Product Review: (Hairy) Brush Pen Comparison

6/21/15 ink, watercolor (see chart below for numbered key)

I’ve had a long-standing love of brush pens. A quick look through my Current Favorite Art Materials page will show that one of my very first product review posts, written within my first month of blogging back in 2012, was about Tombow and Akashiya brush pens. Those pens launched me headlong into the dazzling world of water-soluble colored brush pens. Fairly early on I had decided that brush tips made of compressed nylon or felt (such as the Tombows) were not as flexible and responsive as actual brush tips made of synthetic hair, so I focused my interest and experiments on markers such as Pentel Color Brush pens and, eventually, Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, still my current favorite. (JetPens has a good blog post comparing all the colored brush pens the company carries.)

Somewhere along the way I discovered brush pens containing refillable or non-refillable black ink – pens designed to mimic Asian calligraphy brushes. Again, these are of two general types: some kind of compressed fibrous material and actual hair brush tips. As with colored brush markers, I favor the ones with hair brushes, which do a reasonably good job of producing the flexibility of traditional sumi brushes (but with a finer tip for the purpose of calligraphy rather than painting). In the same way that I’m hooked on variable-width fountain pens, I adore the loose, expressive strokes that brush pens can make.

A while back JetPens produced a comprehensive article and video comparing its vast collection of brush pens, which made me think about (with some embarrassment) how many brush pens I have. I decided that one way to rationalize my vast personal collection was to write a comparison review of my own! (Amassing art materials and tools can always be rationalized one way or another.)

7/22/15 Kuretake sable brush pen

Although I own a number of the compressed fiber/nylon tip brush pens that are fun to write with (I often use them to write greetings cards with), I rarely use them for sketching, so I’m going to focus here on the type I favor for sketching – the ones with hair brushes. Recent discoveries are brush pens with natural sable (or weasel) hair brushes similar to fine paint brushes. Overkill for a brush pen used for sketching? Probably. But I wouldn’t know without trying them!

6/20/15 Kuretake sable brush pen

I tend to use black brush pens for a few specific purposes. One is when I want to do gesture sketches of people, and I don’t want to be tempted to get into facial features and other details. Another is when I want to sketch an intricate building that I need to do quickly – again, to avoid detail (I guess these would be gesture sketches also, if a building can have a gesture). A third favorite use of brush pens is to sketch trees; the organic, free-flowing nature of brush pens seems to be made for expressing gnarly or gracefully reaching branches.

In short, a brush pen will not allow you to get too fine and fiddly, so if you have a tendency to get mired in detail while losing the overall picture, it’s a good antidote. When I was a poetry-writing student long ago, one of my favorite professors, Nelson Bentley, used to say to poets who had a tendency to get long-winded, “Try haiku: It’s a sure cure for verbosity.” I think of brush pens the same way.

5/18/15 Notre Dame at right sketched with Platinum sable brush pen

Yet another way I use brush pens is a more recent discovery. Last year after seeing Ch’ng Kiah Kiean (better known as KK) give a demo in Paraty of his twig-sketching technique, I tried channeling KK for several months. I’m still fascinated by that ultimate variable-line-width sketching instrument, and I still pick it up occasionally. What frustrates me the most, though, is that a twig doesn’t hold much ink, so I am constantly dipping back into the ink bottle after each stroke. What I discovered is that a brush pen that’s running out of ink yields something like a scratchy, dry-twig effect – but without requiring continual dipping (it’s like a fountain pen, so it requires no dipping at all). Even a fully inked brush pen can make the same, slightly unpredictable, slightly uncontrollable stroke that twigs are famous for – but with slightly more control!

One note before I describe the pens: You’ll see that several have names that contain the word “fude” (which means brush in Japanese). This is not to be confused with the fude fountain pen nibs you already know I love. The fountain pen nibs have “fude” in their names because they, too, are mimicking brush strokes.

1. Sailor Fude Nagomi standard model (synthetic)

2. Sailor Fude Nagomi Ryofuka model (synthetic)

3. Pentel Portable Fude Kirari Fujiro (synthetic)

4. Kuretake No. 40 fountain hair brush pen (sable)

5. Kuretake No. 13 fountain brush pen (nylon)

6. Platinum CF-5000 brush pen (natural weasel)

7. Sailor Profit brush pen (synthetic)

4/18/15 Platinum sable brush pen

Not shown in the sketch at the top of the page and the brush stroke comparison chart is the J. Herbin CreaPen Pinceau refillable bristle brush pen, which I had misplaced for a while and then later found. I don’t mean to discriminate against this pen – made in France, it’s the only non-Japanese example – by not sketching it. But after finding the pen, I was too lazy to re-do the sketch. J It’s a perfectly adequate brush pen without much to distinguish it from the others. One thing to note is that it comes with three cartridges when purchased from JetPens, but the package product info does not say whether the cartridge ink is waterproof. I noticed, however, that the cartridges look exactly like Platinum cartridges, so I popped a Carbon Black cartridge on instead of one of the included cartridges, and indeed it fits perfectly. Since then, I’ve learned from Ana at the Well-Appointed Desk that the cartridges included with the pen are also waterproof.

7/18/15 Pentel brush pen

As for all the Japanese brush pens I tried, I’m sorry to say that not much distinguishes any one from the rest. I really wanted the natural sable hair Kuretake or weasel hair Platinum to be hands-down better than the others, if only to justify the prices I paid for them. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The synthetic brushes have just as much bounce-back and retain their tips as well as the natural-hair brushes. What’s more, the Platinum weasel seemed harder to control than any of the synthetics. They are all perfectly adequate brush pens, and none stands out in any extraordinary way.

I do have a few comments on some:

• Nos. 1 and 2 (in my sketch and the chart above), the two Sailor Fude Nagomi pens, are the only non-refillable models among the ones I’ve tried. In addition, the ink they come with is not waterproof, which limits their usefulness in sketching, since I’d like the option of using watercolor with brush pens. Their bodies are significantly longer than the others, as they seem to be emulating traditional sumi brushes. The extra length takes some getting used to.
• No. 7, the Sailor Profit model, has a form factor identical to the Sailor Profit fountain pen. I find that to be both good and bad. The good is that it’s comfortable in my hand and feels familiar. The bad is that it looks just like my Sailor Profit fude pen (except that it’s black instead of navy), so it’s easy to get them mixed up in my bag. One nice thing about this pen is that the brush tip can be replaced when it wears out.
• No. 4 in my sketch, the Kuretake sable, also has replaceable tips. In fact, the replacement tips on all the Kuretake brush pens seem to be interchangeable.

After all that, do I have a favorite? I’d say it’s No. 5 in my sketch, the Kuretake No. 13 with synthetic hair. But I admit it’s not because of any special features or characteristics. It’s just the one I’ve had the longest, so it’s familiar, and it responds well to what I do with it.

11/14/13 Akashiya brush pen (model)

Sorry this comparison review doesn’t have any exciting discoveries. The only revelation seems to be of my bad habit of acquiring way more brush pens than I need (but you probably already knew that)! You wouldn’t go wrong with any of these brush pens, though it might be useful to keep these points in mind when making your choice:

• As far as ink goes, the most economical, “green” choice would be to buy a refillable model, and instead of buying cartridges, simply refill an emptied cartridge using a syringe with the ink of your choice. The Sailor Profit and Platinum models are also compatible with their respective proprietary fountain pen converters.

• The brush tips on the Sailor Profit and Kuretake pens can be replaced, further stretching the life of the pen bodies and keeping them out of the landfill.

• The Pentel seems to be the most easily accessible and ubiquitous, available at many retailers online and in local stores. Conversely, I found the Platinum weasel brush only at J-Subculture.com.

Brush Pen at the Cemetery

6/15/15 Platinum brush pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

On my way home from an appointment on Capitol Hill, I stopped for a few minutes at Lake View Cemetery. It’s been close to two years since I last sketched there, and I have to remember to go back again soon for some longer sketches. I had only a little time to spare this morning, so I pulled out a brush pen – my favorite tool for limited-time sketches. I use it the way I use a sumi brush with India ink in my ink-drawing class. In fact, it’s even closer to twig sketching, KK-style. The brush pen won’t let me get into fussy details – just the broad strokes and shadows – so I can finish in a matter of minutes (only seven for this sketch).

As far as cemeteries go, Lake View probably isn’t the most interesting (Bruce Lee’s grave notwithstanding); there are no impressive statues or mausoleums. But it does have many large old trees among the headstones that are especially beautiful in the fall, and the rolling hillscape can make for interesting compositions.

Sketching in cemeteries is so serene and relaxing. They’re almost always empty or nearly so (today, I saw only one groundskeeper and one jogger), I can’t hear the nearby neighborhood traffic, and, at least today, dragonflies and hummingbirds were having a heyday in the sunshine. 

France, Part 3: Arles

5/23 - 24/15 various inks,
Caran d'Ache Museum
pencils, Pentalic Aqua
Journal
(Place de Republique Obelisque,
Arles)

Famous for being the home of Van Gogh, Arles wasn’t even on our initial trip-planning radar; our intention was to go directly from Sarlat and the Dordogne region to the south of France. Getting there by a series of non-high-speed trains, however, would have meant a very long, grueling day, so we started looking at stops along the way. Small yet full of ancient Roman history, Arles on the Rhône River struck our fancy.

Van Gogh knick-knacks aside (I decided to forego the plastic placemat reproductions of “Starry Night” and coffee mugs depicting Vincent’s self-portrait), Arles is a fascinating town of Roman artifacts like an Amphitheatre Arenes and Theatre Antique. Musee Departement Arles Antique is an especially interesting museum where we spent an afternoon learning about sculptures, pieces of ruins and a remarkable flat-bottom barge from the 50s A.D. that had been discovered in the Rhône in 2004. I was torn between sketching and learning at this museum, but I did manage to sketch a number of very old sculptures.

5/24/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Museum pencils
(detail of Obelisque)

I think I spent the least amount of time sketching in this city compared to others because I spent the most time simply taking in its history. One sculpture that particularly caught my sketcher’s eye, however, was the tall, pointy Place de Republique Obelisque. If you’ll recall from my pre-trip planning post, I was undecided about whether to pack my half-used landscape-format sketchbook. For one thing, I don’t like having out-of-sequence sketches in a random sketchbook instead of included in my main travel sketchbook. I also knew I wouldn’t use it often, if at all, since I rarely make long, narrow sketches. At the last minute, though, I threw it in, and as it turned out, it came in handy three times. The first was for the La Roque landscape. The second was for this obelisk, whose height would have been difficult to capture otherwise. On my first morning there, I sketched the main sculpture. The next day I went back to fill the space at the bottom of the sketch with a close-up of one of the four lions in the corners of the base.

5/24/15 various inks, watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb. paper
(Amphithetre Arenes, Arles)

The Amphitheatre Arenes was an especially challenging sketch subject. I’m not sure how it compares to the Coliseum in Rome, but let’s just say it’s huge. The main difficulty in sketching something like the Arenes is trying to decide how much of it to fit onto a dinky sketchbook page. I don’t think I came close to indicating its vastness, but I have fond memories of actually sweating a bit in the sun as I sketched! Yes, we were finally in the warmer southern end of France!

To see photos from our trip, please look at my Flickr photo album.

5/24/15 Platinum Carbon ink, Platinum brush pen
(Church of St. Trophime, Arles)

5/24/15 Sailor Doyou and other inks,
Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencil
(Cloitre Saint-Trophime, Arles) 

5/23/15 Platinum Carbon and other inks, Museum pencils
(Arles Theatre Antique)

5/23/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Platinum brush pen
(statue of Neptune, Musee Arles Antique)

5/23/15 Platinum brush pen (Musee Arles Antique)

5/23/15 Sailor Doyou ink (statue of Colossale
d'Augusta, Musee Arles Antique)

France, Part 1: Paris

5/16/15 Platinum Carbon and mixed gray inks, watercolor,
Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencil, Canson XL 140 lb.
paper (Eiffel Tower)

Long before we began planning our trip to France, perhaps even before I had started sketching, I had looked at paintings and sketches of the Eiffel Tower with complete awe of whomever had attempted its image. How intimidating it must be for any artist to stand before such a classically elegant structure, one that has been so overly depicted by the media in the past couple of centuries that it may be one of the most easily recognized icons in the world. Its proportions and shape are well-known even by people who have never been anywhere near Paris. What reckless chutzpah must be required to pull out a sketchbook in its shadow!

On a cold, drizzly day two weeks ago, after first making a small “practice” sketch from the front window of our airbnb-rented flat (chosen primarily for that view), I stood in that very shadow of la tour Eiffel. Reckless chutzpah? Maybe. Or maybe it was just that there was no way I was leaving Paris without it! The drizzle was threatening to turn to solid rain; I had no time to dawdle. I simply opened my sketchbook and sketched it. (Yes, the practice sketch I did from a photo last month did help!)

Whew! With that out of the way, I could proceed to sketch as much of the rest of Paris as I could in four days (as well as make several more sketches of the Eiffel from our flat at various times of day). The sketches I had the most fun making were of the elephant sculpture in front of the Musee D’Orsay, gargoyles at Notre Dame Cathedral and a busker outside Notre Dame.

5/17/15 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor (Pont Alexandre III)

By far the highlight of my short stay in Paris was getting together with Urban Sketchers Paris at Les Berges on the Seine River for an afternoon of sketching. After I had posted a message on the group’s Flickr page a few weeks before my visit, Kim Marohn graciously organized a picnic to precede the sketching, which would be followed by a drink-and-draw at a nearby bar. The event turned out to be an international one: Participants included Sigrid Albert from Vancouver, B.C. (whom I had met previously when she visited Seattle a couple years ago), and Brinda from India, both of whom happened to be in Paris, too. (One thing I love most about being part of Urban Sketchers is the international network you automatically join and can connect with anywhere in the world!)

As the day drew near, we all put in our requests for favorable weather – the weeks before my visit had been pretty wet – and we got it! Under a lovely clear blue sky and temperatures warm enough to take off a layer or two, I sketched Pont Alexandre III, the wildly ornate bridge that spans the Seine.

With so much more we wanted to see in Paris (we’ve saved a long list for next time!), it was on to Sarlat-la-Canéda!

To see photos from our trip, please look at my Flickr photo album.

5/16/15 various inks, Museum pencils
(Musee D'Orsay)

5/18/15 Platinum brush pen, various inks (Notre Dame)

5/18/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Museum pencils (busker outside
Notre Dame)

5/16/15 Sailor Doyou ink, watercolor, Museum
pencils (my first Eiffel Tower sketch
from our flat window)

5/15/15 Sailor Doyou and other inks, Museum pencils (train bridge)

5/16/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Museum
pencils (cafe musicians)

5/16/15 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor,
Molotow white acrylic pen (Eiffel Tower
at night)

5/17/15 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Museum pencils
(Saturday farmers market)

5/17/15 Sailor Doyou ink (Paris sketchers during drink-and-draw)

Martine and Tina sketching Pont Alexandre III

Paris sketchers

More Paris sketchers!

Picnic sketching on the Seine

5/19/15 Platinum brush pen (my last sketch in Paris)

Patterns

5/4/15 Platinum brush pen, watercolor, Caran d'Ache Museum
water-soluble colored pencil, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

After a rushed morning of errands and appointments, I was parked near some trees that painted an intriguing pattern of shadows on the sidewalk. I was surprised to see these trees with only a few sprouting leaves. Most trees in these parts have been fully leafed for a while now.

P.S. May the fourth be with you!

Uninspired at the UW

4/24/15 Platinum brush pen, watercolor, Canson XL
140 lb. paper

Do you ever have one of those days when every sketch you attempt should have just stayed in bed?

A small group of Friday sketchers gathered at Suzzallo Library on the University of Washington campus on this blustery, spitting morning. I usually find something inspiring to sketch on campus, but that tends to happen more often when I sketch outdoors. A year ago an even smaller group met there, and while my sketches inside the library were less than inspired, my last sketch outside made the trip worthwhile.

Today I had déjà vu of last year’s debacle when I began in Suzzallo’s quiet study room, a cathedral of gothic arches. It was meant to be a simple value study that went terribly wrong.

Next I ventured over to the far end of the attached Allen library, which was new territory for me. I found plenty of large windows offering what could have been inspiring views. I picked the entryway of the HUB where a small information fair was going on. Ho-hum.

4/24/15 various inks

Eventually I wandered over to the HUB, where I have memories of many, many mediocre meals consumed in a rush between undergraduate classes back in the late ‘70s. Unrecognizable to me now, it looks more like an airport food court than a student union building. Times may have changed, along with the wall paint and food vendors, but one thing hasn’t: Students still wolf their food down during short breaks between classes, taking far less time to eat than I could take to sketch them.

After our meetup to share sketches, I realized I had just missed a bus, so I sat at the shelter to wait for the next one. Those last 10 minutes on campus turned out to be my best: a tree and a lamp post bearing the U of Washington banner. 

4/24/15 various inks, watercolor, colored pencil

4/24/15 Sailor Doyou ink

Gwen, Nancy, Anne, Peggy, Alex and me at Suzzallo Library.

Edited 4/25/15: Per Matthew's suggestion, I cropped one sketch (below). I agree that it's better! Thanks, Matthew!

Green, Not Pink

4/18/15 Platinum Carbon ink, Platinum brush pen, watercolor, Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Exactly a month ago on the first day of spring, I sketched at the University of Washington Quad, which was a glorious field of pink blossoms – in the air and on the ground. On Saturday during the Burke sketch event, I have to admit: I kept looking out the windows at the sunny day, itchin’ to get outdoors. After it ended at 2 p.m., I made a beeline to the Quad. Those huge old cherry trees had given up their pink petals weeks ago, but I didn’t mind. Dressed in their late spring and summer greens, they are just as grand.

Lamp Post

4/16/15 Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencils, Platinum
brush pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

After seeing a gallery exhibit in Pioneer Square this afternoon, Greg and I stopped for a break at Zeitgeist Coffee. We sat looking out the windows that face Jackson Street, where I wasn’t particularly inspired by my view. I do, however, like the old, three-globed lamp posts all around Pioneer Square, one of which was standing right across the street. With colored pencils and a brush pen, I decided to do a simple value study on this lovely sunny day.

Chilly Morning at Fremont Coffee

4/10/15 Platinum brush pen, Iroshizuku Kiri-same ink,
Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencil, Canson XL paper

After yesterday’s delightful teaser of spring, today was a cruel joke. I think all of us who gathered at Fremont Coffee Company this morning for the ad hoc sketch outing were hoping to sketch outdoors, but those of us who tried came back inside pretty quickly. It was a bit cold and blustery.

It had been a year and a half since the last time the Friday sketchers met there, and my first sketch was a redux of the same view of the front counter that I had attempted that time. Previously a house, Fremont Coffee is full of small rooms to hide away in or look through doorways into other rooms – a good view for my second sketch.

Fully nourished by the world’s biggest chocolate croissant, I ventured out to the front porch, which provided enough shelter from the wind to make a quick sketch of a tree on the sidewalk and a potted bamboo plant. (I think the Japanese brush pen I used was made for sketching bamboo leaves! I try not to carry too many single-purpose pens, but it’s hard to resist this one. I guess it just means I have to look for more bamboo trees to sketch.)

4/10/15 Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink, Museum pencil

4/10/15 Sailor Doyou and Iroshizuku Kiri-same inks, Museum pencils

A Summer Teaser

3/26/15 Various inks, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencils, brush pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

The Maple Leaf water tower has been the subject of my sketches many times. Sometimes I enjoy getting into all the details of the complex, criss-crossed girding and the maple leaf motif going around the tower. Today, under a mostly clear blue sky and 70 (!) degrees, it felt like the best of summer, and my mood was just as lazy. On a shady bench but not too far from the sun, I sat on the opposite side of Maple Leaf Park to take in the long view of the water tower holding its own next to the cell tower.

To those of you still sloshing through snow, I’m sorry if I sound like I’m gloating. If it makes you feel any better, here’s what KING 5 weather shows for the next few days:

Pink Vernal Equinox

3/20/15 Platinum sable brush pen, watercolor, Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Rain was predicted all day. I’d planned to leave my car for servicing in the U-District and then look around at the Henry Art Gallery while I waited. As I walked to the gallery, though, the rain hadn’t yet started. I made a quick change of plans: the Quad’s cherry trees!

In full bloom, the Quad on the University of Washington campus makes you feel like you’re walking under a field of clouds made of huge fluffy blossoms. Two years ago when a freaky warm Saturday brought out crowds of hundreds to see the cherries, I remember wearing flip-flops as I sketched. Last year it was much colder – I shivered through my sketch and dashed through hail back to the car. 

This year I noticed something new: Signs asking visitors to help protect the venerable old trees by refraining from climbing them and shaking their branches. Moss covers their huge, knotty trunks.

Today the sky was overcast, but the temperature was mild. Pale pink petals snowed all around me. Eventually it did begin to rain, but not before I finished my sketch on this first day of spring.