Tools of the Trade: More of My Favorite Pens!

Art Materials

It’s been a hectic May :/

I’ve been working a lot of overtime at my day job and its been draining my mojo for art-making once I make it home every evening. I’m trying to decide which one is more important, getting a decent amount of sleep or working on my current project into the late hours of the night? Hmmmmm…

Anyway, here’s Part Deux of my favorite inking tools. Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments!

5. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen

Pentel Pocket Brushpen
Waterproof and light-fast.

One of my favorite pens, the pigmented ink is waterproof and creates a nice contrast with watercolor washes. I love using it for creating dark, expressive marks that contrast nicely with bright watercolor washes. It’s really easy to create interesting line-work so long as you can master subtle v.s heavy hand pressure. My only complaint, I get impatient waiting for ink to dry…and end up smudging ink often.

6. Faber-Castell Pitt Brushpen

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brushpen
Waterproof , lightfast, and bleedproof.

Lately I’ve been experimenting with creating more contrast in my ink drawings and this pen has been my go-to for filling in large areas. The only bad thing is the fiberous tip that won’t hold up to the abuse I subject it to. It starts to bend and fray a bit. However, it’s still my favorite pen for quick sketches that need large dark areas that I also want to dry quicker than the pen above (#5).

7. Ranger Opaque White Pen

Ranger White Opaque Pen
Acid-free and non-toxic. cool.

I bought this pen at the craft store, curious to see how it held up to my favorite white pen (#8). It’s a pigmented ink as well, and behaves pretty similar to the Uniball Signo. It may even be a little brighter than the Signo, and doesn’t get the annoying streak in the middle of a pen stroke… at least not as often as #8. This pen is great for adding highlights or boosting the contrast in linework.

8. Uniball Signo White Pen

Uniball White Signo Pen
Water-resistant and fade-resistant.

My favorite pen when I want to add a little extra sumpin‘ to a drawing. Using this for highlights and eye-shine in drawings really makes a piece pop. However, I do get frustrated whenever I want to redo a line because it gets that annoying little streak in the middle of the stroke. I then try to re-line it and sometimes it just makes matters worse. It is easy to fix, a little bit of water dabbed at it before it completely dries will lift up most of it.

Thanks for reading!

Working on a piece for a show titled ‘Inhabit ‘, let’s hope I can get it done in time!

In case you missed them: