As much as the digital world has taken every sector by storm, artists still love using inking pens. Matter of fact, the experience one gets using an ink pen can never be the same as using styluses and other digital pens. Inking pens are often used by professionals. If you choose a pen instead of a pencil, your mistakes will not be easy to correct, and this is why pens are great for professionals.
Nonetheless, there are still some pens engineered for beginners. You just need to know what you need. When choosing a pen, there are several factors to consider. Notably, you check the type of point it sports and its width. A good pen should match your needs. A good pen should produce an ink that does not fade over time; this is mostly a characteristic of archival inking pens.
A pen should have an ergonomic design that will make it easier to handle when you are drawing. Lastly, consider your budget and buy the best pen possible. Below are the top pens for artists and designers.
1. Bianyo Black Micro-Pen
Designed for writing, sketching, illustrating, and drawing, the Bianyo Black Micro Pen is one of the best INking pens you can find anywhere at the moment. It has a simple design that allows you to capture delicate and minute details while creating strokes of different widths.
The Bianyo pen offers various nib sizes for diversity. The micro nib sizes range from 0.2mm up to 0.6mm. There’s also a soft brush tip. This pen is perfect to use alongside papers such as trace and vellum.
Some companies make a good pen but the included ink isn’t up to the mark. This is not the case with the Bianyo pen as the pigment ink is waterproof. It’s also non-toxic and has great archival quality. In our testing, this ink didn’t smear, bleed, or fade away.
This pen is very easy to use. It’s extremely lightweight and very durable. The lines stay smooth with clean outlines and detailed lines. However, the ink isn’t refillable so you’ll have to buy a new pen after the ink is finished.
Pros
- The pen comes with archival ink.
- The micro nib sizes range from 0.2mm up to 0.6mm.
- A soft brush tip. included.
- This ink is quick-drying and permanent.
- It is acid-free, smear-resistant, fade, and water-resistant and does not feather.
- Perfect to use alongside papers such as trace and vellum.
- It’s extremely lightweight and very durable.
- The lines stay smooth with clean outlines and detailed lines.
Cons
- The ink isn’t refillable so you’ll have to buy a new pen after the ink is finished.
2. DAPAWIN Ink Pen
Probably the cheapest set of Inking pens on this list, then Dapawin Ink pens are your best bet. Though these pens are a bit cheap, they maintain high quality. And these pens are perfect for drawing, illustrating, sketching, and mapping.
The Dapawin INk pen set packs a total of 9 pens. These pens have different nib sizes as you can find as low as 0.05mm sized nib as well as 0.8mm nib. There’s also a brush in the pack (1-2)mm. Various nib sizes make this pen extremely useful for drawing, sketching, cleaning outlines, detailed line drawing, and other drafting techniques.
The Inks are high quality too as they are non-toxic, acid-free, and water-based ink. You can store your artworks for decades as all these pens have ink that boasts of high-quality archival ink. On our testing, the Ink didn’t bleed, smear or fade away even a bit.
This pen is very comfortable to hold on to. And thanks to it being very light, most of the time you won’t even feel if there’s something in your hand. However, I’d like to point out one thing here. And that is if your hands’ sweat then you might not want to opt for this pen as it gets slippery.
Pros
- Cheap Pen that provides good quality.
- The nib sizes vary from 0.05mm to 0.8mm.
- A (1-2)mm brush was included.
- Best for drawing, sketching, cleaning outlines, detailed line drawing, and other drafting techniques.
- A non-toxic, acid-free, and water-based ink
- The ink is Good for archiving artwork.
- The Ink doesn’t bleed, smear, or fade away.
- Very light and comfortable to grip on.
Cons
- If your hands sweat then you might not want to opt for this pen as it gets slippery.
3. Precision Black Micro-Pen
Looking to buy a whole bunch of ink pens without breaking the bank? Then quit looking because the Precision Blac micro Pen offers 13 Pens for around $15! It is affordable and ideal for beginners as well as professionals.
With this pack, you’ll get 13 black micro-pen fine liner ink pens. The sizes range from 0.15mm to 3mm. The INk used with this pen is acid-free and great for the environment. It’s quite stable chemically and is waterproof. It also won’t smear, bleed, or fade away with time.
This pen has a long metal tip that’s ideal for use with rulers and templates. This pen is quite popular with designers, artists, and calligraphers because of its ability to provide consistent lines and perfect outlines.
The pens feel great to hold too. It’s light so your fingers won’t ache from holding them for a long time. However, one thing that you might notice is that they aren’t that durable. So use them with care.
Pros
- The pens come with high-quality non-toxic water-based ink that dries fast.
- The ink is acid-free and does not lose its original shade, smear, or skip.
- affordable and ideal for beginners as well as professionals.
- Affordable and ideal for beginners as well as professionals.
- The nib sizes range from 0.15mm to 3mm.
- The long metal tip is ideal for use with rulers and templates.
- Provides consistent lines and perfect outlines.
- It’s light so your fingers won’t ache from holding them for a long time.
Cons
- Not very durable.
4. Sakura Pigma 30062 Ink Pen
Sakura Pigma is one of the pens that offer accuracy allowing you to draw minute details. It offers great archival quality drawings making it a favorite of many artists. Besides drawing, the pen comes in handy for writers and illustrators. The Pigma ink safeguards everyone’s work, and this is a strength for the pen.
The pen offers smooth and skip-free writing and drawing with consistent ink colors. It has been used by artists and crafters in many parts of the world. This pen is also known for being stable and waterproof. This means that the ink doesn’t smear or fade away with time.
While testing out we also noticed that the pen didn’t bleed through the paper. This particular quality makes it ideal for artworks. The ink dries fast so stop thinking about if the paper will stay soggy and ruin your art. This pen comes with six nib sizes for versatile use. The sizes are 0.50mm, 0.45mm, 0.35mm, 0.30mm, 0.25mm and 0.20mm.
However, one thing we noticed is that the pen is a tad bit bigger than normal pens. So someone with small hands might not feel comfortable while using this pen.
Pros
- The Sakura Pigma comes with archival quality ink.
- It is chemically stable, waterproof, does not smear or fade.
- The ink does not feather or bleed through the paper making it ideal for any form of art.
- You can use the pen for graphic art, for scrapbooking freehand art, and much more.
- Again, the ink dries fast.
- There are six nib sizes for versatile use. The sizes include 0.50mm, 0.45mm, 0.35mm, 0.30mm, 0.25mm and 0.20mm. The pack is offered at a great price.
Cons
- They are not ergonomically designed for small hands.
5. Copic Markers Multiliner 1.0
The Copic Markers Multiliner 1.0 is the best ink pen for drawing. Besides the waterproof design, the pen comes in more than 10 different colors, has minimal bleed, and is excellent for creating sharp lines.
Before going all technical let me tell you what I liked most about this pen. I’m someone who loves drawing sharp lines and this pen was perfect for doing that. One other thing to mention is that I didn’t notice any sort of bleeding while using this pen.
The Copic Multiliner 1.0 uses high-quality ink. The Ink is pigmented perfectly and thus it holds up perfectly on the paper and results in crisp lines. This is why I believe this pen to be one of the best for drawing and sketching.
This ink pen has a very luscious feel and is an excellent choice if you want to create good drawings. The nibs are refillable too so you’ll be saving quite a few bucks there. However, as the tips are a bit small they need to be taken care of properly otherwise they might break.
Pros
- Excellent ink pen for those who want to create sharp lines
- It has a quality premium pen with minimal bleeds
- The ink is well pigmented which means it holds very well on paper and results in crisp, clean lines
- The pen uses high-quality ink, is waterproof, and is available in more than 10 different colors.
- Feels luscious in hand.
- They are comfortable to hold and use and aren’t scratchy
- Copic generally sells the Multiliner in a variety of sizes hence you can pick one that suits your needs best
- The Copic Markers Multiliner 1.0 is well suited for a creative who likes to draw or is keen on sketching
- The nibs of this pen are refillable which helps save you money
Cons
- The smaller tips are very delicate
6. Art-n-Fly Fine Line Drawing Pen
This is one of the top pens for artists, designers, and illustrators. The pen is designed with a fine tip that runs smoothly on the drawing surface making it easy for you to create smooth continuous lines. It is an archival ink pen designed for all levels of artists.
For just about $10, this pen retails in a pack of six pens with extra fine tip liner. There are six nib sizes for each of the pens with the largest being 0.8mm and the smallest being 0.05mm. Other nib sizes include 0.1mm, 0.3mm, 0.4mm and 0.5mm. This makes the set versatile.
One other thing to mention here is that even though the pens have smooth sides they’re great to grip on. The pen uses archival ink that is acid-free and well pigmented. This means that the writings can be archived without the fear of being damaged. The Ink also doesn’t fade away with time.
On to the ink now and it’s one of the fastest drying inks we’ve seen. So rest assured of not facing any kind of distortion in your art. The nib is skip-free so the art is smooth and the lines are consistent. However, you can’t double side your entries.
Pros
- Each pen is designed with smooth sides but offers a great grip for all users.
- The archival ink is richly pigmented and acid-free.
- This is a lightfast, permanent ink that does not fade with time.
- The waterproof ink dries fast ensuring you do not distort your art while during the process of drawing.
- The nib is designed skip-free allowing you to create smooth art with crisp archival ink with consistent lines.
- This pen retails in a pack of six pens with extra fine tip liner.
- Consisting of 6 nib sizes, this pen is versatile.
- Budget-friendly.
Cons
- The pen does not allow users to double-side their entries.
Final Thoughts
You need to pick a pen-based on your drawing or writing needs. A pen that offers permanent ink is preferred at all times. Archival pens are the most popular with most of them offering high-quality works of art.