Discussion: I’d rather lose my left (or right) hand if I had to give up using…

Back in the mid-90’s I was watching a video that Tribune Media Services distributed to newspapers to promote Jeff MacNelly. Half way through I noticed Jeff was using some kind of pen that made thin and narrow strokes like it was a brush – but it definitely was a pen.  I did slow-mo several times trying to figure out what he was using. I finally emailed Chris Cassatt who was Jeff’s assistant at the time and asked him what he was using. He wrote back telling me it was a brush pen that could only be purchased from an art store in Canada and also gave me contact information on how to order one – which I immediately did.  Since then, that brush pen (I still use the original) has been irreplaceable. I love the freedom of being able to work away from my desk and not have to carry around an ink bottle and cup of water to clean the brush.  I showed the brush to other cartoonists – Mark Pett and Mark Ritter, both of whom have purchased and use it.

What specific tools and products do you use that are so indispensable or enjoyable that you without them, cartooning would be slightly less of an experience than it is now?

27 thoughts on “Discussion: I’d rather lose my left (or right) hand if I had to give up using…

  1. Could you please post the name of the pen and the web address of the art store? Thank you.

  2. Could you please post the name of the pen and the web address of the art store? Thank you.

  3. I think danielsmith.com carries a few different kinds, some pretty expensive & some pretty cheap.

  4. I think danielsmith.com carries a few different kinds, some pretty expensive & some pretty cheap.

  5. The pen I use is manufactured in Japan. The brand is Kuretake.
    I purchase them on the DickBlick website. Here’s the direct link to the product page:

    http://www.dickblick.com/zz207/46/

    This is the only brush pen I’ve ever used and I like it. But, DickBlick seems to have a variety of them.

  6. The pen I use is manufactured in Japan. The brand is Kuretake.
    I purchase them on the DickBlick website. Here’s the direct link to the product page:

    http://www.dickblick.com/zz207/46/

    This is the only brush pen I’ve ever used and I like it. But, DickBlick seems to have a variety of them.

  7. I use Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pens. They produce lines that’s decent for me. I’m still open to experiment with different types of pens, though.

  8. I use Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pens. They produce lines that’s decent for me. I’m still open to experiment with different types of pens, though.

  9. I use Faber Castell PITT Artists Brush Pens and Tombo N15 double-sided brush markers for live caricatures. The Tombo markers have a brush tip at one end and a felt tip on the other – invaluable for fast work.

  10. I use Faber Castell PITT Artists Brush Pens and Tombo N15 double-sided brush markers for live caricatures. The Tombo markers have a brush tip at one end and a felt tip on the other – invaluable for fast work.

  11. Pigma Micron .08 for me. It’s a marker, but as close as I felt I could get to the proper line thickness if an ink nib (if not the feel or style of one). I use a Pitt brush pen occasionally for thick lines that mimick ink & brush. I wish someone would make a pen that would mimick the thin to thick to thin lines you get with Hunt or crowquill nibs, though.

  12. Pigma Micron .08 for me. It’s a marker, but as close as I felt I could get to the proper line thickness if an ink nib (if not the feel or style of one). I use a Pitt brush pen occasionally for thick lines that mimick ink & brush. I wish someone would make a pen that would mimick the thin to thick to thin lines you get with Hunt or crowquill nibs, though.

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    1. Spam deleted. Not sure how it got through the filter. May be the filter only works on English comments. That or I just deleted a greater treatise on Russian comics.

    1. Spam deleted. Not sure how it got through the filter. May be the filter only works on English comments. That or I just deleted a greater treatise on Russian comics.

  15. Wow…so for about $25K you could shut down the web comic of your choice for a year so no one would read it!

    Oh, never mind…no one’s reading them anyway.

    JUST KIDDING! JUST KIDDING! >ducking for cover behind heavy object<

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