens.com to check out their ink swaps. you can better determine the best suitable sepia for yourself, since everyone would have a different opinion.