©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Felipe / Lion's Mane. Ink in 9 x 12 inch sketchbook.
This was a drawing that I made recently for Julia Kay’s Portrait Party of Felipe. I did it really fast using pitt pens (see below). Lately I have been trying to make faster drawings, which means that it is easier to mess things up in portraits especially when drawing in ink. That said, I do think it’s a good experiment with getting looser and more confident when drawing.
Speaking of ink, I recently ordered some new pens and I had some thoughts to share with you in case you were in the pen shopping mood.
I have been using these pens for ages and I have both the regular pens, as well as the colored markers. I have never tried the big brush pens but I’m not too interested in something that big. What I bought was the XS size of the black pens. The XS size is something new that I haven’t seen before. My only real complaint about these pens is that the S (superfine) size was too big compared to the F (fine) size, and with use the S tip became even less crisp. That’s why I am so excited about the XS size, which is really perfect for the work I like to do. I also see that they adjusted their packages of 4 pens to include the XS size instead of the S and they also came out with a seperate set of four black fineliner pens (XS, S, F and M). What I don’t like is that Dick Blick does not sell the XS size separately for the sepia and sanguine colors, but I haven’t looked around to see if anyone else sells them.
I tried these on more of a whim, but I must say that I am not impressed with these pens. There are two colors: black and sepia, and two sizes: 1 and 2 mm. The black is available in both sizes and the sepia is available only in the 1 mm. These are disposable fountain pens, with metal nibs. The main reason why I don’t care for them is because the ink doesn’t flow smoothly and you have to hold it at an awkward angle so the ink doesn’t stop altogether. Also, the sepia color is too light for me and doesn’t have much contrast on white paper. These aren’t waterproof, so you can’t use them with watercolor (which isn’t a huge deal to me though), although I don’t have any of the copic markers, so I don’t know how they work with those. Also, there is a warning on the pen that says, “Do not shake hard and drop. Ink may leak.” This sort of worries me, because I have had some bad experiences with leaking pens. The description said they were new so I don’t know how long these have been on the market. Let me know if you like these pens, as I’d love your opinion. The one thing that I do like about the pens is that I’m sure that the tip won’t become damaged and change over time, as it is metal and the line is crisp when the ink is actually flowing.
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