In this guide, we are going to show you which are the 5 most popular brush pens with video demos and tutorials.
Brush pens have many uses from calligraphy to lettering & sketching. These flexible versatile pens could be seen as bridging the gap between pens & paint, a fountain pen with a brush tip instead of a metal nib.
Some have real hair bristles, others are synthetic, some can be refilled using cartridges, others use ink converters. Brush Pens are available in a wide range of colors.
Table of Contents
1. Sakura Pigma Brush Pen
This is a flexible two in one, it can write like a pen & paint like a brush with ink delivered through the sides & tip. The fine brush nib responds to changes in direction & pressure in an instant making anything possible from doodles to swirls & fine to broad lines. Sakura Pigma Brush Pens are a popular choice with Illustrators & Cartoonists & are filled with Sakura’s renowned archival quality pigment ink which is quick-drying & waterproof. They are available in 9 different colors.
Some satisfied owners tell us that the Sakura Pigma is a “Very good quality brush pen, with an excellent tip” & are “Great pens with a super fine brush tip and really dark ink color”
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Sakura Pigma Brush Pen Demonstration
You can see a demonstration of the Sakura Pigma Brush pens colors, how they work and react with water in the following video.
2. Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pen
This versatile brush pen has a fine tip well suited to drawing consistent lines & use with stencils at one end with a durable soft brush at the other. The brush is ideal for applying color to large areas.
These Tombow ABT pens are water-based, odorless, acid-free & non-toxic. A single reservoir feeds both ends of the pen ensuring the color is matched & they are available individually in a huge range of 96 colors as well as assorted packs. The Tombow web site is very informative with lots of good information, you can also download a free hand lettering worksheet to practice with. Note: these pens are not light-resistant
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Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pen Tutorial.
This is an official Tombow Video showing how to use the brush pens for handwriting, lettering with planners and blending.
3. Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pen
The Faber-Castell pen is great for a variety of tasks including drawing on canvas, sketching & illustrations. The pen can be rolled sideways to create a thick line & the high-quality brush can be used straight & bent without breaking. With a wide range of over 50 colors to choose from light shades are ideal for varnishing techniques while the darker ones are good for covering large areas. They have a good range of tutorials on their website
Other qualities include
- Consistent & even ink flow
- Lightfast
- Acid-Free
- Pigment Ink
- Odorless
- Water-Resistant
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Faber Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pen Tips & Demo’s
You can see some tips & demos for the Faber Castell Pitt Artists Brush Pens from Franz Spohn in this YouTube video.
4. Copic Sketch Markers
This Japanese brand is popular with manga artists, crafters & designers. This dual marker has a flexible brush at one end & chisel tip marker at the other. Both tips can be replaced, they are also refillable using various ink refill bottles. Copic Sketch markers come in a huge range of 358 colors, they have a strong plastic body & color-coded caps.
The Copic website is a mine of information, full workshops & tutorials, they will be releasing their new, original manga — iii Academy. An informational fantasy story filled with colors and comedy! very soon.
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Copic Markers Beginners Tutorial
This is a great video showing what you need and how to get started using Copic markers.
5. Pentel Touch Brush Pens
Pentel Touch Brush Pens have quite a small flexible point compared to other brush pens and are one of the more recommended brush pens for beginners. They give a nice thin line on the upstrokes and decidedly thicker downstrokes.
They have vibrant saturated colors that can be blended with either water or other Pentel brush pen colors. The pens can be used for calligraphy, cross-hatching, feathering, outlining and also detailed lines.
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Pentel Brush Pen Demonstration
This video demo really shows off the vibrancy of the colors and how to use the Pentel Touch Brush Pens for lettering and blending.
It can take some time for a beginner to get to grips with working with a brush pen but there is a lot of info to be found in the form of tutorials & YouTube vids & you know what they say about practice – it makes perfect.
You may also be interested in the 5 inexpensive pens that everyone should have.
Did you use tombow fudenosuke? I bought it to practise calligraphy. But it is not good as I hope. The ink was all dried out in all of them. They did not write well at all. These are not calligraphy pens, the didn’t have special tips for easy writing. Honestly felt like regular pens. Not happy with these.