supplies for art journaling: let’s talk pens

photo by tmab2003@flickr used under creative commons

The monsters are still running around here like little scurrying…well…monsters, trying to get everything put into place.  They still haven’t put up the curtains, clearly.  However, since we revamped and re-released _The Mind’s Eye_ (and if you haven’t picked up your free copy, head on over and nab it!), there’s been a whole lot of discussion about one of those pages:

The pens page.

Did you get a little shudder from the thought of a bunch of brand-new pens waiting to be used?  We do, all the time.

And since the pages in _Mind’s Eye_ were written, the Artist has had a whole lot of time (nine years!) to try out a bunch of new ones, so we thought we’d give a little update on the most awesome pens to draw with in your own art journals, or to use on your artsy scrapbook layout doodles.  Warning, though:  you may find your fingers itching while you read this.  The monsters assume no responsibility for the mailman’s aching back when he delivers eight tons of new writing implements to your door.  Or for the dishes that may go undone while you’re drawing.

That said, here are:

The Top Eight Pens For Art Journals and Scrapbooking Doodleybits

(special thanks to the FB friends for alerting us to some of these!)

1. Copic Markers/Pens

For a lot of art journaling techniques that use gel medium or oil pastels (even the water-soluble kind), other pens just won’t work over the top of the medium.  Oil pastels, in particular, have a tendency to gum up even the most hardy of writing implements — we’ve even managed to kill a Sharpie or two in trying to write over it.

Not so, with Copic pens and markers.  Made for japanese manga, they’re a solvent-based ink that will literally write on anything — oil pastel and acetate, glossy surfaces or porous.

Back in 2003, these were much rarer, and only came in the marker sets with one broad nib and one chisel nib.  Now, though, Copic has both fine-line and thin brush tips (as shown) that are much more like “regular” pens vs. markers, with the same kind of rugged ink that’ll write on anything.

One note: in our tests, these pens bleed like CRAZY through untreated paper, and they smell kind of…odd.  Not Sharpie-bad, but odd.  Use in a well-ventilated area, and only over other media.

2.  Pigma Microns

Between these, my Sharpies, and the Pitt pens (see below), almost nothing else gets a chance to be used in the Artist’s own journals.  There’s actually a journaling set of these, in fact, and since they’re waterproof and acid-free, they’re great for scrapbook journaling, too.

The range of nib sizes makes sets of these almost indispensable.  From the wide-ish nibbed .8 all the way down to .005 (which is teeeeeny tiny), and even a brush set for even wider/varying lines — you can doodle, write, or draw very, very detailed drawings.

They’re fairly cheap, too, as far as permanent acid-free pens go, which is always a bonus.

If you read the Moonlight Chronicles zine, put out by traveling artist-hobo dan price, at one point he said the microns are the only pens he uses for all bazillion pages he writes and draws every year.

One test, and you’ll see why.

3.  Pitt Artists’ Pens

At one time, there were only five kinds of Pitt pens, all in black:  Wide, Medium, Fine, and Superfine, plus a brush pen.  Over the years, Pitt has kept the five nib sizes, but expanded out into MUCH more than just black — there are sets of sepia tones, greys, manga-colored sets, and even open stock of the nib-sizes in a whole range of colors.

Being the writing type, we’ve got (::cough, cough::) a few of the black ones, mostly in fine and superfine, and they’re awesome, felt-tipped journaling pens.

Downsides:  The superfine is nowhere near as fine as the micron .005s (which are pretty darn thin), and the ink has not proved to be waterproof in our tests.  It’s water-resistant, and doesn’t completely smudge away, but it DOES smudge some — which is fine if you know that ahead of time and are using it for effect.  Not so fine if you are watercoloring around a drawing and find your detail looking like it went through a wind tunnel.

The handy vinyl pouch is really nice for those days you’re on Art Safari, out at the coffee shop or in the sunshine, and we’ve got (ahem) several sets…(okay, fine, we’ve got NINE SETS.  There.  We admitted it.)… for just that purpose.

4.  Staedtler Triplus Fineliners

A little bit of honesty:  When we saw this set, we had a few reactions:

a) OMG PRETTY COLORS, and then,

b) OOOOH…they’re triangle shaped for comfort!, and finally,

c) OMG OMG OMG, the CASE turns into an easy-access HOLDER!

::sigh::

What can we say?  The monsters are quite susceptible to gimmicks.

Luckily, though the Triplus pens may suck you in with the neat little packaging wizardry, the pens actually kind of rock.  They back up their gimmickry with great tips, a good range of colors, comfortable writing (even for longer, wordier entries), and fairly water-media-resistent ink.  And the holder/case that sets up for easy access?  It really IS easy, so you don’t have to waste precious arting-time in looking for the color you wanted — they’re all there, organized and ready to go, or ready to store by just clicking it closed.

Our inner Marthas squee in organized bliss from these.

5.  Sharpie Pen

Confession time.  At one point, before the Artist went through her “there are starving artists in Africa and you’re wasting pens” phase and donated a metric ton of art supplies to local schools in an attempt to fend off Karma — there were, we kid you not, more than two HUNDRED Sharpies in the Artist’s posession.  And those were only the ones in her art drawers.

::sigh::  The good ol’ days.

Back in those days, Sharpies were Sharpies.  You had either fine or broad tip, and choices in color, after  the company had the realization that they weren’t just being used for packages and industrial use, and suddenly came out with a BAJILLION COLORS.  They weren’t (and aren’t) acid-free.  They smelled like someone may be trying to kill you with the Stink of All Stinks.  They bled through everything, and if you used the wrong paper/surface, you ended up with a weird greenish halo around everything you did, as the ink slowly ate its way through the paper.

Still, it was incredibly permanent, wrote on nearly everything, and if you did mail art in addition to journaling, you could decorate packages that could go through WWIII and never smudge.  They. Were. Awesome.

A couple years back now, Sharpie took its awesome  self and started making Sharpie Pen.  It’s all the things you love about Sharpies, but in an ultra-fine tip, with an ink that’s formulated NOT TO BLEED THROUGH.  We’ve used it on journal pages, letters, the backs of envelopes, and the side of the dog’s head (on accident), and sure ’nuff, there was no bleed-through.  AND no STINK.  AND it’s completely waterproof, so it’s perfect for wet media.

These are, clearly, our go-to pen for writing.  Even though the Pitts and Microns get more drawing workouts, and we use the Triplus for colored stuff, for everyday writing, the Sharpies still have everything else beat.

6.  Paper Mate Liquid Expresso

Of all the “cheap pens” that we love, the Expresso definitely ranks up there for writing.  The nibs aren’t overly fine, the ink is most definitely NOT waterproof, and they can leak if exposed to temperatures (either too hot or too cold).  Those are the downsides.

The upside to the Expresso is its holdability.  Rather than being one of the thin pens that can make your hand hurt after a bit of writing, this husky pen is much more grippable, and we’ve found that it makes for much easier gesture-type drawing on the go, when we’re not going to do any further coloring with wet media.

The ink’s really smooth, too.  Goes on like a dream.  And while it’s a water-based ink (thus, the not-waterproofness), it IS acid free, so you can use it on anything you want to be archival without a lot of worry.

Point size is thicker than the .8 Micron, so I’d guess this is about a 1.0 or so — definitely thick point.  If you like the thicker points for writing (always makes ours look better, we think), this is a really inexpensive choice to try.

7.  Vision Uniball

Of all the pens we looked at for this list, the Vision Uniball had the most comments.  It has veritable cheerleaderlike fans.  And if you try it, you’ll see why.

Our friend Amber, for instance, said, “UNIBALL FOR LIFE. I ***ing love those g*****n pens.”  (We have edited Amber’s comment to keep it family-friendly.  But you can see the kind of vehemence of which I speak.)

For the price, this is the best of the nibs.  Needle-thin rollerball tips that make a thin, smooth line for drawing or fine writing.  And the ink’s both fadeproof and water-resistant, so writing on damp-ish watercolor backgrounds won’t kill your line.  (It IS only resistant, not proof, though, so keep that in mind and test it on your own paper before heartbreak strikes.)

Nearly all of our drawing was with a five-pack of these pens for a while.  We can say, with certainty, that they last a LONG time.  That one five-pack we bought lasted us over a YEAR, and when we say we draw and write a lot, we really mean it.  A LOT.  For a five-pack to last over a year is nearly unheard of, which makes this the most economical of all the choices listed.

8.  Le Pen

Back when the Artist was a kid, her grandmother either had one of these or bought one for her.  She doesn’t remember all that much about the one she had, except that she was heartbroken when she lost it at school, and nobody would ‘fess up that they found it.

Later, she found them again as a teenager at a local stationer and remembers testing out the colors on the little scratch pads, but never was able to get the colors she wanted.  Tragedy of youth, et. al.

We’d assumed these were long gone, like Strawberry Shortcake dolls and Pound Puppies.  But when discussing pen recommendations on our Facebook, Patti D’Ambrosca Ward schooled us thusly:

“When I lived in Charlotte, there was a store called Bush Stationers and I collected every colour of Le Pen that they carried. That was back in the mid 70s. I think you can still get them at Hallmark. They are very fine point and felt-tipped. I love when I can get a bazillion colours of any pen because, lord knows, you have to be able to change colours when the mood strikes. ”

Oh, SQUEE.

We’ve since learned that, through Amazon alone, you can get eighteen colors of Le Pen, with its smudgeproof water-based ink and fine fine fine tip, for less than a buck apiece.  We have no recent experience with them, but have some on order (uh…okay, ALL of them on order), and will update you journal type folks just as soon as we have new information.  Thanks for letting us know, Patti!

SO, WHAT PEN DO YOU USE?

This is, we know, by no means a comprehensive list.  One trip to the pen aisle of Target or a dash through the local stationers’ supply store will tell you there are way more choices for your art journals and other artsy pursuits than just a handful.

So tell us — what pens do you use, and why do you like them?

We’ll do a follow-up if we find new ones, so enable our pen addiction with a comment.

Tagged as: art journals, drawing, pens