Pens And Inks For Drawing And Sketching

[DarkSymphony]

Hi, I'm a design student and fountain pen user (unlike everyone else on my course!) I use a Rotring Artpen, and more recently, a Lamy Joy with an EF nib.

 

As no-one I know uses a fountain pen for drawing, I became curious how many other people out there draw regularly with fountain pens, and what people use and would recommend. Ink is another topic; are some inks better suited for drawing? Has anyone found a particularly well suited ink? I'm using Diamine Onyx Black at the moment and finding it great.

[Blazing]

Hi, I'm a design student and fountain pen user (unlike everyone else on my course!) I use a Rotring Artpen, and more recently, a Lamy Joy with an EF nib.

 

As no-one I know uses a fountain pen for drawing, I became curious how many other people out there draw regularly with fountain pens, and what people use and would recommend. Ink is another topic; are some inks better suited for drawing? Has anyone found a particularly well suited ink? I'm using Diamine Onyx Black at the moment and finding it great.

Use a calligraphy nib.

 

The Sailor Brush may be of interest to you.

http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/showproduct.php?brand=Sailor&range=Brush+Pen&cat=pens

[JulesSilvan]

Fountain pen-wise I like using a Reform 1745 for quick expressive stuff, at the moment its filled with Diamine Chocolate. I use a Rotring ArtPen as well as a Lamy Safari - both in EF.

 

My main drawing pens are a set of Rotring Isographs filled with Faber-Castell drawing ink. I got fed up with the way fibre-tip pens wear down, the way the ink comes out faded when the ink level is low and wanted something I could refill rather than throw away.

 

Sometimes you want something that just lets you focus on expession and having fun - Pentel brushpen. Tricky at first until you get the hang of it but really good for a variety of drawing styles.

[Uncle Red]

I know member stevlight uses modified Mont Blancs to illustrate his childrens books.

[inkstainedruth]

I've just started doing this after a too many years hiatus (I was an art major in college). Back then I used Rapidographs a lot (a friend of mine sneered at Koh-i-noor ink, but I liked the fact that it was more grey than black), but also Speedball dip pens with India ink in them on occasion; for very fine-line work I often used a crowquill pen (with Higgins sepia, IIRC, which turned out to be a very nice combination for drawing on off-white muslin fabric). I did some sketches out at my brother-in-law's house a couple of weeks ago, using a Rotring Artpen with an EF nib and some really cheap non-shellac formula India ink (Pen & Ink brand -- not exactly black enough for me to consider it really India ink but it works okay for sketches). I had picked up one of the 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" Ecosystems sketchbooks at Barnes and Noble when they had them on sale a few weeks ago, and the pages seem relatively FP friendly (not seeing any feathering or showthrough, although of course I'm also using that EF nib).

At some point I may try using a nib with some flex -- either one of the Noodler's pens, or (once I get pens resacked) one of the Esterbrooks, installing the 9128 or 9788 flexible nibs. Or maybe even that Craig ringtop I got at DCSS, once *that* gets resacked, and I figure out how to best utilize the music nib on it.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Namru]

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u11/davidfielding3832/IMAG0232_1_1.jpg

 

This is my everyday, go everywhere drawing kit. There isn't a place I go without it. In it I have a Cross Spire in fine that's pretty much used only for quick ink sketching. The nib is so smooth it just flies across the page, and its skinniness reminds me of a dip pen. Can't stand writing with it though.

 

Ink wise, Pelikan 4001 Black. It's a reliable, boring ink that I happen to have a ton of. I still have a few of those annoying Cross slim carts to get through before I have to start thinking about shoehorning a converter in the thing.