Category Archives: Utensils

Review – Pigma Graphic 1

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So you like to draw things a bit larger, and technical pens just don’t get big enough. You don’t want to use a brush or something similar. You may want to try the Pigma Graphic in size 1.

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The body is identical to a Micron body. It’s tan and smooth, with most necessary information printed on it. It has a place on the back for the cap to fit that is color coded. The cap is nice and has a metal clip. On the top it says 1 to indicate the size. The top can rub off, though, with some rough treatment. The grip section is easy, kinda small but easy to hold onto due to it being textured.

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The tip is felt. It comes to a point that is about 1mm. It flows nicely, laying down a nice line with no inconsistencies. The point doesn’t have much flexibility, making the line very constant with could be a plus or a minus. The ink is the same black that all Pigma pens have. It is fade and smear resistant, with some waterproofness to it. It is also acid-free, making it archival quality. In other words: it’ll last as long as your paper does. The ink is also a very nice, true, dark black. The writing experience is smooth and easy.

To sum up, the Graphic 1 is basically a larger tip Micron. It does have a different type of tip, on which the point can be more easily damaged, but the base is more secure. If you like Microns and need something bigger this is a good choice. And if you like felt-tip pens and want a higher quality one this is certainly the pen for you.

Review – Le Pen 003 Technical Pen Black

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How thin do you need your lines to be? Do you need them consistent as well? Are the conventional technical pens just not thin enough for you? Then you may want to try out the Le Pen technical pen in a mind-bogglingly small 003 tip.

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The body of the pen is white. All necessary information is printed in several languages on the side in black, it is raised which makes me thing it will rub off with a lot of use, but this hasn’t happened yet. It also has the size on top for easy reference during storage. The clip is a very flexible plastic covered with a metal strip, making it durable and flexible at the same time, though it is quite strange and bulky. The cap lines up flush with the body and almost flush with the end when it is posted. The body proper is flat, and slightly tapered to the front, with some grip from the raised writing. It is a bit fat which makes it uncomfortable for smaller hands or for long periods of time. The grip and point though are almost identical in size to the Micron.

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The nib however is very small, it feels entirely destroyable every time it is placed on paper. The ink is as resilient as micron ink. And I would say as black but the size of the nib makes it seem much grayer so I can’t tell. I almost think I’m writing with a pencil sometimes. Though because of it’s size the line isn’t the most consistent in the world, but it is the most consistent at this size. It does write incredibly smooth and remarkably comfortable for a short period of time.

So overall this is a great pen. It writes smooth, puts down ink well, and is one of the few pens you can get in this size. It is slightly less comfortable than a Micron in my opinion, and I would be tempted to say the ink is not as good. But it’s still a great value and a handy pen for some of those more detailed lines.

Review – Micron Orange, Yellow, and Fresh Green Colors

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It’s that time again, the time I review Micron colors. The three I have this time are the bright colors: orange, yellow, and fresh green.

Starting with the orange: It’s a very bright color, brighter than the fruit of the same name. It’s also a little bit on the light side, looking a bit washed out on the paper. It’s less pleasant than most of the other Micron colors. The pigment does apply evenly and there is no doubt it is orange, though.

On to the yellow, which is super saturated. It’s almost illegible on white paper, on off-white it’s not much better, even though it is still rather subdued and looks quite like the yellows presented in nature. In large patches it loses its illegibility and actually looks quite pleasant. It’s probably the closest to a natural yellow you’ll find in a pen.

Now the fresh green. This one looks like lime green. It is also super bright, and comes the closest to hurting my eyes of the bunch. The pigment tends to pool, creating some shading when drawing. This can be both advantageous and disadvantageous depending on the effect you’re going for. It is the most likely to bleed of any of the colors, but with this selection that isn’t too bad. I would also say this is the least realistic and useful of the bunch.

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Overall, these three bright colors have some issues, but are fairly good. They write well and are entirely servicable, but finding jobs for them seems difficult to me. I’m not sure if they are the must-haves of the other Microns, but they are quite good.

Review – Micron Rose, Brown, and Sepia Colors

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So now we get to the final group of the Micron colors that came in the 8 pack of Micron colors. These are the weird or non-standard colors, in my opinion.

The first is Rose, which is a pink: they just call it Rose to make it fancy. It’s a very deep, pleasant, pink color, not like the very vibrant, in-your-face pinks that dominate what is considered pink these days. It doesn’t really approach purple, but it is darker than most roses I’ve ever seen. It’s surprisingly nature-y for a pink, though. It does have some problems with bleed-through on thin paper, but not a lot.

Next we have Brown, which I would call light brown. I would say it’s sort of a fertile, soft, earth color. Again, for a light color it’s fairly subdued, not like a Crayola pencil or anything. Again, it’s surprisingly real looking. It has no problems with bleed-through at all really, and goes well in a landscape.

Finally we have Sepia, which I call dark brown. It’s very mud-like. Another deep, saturated color. It can get very saturated though, and end up looking like black in the final product, so it does take careful application. It also tends to pool, resulting in spots of darker color. Some skill is required to get it to look right. Surprisingly, though, it has very little bleed-through even on thin paper.

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These ‘non-standard’ colors are very nice overall. If one is looking to do nature sketches, landscapes, etc. these are quite nice. They are very subdued and blend in nicely. I find them much more pleasant than the bright reds and blues of the other Microns. If you just want standard colors for organizing or technical things, these are not the pens you need.  However, if you’re drawing a lot of the outside, or in cool colors, these are fantastic.

Review – Micron Red, Blue, Purple, and Green colors

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I have reviewed several Micron pens in the past. But in case you were wondering if they could add a little more color to your life, here are some Micron Colors in .05.

It is an eight-pen set of colors from Micron that I’m looking at. It includes black so that’s out. The first four colors I will look at are what I call the ‘standard’ colors. They are red, blue, green, and purple.

I have already talked about the blue and the red so I’ll cover those quickly first. These pens are larger than the ones I reviewed previously so the ink is a bit more saturated. They aren’t as glaringly red and blue as before, but they are still some of the brightest and most vibrant of their colors on the market, aside from the awful nano-liner. Getting this large also makes them more prone to bleed-through, of which there is a slight hint in the blue.

Next we have the purple, which, in the Micron style, is a very aggressive purple. It is very deep, and in low lighting could be mistaken for black. It is very highly saturated, and changes little to none when applying pressure for some time to just tapping it on the paper. Amazingly at this darkness it isn’t very prone to bleed-through.

Finally the green. This is, surprisingly, a fairly sedate green, falling in the middle of forest and lime. It is unmistakably green, but rather unremarkable. It doesn’t jump like the other inks in this set. It just sits there, making it rather like greens in real life which you have to look closely to appreciate. Again, surprisingly enough this color is the most prone to bleed-through in the entire set, even writing fairly fast it leaves dots on the other side of fairly thin paper.

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So overall the ‘standard’ colors in this Micron package are great. They’re not really the best for sketches of nature or the outside world, but for labeling and organizing they are great. For example, different color parts in a schematic. It’s nice to have colored pens around and these hold up the Micron standard. I can definitely find a use for them.