New Pen Day!

I haven’t been happy with my comic lettering for a while now, so lately I’ve been looking for a different pen to try. Again.

A year ago, I started with a .7 Copic Multiliner, but I didn’t like the plastic tip. Also, the ink faded more than I liked under the eraser. Then I tried a C6 nib, but the strokes terminated a bit too pointy. It was also scratchy on the bristol, but the ink was great (Deleter 4). Other dip nibs were similarly unsatisfying. I followed that with a Koh-I-Noor .6 Rapidograph. Lovely pen, but it was also too scratchy, and just a hair too thin. Their ink was surprisingly good though, especially since it was from an unopened set from the 80’s I bought off eBay.

So, I wanted to try a pen that was smooth on the bristol, so I could print in a natural feeling way. I wanted to be able to choose my ink, have a relatively stable line, and a stroke thickness a bit wider than my tech pen.

I landed on a TWSBI Eco fountain pen. Medium nib. I’ve loaded it up with Platinum Carbon Black ink. It faded a bit under the eraser on the last comic, but the pen writes fairly wet, so the heavier ink flow might fair better. I have yet to try it on a comic proper, but lettering tests on scrap bristol look very hopeful.

It’s a very cool pen, man. Analog drawing tools are the best.