Inking Pen Question ...
10 years ago
General
Tossing this out to folks: I'm looking for feedback on pens for inking, because I'm feeling the need to step up my game for coloring images and the thing that's holding me back is inking.
I'm looking for pens that are easy to use, portable, relatively available and moderately priced. Felt-tips, ball-points, ?????. Obviously, really good black ink is required. DKTorzi recommended the Pilot Hi-Tec pens and they're definitely good, but not very available - and so far I've only found them in a 0.3 mm tip, which turns out to be too small for a lot of what I do. So multiple tip sizes is also needed.
I'm picking up some Staedtler Pigment Liners this evening, since Staples carries them (albeit irregularly).
What are folks using? Do you have recommendations from other folks?
And before folks ask: I'm not comfortable with, or set-up for, digital inking - I'm *really* not comfortable or set-up for inking with brush or dip-pens, and they really, really don't count as portable.
If I could afford one of the little Cintiqs, I'd love to try one, but it's awfully pricey for something that I might *not* like.
I'm looking for pens that are easy to use, portable, relatively available and moderately priced. Felt-tips, ball-points, ?????. Obviously, really good black ink is required. DKTorzi recommended the Pilot Hi-Tec pens and they're definitely good, but not very available - and so far I've only found them in a 0.3 mm tip, which turns out to be too small for a lot of what I do. So multiple tip sizes is also needed.
I'm picking up some Staedtler Pigment Liners this evening, since Staples carries them (albeit irregularly).
What are folks using? Do you have recommendations from other folks?
And before folks ask: I'm not comfortable with, or set-up for, digital inking - I'm *really* not comfortable or set-up for inking with brush or dip-pens, and they really, really don't count as portable.
If I could afford one of the little Cintiqs, I'd love to try one, but it's awfully pricey for something that I might *not* like.
FA+

Pigma Micron's are a pretty standard go-to felt tip with a great reputation. I don't like the longevity of them in the 1mm size, but they're darn good pens. The 005 redonkulously-narrow pens they make are my current favorite thing, along with their staedtler equivalent. I'd steer clear of the Faber-Castell india ink felt tips, even though they have a great ink that doesn't bleed and shows up very opaque and dark, they run dry faster than a Hummer H2 in a hill-climb race.
I'm a big fan of the uni-ball vision elite pens for my daily driver doodling, writing, and whatever pens. They're a rolling-ball pen with similar feel to the pilots in that they have a easy-flowing (but not gushing) roller ball ink which can be pooled and flicked if need be, but bleeds less than the pilots, has a more comfortable grip for an individual like myself with fat fingers, and doesn't have as fragile a nib which can be easily bent if you ever accidentally use them with fists of ham.
Here's a list of others I like (Warning, Jetpens owns my soul):
http://www.jetpens.com/Akashiya-Sai.....sh-Pen/pd/2636 This one has a brush tip instead of being a wiggly marker tip but is firm and easy to control.
http://www.jetpens.com/Kuretake-No......sh-Pen/pd/2672 This one is similar but you need to be a little more careful with the ink. On the plus side, it's refillable!
If you want to go high grade, there's always sable: http://www.jetpens.com/Kuretake-No......Refill/pd/3958
The Pilot New Brush pens are nice as well, although it takes some practice to get used to squeezing the pen to get the ink to move to the brush tip and knowing when not to get too much ink in the tip: http://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-New-Br.....h-Pens/ct/2000
Jetpens will also sell a sampler so you can figure out what you like: http://www.jetpens.com/Brush-Pen-Sa.....undle/pd/12513
Hope that's helped!
Speaking of which, I need to order another box....
http://www.jetpens.com/Sakura-Pigma.....undle/pd/12698
http://www.amazon.com/Sakura-30067-...../dp/B004QHI43S
They come in several different tip sizes, all the way from a microscopic 0.2mm to a fat 0.5mm, and you can get them in a variety of colors as well as in black if you want to experiment with color effects on line-art work. I'm also fond of their Pigma Brush pens; for me, at least, the tip has just the right amount of "give" to let you get that variable-width "brush and inkpot" look without being so touchy that it's impossible for anyone other than a brain surgeon to control.
The pilot razor point is pretty good too, for noodling round with. They're stupid cheap, have a fine little fiber point, and lay down good ink. They're not archival though, so they go green in time. But if you just want to practice, or doodle, they're not bad.