Coloured drawing inks

I have been wanting to do a careful comparison of my many fountain pen and drawing inks and finally washed over the samples to see which are waterproof.

I drew the squares in pencil, draw a line on the left on dry paper and touched the line with water to make it bleed. I then did a second line on the then-wet paper to see how it dispersed in wet. Then I did the cross-hatching on the right of the square on dry paper, then painted the rectangles and allowed all of them to dry completely. I then painted a wash of water through the square and some immediately re-wet, others were completely waterproof.

For writing you may not need to use waterproof ink, and even for drawing you may prefer to have water soluble ink if you wish to use water to create some tones. I just like to know what my materials will do.

 The inks were tested using a dip pen with a 'post office' nib as that is how I prefer to use them, except the De Atramentis inks and Lamy Blue which were in fountain pens.

 The colour of the Copper Brown and Calli Brown is certainly rather crimson, but not as much as the image on my computer :-(  Ochre Yellow is rather orange but most of the others a reasonably accurate in colour. Many companies, such as www.gouletpens.com, offer samples for a reasonable price and also have painted/drawn samples to view on their websites.

The A.S (Art Spectrum) pigmented inks are terrific for drawing with a dip pen. They are waterproof and lightfast and highly pigmented for good strong colour. I shake these well before use.

The Calli inks were also completely waterproof.

I am using Da Atramentis Document inks in Black and Brown in my fountain pens and am very happy with them. I'll also use their regular non waterproof inks for writing and some drawing, and Lamy inks in my Lamy pens. The rest I prefer to use with a dip pen in the studio.

Brown Inks - sketchbook exploration.

I picked up a box of vintage pen nibs on Saturday - the Mitchell 0528 with a fine slightly slanted calligraphy nib. I thought I'd give one a whirl. I started by doing a little sketch of the nib, then tested it in a walnut ink. This led to a page of explorations on inks. I love that about working in a sketchbook - you never know where the page will end up :-)

In this page I began exploring other inks for use with a dip pen with or without a water wash.

Up the top left is Daniel Smith Walnut Ink. This is also the first of the solid rectangles at the bottom right. It is a fairly thin raw umber colour - a cool brown. It is not waterproof, but if re-wet it remains true to colour so creates tints of itself. Only for use with a dip pen. Not a necessity but I think it would be very nice to explore with a reed pen.

Left of the nib sketch is Noodler's Kiowa Pecan ink, which is also the small rectangle at the bottom right of the page. This is a fountain pen ink but I'll only use it in a dip pen. It is not waterproof and the colours that bleed out with a water wash are quite harmonious but I think I'd just allow it to dry and leave it alone if I use this one to draw with.

Art Spectrum Burnt Sienna Ink is a lovely ink to use with a dip pen and add wash while wet. It is basically waterproof once dry. It is a pigmented ink and not suitable for fountain pens, but lovely with reed pens, sticks and nibs as well as a brush and wash. It comes in a small but also a 1 litre bottle so is a great one for teaching and really splashing around. It does need a good shake before use as the pigment settles to the bottom.

De Atramantis Copper Brown was one I bought to try as a sketching ink in a fountain pen. It is almost an Indian Red colour, but in a wash it shows as a crimson. I think it is best used as a stand alone ink in a pen or with a dip pen rather than with watercolour. It is the rectangle at the bottom left of the group.

De Atramentis Ochre Yellow was the closest I could find for a Burnt Sienna fountain pen ink. It is also a really nice colour in its full strength but quite orange in a wash. It's the middle rectangle on the top line of the group. I wanted to use it with watercolour and allow it to soften in a wash but found the orange too much in most drawings. Interesting as a pen and water wash only though.

So both the ink I bought to use as water-soluble inks have been a little disappointing for that task - they are better just used straight or washed over with water only. I'll go back to just using water-soluble pencils for this task. 

De Atramentis Document Brown, also shown in the middle rectangle on the bottom line, is a winner. It dries quickly and is then waterproof and is lovely in a fountain pen. It flows well, is a great burnt umber colour, and being waterproof I can add watercolour without the strange colour change that I was getting with other non-waterproof inks. The black is also terrific, by the way.

Noodler's Polar Brown separates into an interesting range of colours when washed over with water. It is the second rectangle in the top line and also the sketch of the pen. I rather like the effects using it with water but will only use it with a dip pen.

Art Spectrum Sepia is another pigmented ink. Very dark and waterproof, but only for use with a dip pen. It is so dark that it is rather like using a black. It is the last large rectangle in the bunch.

Finally Noodler's Apache Sunset - a pretty orange colour that I may use in a fountain pen but not for drawing. It is the bright orange small rectangle in the group. 

So my conclusions from my scribbles and swatches is that I'll use the De Atramentis Document Brown Ink in my fountain pens for drawing and writing, and the Noodlers Polar Brown or Art Spectrum Burnt Sienna with dip pens for pen and water wash. 

For more on drawing with inks see Working in Ink here, or sketchbook pages exploring fountain pen inks here. For more on coloured inks see here. For mixing the De Atramentis Document inks see here

Working Sketchbook pages - Fountain Pen and Drawing Inks

I have many pages in my sketchbooks that I use to explore different materials or mediums.

They are not finished sketches but exploratory tests. Some may be useful to others.

This are a series of test sheets in Stillman & Birn Alpha landscape sketchbooks - my favourite for this sort of exploration. I love using a fountain pen to write and draw. I use a number of Lamy pens (as well as a number of other brands) and have had problems with damage apparently caused by Noodlers ink. So I started a search last year for a waterproof black ink.

The German made and highly respected De Atramentis have a huge range of inks. In their Document range they have Document Black, Blue and Dark Blue, Red, Fuschia (Magenta), Turquoise (Cyan), Green and now Brown (update also violet, yellow, and fog blue-grey) that are waterproof once dry. They also have an Archival Black that has been tested under more stringent tests but appears the same as the Document ink. I have used both of these black inks in my Lamy Joy, Safari and Al-Star pens and they are wonderful. They are also excellent in a Sailor EF and a Namiki/Pilot Falcon EF soft (see a gorgeous video of a custom Namiki Falcon here.)  The Document Brown is wonderful - many brown inks are variations of reds and oranges rather than a true sepia or burnt umber brown like this ink - see Noodlers 'Singapore Sepia' below - which is maroon. You can see all the tests and mixes I have done if you do a search for De Atramentis in my blog.

I also wanted non waterproof inks for the Lamy pens as it can be rather nice to draw with a fountain pen then wash watercolour over and soften the lines. You just need to know before you start whether the ink is permanent or not. While I haven't yet found the perfect waterproof brown, I rather like the non waterproof De Atramentis Ochre Yellow and Terra Di Sienna. The Ochre Yellow actually looks more yellow/orange than this image and the Terra Di Sienna a little less red. (Update - I find Document Brown to be the perfect waterproof brown fountain pen ink :-) Mixed with Document Blue and some thinner, it creates the perfect grey too)

Fountain pen ink tests De Atramentis and Noodlers

Below are the De Atramentis Fog Grey and Ochre Yellow so you can see them in more detail. I use these for drawing with in my Lamy pens. The grey is lovely to write with too but they are certainly not waterproof. The colour is still a bit bright for the Ochre Yellow but you can see it is not at all 'yellow' - much more of an orange.

De Atramentis Fog Grey and Ochre Yellow fountain pen inks

 This page is testing the De Atramentis Archive ink in a Shaeffer pen. Dry after a minute.









This is Sailor ink - a lovely Nano ink that is almost waterproof if you use a very fine pen such as the Sailor with the EF nib.








In the Sailor EF the ink is applied very thinly so is more waterproof. De Atramentis is the most reliable though if completely waterproof is needed.

This next page is testing some Higgins inks with dip pens, which I also like to use. These proved not to be waterproof, which can have its uses. :-)

Below are some more explorations with Higgins Fountain pen India ink - non waterproof - and De Atramentis Fog Grey. I was testing them out for drawing -  looking for an ink that could be softened with a wash.