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Does anyone know some good inking pens? I've been trying to find one for the longest time but the different brands are just so overwhelming, so I don't know which one to choose.

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And don't drive your car off a cliff like I did. Girl, no man is worth 10 points on your license.

I'm no artist myself and have no real experience with pens but I do have some how to draw manga tutorials and several of them talk quite a fair bit about supplies. On the subject of pens, they suggest staying away from ballpoints since their ink tends to be a bit too thin/streaky and not show up so well on prints if you ever want to send your work to a publisher. They say felt-tips are fine for bringing out special qualities and filling stuff in with black but not really sharp enough for more than sparring use.

Instead they suggest using quill tipped pens actually and boil them down to four basic types of tip, based upon shape: Round Pens, G-Pens, School Pens and Spoon Pens. Using these kinds of pens, you'll want to keep several spare tips on hand because they grow duller with use.

As for the body of the pen you use to hold the tips, it's primarily a comfort issue but you'll also want to keep in mind that not all pen tips fit all pen bodies. You may want to double check that, if at all possible, before leaving the store or at the very least try to match brands. It'd be quite a shame to buy a Super Nintendo controller under the impression that you could plug it directly into the N.E.S. or Genesis.

The different effects the different tips have are articulated by pictures much moreso than words, as is everything in this series of books. This means since I do not wish to rip off the sparse few words there are verbatim, I can't really go into much further articulation than that. Hopefully despite this the information provided here. Four things to try out certainly does narrow things down quite a bit, when compared to the daunting millions of things out there after-all.

By the way, if you're interested in checking out the particular book I'm describing for referential purposes or others in its series it's How to Draw Manga: Getting Started published by Graphic-Sha. It alongside the three volumes of Compiling Techniques (that's just volume 2 there) should tell you a fair bit about all the supplies needed for professional comic-making and how to use them, although some of the information is quite redundant. There also two volumes that go a bit more in depth about two particular supplies, concerning the use of Dot Matrix Tones and Copic Markers, although the two volumes I have of Compiling and Techniques go a fair bit into the use of Tones already and Copic markers might be a bit too far out of budget. I mention this under the presumption that you are interested in comic making, since that's the primary context under which I hear of inking.

Concerning fan-artistry in particular, I'd not be surprised if the Tablet was more popular, since many works make mild to judicious use of CG capabilities and lack traditional media qualities. You'd definitely want to try one out before deciding on that route though, since it's very different than working with pen and paper. Using paper helps to add resistance but might be a bit of a nono since I'd heard it ruins the tips. Buying a pack of felt-tips might help in a similar fashion too, although I'd not tried this myself. Stylus tips supposedly also have to be replaced since they lose shape and replacement styluses, if lost are quite expensive. They're also not very articulate for slower, more concentrated efforts, exhibiting quite a grainy quality to them.

This post has been edited by Tonepoet on 20th April 2010 15:40

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Role reversal at its finest.

I use Sakura Pens.
When I don't use those, I use india ink pens so that they don't bleed when I use my markers.

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..DDR..Maine..
..Hikaroo-chan no Deviantart..

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Thanks guys. I have heard a lot about Sakura Pens, so I'll probably go with those along with the other pens I've heard about.

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And don't drive your car off a cliff like I did. Girl, no man is worth 10 points on your license.

Personally, I always end up coming back to ball point pens. Simply put, I just haven't found any of them fancier ones to match the control I have over a simple bic. Go figure.

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

Oh hey, I'm a bit late coming to this conversation but...

If I'm inclined to do an ink job to a drawing and I want to do it "right", I go old skool and use nib pens with ink. Yep, those type of pens you dip in a bottle of ink.

A distinct advantage is that they're inexpensive in the long run. If you get quite proficient at using them, you can maintain your set of nibs and all you have to do is buy the bottle of ink, which doesn't run out quickly provided you're not spilling it or doing whole pages black. Buying prefilled pens on the other hand can get costly in terms of initial price (usually on the expensive side) and then having to buy them again when the pigment is used up.

Here are some quick guides on nib pens.

http://www.jacquiblackman.co.uk/dip_pens.htm
http://drawsketch.about.com/od/penandink/a/inknibs.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_5040645_use-nib-pen.html

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