Drawing Pens

Fineliners are the pens of the steady line: pigment ink in fixed widths, from hairline tips for the finest detail to broad and chisel points near 2 mm, waterproof and fade-resistant once dry, for illustration, comics, lettering and drawing over watercolour. The usual starting point is a small set of three or four widths in black.

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A fineliner puts drawing ink in the body of a pen: a steady line that dries within seconds, ready the moment the cap comes off. That is why it turns up across so much work: inking comic and manga pages, urban sketching, architectural and design drawing, botanical illustration, lettering, journaling, mandalas and pattern work.

The ink is pigment-based, and that carries real consequences. It is waterproof once dry, so a watercolour wash goes straight over the finished line without disturbing it. It is lightfast and acid-free, so the black holds for decades, framed or in a sketchbook. And it stands up to erasing, so the pencil construction underneath rubs out cleanly and only the ink remains. The metal-clad tips run along rulers and templates without smearing, which is what makes these pens standard on drawing boards.

Tone in ink drawing is built from line: parallel and crossed strokes and stippled dots turn one black into a range of greys, and working across two or three widths gives a drawing its depth. The widths run from hairline tips for fine detail to 2 mm and chisel for bold line and lettering, brush tips add a line that widens with pressure, and beyond black the inks come in colours, sepia and grey.

Art & Colour carries fineliners and fine drawing pens in the full range of widths and colours, alongside the sketchbooks and papers they draw best on.