The best pen
Stop me if you've heard this one…
I wrote about this pen in the previous iteration of my newsletter, but bear with me. Since I've moved to Substack, there are a lot of new subscribers, so I will talk about it again. There are no high-minded ideals or cultural obsessions this week; just great pen for artists, one I hope you'll appreciate. I’ve you’ve already heard this one, skip to the bottom for a special message.
I obsess over materials. I think it's an anxiety coping mechanism. It's also my job to recommend materials to my students. My personal pen criteria these days are about functionality and portability. Functional, in that the tip allows for a variation in line with waterproof black ink. Portability, in this case, means not carrying around a container of ink that can spill or leak. I love fountain pens, but they aren't portable and I don’t trust them. It's like they sit there snickering, waiting to vent their ink into my carry-on or in my tote. Screw that.
The pen I landed on has the worst pen name I've ever heard and is the most drab-looking pen body I've ever seen. My favorite pen, especially for travel, is the "Pentel Arts Sign Pen Brush, Black Pigment Ink." And if you don't ask for it with those words and in that order, you won't get the right pen. It's got a basic black body and cap with its terrible name emblazoned on the side: "Brush Sign Pen Pigment." — I love Pentel products in general, but couldn't they spend a little money on someone to help them name this terrific product?
Why this pen? It has a flexible tip — brushy without actually being a brush. You can get a juicy thick-to-thin line — very bouncy but not out of control. The ink is waterproof - give it 20 minutes or so to dry, and then you can hit it with whatever. I watercolor directly over it. Very little, if any, contamination of the color depends on the paper. If there's a lot of sizing in the paper, the ink isn't going to penetrate as easily. It has a low price point, compared to any other fountain pen or brush pen. $4 is a typical price I’ve seen.
This pen won't replace my lovely fountain pen, although I reach for the Brush Sign Pen Pigment pen without hesitation. Except for that name, this pen does not give me pause. Nobody compensated me for this recommendation, and I don't own stock in Pentel Corp., the Scheinhardt Wig Company, or whatever name they trade under. To that end, I’m not providing you a link to the pen. You can google it. Just make sure you use all the words. Capitalism is defeated again!
Finally, consider coming to Houston next month to the Comics Sans Frontières conference at Rice University. We kick off with a keynote discussion with Art Spiegelman on March 20, followed by two days of panels and a day of workshops. Three exhibitions dedicated to comics will be on display, including the original art for the FIRST graphic novel (don’t at me, bro) Jack Katz's The First Kingdom.
We'll have FREE tote bags and comics, first come, first served, while supplies last. If you can't make it to the conference, never fear. Issue #55 of the award-winning comics anthology, š!, will encapsulate the conference papers and art by panelists and invited artists. But try to come down. It will be a lot of fun!