Smooth Pens has a range of brush pens mostly easy to handle for beginners.
However, it would be better if you could choose the brush pen which perfectly matches your skill and the purpose.
This guide will help you to find the best brush pen for you.
-Way to choose-
1. Choose by the strength of the pen tip
It is important to know the types of brush pen tip. Widely, they are categorised to the pen-type and the brush-type.
*The pen-type has a hard tip which is easy to handle even beginners. Write like a sign pen but can write a thin line and thick line by the writing pressure. However, not flexible like a brush-type.
*The brush type has a real brush tip which is suitable for professional calligraphers or who has some experience with the brush pen before.
The brush-type pen tip is made by the hair and very soft and flexible. Either thin or thick, smooth and natural lines will be yours.
2. Choose by the ink type.
Mostly, there are two- types of ink is used for the brush pens.
[Dye ink]
Dye ink is dissolved into a liquid to create the colour. It means easy to create the colour by mix with multiple colours. Dye ink absorbs into the paper, bind to it and dry quickly. Dye ink has bright colours and able to blur with the water. This is recommended for the illustration or manga drawing.
[Pigment ink]
The pigment is finely ground particles of colour that are suspended in the liquid medium. It is light-resistance and water-resistance. Pigment ink is slower-drying. Suitable to use for the outline because the pigment ink sits on top of the paper.
So the colours will not bleed into each other.
-For the beginners-
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen and Pentel Fudemoji Sign Pen would suit beginners. These are easy to control the pen tip and able to write like a sign pen.
Also, Pentel Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen has 12 colour variations and great for calligraphy and the illustration as well.
If you want to write more thick lines or wish to paint a wide area, Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pen, Kuretake Fudebiyori and Kuretake ZIG Brushables which have more flexible pen tip would be a better choice.
Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pen has a wide range of the colour and has dual pen tip which includes soft brush type pen and 0.8mm sign pen. Kuretake Fudebiyori has a metallic colour variation that is suitable for card making or crafting. Kuretake ZIG Brushables have double-sided with two different tones which are perfect for making the gradation or calligraphy.
-Professional/Experienced level user-
If you have some experience with using the brush pens or wish to draw the picture or illust by brush pens, Akashiya Sai Watercolour Brush Pen, Kuretake ZIG Clean Colour Real Brush Marker, Pentel Standard Brush Pen, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and Pentel Art Brush Pens would be perfect.
- Kuretake ZIG Clean Colour Real Brush Marker has a wide range of colours and able to drow like watercolour paint.
- Pentel Standard Brush Pen is one of the famous and popular brush pens in Japan. The long and big pen tip is similar to the real brush pen. They have some range of the pen tip such as a super-fine tip to a bold tip.
- Pocket Brush Pen is a compact size to carry easily. Art Brush Pen has a long pen tip with 18 colour variations.
Package | Colour | Tip Type | Refillable | Ink Type | ||
Kuretake | ZIG Clean Colour Real Brush Marker | 36, 48, 60, 80 Colour Set | 80 Colours | Real Type | Dye Ink | |
ZIG Brushables | 6, 24 Colour Set | 24 Colours | Flexible Type | Pigmented Ink | ||
Fudebiyori | 6 Colour Set | 12 Colours | Flexible Type | Dye Ink | ||
Pentel | Standard Brush Pen | Black Only | Real Type | 〇 | Dye Ink | |
Pocket Brush Pen | Black Only | Real Type | 〇 | Pigmented Ink | ||
Art Brush Pen | 18 Colours | Real Type | 〇 | Dye Ink | ||
Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen | 12 Colours | Hard Type | Dye Ink | |||
Fudemoji Sign Pen | Black Only | Hard Type | Dye Ink | |||
Kinno-ho / Ginnoho Metallic Pen | Gold /Silver | Real Type | Pigmented Ink | |||
Tombow | ABT Dual Brush Pen | 42 Colours | Flexible Type | Dye Ink | ||
Fudenosuke Brush Pen | Black /Gray | Hard Type | Pigmented Ink | |||
Too | Copic | 12, 24, 36 Colour Set | 180 Colours | Flexible Type | 〇 | Alcohol Ink |
Zebra | Zebra Mildliner Brush | 5 Colour Set | 25 Colours | Flexible Type | Pigmented Ink |