Best Fineliners to use with copic and alcohol markers

Which Fineliner Pens are Good to use with Copics / Alcohol Markers?

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We recently were contacted by Anspire who is a very talented digital artist and has recently delved into more traditional art.

She has been doing a comparison of various fine liner pens used in conjunction with alcohol markers and thought our readers might be interested in her findings.

Naturally, we were delighted to hear from her and she has some surprising results.

Hello,

My name is Anspire and I make art and videos about all sorts of creative stuff. My latest obsession are alcohol markers and I am proud to announce I have collected all Spectrum Noir pens. I also own a few Copics and plan to expand my collection.

I am a primarily digital artist so when it came to traditional art, I was a complete beginner. It was not long until I finished my first few drawings and I realized my fineliner was feathering and smudging as I was coloring. Alcohol markers were obviously different from water-based ones and didn’t behave the same way.

A couple ruined drawings later, I decided it was enough and I went online and browsed Tiger Pens for options. I picked nine pens to review, all in black but in different sizes and waited for them to arrive so I could make my comparison video about with fineliner pens farewell with these types of markers.

Below is what came out of it, and if you are interested in the full version, you can find it linked at the end.

Anspire Fineliner Pens Test Drawing 1

1. Fineliners tested with Copics

Pen brand Size Price* Did it smudge? Did it feather?** Compatibility
Pigma Micron .05 ££££ Yes No None
Kuretake ZIG Millenium .005 £££ Yes No Low
Edding 1880 .02 £££ Yes No Low
OHTO Graphic Liner .01 £££ No No High
Staedler Lumocolor permanent S £££ Yes Yes None
Staedler Lumocolor non-permanent F £££ Yes Yes None
Uni-pin Fine Line 0.05 £££ Yes No Medium
Berol Finewriter N/A ££ No No High
Stabilo point 88 0.4 £ No No High

* ££££- more than £2; £££ – more than £1.50; ££ – between £1.50 – £1, £ – less then £1

** Feathering happens when the ink does not smudge but moves around on the paper, making lines thicker and blurry.

Anspire Fineliner Pens Test Drawing 2

2. Fineliners tested with Spectrum Noir

Pen brand Size Price* Did it smudge? Did it feather?** Compatibility
Pigma Micron .05 ££££ Yes No None
Kuretake ZIG Millenium .005 £££ Yes No Low
Edding 1880 .02 £££ Yes No Low
OHTO Graphic Liner .01 £££ No No High
Staedler Lumocolor permanent S £££ Yes Yes None
Staedler Lumocolor non-permanent F £££ Yes Yes None
Uni-pin Fine Line 0.05 £££ Yes No Medium
Berol Finewriter N/A ££ No No High
Stabilo point 88 0.4 £ No No High

* ££££- more than £2; £££ – more than £1.50; ££ – between £1.50 – £1, £ – less then £1

** Feathering happens when the ink does not smudge but moves around on the paper, making lines thicker and blurry.

Anspire Fineliner Pens Test Drawing 3

3. Overall, three pens stood out, all of them on the cheaper side.

Pen brand Size Price* Did it smudge? Did it feather?** Compatibility
OHTO Graphic Liner .01 £££ No No High
Berol Finewriter N/A ££ No No High
Stabilo point 88 0.4 £ No No High

Since Anspire wrote this post, unfortunately, the Berol fine writers have been discontinued by the manufacturers, however, the Ohto Graphic Liners & the Stabilo Point 88 are still widely available.

4. Recommended Pens

Ohto Graphic Liner Pens

Ohto Graphic Liner Set of 6

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon

Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner Pens

Stabilo Point 88 30 Colours

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon

Anspire My Drawing Using Various Fineliner Pens 2

I must add all pens feel and look great but for the sake of this post which only looks at how well they fare with alcohol markers, the other six were incompatible.

If you are interested to hear more about each one and see how they did for yourself, please check out the video below:

Follow Anspire for more:

YouTube: https://bit.ly/2b7EHIr

Twitter: https://bit.ly/2b0nQGD

DeviantArt: https://bit.ly/2aInt24

Pinterest: https://bit.ly/2bcMlUh

Photo of author

Peter Warrior: Pen & Pencil Expert

With nearly a decade of experience in the pen industry, I successfully ran an online pen business for 9 years. My deep-rooted passion for pens and pencils led me to become a part-time blogger, where I've dedicated myself to sharing the wealth of knowledge I've amassed over the years. I'm a firm believer in the power of the written word, as echoed by Malcolm Forbes: "Putting pen to paper lights more fire than matches ever will." My expertise is not just rooted in business, but in the genuine appreciation and understanding of the art of writing instruments.

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