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As a former courtroom artist in San Francisco, I highly recommend Pentel color brushes.
I have been drawing and painting with Pentel Color Brushes (formerly known as Brush Pens) for 20 years. Previously, I had drawn for years with Pelikan ink pens.
Once I had tried using Pentel brushes, I couldn't go back to the limited line offered by a regular ink pen.
Pentel's brushes allow a great range of expression, from super-black thick pools and wet strokes, to fine black lines with almost imperceptible delicacy, to drybrush techniques that allow perfectly calibrated tints from 0 to 100% (if you practice).
The key is to know how the brush hairs are loaded and what the brush is going to deliver -never put the brush down if you don't know how the ink is flowing. Once you know that the brush is dry, it will remain dry, mostly. Once you squeeze the brush cartridge and know that the brush is loaded, it will remain loaded until you let the ink flow onto the paper, dissipating it.
The brush hairs can be used as a unified stroke, or they can spread to provide doubleor triple-strokes.
Sometimes, you can be surprised with how the brush hairs touch the paper, and the result can show elements of chance.
Although I carry them in a sealed plastic bag, I find that I can carry them for a short time unbagged in my pocket, and they don't leak.
Don't expect to be able to make great art from them before practicing for hours. They are like musical instruments -they take time to learn.
I highly recommend Pentel color brushes and their cartridge refills -at least the black ones. I did use the colored ones once, and all of the colors faded after the painting had been left in the sun.
Hopefully, I'll be using the black color brushes for the next 20 years.
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THE BRUSH OF A THOUSAND CURSESI do a lot of cartooning and I have found this pen to be a blessing and the eternal bane of my artistic existence. I can't ink with a pen because the line isn't expressive enough, and my hand shakes ever so slightly. A brush minimizes the tremor in my lines and gives an appealing smooth expressiveness to them. I can't stand using real brushes; the barrels are always too thin, which makes my hand shake more, which is fixable by wrapping the brush with wads of tape, but the constant dipping into the inkwell drives me insane. In college I used to use the fat end of the Sakura Sumi Brush pen ... I cried when I couldn't find them anymore. The Copic was no good at all .. the Tombow ink is water-soluble, which means Fingerprints Galore .. I liked the Kuretake sumi pen, but then couldn't find refills for it (not so terrible a tragedy since the Kuretake did occasionally leak) so I was going to try filling a Pentel Aquash with ink .. But then I saw the Colorbrush in the art store. I have used it constantly for the last decade, and in balance I'd have to say I am pleased with it. Mostly.
What I like: The barrel is wide and long so it's easy to hold and minimizes my hand tremors. The nib is ENORMOUS and just the right amount of springy so you can get a thin line without having to hover painfully, and thick lines come with intentional pressure. The barrel holds a LOT of ink, so they last a reasonably long time.
What I hate: You have to squeeze the barrel to make the ink flow. In theory this gives you more "control" which must be true since I absolutely hate the fully-automatic Pocket Brush (also from Pentel). But in reality this means you spend 2/3 of your time being irritated because the pen is either too dry or too wet. Usually it's too dry. The line is gray and feathery; I want it to be solid & black, so I squeeze the pen. It gurgles. The line is still too dry. Squeeze it again. Gurgle. Still too dry, but wait a minute, because the ink must be coming. So I plod along at half-speed with a dry brush, waiting for the ink to show up. Nothing's happening. Squeeze it again. Still nothing.
What I used to do at this point was to swear at the pen and squeeze it REALLY HARD, and then suddenly the nib would be soaked and the only thing I could draw with it at that point was big wet smeary blobs. I'd have to prop it face-up in a cup and wait for the ink to flow back, or waste the ink by blotting it on a towel until it was right again. Later, I learned patience which means I lose the same amount of time but not as much ink as I gently squeeze and cajole the pen to behave correctly. It still has a diabolical tendency to over-soak. The ink never comes fast enough when I squeeze it, and I've never been able to figure out exactly how to time it so it comes out right. Most of the time it is either too dry or too wet. Those moments when it is just right are rare and precious as diamonds. It usually works perfectly for 2 days just before the cartridge runs dry, and then I screw a new one on, and the nightmare begins again.
Still, it's the best brush pen I've found (which is a sad statement on the nature of brush-pen technology.) I rely on it. I don't know what I'd do without it. I am trapped in an endless cycle of childish delight and white-hot fury. Get this pen and you can join me among the ranks of the damned. I recommend it. As long as people keep buying this, Pentel will keep manufacturing it and I need those refills to continue to be available.
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