(Part 2) Best drawing inks according to redditors

Mine came with some blonde wood. I sanded it and stained it black with Japanese ink. Daiso has the ink for $1. There's enough in the bottle to do everyone's AK that you've ever met.

Here it is in Amazon for more money but still a better deal than the more common Yasutomo brand. Daiso's website sucks.

https://www.amazon.com/Sumi-Calligraphy-Liquid-180ml-Bottle/dp/B0039OQ0J4

Pens

It looks a lot like Winsor Newton gold drawing ink to me. I have a bottle and it looks just like this. Lol I took a video of it when I first bought it cause I couldn't believe the sparkles. It looks alive. https://www.amazon.com/Winsor-Newton-Drawing-Bottle-30ml/dp/B000KNJ1FC

/u/albatrossd covered most of it, but I just wanted to add a few things from personal experience.

When grinding the ink, be patient. Don't use too much water or it will be unusable. Start with a few drops and move the stick of ink in circular motion. To be honest, I recomment buying bottled ink for chinese/japanese calligraphy, you can probably find some on amazon. Like this one. After you finish with a session, the ink will dry out, but the next time you use it, you can add a few drops of water and just grind it out again. That way you save a lot of ink compared to cleaning it every time.

For the first time you're using the brush, leave it in a cup of room temperature water for a few hours to a day. That will soften it up and allow you to actually write with it. The top one with yellow coloured tip is probably weasel hair and the bottom one is probably sheep. The sheep hair brush will be softer and easier to use imo so i'd start with that one.

Oh and you also need paper, i think this would work pretty well. And although not necessary, a mat like this can prevent ink from seeping onto your table.

I love chinese calligraphy, it's a great way to relax and meditate and takes your mind off everything else.

I always push people to go all in and drown in the ink! If you wanted to use the copic brush tips, I would recommend ignoring markers and using a pentel fude brush pen. The ink in the pen is crappy and smears alot, so I fill my pen with Dr. Martins ink. With this tool I can make alot of varied lines and now it's nearly the only brush I ever use for my linework.

If you can buy a set of fine-liners, I recommend Steadler pens. These help with the controlled smaller designs and lines. They don't erase very easily and they last forever.

>I am looking at getting the fw pearlescent inks, they look really great, far more vibrant and shiny. So that might get a better overal effect.

I have a few of these (this set) and they're very hit and miss. The purple is pretty nice and the gold is useful for making highlight colors if you're using lower quality metallics. Most of the other colors were pretty underwhelming.

​

They also separate like you wouldn't believe.

Urg, I don't really have a recipe or anything but it's basically base coated with a turquoise Daler Rowney acrylic ink and then for the purple shadow I glazed in some Lichen Purple from Vallejo Model Air. Then I brought up the highlights by slowly mixing in Vallejo Model Ice Yellow to the original blue ink and glazing or layering it brighter and brighter.


Actually, now that I think about it I didn't really add any highlights to this Rubric because I wanted him to be a bit dull. Check my post history for the contemptor to see the Ice Yellow/Turquoise highlights.

One set of two.

Thank you!

Honestly I think my penmanship has a long way more to go. =(

Well my Ahab has been modified, the nib has been sharpened and ground down to be much thinner and flexier. The feed channels have also been widened. For me, I can go as long as 7-14 days without using my Ahab, and it starts up immediately, no hard starts, hardly ever railroads.

That said, my modified Ahab ONLY takes Calli inks. Any other ink will start just fine, but will end up railroading... =/

1. You seem like a sincerely generous person, eager to share what you have with others without asking for anything in return. You fit in perfectly here :)
   
   
2. Appreciate the small things afforded to you. Not the fact that you make a comfortable living, but the beautiful sunrise, the feelings on the wind when it blows just right so that you can recognize what it means to be alive. A birdsong, a particularly luminous day, or simply be grateful for your loved ones and the people who support you. Appreciate, laugh often, be passionate about life itself.
   
   
3. The same as above. If you can learn to notice and appreciate the small gifts of daily life, it will cease to be mundane and morph into the glorious. Find inspiration in every surrounding.
   
   
4. [Red sumi ink] ( http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0026HZ3VG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3MZKKTPS3LUTM&coliid=I1BG7FAKL7H2PA)!
   
   Thanks for this contest! <3

Yellow is hard. I've had success with Vallejo Game Ink Yellow. Prime in white then use this as a glaze/wash. When it pools in the recesses it'll be darker and slightly on the orange side and makes great easy shadows that look natural. If you have an airbrush I suggest the entire Game Ink line, amazing product. If you want a bright vibrant yellow go with the Liquidtex Cadmium Yellow. I've only started to experiment with it and it doesn't seem to do the shadow effect of the Game Ink but it lays down like how I think yellow should look.

No worries on the writing samples. Your analysis has been extremely helpful, even if my poor attempts don't fully reflect it.

1. I'll just need to buckle down and work on my short 's' -- I think it not being familiar to modern eyes is reason enough to not use it.
   
2. Thank you. I found some instances that I think show what I need to do, so I'll give it another try soon.
   
3. I did not draw a ladder, but I will next time and see how it differs. I just measured the nib width with a ruler and went with that.
   
4. I always thought gouche was expensive, but honestly never priced it out. I might be able to get some from the Fine Arts department at the university I work at to try it out. I also found some no-shellac India ink, but it sounds like it's not quite that black. (Pity on this stuff -- it's a pretty excellent black to me!)
   
5. Noted. Thank you for the advice. I was using the cleaning solution every few letters and can soak it for a bit if I missed any spots.
   
6. I also got a C-2, and have a C-3 that I had used before. The shellac ink I was using clogged the C-3 pretty quickly, which is why I jumped to the C-1 -- I figured bigger tines might mean a bit more time to write, but I was wrong. I'll try the Brause and Mitchell nibs. I just get a little overwhelmed when looking at nibs sometimes! So many choices.
   
   Thank you for your response. I wasn't trying to direct the questions to you, but I do appreciate you taking the time to answer!

That's a dip pen. He's inking it.

specifically this handle:
https://www.amazon.com/Tachikawa-Comic-Holder-Model-T-40/dp/B000UF2774

as for the nib, I'd have better luck guessing at random, but I know it's one designed for dotting comics.

Also taking a wild guess, it's Sumi ink. Thats a v popular kind lately.
https://www.amazon.com/Yasutomo-KY6-Sumi-Ink-Black/dp/B0026I4UK0

These
https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B8%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AD-%E6%B2%B9%E6%80%A7%E3%83%9A%E3%83%B3-%E5%A4%A7%E5%9E%8B-12%E8%89%B2-ML-12/dp/B001D7R71Y

No problem. It's a great figure with that extra detail :) If you want to play with the chop 'the right way', some asian markets sell the red clay paste used as ink.

This one is a sumi ink:
Moon Palace Sumi Ink 180 Ml https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001C70A8W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_y4V6Bb5FAASMN

I'm using acrylic ink on watercolor paper, so it is kind of like using watercolor in that you dilute it and do several layers. This is the exact ink I'm using.

edit: I meant to get a thing of india ink but uh oops this is what I have. Works though.

Those bases were done as follows: Gale-Force Nine sand, secured to the base with a 1/3 dilution of white glue. When that dried I put down another layer of white glue dilution. After that dried, I inked the bases with a 5/1 dilution of burnt umber from the local art store.

Tombow Dual Brush is great ‘large brush’ for beginners. I would say first do lots of practice with small brush pens and then move to ink and nibs. Tombow Fudenosuke ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M71S9DU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_2pv3AbQ543M8T ) or Pentel Sign Pen ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EN0HCH6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_qGOz3EhHHfH49 ) are great small pen options. And when you feel ready for upgrade, hunt 513 nib and sumi black ink would be great.
Nibs - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BYT4DE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_rtv3AbPZNAD77
Pen Holder - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BYU1BI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Utv3AbJBGTJV4
Sumi Ink - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AMLR8M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.tv3AbBVQG8T2
Hope this will be helpful!