Tag Archives: brush

Review – Pentel Pocket Brush Pen

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So I do a lot of non-drafting type drawing, which I will admit is most of drawing. But in that type of drawing, lines are not the same length, they waver, get thicker and thinner and such. If you need to get a similar effect, Pentel has a pen for you.20121205-010917.jpg

 

The Pentel Pocket Brush Pen is quite a nice instrument with a very uninspired name (which is good for tracking it down). The body of the pen is medium length, slick and black. At the bottom of the cap in silver is an asian character that I don’t know the origin of and the word Pentel. They are both slightly engraved and hinder nothing. They are the only adornments on the pen. There is also a clip on the pen that serves its purpose well.

The brush itself is very nice, it is easy to keep at a point and is very responsive to pressure. The pen requires no squeezing or other methods to keep ink flowing so one always gets a nice full line.

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The ink itself is black but thin. It takes multiple coats to create a true black, otherwise one gets streaks, but these are only visible on close inspection and may be what you’re going for. The cartridges are also replaceable and fairly easy to find. The pen comes with two and one can buy packs of four.

In short the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen is just that, a pocket brush pen, and a very nice one at that. It does its job well and painlessly. It is one of the finer and cheaper brush pens I have encountered.

Review – Pigma Brush

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Do you like the flowing lines and moderation of a brush, but want the simplicity of a pen? The makers of Micron have a solution. The Pigma brush.

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The ink is the same as the Micron ink. It is a very deep black that applies smoothly to the page and rarely bleeds. It is waterproof and fadeproof archival ink. It marks just as well or better than any pen around.

 

The body of the brush is the same as the Micron’s, as well. It is slick and glossy, but fortunately easy to hold, and never once felt like it was slipping in my hand. The cap locks in place firmly and snaps haphazardly onto the back. The clip attached to the cap works das designed. The writing on the body is easy to read and rub resistant, and the identification on the cap is easy to read.

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But now for what this item is about: the brush. The brush is fairly short, no longer than the nib of the regular Microns or most other pens. The brush at its finest is super thin, and goes up to an above average pen thickness. The line range is roughly equivalent to the Micron 005 to 05 and everywhere in between. The application is buttery smooth and never splutters or splatters. Even when the brush begins running out of ink you will only begin to get a grey line instead of a patchy one. And it takes a long time to get it to run out.20121102-235937.jpg

 

For fine detail work this item is perfect, it is a perfect addition to the Pigma family and suits the audience it was created for perfectly. But it is for a specific audience. Very large or multimedia projects will find the product ill suited to create most desired effects. But that does not diminish the fact that it is a very good pen.

Speak Your Mind 34 #166-170

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QUESTIONS

1. What kind of toothpaste do you use?

2. Do you like beards?

3. How many students are in your gym class?

4. When you get out of high school, do you think you would rather work days or nights?

5. Would you like to move to a different house?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. I don’t use toothpaste, just a bare brush.

2. Yes, I have one.

3. I no longer have gym class.

4. I am out and I’d rather work days.

5. Perhaps, but it would be a hassle.

Review – Bienfang 12 Watercolor Brush Pens

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If water color trays aren’t your style, there are of course other options. Like the Bienfang watercolor brush pens for example.

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The pens come in a dozen colors and with a blending pen. The colors are roughly two of the standard assortment: two greens, two yellows, two reds, two blues, an orange, a brown, a black and a purple. They vary in shades enough to make them unique from the standard assortment of bright crayola colors, but they still aren’t the most natural of colors.

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They come with the color separated from the brush like most brush pens. One must remove a ring to expose more thread that the cap can screw into to connect the two. The design is one of the best I’ve seen but leaves no room for more color. Once a pen is used fully there is no option but to discard it. The color must also drain into the brush before use and the body of the pen must be constantly squeezed to keep fresh color in the brush. But this is common on many cheaper brush pens and is no real problem.

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The brushes themselves are nice and tend to keep a point (once they are full of color). They do have a tendency to have a problem with the cap but that may just be me having a problem putting them back on. The color is applied in nice, smooth strokes if the brush is full and does layer and blend as expected. They are rather muted, though, and are hardly distinguishable from similar colors in the set until multiple coats are applied. Even then it is hard to tell the two reds or yellows apart. The color is also not true water color and is resistant when dry and stains clothes, so one should be careful when using it.

If one likes the watercolor esthetic but does not want the hassle of the tubes or trays, I’d say this is a good replacement. It does not, however, have all of the benefits of full water color. It is pleasant looking and nice to use but simply cannot capture the full water color appeal. I personally have found very little use for full water color and only a little more for this. I am not a fan of using either, but if you find that you are in need of a watercolor look, I would recommend a look.

Review – Prang 8 Water Color Set

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Ah, watercolor! It brings me back to the days when I sucked at art but loved it all the time. And it was so easy to get off your hands and clothes (and unfortunately the paper, too). Well it turns out that it is a legitimate art medium. But, are those fancy tubes really necessary? Can’t we just use the same old Prang tray that we used when we were kids?

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Well, you can, but they’re much harder to use. For starters they are completely solid, meaning that the water necessary to use them is much greater and the colors will still appear washed out on the paper. And of course there are the standard problems with working with water color to deal with.

 

The colors themselves are the standard bright, crayola-type colors that every “children’s” art supply set comes in. However, with them being water based paints they are much easier to blend and tone down than many other art supplies. Realism is still hard to achieve, though. The colors also have a tendency to be sticky and/ or runny, never quite balancing.

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The brushes are okay but definitely the worst part of the set, being cheap and imprecise. Better brushes or better yet foam pads are necessary.

All in all, I think getting better paints would be a necessity for any serious work as the paints are hard to work with. At the least better brushes. But they are serviceable paints and will get the job done in most cases and in the hands of an experienced painter, nearly all cases.