Thick and Thin

 

US readers, please vote! This could be the most
critical election of our lives! (Flickr chose this sketch
for Explore on Oct. 29!)

Instead of jumping around, I devoted the past week to using the same extra-fine tip Pentel brush pen and white Uni Posca paint marker with brush tip every day. I’ve used a lot of brush pens over the years, and this Pentel has the finest tip I’ve seen. The nylon brush (similar to almost all bristle brush pens of this type) springs back nicely, re-forms a point easily, makes a lovely variation of thick and thin strokes – and look at the tip! I think it’s a single hair. It contains pigment ink, so it would be fun to use with water-soluble media.

Pentel brush tip -- a single hair!

The Posca brush tip is not quite as responsive or fine, but it’s my favorite of all the Posca paint pens I’ve tried (I reviewed the 1.5mm bullet tips at the Well-Appointed Desk and the white  0.7mm “pin type” pen). Opaque paint pens are a fun novelty to use on dark-colored paper, but in general, I’m not a fan of the paint they contain. It can be gloppy and difficult to control the flow, especially with this brush tip. Still, I enjoy using the two together for shadows and highlights as I brush up (ha) on this type of ink work. No prep and no cleanup, so they’re even faster than Boku-Undo sumi inks.

Meanwhile, Washington State is already seeing the predicted surge in COVID-19 infections as the weather gets colder. Stay safe, everyone – it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

My stamp set includes only four 2s!