[Music] hello everyone welcome to my messy Studio my name is Mark and I'm an artist and an art professor and in this video we're going to compare seven different kinds of pen types commonly used in pen and Inc drawing I'm going to talk about the general properties of each their advantages and disadvantages and explain why you might want to use one over the other let's get started before I begin I should note that making a comprehensive comparison of all seven pen types is very difficult since pens within each category come in a Disney variety my goal here is to provide you with a general comparison between pen types here are the representatives for each pen type I'm going to look at for the felt tip liner the fabric Castel pit artist pen for the gel pen the Arts hybrid Technica made by Pentel for the felt tip brush pen this one made by zebra the sensations brush pen for the technical pen the isograph made by roaching for the ballpoint pen the big Crystal for the fountain pen the twis be Eco and lastly for the dip pen a nib holder fitted with a tachaba 600 EF nib let's start with a felt tip liner these pens feature a soft fiber tip and come in a variety of sizes from a microscopic .15 mm all the way to to a broad. 5 mm while some Brands come in a range of ink colors black fil pens are Far and Away the most common the Black Ink in these is wholly waterproof and light fast while most of these are disposable the brand Copic makes a pen with replaceable tips and refillable cartridges in the consistency tests all three thicknesses of the felt tip performed perfectly putting down lines in every direction and at every Speed without skipping this is one advantage of felt tips provided that they're not dried up or worn down they can be relied on to put down a consistent Line This is not the case with fountain pens or dip pens which sometimes suffer all sorts of flaws that need to be addressed before the pen will write well with these pens you can take the cap off and go in the line variation test you can make these pens right thicker with additional pressure but you have to be careful since these pens are not meant to be used this way since more pressure can be applied to the wider tips the effect is more visible there you can also tease out a lighter line by holding the pen at a flatter angle which puts down a very thin scratchy line good for initial light sketching in the feedback test these pens are on the scratchier side but that's highly dependent on the paper and of course the tip size that said I think the sound of the felt tip running across the paper makes the pen sound much scratchier than it actually is in the ink flow test the pen is super duper dry drying in a second or two this makes it ideal for working on sheet paper where striking through or Feathering is an issue it's also ideal in situations where you want to go over your drawing with washes and don't want to wait extended periods of time for the ink to dry let's do a drawing with these pens and talk about their advantages and disadvantages the felt tip liner has a number of significant things going for it the first is reliability and ease of use these pens work with perfect consistency never skip or drip and will perform as expected every single time there also has free and require no tuning or cleaning this makes these pens a risk and stress-free choice for professional projects furthermore the inks in these Pens have been tested for light fastness so you don't have to worry about your drawings fading over time and they're light portable and cheap making them great for sketching Outdoors as for disadvantages there are a number the first and most important is that for most people there's a limited range of ink choices though these pens are now available in a variety of colors the choices are still limited especially compared to the huge range of choices available to users of fountain pens and dip pens furthermore The Limited range of colors is not the only limitation since ink has a number of different properties including transparency and flow that an artist might want to control another disadvantage and really the main reason I don't often use them is that you cannot vary the line thickness with these pens that is to say you can't make a line start thin and go thicker the way you could with either a dip pen or a fountain pen while there are work arounds by methodically widening each line This limits the feeling of spontaneity that you get through the ability to vary the lines through pressure in short these are very practical pens that produce very uniform results which is why they're the choice for many illustrators architectural and Technical draftman and anyone looking for hassle-free precision but they offer a one- siiz fit-all drawing experience that might feel constricting to those who wish to explore various ink options and experiment with different kinds of line quality now let's talk about another artist favorite the gel pen these are essentially ballpoint pens which have a much more fluid ink creating smoother lines and a drawing experience closer to that of a fountain pen there are quite a few available on the market some sold for General stationary purposes like the pilot G2 and some like this one designed specifically for drawing this pen is the Pentel Arts hybrid Technica like the felt tip liners these come in a variety of widths with a Pentel line starting at a very fine 2 mm going all the way up to A8 mm While most commonly filled with black ink they also come in a variety of colors depending on the brand the ink in this pen is fully waterproof but this will not be the case with all gel pens let's take this pen through my series of tests and see how it performs this pen much like the the felt tip puts down clean lines in every direction and at every speed not every gel pen will do this however this gel pen has a cap that seals tightly over the tip preventing it from drying out gel pens that are retractable will have a tendency to dry out a little but you can easily get them working by putting down a few lines before starting your drawing why the lines here are mostly clean the pen sometimes puts down specks of ink at the beginning of each line probably due to Ink buildup on the tip this is a minor issue but should be considered if you're doing careful work where line quality really matters in the line variation test this pen did not produce any even with pressure but like the felt tip it can also produce a thin scratchy line when held at an angle something very useful for the initial sketch in the drawing process while this is not a pen for people that enjoy line variation I find that working on soft papers will actually affect how much line variation you get on softer paper extra pressure will make this pen dig into the surface creating a thicker line however this is an effect that I think is easier to achieve with a regular ballpoint pen in the feedback test I would say that these pens are somewhat scratchy but in a different way than the felt tip fine liners the difference is that while the felt tip scrapes across the drawing surface in the gel pen you can feel the slight resistance of the roller ball as you put down a stroke does this difference in the type of feedback make any actual difference in the drawing experience that's something we'll discuss when I do my drawing test in the wetness Department this pen was very dry much like the fine liner that said in places where the ink was built up the drying time is extended this has to do with the viscosity of the ink which has a tendency to sit on the surface of the paper but that thicker ink also makes better than the fine liner for working on very thin paper where strikethrough or Feathering will be an issue let's take this pen out for a drawing test and see how it does in real life situations I'm using two sizes of this pen here the4 and the8 mm and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the drawing experience this pen produced a very thin consistent line that felt easy to control easier to control than the felt tip I think this is because the way this Pen's metal tip makes contact with a paper feels more familiar to me as a user of fountain pens and dip pens also with a felt tip especially in the finer sizes you always have this feeling that you're going to damage the tip if you're too rough no such hesitation happens with this pen freeing you to put down as much pressure as you like and go as fast as you want the performance of this pen was not perfect and there are a few places where the ink left little specks at the beginning of the line because of the speckling issue I would not use this pen for highly finished work where line quality matters but as a tool for sketching this pen has a significant advantage over the felt tip these pens work on less than ideal surfaces the roller ball Gliding Over rough papers and the gel ink sitting politely on the surface of papers that are overly absorbent this is why they're so often found in the pockets of artists that sketch obsessively who need something portable and cheap that'll work on anything paper napkins receipts and wedding certificates the main drawback of this pen is the same as the felt tip however whatever brand of gel pen you choose this is still a one-size fits-all drawing Implement in terms of ERG iics ink choices and overall drawing [Music] experience let's move on to the zebra brush pen we need to First make a distinction between this and other types of brush pens on the market this pen doesn't have an actual brush tip composed of hairs but is made of a material similar to the felt tip liners however unlike some felt tip brush pens that are very long and very flexible the tip on this pen is short and sharp making it more suitable for putting down Fine Lines with just a touch of line variation this particular brand comes in a few different sizes ultra fine fine and medium this one being the ultra fine like the previous two pens this pen is disposable and uses black waterproof ink that the company claims is light fast and permanent let's take it through my series of tests in the consistency tests this pen was a touch disappointing in that the lines were Scrapy and dry particularly when I sped up my strokes this paper is smooth so I imagine that on even rougher paper it would struggle even more not a good start to things fortunately in the line variation tests this pen performed very well putting down a fine line all the way to something approaching 2 mm this is an impressive amount of line variation and best of all unlike some of the very flexible brush pens it was easy to control the fact is finding a tool without right balance of flexibility and control is difficult and this pen has just the right balance while di pens and fountain pens also offer line variation they're difficult to use since you can only thicken the lines on the downstroke and those lines often end up being very wet so you have to be careful what kind of paper you use them on with this brush pen you can get all the benefits of having line variation without all the complications that come with using a dip pen or a fountain pen in the feedback Department this pen is scratchy even on smooth paper this pen has the same fibrous tip as the felt tip liner but since the tip is very sharp the sense of scratchiness is Amplified this is not a deal breaker but something that takes a bit of getting used to this really is a whole new drawing instrument very unlike the brush pens or fill tip liners I'm used to working with and it's really not fair to judge it using the same criteria and in the wetness test the pen is bone dry while this is why it struggled in the consistency test it's also its main advantage while other pens that produce decent line variation usually write very wet think flexible fountain pens this pen can produce line variation while still being very dry in terms of feel this pen is a bit like a felt tip fine liner no surprise since the tip seems to be made of a similar material while the dry slightly scrapey lines were less than elegant the line variation was easy to control and entirely Problem free even at speed that's something that can't always be set for Flex pens which often suffer problems when you're working quickly or applying too much pressure furthermore flexible dip pens and fountain pens require generous ink flow to work well which means that a little Shake can cause them to Splatter Ink No risk of that happening here and unlike the wet lines made by dip pens or fountain pens which can take a very long time to dry the lines here dry in a few seconds the downside is that once again you're dealing with a one size fits all experience in terms of flexibility dryness and ink choices I know I keep harping on this issue and perhaps I should stop but I really do prefer an instrument that I can adjust to my preference at least in the type of ink it uses yes this pen like the felt tip liner is stress and hasslefree but give me stress and hassle in exchange for versatility every single time up next we have the technical pen this type of pen delivers ink through hollow metal tip and before the computer age was popular among technical illustrators unlike the previous three pens which are disposable this pen is usually refillable using a little plastic Reservoir that you fill up with ink this particular pen is called the isograph and is made by roaching like the felt tip it comes in a very large variety of sizes from the tiny1 mm all the way up to to a 1 mm tip and since the tips on these pens can be bought separately and easily switched out you don't have to buy separate pens if you want to work with different line widths this pen uses a specially formulated water per in that is available in a limited number of colors let's see how this pen performs in my series of tests the technical pen is different from the other pens in that it needs to be held at a more or less vertical angle to work well though you can't create rough broken lines when you hold it at an angle it's also sensitive to speed and starts to skip when you speed up however if you're holding it at the correct angle and don't go too quickly the line it puts down is as consistent as the felt tip in the line variation test this pen has absolutely none even less than the gel pen or the felt tip as is to be expected this pen is designed to put down a consistent line width which is why it's so commonly used in lettering and Technical illustration in the feedback test this pen is very smooth so long as you're holding it at a vertical angle at other angles it becomes scratchy and Skippy and in the wetness test this pen shows itself to be surprisingly dry considering that in some ways it operates similarly to a fountain pen let's try drawing with it and see how it works in practice drawing with a technical pen is very different than using other materials again in that the pen has to be held at a more vertical angle and that you have to keep your Strokes relatively slow while this is definitely not a pen for you if you enjoy line variation and fast drawing what it does do it does extremely well which is to put down super sharp lines and because you can get tips for it all the way down to .1 mm this is a fantastic choice for precise work the ink used in it is very black and completely waterproof making this pen an ideal choice to combined with washes and this is the pen most commonly used for stippling since it creates perfectly round marks the disadvantage of this pen is mainly the unusual writing angle which limits the kind of Strokes you can create and of course the complete lack of line variation furthermore though this pen can be used with a number of inks it works best with ink specifically designed for technical pens and these are available only in a few very limited number of [Music] colors now now let's discuss the humble ballpoint pen this instrument is similar to the gel pen but the ink it uses is considerably more viscous and more transparent so it performs differently this particular pen is the big Crystal 1.6 mm and is a popular choice among artists and comes filled with many colors of ink all of them waterproof let's take it through my series of tests and see how it performs in the consistency test this pen took a few Strokes to start up but then delivered an unbroken line in every direction these pens do have issues sometimes with hard starts and have a tendency to clog if not used regularly and I wouldn't expect one to work if it sat inactive in your drawer for several months in the line variation test this pen has quite a bit of it due to the way the ball tip can press into the paper to create thicker lines and this effect is Amplified on softer papers furthermore unlike the slight line variation you can get from pH tips the line thickness here is easily controllable and I don't have to worry that I'm going to damage the tip in the feedback Department this pen Glides smoothly across the paper similar to a gel pen but since the ink is a touch more viscous there's greater resistance I guess resistance and feedback are really two different things but in testing this huge variety of pen types I'm conflating them in the wetness test these pens are bone dry the Dy of all the pens in this comparison but with a caveat the ink here is thick and sits entirely on the surface and as a result in areas where there's heavy Line work it'll have a tendency to smear the ballpoint pen is an outlier in this comparison in that the line it puts down has the softness and transparency of a color pencil and yet retains the sharpness of edge of a pen while other pens can to some extent be used to create similar work the results attained with a ballpoint cannot be achieved with anything else in terms of drawing experience I find it very pleasant to use and to control the easiest of all the pen types and by far with a light touch it can create the lightest wisp lines and is super responsive to pressure creating lovely line variation the lines here are neither crisp nor elegant but they are expressive again feeling like a cross between a pencil and a pen this pen is really the perfect tool for the obsessive Sketcher the viscosity of the ink allows you to use it on every kind of paper and its tremendous range of line quality allows you to do quick sketches and even highly rendered work the disadvantages of this pen is mainly that because they're not designed for art making the ink in them is of questionable light fastness and permanence also the ink in these the waterproof can smear which means you have to be careful how these drawings are stored [Music] now let's shift our attention to the dip pen dip pen nibs come in a huge variety but for drawing generally fall into two sizes cron nibs which fit into this little brown cron niip holder and larger size nibs that fit into a standard size holder cron nibs are usually very very fine and designed for detail and the standard sizes are usually better for larger work but can also come in very fine sizes here I'm working with a dip pen holder made by speedball fitted with one of my favorite allpurpose drawing nibs the tachikawa 600f since the dip pen is so incredibly varied testing a single dip nib is somewhat pointless but let's do it anyway and see if we can draw some general conclusions about the dip pen from the process in terms of consistency the dipen can occasionally cause problems skipping or just not working at all but due to its Simplicity correcting the occasional misalignment of tines or clogged ink Channel getting them working is a very easy process however if you're one of those people that doesn't like to fiddle with nibs or get their hands dirty I would stick with the other pen types in terms of line variation dip pens can create more than any other pen type and the great thing is that there's a huge range of flexibility between nibs going from completely stiff to so soft and flexible that only calligraphy experts can control them for those that love the added expression that line variation adds to a drawing the dip pen is an essential tool in terms of feedback dip pens are usually quite scratchy because the nibs don't have the smooth rounded tipping you often find on Fountain Pen nibs the advantage of this is that lines made with a dip pen are sharper and more elegant but you have to be careful how you use them since the sharp tin on some dip pens can cross and splatter if you make a stroke in the wrong direction nowadays you can find nibs that have rounded tips like you find on fountain pens but I think it's worth taking the time to learn how to operate a dip pen rather than resort to using something easier in the wetness test these pens are generally very wet writing but this will depend on the nib wetness is also highly dependent on the ink being used but don't expect dip pens to ride as dry as felt tip liners or gel pens and be sure to use them on papers that are designed for aquous media to avoid Feathering and striking through let's take this dip pen out for a spin and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the this tool as I see it the main advantage is that there are so many different kinds of dip pens to choose from this variety means that over time you can find a nib or a number of nibs perfectly suited to your way of working and if you want to go further they can be tuned to work exactly to your preference this is something that I think is overlooked in art instruction a great tool has to meet us halfway that is to say that to some extent we have to come to a tool by learning how to use it properly and understand its weaknesses and strengths and to ultimately emphasize those strengths and work around the weaknesses but a tool should over time also be versatile enough so that it comes to you that it can be adjusted to your specific preferences this is where the dip pen outperforms the other pens in this comparison that versatility also extends to Ink choices which for dip pens come in a mindboggling variety and since these inks can be mixed and diluted with ease the possibilities are literally endless best of all the ease with which you can switch inks with a dip pen make it possible to seamlessly use a number of inks in a single drawing they even work well with water colors something I demonstrated in a recent mini lesson the drawbacks are that this is not the most portable pen type and in the field it's an awkward way of working the other disadvantage is that it can get messy even in the studio you always have to be careful how much ink is on your nib and with some of the very flexible nibs you have to be careful on the side Strokes or the tins can cross and splatter however these are things that can be overcome through practice and habit and since the advantages of the dipen easily overwhelm the drawbacks this is a drawing Implement every artist should learn how to use and finally let's talk about the fountain pen these come in a huge range of prices materials nib types filling system systems with the added complication that you can buy Modern as well as vintage pens the representative for the entire category is one of my favorite fountain pens the twis Eco let's take it through my tests and talk about fountain pens in general in the consistency test is where the fountain pen is probably the weakest of these seven pen types with skipping burping and other problems being much more common even among popular and expensive models sometimes the problem is easily fixed caused by a misalign nib or clogged feed but sometimes the problems lie deeper and are not so easy to remedy in the flexibility Department fountain pens have almost as much range as the dip pen though the extremes of finess and flexibility are not so common the great thing and one of the reasons why I love working with fountain pens so much is that just about any pen will yield some line variation if you want it case in point is this twis which uses a non-flex nib that's still able to write wider with pressure in the feedback Department the range is huge from glass smooth to just as toothy as a dip pen this is where the fountain pen shines yes dip Pens have more variety of widths and flexibilities but the majority of them have quite a bit of feedback whereas fountain pens sometimes have nips that are so polished that you barely feel the paper in the wetness Department the fountain pen surpasses the dip pen in variety the feeds that provide ink flow to these types of pens can range from very dry to super wet and can actually be adjusted to your preference this is also dependent on ink type which in variety is second only to drawing inks used in dip pens let's take this pen out for a drawing test and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of this pen category as I see it fountain pens have a number of significant advantages over the other pens I've discussed the first is the variety of pen bodies available ranging in size weight balance and the way they're filled you can even find ones made of solid gold and encrusted with diamonds while the other pens don't leave you much of a choice in terms of ergonomics and are often only marginally comfortable with a fountain pen you can find the perfect pen body to fit your hand when it comes to nibs the variety is second only to the dip pen and besides the range of available nibs you can buy out of the box you can also customize them to your liking furthermore the feeds can also be adjusted so you can tune the pen to write as wet as you'd like the customizability of fountain pens ensures that with some research and experimentation you'll find the exact pen or the exact 100 pens for you and that variety applies to fountain pen inks as well which though not quite as rangy as what's available for the dip pen is still incredibly varied the fountain pen also comes with drawbacks the main one being that they're fussy requiring cleaning and maintenance some pens are better than others but even the best ones will sometimes fail to write well in most cases a simple fix will get them writing again but if you're out on the field and your pen doesn't work you might be out of luck another disadvantage is that fountain pens are significantly more expensive than other pen options while you can get a decently working pen for $5 the really good options such as a twisp Eco start at about 30 so after this extensive comparison what are my conclusions the biggest takeaway is that the drawing tests produce no clear winner with the drawings being more or less the same quality in some of the drawings I made mistakes but that had nothing to do with the pen but was rather the result of a sloppy underdrawing some of the pens such as the isograph were initially slightly harder to use only because I wasn't used to working with them and I still manage to get passable results this is because it's the skill of the artist and not the pen being used that makes the biggest difference that said the materials you work with play an integral part in the art making process and should be chosen carefully note that although these drawings were done in Black Ink on the same paper using the same reference they look pretty different from each other this is a consequence of the different grip angle pressure and speed required to draw with them and is comparable to the way the same notes played on different musical instruments will produce different music this is the primary consideration in choosing a pen do you like the quote unquote music the pen makes does it put down lines in the way that you find pleasing with the exception of three practical considerations everything else portability reliability ergonomics and wetness of the pen should come a distant second so what are these three practical considerations well their line variation ink choices and customizability in all three the fountain pen and the dip pen reign supreme however you still have your work cut out for you since there's so many of them to try last thing I'd like to say is that unfortunately choosing what pen to work with isn't a simple question of doing what I did grabbing a bunch of pens and running some quick comparative tests at the risk of irritating everyone with another musical analogy but just like it takes a musician years to understand the full range of possibility of their instrument to make a truly informed decision about which pen type to use takes time and practice so my advice is to research what each pen type can do find one you like and settle in work fast and slow large and small try it on different papers with different subject matter if you ultimately realize that the pen is not for you that time will not have been wasted since drawing is drawing and you will have gained valuable skills applicable to the next pen you're going to try furthermore I don't know how many times over the years I've tried a material stopped using it for whatever reason only to come back to it because it happened to be perfectly suited for a particular project had I not spent years farting around with different materials my internal Library art supplies would have been poorer and the quality of that project would have suffered for it I hope you enjoyed this comparison of seven different pen types and if not feel free to abuse me in the comment section explain in detail what pens I should have tried and how I should have used them just be sure to First subscribe and stay tuned for more content you vehemently disagree with my hope for this channel is that it becomes a platform for these kinds of honest unfettered discussions thank you so much for watching and hope to see you back in my messy Studio very soon bye-bye