Verrrrry Interesting Pilot Parallel Pen

Check out the wide, flat nib on that Pilot Parallel pen!

The Pilot Parallel fountain pen has been on my radar at various times. I have been curious about the very flat, straight-across nib that calligraphers use to achieve amazing effects (just Google “calligraphy with Pilot Parallel pen,” and you’ll see dozens of impressive videos and images), but I’m not a calligrapher, so I knew I wouldn’t use it for that purpose. More recently I started seeing examples of expressive drawings done with the pen (try Googling “sketching with Pilot Parallel pen”) that got me curious all over again. I found a good deal on a set of four nib sizes on Amazon (about $6 each), so I decided it was time to satisfy my curiosity.

We were heading out this morning to show our visitor Kubota Garden, so I grabbed the 6mm size Pilot Parallel on my way out the door (that’s the largest size in the set; others are 1.5mm, 2.4mm and 3.8mm). I’ve been resisting spending too much time sketching while playing host and tour guide, but I’ve sketched at this garden several times now (most recently with Urban Sketchers Seattle in June), so it was a little easier this time to resist the garden’s rugged yet serene beauty. Still, I grabbed that Pilot Parallel for a reason: I had a hunch it would be a good implement for sketching trees quickly – and I was right!

9/16/15 ink, Pilot Parallel pen

Taking only a couple of minutes each, I was able to scribble these studies of a pine, a fir and (incongruently!) a banana tree. The pen can make a very broad mark when pulled in one direction, yet can also make a very fine line. Although I’ve tried sketching with Lamy calligraphy nibs as well as the Platinum, Sailor and Franklin-Christoph music nibs (which aren’t technically calligraphy nibs but seem to behave like them), the 6mm Parallel nib is an extreme case. And I love it! These trees were only my first attempts, but I can clearly see the potential of the very interesting Pilot Parallel.

I’ll write a full review after I’ve had a chance to mess around with the pens more, so consider this a teaser. 

9/16/15 ink, Pilot Parallel pen