Pigment Liner Pen Guide

Here's my collection of pigment liner pens.  It's a bit of an obsession.  I think they get a bad wrap from some artists, who poo poo them for not being hardcore enough (because drawing isn't hard enough?!?).  Not me.  I've tried using traditional nib pens, but I'm far too impatient to let things dry properly and I don't like cleaning-up after myself. I also like the freedom of being able to ink anywhere I go.

Here are my favorite brands and why I love them:

Staedtler Pigment Liner
The reason I love Staedtler is because they're cheap, everywhere, and pretty great.  I haven't tried the professional series, they tend to be more money then I'm willing to spend on pigment liners, but the regular Staedtler pens are great, they don't get runny, and if you leave then around for a few years they won't dry-up.  The only thing I don't like about these pens is that they will run if you use markers overtop.  All and all they make inking easier, faster, and are very reliable.

Copic Multiliner SP
If you can get these they're pretty sweet.  I like the SP liner over the regular pens because they're refillable.  They cost about $7-8 Canadian (I suppose American as well), and have an aluminum body.  If you treat them well they will last years.  Again, they're reliable, don't dry-out, and you can use markers overtop.  If your working on paper, virtually nothing will make them bleed.  I've had my set for years, and I've never broken a tip.  If I did brake a tip I also buy a replacement.  Furthermore, the BS tip brush is the best painterly brush I've ever used (even better then the Sakura Micron BR brush).  Not too shabby huh?

Sakura Micron
Here's the industry favorite.  Sakura microns are great.  Out of the three they have the best ink.  If you use microns with acid free paper you will have art the lasts a really REALLY long time.  Like the other two they never get runny, and like copic ink you can use markers overtop.  Furthermore, they're about half the price of the copic sp pens.  Whucha!  The only problem I've ever had with them ruining the tips.  If your not gentle you can push nibby bit back into the pen, making it impossible to write with.  Also, I recently found the Sakura Microperm pens, which as far as I can tell are the same as micron's but have different packaging.

So go get inking!