Brush pens. The popularity of brush pens, and availability, seems to have exploded a little in recent years. But when I first picked one up it was just a case of grabbing whatever was around, and, if you didn't like the results, you just blamed your lack of skills and chucked it in a drawer and pretended to ignore it. Or maybe that was just me.
Now, with so many available, it can be kind of overwhelming - not to mention expensive - trying to find what suits you. Hopefully this will help a little. And if I've missed out your favourite (or you just want to disagree with me!) drop a note below and let us know why you love it!
I warned you - this is not a complete list. This isn't even a complete guide to my own collection! I have a terrifying number of pens (It's my job, that's justification enough right?) and we'd be here for a very long time. So this is the greatest hits - my favourites, the mostly widely loved and commonly available.
Without further ado, I'll start at the top!
My Favourites
Pentel Brush Sign
I LOVE this pen. It's flexible, but controllably so, not too big and pretty damn durable, even with my heavy hand! I've never had one dry out on me and the brush doesn't start getting snaggly over time. Overall, they're pretty forgiving and for that reason alone I always recommend it to people asking me where to start. The pigmentation is great, giving deep, consistent colours, and there is an amazing range available, including 12 new-ish ones (that I sadly STILL haven't gotten my hands on but love the look of!). If I could only use one brush pen for the rest of my life (I shudder to think...I'd rather lose a toe!) this would be it.
Marvy Le Pen Flex
A close second. This is the closest match I've found to a dip pen...it has a teensy tiny nib, so achieves some super thin lines and nothing too thick on the downstroke. I use it in a pinch to mimic more traditional calligraphy when I can't face the inevitable mess of nib & ink. The range of colours available is interesting - not just your standard colours, but ochre, navy and peppermint, and, like, the Pentel the pigmentation is great. They also have the Le Pen Fineliner for bonus colour matching aaaaaaaaand, vaguely irrelevant but, they look great. Just quite a pretty little pen.
Popular Vote
Tombow Fudenosuke
Tombow is where a lot of people start. And please, don't get me wrong. it's a great brand who I enjoy spending lots of money with! I just have two issues with the Fudenosuke. Firstly - they never expand the colour range and it's not a hugely exciting one if I'm being honest. Secondly, the pigmentation just isn't great. It's a little transparent so you can see the crossover strokes.
The hard tip is my favourite brush nib (even over the Pentel as it's a little smaller and alot firmer!), but the colour/pigmentation kind of lets it down for me. The Fudenosuke Twin Tip (a recent discovery!) was exciting because the black was so much denser buuuuut the tip was way softer. So it's a bit of a goldilocks situation, and here's hoping their next release gets it just right for me!
Honourable Mention
Zebra Fude
Again, another fairly recent discovery for me. A decent, solid black, but I've got mixed feelings about the nib. There is an Ultra-fine available which I would be interested in trying, but personally, the fine was way too chunky and flexible for my taste. On the other hand, the medium, slightly larger than any of the pens so far mentioned, was actually really nice to write with. So far they are only available in black, but it's one I'll probably keep an eye on and try out from time to time,
Big & Bold Brush Pens
So, I'm not a huge fan of big brush pens because...well, it sounds stupid, but I hate writing big! That doesn't stop me from keeping them around of course, I just don't buy them with quite the same fervour.
Tombow
Is pretty much the go to right? Huge range of colours, dual ended with a firm-ish brush for the size, pretty versatile and widely available. I'm not sure I have to say much more about them. Definitely a staple of any pen collection
Ecoline
I absolutely love Ecoline overall. I love the genuine watercolour vibe you get with these pens and the fact they can be used alongside the liquid watercolours. For me, the nibs are too soft and I struggle with them, especially as the graduated colour makes it tricky to tidy up the edges afterwards, so I don't tend to use them alone, but there's a whole blog coming up about my love for Ecoline so I won't go into it too much now! Another thing I really appreciate about them is that there isn't alot of crossover with their sets - you don't end up with lots of doubles if you go down the pack route. They are available as singles, just not as far and wide as Tombow.
Karin
I only have the Karin Metallic Deco Brush Pens at the moment. I haven't found anywhere selling the original range as singles, and as much as I would LOVE the complete boxset (and have dropped many many hints to that end!) I might have to save a few more pennies up first. But the Deco Brush pens are amazing - gorgeous metallic colours and SUPER juicy! There's a terrifying moment if you haven't used them in a while where they seem to have dried out, but a good shake usually fixes that. Great on dark paper, and apparently (I don't doubt this, just haven't personally tested it) glass, ceramics, plastic and more. The nibs are little shorter than Tombow so there's a nice firmness and control to them. Did I mention how vivid the colours are?
And there you have it - my ten cents on the subject. But actually, don't listen to me, or anybody else, too closely - what works for one person may not work for you at all! I can appreciate, and in certain circumstances even recommend, a great pen, that I absolutely hate using. Sometimes they just don't work with your style and I always figure the most important part is finding something you enjoy using! So what have I missed? What's your favourite brush pen?
Comments