Sketchy Ink . . .

Fine liners make beautiful ink lines - uniform in width and density, and these lines give strong definition to watercolor sketches. I mostly use fine liners because I mostly am a perfectionist when it comes to drawing. I think that came down to me from my architect father. He had to use ruling pens and would have loved fine liners. I never managed to use ruling pens well.

But, mostly due to my sketchbook habit, I periodically try to be a little more sketchy and loose in the interest of speed. I don’t mean the speed of catching moving objects in real time - just that it would be nice to actually finish a road trip journal before a year or two goes by.

And this brings us to “sketchy ink”. I won’t talk about fountain pens here because they hate me, and I don’t think I can ever make friends with them. I also have the absolute requirement that my ink be waterproof (one of the reasons fountain pens hate me). So there is not a lot of choice when it comes to sketchy pens.

By “sketchy”, I mean a pen that makes a light line that might be broken and uneven, so you sketch with it like you might with a pencil - in small strokes that overlap - instead of drawing a long steady line. None of my three chosen sketchy pens shown above will draw a nice uniform line at one go, in fact.

I will start from the bottom with the Bic Original Orange barrel pen. These are very inexpensive and make a very light, thin line - which you can build up with layers to emphasize the value. It is also very good for light crosshatching to build value in shadow areas. If used with a feather touch, it can create a pretty even tone.

Next is the Micron PN which is different from the Micron Fine Liners because it has a somewhat flexible plastic nib (that’s what PN stands for). With pressure, you can create a thin line with some variation in width - not much, but enough to give a sketchy feel. It will also create a nice even tone if held lightly.

My favorite is the Flexion Ball Pen by Pilot. It makes sketchy lines like the other two, with a little line width variance, but it will not create an even tone like they will. I mostly love this pen because it is erasable. This allows me to sketch in ink because a wrong line can be erased and corrected (I am not one to “live with mistakes” if I don’t have to). The ink erases cleanly with the plastic eraser on the end of the pen because heat is created by the friction of rubbing it on the paper. It follows that heat alone will erase this ink, and it will. It is possible to sketch in ink, add your watercolor, and then get rid of all the ink with a hairdryer if you don’t like the look. Even more fun - putting the painting in the freezer will bring the ink back.

When testing pens like these, the little marks like the ones shown above don’t really tell you much. In that format, they look pretty much alike.

So, what I advise is to draw the same subject with each pen and add whatever paint you will use. Keep the paint application pretty much the same on each. You will be surprised to see the “personality” of the ink line show up in a much more obvious way. When I say things like the “personality of the ink” is when people look at me weird, but I think you will all know what I mean.

Here are three little cabins done with the three sketchy pens and the same watercolor palette. Which do you like best? Does it match with what you would have chosen from the test marks in the first picture?