Japanese refillable brushpens.

jason

I just got a Pentel Refillable Brushpen a couple weeks ago after trying one this summer (sorry for the shameless namedropping), and after spending most of yesterday sketching throughout a conference that my school hosted, I have to say that I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it. It is not like those spongy long-felt-tip things that you usually find in art stores, but real fiber-bristle BRUSH. Holycowawesometastic.

Granted, I am not the best artist, but results can be seen here, here, and here. If you like to use a real brush (rather than the usual wacom+photoshop) to ink your work, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

And apparently, according to Jeff, you can refill it with regular India ink (carefully) if you're not up for the relatively expensive refill cartridges.

jason

mario

Them's some pretty slick-looking results. While I do happen to fall into the Wacom+Photoshop crowd, I still appreciate the classical approach. Maybe I'll have to hunt one of these down when I've got $18 to spare.

stef

The results look awesome, Jas! Great drawing. I really, REALLY want to try this brush. I've been attempting to order the Micron Brush Pen for years, and this seems a lot better. Do you think you could use this brush to complement another brush or sponge that held water, for wash effects? How about cleaning one out and refilling with a different color? I'm all a-flutter.

You know I'm a fan of the unnecessarily fussy analog tools anyway-- I'm going to give my crowquill nib another try after seeing Kazu's Copper tutorial.


ETA: Refilling those cartridges becomes a heck of a lot easier if you make sure you get India Ink with an eyedropper in the cap. If this pen is secretly compatible with other pens, you can get a refillable cartridge with a small plunger mechanism. I have one of these for my Waterman fountain pen, and it works awesomely.

jason

Yep, Mario, $18 is a bit steep. I'm a stalwart wacom+some_art_app_X person, but I think I'll definitely get my money's worth out of it. Granted, I haven't upgraded from my Graphire 1 to an Intuos yet, but this is a whole lot more responsive ...and a bit cheaper!

Stef, I was wondering the same things. I know that with the spongy-felt-tip brushpens, you CAN use water for wash effects (as I found out accidentally when trying to combine with watercolors for a project) but {after just now trying it} Pentel brushpen's initial ink cartridge is a non-water-soluble ink that does not really do wash so well. I'll post a scan here as soon as I can get my scanner working again. I'm also very curious about refilling with other color cartridges. (Will post again later today with photos of the pen and its parts.)

Fountain pens...Dan's been singing the praises of fountain pens to me for a long time, but all I've got is an old non-refillable Pilot Varsity. One of these weekends I ought to hit an art store and see what the hubbub is all about...

Behemoth

Dude, go online and find the nearest Mitsuwa shopping center. They sell those for about 5 bucks here and about 7 or 8 at Mitsuwa in the US.

jason

Whoa! Thanks for the tip!!
The closest store to me...is in New Jersey. But it looks like they're EVERYWHERE in Cali, including a store or two in San Jose. Rock on.

Reading Craig Thompson tonight, he references this pen as well. That guy can REALLY wield a brushpen. (Also after reading Thompson: hoo-ray angst!)

j

Waffles

It looks ace. It makes me want to draw things.

jason

Mystery solved, I think.

Were those the brushpens that you're talking about, Behemoth? Or were they actual Pentel Pocket Brushpens?

backtohomework

Behemoth

They have those everywhere too, but i saw higher-quality, hard-plastic ones for under $10, I think. I haven't been there in over a year now and you make me doubt myself. The crappy soft, squeezish ones were like $4 or $5 and the solid ones were just under $10ish. I never tried using the solid handle ones, just the squishy ones. I only used them for calligraphy in a lit. class.