The Pens, the Pens!

When I spoke on #Inktober2025 a few days ago, I mentioned pens.  Oh boy, yes yes yes, pens.

I'm going to tell you here and now:  The product links are affiliate links through Amazon.  If you use such to make a purchase, I will be compensated slightly for sending you in their direction.  At no point in time will I EVER promote a product that I have not personally used and vetted as a good purchase.

Now that that's settled?  PENS!

Okay, big thing about Inktober is the use of, obviously, ink as your main medium.  To an extent, really, ink is your only medium -- if you want to get hardcore about it.  You don't have to be strictly ink, and you don't even have to really use just ink, or any ink at all.  The prompts given for each day of the month of October are just guidelines to what your mind decides it means, what your mind feels it should be or become, what your hand decides to doodle because your mind went "durrrrr" for five seconds and it couldn't wait any longer.

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If you're an artist, or even a writer, you know that your mind and your hand(s) don't work well together when they have a lover's spat and they can't agree on something.  Eventually your hand(s) will, at some point, be stubborn and say no to the mind's want.  On the flip, your mind could just go blank and your hand(s) will throw everything to the wind and do whatever regardless.

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Yeah.  My mind is in a whirlwind right now.  Inktober starts tomorrow and I'm starting to get scared.

Scared.

I'm scared I'm going to mess up.  I'm scared I'm going to do something wrong.

I'm scared because I'm scared, and that is really really really really bad.

BUT OMG PENS!!!

First up, my main love: Millennium ZIG pens.  I lived on this brand before I went to college, so it is my obvious obvious choice for nomination - ESPECIALLY since ZIG is a partner with this year's Inktober.  When I found out, I could not say no - I actually purchased a new set specifically for this event and intend to use them almost exclusively.

Graded from 005 to 08, this collection of five (5) pens is an easy start to anyone's first collection of acid-free, lightfast drawing pens.

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Next up?  I gave in to my inner pen demon and made an impulse buy: kingart PRO Inkline Black Micro Line & Precision Graphic Pens.  HECK YES.  This was going to be a very very very veryveryveryvery risky purchase for me because I have not dealt with this particular brand before - trying them out on rough paper, I found the graded pens to be DELICIOUSLY smooth.

I've never been much for the specialty nibs on ANY brand of pen, but I will probably try to use them in calligraphy practice closer to Christmas card writing time. This is what ALL of the nibs look like, just so you're aware:

Price point overall?  You're looking at just over a dollar per pen (US) in comparison to almost two dollars per pen (US) with the ZIG Millenniums -- the kingart pens are also archival quality and have a very deep ink (quality of "blackness" or "pitch" or whatever you wish to call it).  It's not exactly India ink black, but it falls within that side of the black ink spectrum.

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Next, next, next!  Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens "Manga Basic Set" (8-Pack). I splurged.  I SPLURGED and I will not take back the fact that I knew, I knew, I knew I should have kept that money in my pocket but ...the look and feel of them when I slid the nibs across the paper?  I will not deny that I now have a deep love for these really expensive, I shouldn't have bought them in relation to the price point pens.  Light fast, permanent, acid-free; the pens are that deep India ink black that artists tend to rely on more often than not.

I am not going to lie to you: I cringe every single time I see how much I paid for them.  At 3$US per pen, I'm thrown back into my college years wondering if I wanted to get art supplies or eat.  I cringe knowing that I could have bought something else with that money ...but the ease of use of the two pens and the vibrancy of the warm and cool gray tones...

No regrets. I could have bought groceries with that money.  Again: NO REGRETS!

If you're looking for something a little less expensive, you may prefer to go the way of the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen Set (8-Pack) instead. [Yes, I'm crying inside.] The main difference between the two sets?  Other than the price (just under 2$US per pen)?  

This set is missing the number 272 warm gray and, in its place, has a 0.5 nib pen.  That is, truly, the only difference in the two sets -- beyond price.

Those are my players this year, though I might throw in a surprise later -- who knows?

Okay, okay, I have some Prismacolor pens and Sakura pens in the background that want to pick fights, but they're old and worn out and don't belong in the spotlight.

I'm also trying to research (RESEARCH) methods of placing imitation gold foil on watercolor paper.  The more I research, the less I know.

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I also cannot for the life of me find my brand of paper online.  Huh.

I'll talk about my ink pen purchase fails later.  (Yes, I made a few bad choices - but don't we all?)

Stay sane!

-- Mathie Tremas.