Raphael Redux, This Time with Fountain Pens

4/8/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink,
Pilot FA and Metropolitan pens,
Bristol paper

Sketch of the David by Raphael 

While I enjoy the meditative quality of pen hatching, dipping into the ink bottle every few strokes is the part that annoys me. Talk about tedious! The whole time I was working on the copy of Raphael’s David this morning, I longed for my fountain pens. This afternoon I gave it another shot, this time with my Pilot Falcon (FA) nib (plus some lines with a Pilot Metropolitan fine nib, which is finer than the FA). Although dip pens have an expressive flexiness that’s hard to beat, I think my Pilot FA is nearly as flexy – and certainly more convenient and more fun to use.

Ahhh – I do love fountain pens!