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Uni Pin Fineliner Drawing Pen Set of 9 Black Ink with Different Nibs

£0.775£1.55Clearance
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For me, Shinhan Touch Liner and Uchida Marvy were probably the poorest performers. Shinhan’s offering wasn’t particularly impressive despite being slightly more costly than the average price range. The cap didn’t feel very tight and the nib sometimes dried up even with the pen capped. Performance across the different varieties of paper weren’t terribly remarkable either. Some of their other product lines performed well so I was fairly disappointed with their fine-liner offering. The disposable nature also plays against these types of pens. In the long run, the total cost of buying and discarding these pens may end up being higher than Isograph technical pens or a drawing fountain pen. Heavy users of fine-liners, like me, often end up having piles of plastic tubes lying around after the ink has run out. Being mindful and practicing good recycling habits should alleviate some issues that these pens bring to the environment. Pens Reviewed

Both Copic multi-liner and Rotring Tikky surprised me. I’ve not used either before and they performed quite well. The Copic pens did better than some brands in the same price range. With the exception of a wobbly pen clip which is a fairly cosmetic issue, I had a great time drawing with the pen. I might switch over to Copics if I ever have difficulty finding the Uni Pin. OR, maybe they are right. Maybe some companies ARE using dishonest labeling. I’d really love to see the differences. 😊 I guess I’ll have to introduce myself first. My name is Jerry Teo. I’m a freelance technical/scientific illustrator based out of Singapore and a friend of Parkablogs. You can find more of what I do here ( www.teo-ology.com). I run a weekly webcomic Rex Regrets that might be more familiar to other crowds. I mostly sketch with fine-liner pens without pencils, coz I’m lazy. So Parka asked me to do a review on the available brands out there today. Now that we’ve established that…. What’s a Fine-liner Pen? There are discussions on various social media boards debating which pens are ACTUALLY the thinnest, despite what size they are labeled as being. That some are not really producing lines as thin as they say they can.

Some artists swear that dispite pens being labled as being a size larger than other brands, they seem to draw lines even thinner. This is theorized by some to possibly be due to the ink spread/paper penetration, but I would love to see if this is true when lines are drawn on the same paper, side by side. Great article! I found it through a Google image search, while looking for a comparison of the thinnest of the top brands of fineliners. But I was a bit disappointed when I got to the bottom, and found that your comparison was a spreadsheet, rather than a side by side comparison. (Still a great article though!) The test is not completely scientific, although I try to achieve some consistency in the tests I put the pens through. Most of the tests were done on A4 100gsm copier paper (from PaperONE). This replicates the most common conditions which I work in – cheap paper so I can sketch loads. The pens were also briefly tested on Strathmore Bristol paper (smooth 270gsm), Fabriano Tecnico (240 gsm) and Clairfontaine fine grain Drawing Paper (224 gsm).

I reviewed this last because I don’t want my familiarity with this product to influence how I evaluate other pens. I’ve still not changed my mind after the test. This is by far the best performance for the money IMHO. Nibs wear well and generally are quite durable. Ink flow is smooth across most paper types I use for sketching. There are of course, other pens that didn’t find their way into the review. Here are a few types that I didn’t get to find in Singapore, or haven’t had the chance to come across them.

Fine-liners are felt or hard plastic fiber tipped pens that are usually disposable, comes in a variety of pen widths and are generally used for drawing and sketching. They are also known as technical pens. It is a relatively modern development and an offshoot of the more “traditional” Isograph technical pens. Before fine-liner pens came along, there were very few options for fixed width pens that go smaller than 0.5mm. Today, pretty much every major (and smaller) stationery manufacturer with a respectable pen lineup have their own range of Fine-liner pens. This review aims to shed some insight on some of the available types out there. Trivia: Uni PIN is produced by Mitsubishi Pencil Co (makers of UniBall pens) – which has zero relations with the larger Mitsubishi conglomerate.

Uchida Marvy was a familiar brand that I’ve used and rejected. Ink quality was poor, pen didn’t feel robust in the hand. Despite the low cost, it just can’t match up to the consistency of the lines the slightly more expensive pens provide.

These pens are relatively affordable, disposable, lightweight and fairly maintenance-free. Initial costs for a set of Fine-liner pens beats the more expensive Isograph/Rapidograph technical pen sets and makes it very attractive to switch. Fine-liners also don’t have the maintenance issues of Isograph pens, they don’t clog and you can toss it out if they dry up. Brand new pens see little ink flow problems and they are a pleasure to use on smoother paper. Most of the time the pigment inks are waterproof (up to a certain point) and will work well with highlighters, watercolor or markers. The inks are developed for fast drying to prevent accidental smudging. I’ve used the Zig Millennium previously and I liked how it was smooth and easy on the paper surfaces I use on a typical day. More recently Kuretake offered the ZIG Mangaka version. Zig Millenium supposedly uses a photo-safe, archival grade ink that can be used to mark photographs, while Zig Mangaka is lightfast (won’t fade easily with exposure to light) and smudge proof when used with Alcohol based markers and watercolor. I would love to see a side by side comparison of lines drawn by each the top pens in the finest nib sizes that they offer. (Not by what is labeled on each pen. But just the smallest offered.) Very informative as my Micron Pigma are starting to run low on ink was trying to figure out what to try next. I referenced your blog post as well this one ( https://blog.penvibe.com/fineliner-pens-good-use-copics-alcohol-markers/) which considers whether the pen smudges or feathers with alcohol markers. That post considered some not on your list but focused on whether or not the markers smudge or feather. However they didn't consider differences between bristol or mixed media paper and they also used inconsistent pen tip sizes. They did have a nice table comparing a couple properties. I do have to admit my Micron Pigmas do smudge when coloring over with copic. I would really love to see a table that brings it all together (since you have the pens and if you have the time, also your thoughts on Ohto):

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