Page 3. Tools and materials (continued)

One minute brush and ink sketch with watercolor added later.

As I mentioned above, truly flexible fountain pens are becoming increasingly difficult to find since they are no longer produced. For this reason, I recommend you learn how to use a brush or brush pen since these are readily available and are more flexible than any fountain pen.

Brushes give the most expressive lines from very wide to literally a single hair line all in one stroke. If held perpendicular to the paper, they can produce a thick or thin stroke in any direction, which is something a flexible nib pen cannot do well. Brushed lines are not as wet as those made by fountain pens, which means they dry quicker. You don't have to wait as long to paint watercolor over brushed ink lines.

Once you can draw naturally with a brush, you will no longer have to search for those vintage flexible fountain pens which are so hard to find, and have become so expensive.

Ink stick and grinding stone

In Japan and other Asian countries, brush and ink are the traditional sketching and writing tools. Ink comes in the form of hardened ink sticks which are ground on a stone (suzuri in Japanese) with a little water to produce ink, just enough for the job at hand. This ancient method of producing ink is still practiced by artists and calligraphers, and the ability to produce ink of the right consistency is a skill that students of the brush must acquire.

Some ink sticks are ornate with painted decorations, like the one in the photo, to the left of the grinding stone. Grinding stones can also be plain or ornate. Ink sticks, grinding stones and brushes vary in quality and price from very cheap to extremely expensive collector's items.

Liquid sumi

Sumi ink is also available in liquid form which makes grinding no longer necessary (although a lot of people still prefer grinding their own for various reasons, including the richness of the experience itself, which can be sort of a ritual). It's called bokuju in Japanese, and bottles of liquid sumi can be found easily on the internet or possibly at your local art store. Here are the two brands I see most often in Japan, one is Kaimei and the other is Kuretake.

There is even a waterproof liquid sumi called MOKKAN BOKU which is used for painting on wooden signs outside where they will be exposed to the elements. It is made by Kaimei and is apparently only available in certain stores in Japan where it has gained popularity among ink and watercolor artists. This is what I use when I'm sketching with with my yatate and watercolor (I water it down a little for drawing detail). One bottle lasts a long time. If you do a web search for it in kanji, you may find a vendor. I believe Amazon in Japan has it. A web search for the English MOKKAN BOKU will probably bring up not much more than my web site at the present.

Yatate

In Japan the yatate eventually replaced the ink stick and grinding stone for outdoor use since the Kamakura period (from the 10th century). They are usually made of metal and contain a Japanese bamboo brush and an ink pot filled with cotton or silk which holds liquid sumi ink. The yatate is still used by calligraphers and artists in Japan and around the world, and they are definitely classy if you can find one. Although the yatate was the only portable ink writing and drawing tool for centuries, most Japanese don't even know what a yatate is now. In old Japan they used to tuck these in their waist sash (obi) but you can easily tuck one in your belt if you are wearing one.

Ornate yatate with a turtle figure on the ink pot lid.

Most yatate that you will find now are practically antiques, although new ones are still being produced in very limited quantities. It's best to wash the brush every time you use it to keep it supple and responsive, but I know many yatate users prefer to keep a little ink in their brushes, and most antique yatate I have found contained old brushes full of dry hardened ink. The yatate is very classy and a real conversation piece. It's one of the few art tools you can polish up and display on your mantlepiece. I have also heard a heavy brass yatate also makes a good self defense weapon in a pinch. For more information on the yatate, see my article, What is a yatate?.

My own well used yatate with my favorite bamboo brush. This yatate is 17.5 cm long, which is average or slightly small for a yatate. The sumi is waterproof mokkan boku which is described at the bottom of page 24 of my sketchbook

Since the yatate is not available to most readers, I won't take up much space here praising them since it will only stir up desires that can't easily be satisfied. But I must say that this is my preferred drawing tool on location. Nothing beats a real bamboo brush charged with real sumi ink, and they make me a better artist. The yatate allows me to indulge in these luxuries while sketching outside. I would probably not use it in a subway (although I have in the past) because a brush pen is more practical in such situations, and is almost as good.

Brush pens

Today a lot of brush writing and drawing in Japan is done with brush pens which are basically fountain pens with brush tips instead of metal nibs. Some have synthetic bristles, and some are made of animal hair such as weasel and sable. Brush pens take ink cartridges or even ink converters and are very convenient. Who would have thought we could go around carrying a brush and ink in our pockets?

Kuretake brush pen

Some of the more high end brush pens come from Japanese brush pen companies such as Kuretake, Kaimei and Takara. Of these three, Kuretake brush pens are the easiest to find in Japan, at art or office supply stores, department stores, and even convenience stores. They are also the brand most likely to be carried by online vendors. The ink in the cartridges made for these brush pens is very black, and great for drawing. However, it is not waterproof, which can be a problem if you plan on painting on top of the drawing with watercolors.

But I have discovered a secret about Kuretake ink cartridges (shown at the right); the ink becomes fairly waterproof a few weeks after you apply it to the paper, and I have no idea why. Of course, this may vary with the type of paper used, air temperature and humidity. My most recent test used paper from a Moleskine watercolour notebook during May and June just before the rainy season in Japan. In this most recent test the ink left a very light gray wash even after 18 days, but it was a far cry from the black mess it left within the first few days.

So you can just wait a few weeks and then do your coloring. You can avoid a disaster by making a few extra ink strokes in a margin or on separate piece of the same type of paper so you can test these for waterproofness before you add watercolor to your sketch.

For those who want to finish their ink and watercolor sketches in one session, here's another secret about Kuretake and Kaimei ink cartridges; they are identical to Platinum ink cartridges, which means you can use Platinum carbon ink cartridges in them. Platinum carbon ink is waterproof once it dries.

If you have a Platinum piston type ink converter, you can use bottled Platinum carbon ink or Noodler's black ink which is also waterproof. Shown at the left is a Platinum carbon ink cartridge and Platinum piston type ink converter.

Platinum makes two types of carbon ink, one for brush pens and one for fountain pens. I have found Kuretake synthetic bristle brush pens to be a little dry when using brush pen carbon ink, but oddly enough they worked much better with the fountain pen carbon ink. I haven't tried Noodler's in a converter in a brush pen mainly because carbon ink cartridges are so easy to find here in my neighborhood. If somebody out there has tried it, let me know how it went, and I'll include the results in this article.

Kuretake high end Yume-Ginga" (Dream Galaxy) brush pen with weasel hair bristles

Kuretake makes a wonderful natural weasel hair brush pen called Yume-Ginga (Dream Galaxy) which really writes and draws like a dream; very supple and responsive just like a traditional brush. As mentioned above, if you use the Kuretake ink cartridges that come with it, the lines eventually become waterproof. These brush pens also look very classy and come in a variety of colors and designs, usually with a sort of pearl celluloid look like my red one in the photo. I've been using this brush pen for the past several years, and it's always in my pocket as my first choice for drawing when I'm not in a situation where real bamboo brush and ink are possible (such as on the train or in a meeting). Don't use carbon ink in natural hair brush pens because they will clog up and become useless (I found out the hard way). However, they are a real joy to use with the Kuretake ink cartridges intended for these pens.

Sailor Profit brush pen

Sailor also makes a good brush pen with synthetic bristles, the Profit brush pen, and it comes with a box of three special Sailor ink cartridges. This ink flows freely (because the brush pen was designed for this particular ink) and is completely waterproof when dry.

Three cartridges won't last very long, and I don't know how easy it it to find replacement Sailor brush pen ink cartridges outside of Japan (even in Tokyo they are difficult to find) but this brush pen will also take a Sailor ink converter, so again, you can use the bottled waterproof inks mentioned above.

This brush pen is nicely balanced with the cap posted, which is not the case with Kuretake brush pens which become top heavy when capped. It also looks great in your pocket, like a regular fountain pen with the exception of the gold kanji for brush (FUDE) on the cap.

Ackerman Pump Pens

Brush pen ink tends to be thin so it can flow through ink channels without clogging, while india ink and sumi is thicker and more gratifying. There is one brush pen that will take any ink you want to use, including waterproof India ink or MOKKAN BOKU mentioned above. They say it will even take acrylic paint! It's called the Ackerman Pump Pen, and it can be fitted with a brush tip or a dip pen nib. The ink is fed to the tip by gravity, and you can help it along by squeezing the little green part on the side. I have written a review in the Sketching Forum.

Of course, if you use waterproof ink or liquid sumi, you will have to wash the brush after every use to prevent it from drying and ruining the bristles. There is also the risk of getting ink on your hands or other places, athough it can be pretty much avoided if you take precautions. In many ways it is similar to a yatate (potential mess, necessity of cleaning up) except it takes up less room. See the Ackerman Pen website for product information.

Disposable brush pens

Many pen companies also make disposable brush pens, which are very popular in Japan, especially for writing messages on new year post cards. The selection of disposable brush pens seems to increase every year. Pentel brush pens have been popular in the west for many years. Most disposable brush pens do not have waterproof ink, but there are a few waterproof disposable brush pens out there.

Zebra makes a disposable brush pen with waterproof ink. It has a brown plastic barrel, and comes in a few tip sizes. If you sketch in a small sketchbook (no larger than F3 -- or just under 9" X 12") you won't see any difference between the sizes since you will probably only use the very tip of the brush anyway. If your sketches are large, then a broad size would make it easier to get wide strokes that are nice and wet.

If you compare the sample strokes below from a Kuretake medium, extra fine, and broad tip brush pen, you will see the tips are visibly different in size, while the difference in stroke width is more subtle.

Kuretake disposable waterproof brush pens, numbers 24 (extra fine) 22 (medium) and 26 (broad)

These three brush pens are from Kuretake, and they are filled with waterproof ink. They are the model numbers 24 (extra fine tip, yellow cap), 22 (medium tip, black cap), and 26 (broad tip, red cap). In the close up photo below, you can see that the larger the size, the smaller the plastic shield is surrounding the tip, allowing for more bristle to be exposed, and giving you a potentially wider swash when you need it.

Did you notice the numbers don't match the order of size? This is apparently because number 24 (extra fine) was produced first and was joined a few years later by numbers 22 (medium) and 26 (broad). But one still wonders why they didn't make medium number 26, and broad number 28.

number 24: extra fine number 22: medium number 26: broad

Most disposable brush pens have the same basic design as these Kuretake brush pens, long and fat with a squeeze barrel and no clip. Some people may find them slightly awkward to use, because they prefer a thinner barrel for better line control. Others won't find the girth a problem, and may actually prefer it, especially for large sketches. Of course, you will have to carry these in a bag since they are too long for a shirt pocket, and would fall out the first time you bend over (pray that it is not over a toilet).

The best disposable brush pen with waterproof ink I have found is the Copic "GASENFUDE" brush pen. This is a curious kanji combination I can't find in any dictionary. GA means picture and SEN means letter or composition, and FUDE is brush, so I guess it's a brush for producing both pictures and letters.

This is not a fiber tip like the Copic Multiliner brush pen, but an actual nylon bristle brush. The ink is the same as what they use in Multiliner pens, very black, and waterproof when dry. Unlike most disposable brush pens, the Copic is the size of a regular pen, has a clip on the cap, and therefore fits very nicely in a shirt pocket.

Copic Gasenfude brush pen

This is a wonderful brush pen with nice balance, nice wet flow, and great waterproof ink. It can be found in Japan at some art supply stores stores and from online vendors. I asked the maker if these were available outside of Japan, and they replied that the shipping conditions are apparently a bit too rough on these pens, which would make them concerned about potential leak problems enroute (maybe it also has something to do with the decreased air pressure in the cargo area on planes, which can cause most fountain pens to leak as well). They plan on producing a new version that can withstand the problems associated with overseas transport.

Right now this one rivals the Sailor Profit as my favorite disposable waterproof brush pen. The Sailor looks more classy in your pocket if you are wearing a shirt and tie, and the Copic probably looks better with casual wear (if this is even a consideration). As far as I can tell, they both make the same quality line. Both are perfectly waterproof almost immediately. They are both my favorites, but the Copic has the edge since it is such an inexpensive carefree tool. Here in Tokyo, the Copic is about a quarter of the cost of the Sailor.

Instant tones in ink

One neat thing you can do with brush pens if you have more than one is fill one with ink wash (ink diluted with water) for quick shading of mid tones. You can also use a full strength gray ink that achieve the same effect without messing with ink and water ratios. I used Platinum carbon ink for the blacks and Private Reserve Gray Flannel ink for the gray tones in the sketch on the right.

In Japan you can buy disposable brush pens filled with gray ink. These were originally intended for writing on money envelopes given at at funerals where ink is traditionally thinned to make gray characters instead of black. These brush pens are the fat long squeeze barrel types with no clip, and therefore have the same portability disadvantage as the disposable pens mentioned above. If you carry them in a bag instead of your pocket, however, they are fantastic.

Another great way to get grays in your ink sketch is to use the ink cartridge that came with the brush pen, since it is most likely water soluble ink (at least until it sets in a few weeks) and simply brush plain water in the areas you want to color gray. Just touching an ink line with a wet brush will cause the ink to spread in gray tones, and with a little practice, you can control these and make them go where you want. Still these gray explosions can be unpredictable, and can add to the liveliness of your sketch.

This sketch done with watersoluble ink in a brush pen. The grays were coaxed out of the black lines with a waterbrush. Size: 13 X 18 centimeters Time: 30 minutes.

How to hold them

Brushes and brush pens are more difficult than pens to master, and with the exception of some comic book artists, few people in the west draw with brushes anymore. With a brush there is no tactile feedback. You can't just bear down and feel the brush communicate with the paper like a pen or pencil. The brush has to hover over the paper, and you need to support your hand on one or more fingers. Supporting your hand on the middle finger gives you the most consistent line and firm control while supporting it on your little finger gives the most line expression and the least control.

Holding a brush pen while resting the hand on the middle finger, ring finger, and little finger. Notice how the spot where the fingers hold the pen is further from the paper with each position.

Sumi-e artists let the entire hand hover over the paper with no support at all. I support my hand on both the ring finger and little finger, curving them in, and resting the hand lightly on the finger nails or first joint or somewhere near there. When I need tight control such as a straight line, then I switch the weight to the middle finger.

You will find that you can draw lines and arcs at certain angles better than others. Usually for right handers, a horizontal arc from left to right is the easiest to draw while a vertical line is the most difficult. Simply rotate your sketchbook to get the best angles. It may take a few years before you can draw with the brush as naturally and accurately as you can with a pen, but the time spent practicing is well spent. Try drawing exclusively with a brush for a few months and see how much you improve in a short time. And drawing with a brush is very rewarding!

Quick sketch done on the train with brush pen. Size: 9.5 X 12.7 centimeters. Time: Under 2 minutes.

More on brush drawing and the beauty of line on page 13.

Brush pen maintenance: How to fix hooked tips

The very tip of a brush pen usually consists of a few hairs, tapering down to just one hair. This tip for some reason can bend into a hook shape very easily. I used to replace them when this happened because it affects fine lines. However, I disovered they can be fixed easily (I don't want to think about how much money I threw away before I made this discovery!).

Here is a hooked brush tip. No need to throw it away!

Take a piece of scrap paper (tissue paper or paper towel is good as long as you double to keep ink from bleeding through to your fingers). Fold it in half.

Insert the brush tip, squeeze the paper and tightly grip the bristles with your fingers.

Then pull the brush out, forcing the hairs to straighten out. The hairs will now be flat. Roll the brush tip on a piece of paper to restore the pointed shape. Repeat this few times if necessary.

Here is the straightened tip. Do this as whenever you see a hook, and you will enjoy your brush pen for a very long time.

What do I use?

Some people have asked me which of the above brush pens I use for my sketches. I've pretty much settled on a Kuretake Sumi Brush Pen (synthetic hair tip) with Platinum Carbon ink cartridges. It's a very simple and reliable solution, and I've gotten into the habit of putting the Kuretake in my pocket whenever I go out. A web search will turn up several vendors who carry Platinum Carbon ink Cartridges.