![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olivermoss posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
drawesomeInktober 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!
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!
no subject
Date: 2019-09-28 08:07 pm (UTC)