The Super Noob Guide To Dip Pens and Ink Brushes

[olivermoss]

Inktober is coming. This year's official prompt list is out and all the unofficial ones will pop up soon. Since people sometimes try new supplies for Inktober I wanted to post the super basics of two types of inking methods, dip pens and Japanese pre-filled brush pens. I had a learning curve with both last year and have also seen lots of Art Snacks and other unboxing videos where people break very nice pens.

First, brush pens.

Here is a pen just out of a package. A brand new fresh Pentel brush pen. This pen is not ready for use:


You need to unscrew the pen and remove a ring separating the ink well from brush tip:


Remove that ring, a red one in this case, and re-assmble the pen. Now, Do Not Squeeze It!

Or at least, not hard. These pens take a while to get going. In nearly every unboxing video for these sorts of pens, I see the poor YouTuber break the ink regulator. Squeeze it gently and spend a while just running the brush over paper. The action of brushing the brush over paper is activating the ink.

It takes a while, but let the ink come down:



And then work with it a bit until the flow is steady:



Do not assume that the pen is disposable. For a lot of these types of pens, the well is refillable or you can buy a new filled handle. Some people even make custom ink mixes for shading and fill them.

Once that ink regulator is broken, then the pen is toast as far as I know. I've seen videos of artists in those unboxing videos make whole art pieces from broken pens. The ink flow never seems to get to where it should be once the regulator is broken.

When my brush pen isn't juicy enough, I pause to let ink come down rather than squeeze. Some of my spendier pens, like my beloved Cambio, aren't even squeezable. It's hard plastic to protect the regulator from over eager artists.


Dip pens!


A problem I see people run into a lot is that nibs do not arrive ready for use. They come covered in an oil. A lot of people run a lighter over the nib to burn off the oil. I just use hand soap.



Nibs left in a handle will rust in place. Nibs should be cleaned and left to dry separate from handles.

Nibs come in two sizes, but you can also buy a holder that is good for both:



This super ergonomic handle with a memory foam grip is 7 bucks on Amazon. (Tachikawa comic nib holder)

If you have problems with your nibs dripping, the nib is likely dirty. If your ink is feathering or is anything besides crisp, you might want to dry a different paper.

I do a lot of testing of how my inks work on various papers:



and also with different coloring methods. Speaking of which...



Testing inks for coloring.



If you plan to color pieces later, definitely test out your inks with your coloring medium. If you are going to color with alcohol based markers, make sure to test with your yellow markers. Why?



Yellow copics are the devil. Many inks that can handle other colors will dissolve under the power of yellow. Both the blue and yellow here are copics. For copics I use Deleter Black 4.

I hope this was useful!

Comments

[olivermoss]

I accidentally wrecked my first nib and handle because I didn't know how to look after them.

That's cool that you have a process you like. I just sort of muck about with things and collect way too many pens :)

[oldtoadwoman]

I would be ten times a better artist if I could just stick with a single medium and learn how to use it properly. I'm always mucking about trying different things. Pencil drawing, watercolor, oil pastel, pastel, oil painting (which was such a failure I never finished a single piece), acrylic painting, sculpture (another failure, but I at least finished a few things that I gave away), gel pens, silk painting, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, ink (both black and color using metal nibs, brushes, and a pretty glass pen), alcohol markers, watercolor markers, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (the kind that doesn't let you squeeze so no worries), and then recently I've gotten into messing around with ballpoint pens. I've probably forgotten several and I'm not even counting the crafty stuff like when I got into basket making.

I'm amused that after spending so much money over the years on so many different things, I've still come back to dinking around with office supplies.

[olivermoss]

I am not good at drawing anything, but I've learned a lot about pens and materials.

I need to use my alcohol markers more. Watercolor ones just frustrate me

[oldtoadwoman]

I bought my watercolor markers because I saw something someone else had done using them that was gorgeous and the same brand was "on sale" (less expensive than they usually are). I have yet to do anything with them that I'm happy with. Though I haven't yet finished experimenting since I get dramatically different results based on which paper I use. But I suspect the really cool drawings/paintings that someone else had done were primarily due to their skill with watercolor. I mean… there are people out there who can do photorealistic drawings using ballpoint pen. Some people are just so good, the medium almost doesn't matter.

I like my alcohol markers, but I find myself rationing their use because I get neurotic about how expensive they were. (I have a set of Blick markers that are much cheaper than Copic, but still way more expensive than any markers I had used before since up to this point I'd never used anything other than super cheap kids markers or Sharpies.)

[olivermoss]

I have a place that does copic refilling near me, so they are actually pretty cheap in the long term ... the very long term.

Yeah, every medium has people who can do wonders with them. For some markers I look at the package art and am like 'I have no idea how that is possible with just these fineliners ...' Companies should have to put up videos proving their package art is valid.

[oldtoadwoman]

Blick Markers have refills too (but it's a do-it-yourself thing). I need to buy some Copics to compare quality, but I'm afraid that once I try the more expensive ones, I'll have a whole new set of things I want to collect. I already know the one big advantage is that the Copics come in even more colors.

[olivermoss]

Good to hear that another brand is refillable. I haven't tried Blick ones. I don't think Shinhan or Prismacolor are worth it, especially since they are disposable. Copics are spendy to get into.

I am curious about Windsor and Newton ones. If any place near me sold them I'd try their red shades. I struggle with finding the right shades to color Iron Man with.

[oldtoadwoman]

Replying because it gives me an excuse to use my Iron Man icon. (Which was colored in with alcohol markers so it's doubly relevant.) I copied a YouTube tutorial (that I suspect was aimed at children) on how to draw a cutsie Iron Man. 😎

[olivermoss]

Cute! I have trouble getting a true red that isn't too dark.