The Brush pen is like a fountain pen with a nylon brush instead of a nib. The barrel in the standard version holds a replaceable black ink cartridge which when dry is permanent like Indian Ink. The brush is shaped to a fine point which allows delicate dots and lines to be made - fine for detail if that is your style. The brush has greater flexibility than a pen nib and by changing pressure or dragging on its side the brush can be made to produce a range of expressive textural marks.
For details click on the image
The Brush Pen has one big disadvantage - every mark is a full strength black. If I'm doing a pen drawing I try to give variety to the density of the pen lines. You can do this by dipping the nib in water to dilute the ink on it or I sometimes have up to three tonal ink mixes in saucers and load the selccted tone onto the nib with a brush. Dipping the Brush Pen in water to thin the ink doesn't work so you are stuck with lines of full dense black. On the other hand a Brush Pen drawing will take watercolour washes without smudging - so the drawings, if made on watercolour paper, could be worked up into line and wash paintings. That said I chiefly use the Brush Pen to add final touches to sketches made with the Colour Brush and Wash Brush tools.
For details click on the image
For sketching and making quick visual notes the Colour Brush used in conjunction with the Wash Brush have become one of my favourite tools. The Colour Brush has a removable cartridge filled with a coloured ink which is water soluble when dry. When used with the Wash Brush containing plain water this allows you to enhance your line drawings by gently working over the drawn lines to produce shading. It is possible to fill the Water Brush with ink, dilute Gouache or Watercolour since it is now made in a range of sizes.
For details click on the image
I generally use A4 or A5 sketchbooks - Rowney's with 150g/m acid free cartridge paper. This weight will stand becoming moderately wet when taking washes. The colour brush is good for making full page tonal studies of landscapes. It's also ideal for making quick notes of those little intimate details that catch your eye. I've provided a little gallery of sketches to show what can be done with these excellent sketching tools.
For details click on the image
Robert Kirk.
02 June 2006