Recommendations for cartooning/sketching FP

[badicecream]

Hmmm. Those manga pens are strange looking things. Interesting!

 

The Esterbrook tips sound very nice. A few on eBay, but they're asking top dollar.

 

So those will fit in any Esterbrook, or only certain models/certain years?

 

I might pick up an extra fine Rotring sketch, just to have a stiff pen (and because I may actually be able to find one locally at a Dick Blick or Michael's), but yes, the search for the extra fine flex will go on (and on and on).

 

Thanks very much for all this fine advice!

--Zack

[BillTheEditor]

There is an FPN member with the username EdelmaK, from NYC, who has not posted here for a while. EdelmaK is an artist and reports good results with a Danitrio Densho raw ebonite eyedropper pen with a Danitrio flex nib reground as an extra fine italic. Also reports good results with a Namiki Falcon.

 

Some of EdelmaK's drawings are posted on FPN -- if you click on the Members icon at the top of your screen and search for EdelmaK, you will be able to click on another link that will show you all of his posts, which is where the drawings are.

 

If I've done it right, this link may take you to one of the drawings. Not cartooning, but you can see the kind of line variation that EdelmaK is able to obtain with the Danitrio.

 

Edit: Well, the link takes you to the top of a thread where the drawing is posted. Scroll down. I tried copying the link to the actual drawing in Photobucket -- let's see if this works:

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/edelmak/Bookstore1.jpg

Edited December 8, 2006 by BillTheEditor

[Hawk]

Greetings, all—

 

I’ve been poking around here for a bit.  Wonderful forum.

 

I’m seeking recommendations for a good cartooning/sketching fountain pen, but haven’t been able to dig up too much on the subject.

 

I usually use the traditional combination of Hunt dip pens (usually 102 crowquills) and India ink, but of course that set-up isn’t particularly practical for using anywhere other than my drawing table.  I’m aware there probably aren’t any FP nibs that tiny, but I’m hoping to get something capable of fairly fine line work w/decent variation in line quality.

 

I’m guessing I would be looking for something w/an extra fine italic, or stub, type nib?  Flexi?

 

I’m open to vintage and new pens.  Hoping to not spend much more than $50-$60, but I’m almost certain that I probably will.

 

Thanks in advance.

--Zack

Hello, I do drawings with ink, and you will not find a fountain pen with the flexibility of a dip nib such as crow quills, Hunt bowl nibs, Gillott's or the Japanese Zebra's G-pens, or the super flexible #1290. Depending on the type of drawing determines what pen I will use.

 

That said for cartooning one very famous cartoonist (Sergio Aragones) uses only Pelikan fountain pens (The Pelikan 120) . Another famous artist, Charles Reid, also use Pelikan pens, however he says if you cannot obtain a Pelikan, a Lamy Safari will do the job. You may see his pen work in his book titled 'Pulling Your Paintings together'. All the drawing shown there drawn with a Pelikan fountain pen.

 

Both artist mentioned like the handiness and portability of the fountain pen. However as I have said you cannot expect the line to vary like a highly flexible metal dip pen type holder nib (Hunts, ,Crow quills, Gillott's, and Gs). Major cartoonist and inkers only use these nibs in the studio. Hawk

Edited December 7, 2006 by Hawk

[mmoncur]

You can get an Esterbrook 9128 from Richard Binder:

 

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/vint_est.htm#nibs

 

Should fit in any modern (1950+?) Esterbrook. They just screw in.

 

It's not amazing flex, but I sure like it.

 

About Rotring Art Pens: Be warned, not only is there no flex, but their "EF" isn't what I'd call extra-fine. A Lamy Safari EF is a better pen and a slightly finer nib.

[badicecream]

Well, I just won a 20's Waterman on eBay. Appears to be in excellent shape. The fellow even had some writing samples posted.

 

My first real FP (I've had a few cheapie, cartridge-fill student toys, but they've all been pretty useless for any serious drawing). I'm excited. I'm sure it won't be the last, as it sounds like I'll want to have a few pens on hand (and once the collecting bug hits . . . well, you all know).

 

Ah, so the man behind "Groo the Wanderer" is a Pelikan 120 user, eh? Yes, I heard those were popular w/cartoonists. I love the looks of those pens. Beautiful.

 

The little green window is quite distinctive. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to land one for less than a fortune.

 

Got my eye on a few Esterbrooks as well. Being able to swap out tips would be cool.

 

The Lamy sounds solid, and that's a very nice price for a new pen. And hey, even comes in yellow. my favorite.

--Zack

[Hawk]

Here is an inking that I drew for a watercolor rendering, so it was drawn with waterproof ink.

 

It was drawn with steel nibs held in a pen wooden holder, I forget exactly which nibs I used, probably a crow quill for finer lines, and Hunt of some kind for the rest. Because of all the detail I needed sharp fine lines.

Hawk

Edited December 7, 2006 by Hawk

[Hawk]

And another, this with ink, some pencil, and ink smugged. Coloring over all that using Photoshop. Hawk

http://www.tomah.com/delliott/armadaweb.gif

[badicecream]

Excellent work, Hawk!

 

The latter is very interesting. Can't tell exactly what it is (which isn't a bad thing). Reminds me a bit of some of Vaughn Bode's stuff.

 

Any work out there you've used FP's on?

--Zack

[Hawk]

Excellent work, Hawk!

 

The latter is very interesting.  Can't tell exactly what it is (which isn't a bad thing).  Reminds me a bit of some of Vaughn Bode's stuff.

 

Any work out there you've used FP's on?

--Zack

I redrew it from a book on cartooning titled ' 50 Robots to Draw and Paint' by Keith Thompson. Great stuff. This particular device is called a 'Steel Lotus'.

http://www.tomah.com/delliott/robot.gif

I modified it slightly from the original, the object was to practice drawing lots of lines, and rendering in Photoshop, this drawing happens to have lots of lines so its good stuff for practice.

 

Here's Keith's description of the device. "When the Imperial Chinese land Armada stole into Tibet, the holy men of the mountain defended their peaceful land by willing into being thousand of tank-calmer robots known as "Steel Lotuses" ... each powered by one thousand prayer wheels".

 

I seldom do final drawings with a fountain pen, most of my fountain pen drawings are sketches, usually drawn while traveling of when I am out for the day. I'll post some later.

Hawk

Edited December 7, 2006 by Hawk

[Hawk]

This is a drawing drawn with a Pelikan pen, it is from Mr.Reid's book. The drawing of the girl was drawn in continuous line. Meaning Charles starts at one point and continues without lifting the pens. These inking are studies for paintings.

 

If the attachment doesn't post here is a link to the page from the book.

http://www.tomah.com/delliott/reid.gif

Notice the two arrows they point to the pen he is using (Pelikan) and his recommendation for the Safari.

Hawk

[BillTheEditor]

Since you haven't responded, apparently you missed my earlier post about the Danitrio flex nibs. Here is another thread on the topic of these pens used for drawing. In this case, EdelmaK notes that the Danitrio has replaced the technical pens he/she Kirk formerly used.

 

Hope this helps. Let me know if I'm off track here or if you aren't interested in additional input so I don't keep looking for examples for you.

 

Here is the sketch:

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/edelmak/Door1.jpg

 

And here is another:

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/edelmak/scan.jpg

Edited December 8, 2006 by BillTheEditor

[krz]

Great work Hawk!

[badicecream]

Wow. Great artwork, all around.

 

Thank you, Bill and Hawk.

 

The Danitrio appears like it is indeed capable of many fine effects, but cripes, after a quick eBay search on the brand name, whoooo-wee! . . . well out of my price range.

 

Anybody ever heard of one turning up for under $100?

 

A 1920's Waterman and a pair of 40's Esterbrooks, all in good working condition, are on way to me from Ohio as I write this. Won them for pretty cheap from a very nice fellow. Figure I'll be able to start gauging what works for me in FPland from there.

 

A bottle of Noodler's Polar Black is on its way as well. I'll try to figure out how to post some pics of the pens, and perhaps a few drawings, once I get them (I'm pretty much computer *durh*).

 

Excited to see the results!

 

Really would like to mess around w/a Pelikan 120. I have a feeling that might be my ideal pen, but we'll see. I think I'm off to a good start.

 

Thank you again, everyone.

--Zack

[umenohana]

I'll be looking forward to seeing your works!

 

-Hana

[BillTheEditor]

The Danitrio appears like it is indeed capable of many fine effects, but cripes, after a quick eBay search on the brand name, whoooo-wee! . . . well out of my price range.

Those of us who own a Danitrio would say that it's well worth the price. If I had bought the Danitrio sooner, I'd own a significantly smaller number of pens -- most of my users were acquired in the search for my "ideal" pen, and the total spent on them is several times what I spent on the Danitrio.

 

Kirk also suggested the Namiki Falcon. Just in case you decide to go looking again.

[born t]

This one was drawn using a vintage Burnham with a flexible fine nib. It's not great but I'm quite happy with it. I wholeheartedly recommend a flexible nib. You can acquire such a pen relatively cheaply from one of many reputable online dealers.

 

Born

 

http://www.cantabgold.net/users/born/w2.jpg

[Hawk]

This one was drawn using a vintage Burnham with a flexible fine nib. It's not great but I'm quite happy with it. I wholeheartedly recommend a flexible nib. You can acquire such a pen relatively cheaply from one of many reputable online dealers.

 

Born

 

http://www.cantabgold.net/users/born/w2.jpg

Hello Born.

Excellent, simply amazing work. Question on your technique...are the tones and shades, smudged, or accomplished with a sponge? Is there brush work involved? Hawk

[kissing]

This one was drawn using a vintage Burnham with a flexible fine nib. It's not great but I'm quite happy with it. I wholeheartedly recommend a flexible nib. You can acquire such a pen relatively cheaply from one of many reputable online dealers.

 

Born

 

http://www.cantabgold.net/users/born/w2.jpg

I think I'm in love

 

Is that picture actually a portrait of a real life person?

[born t]

Thank you for the compliments.

 

The areal wash was done by adding some drops of water on lines drawn using the pen, and smudging them using finger tips. You can actually see my fingerprints around the edge of the drier wash in the background (near her left shoulder, for example). I had to be careful not to add too much water or the ink will bleed through the thin Moleskine paper.

 

Yes, Kissing, this is a portrait of a real person.

[badicecream]

Greetings, all--

 

Just got back from ye olde P.O. box an hour or so ago. The pens and the ink are here. Hurrah!

 

Two 40’s Esterbrooks and a 20’s Waterman. Got them home and filled them from a fresh bottle of Noodlers’s Polar Black (except for one of the Esterbrooks, which already has some kind of blue ink in it) and started scribbling.

 

The Waterman definitely has the most flex. You can see how much the tines spread w/very little pressure. Not terribly fine tipped though. The Esterbrooks are both fairly thick and rigid. 1555 and a 9556.

 

I started with a quick, sketchy self-portrait using the Waterman, as it felt friendliest. Definitely nothing like my dip pens, but I wasn’t really expecting it to be. None of the “scratchiness” of the crowquills, which I’m accustomed to (not to mention no dipping every 15-20 seconds). The ink is quite different as well. Doesn’t “sit” on top of the paper like India. Soaks in a bit. In that regard it feels almost like extremely fine watercoloring, or something.

 

Didn’t feel like I had any control over the pen until I was almost done, but at that point I was really enjoying it (ie forgetting about the pen).

 

This isn’t the sort of drawing I do at all, but I was afraid to ink one of my cartoons before I had any feel for the thing. It’s still going to take quite a while, but I actually have the day off work, so I’ve got lots of time to fiddle around.

 

Eager to get ahold of some 9128s for the Esterbrooks. I’m hoping those will feel a bit less alien, but hopefully I’ll get used to these for the time being.

 

Allreet. “Back to the ‘ol drawing board!” (*groan*).

 

Thanks again, everyone.

xoxoxoxoxo

Zack

Edited December 11, 2006 by badicecream