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Is There a Perfect Pen for Design Sketching?

Spencer Nugent shares his favorite pens in Coreskills Episode 3

By Spencer Nugent - September 14, 2016

in Sketching

In this episode of Coreskills, Spencer Nugent shares three of his favorite pens for design sketching and walks us through how and why he uses each implement. Want a quick and dirty sketch? How about a light sketch working towards getting a form right? What about a versatile pen that can create varying line weights? Find out in Coreskills Episode 3.

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What pens do you prefer to use in your sketching practice? Why? Tell us in the comments below.

Spencer is squeezing seven years of leading workshops and sharing sketching tutorials at Sketch-a-Day into some great tips for upping your design sketching skills—from warmups to practice exercises—to get you into prime shape for visually communicating your ideas.

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Norio Fujikawa

8 years ago

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Yes! Ball point pen.

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  Norio Fujikawa
  
  8 years ago
  
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  :-D
  
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- Clay Davis
  
  Norio Fujikawa
  
  8 years ago
  
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  My parents and friends will always buy me fancy pens expecting that I'll fall in love with the way it works, but the super cheap Bic ballpoints are still my favorites!
  
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Mike Heck

8 years ago

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I do love sketching with a ballpoint the best. Are there any that can take some marker ink without smearing?

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  Mike Heck
  
  8 years ago
  
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  I should have mentioned in the video, but if you use chartpak markers, they won't bleed with ballpoint pen, but you might be high as a kite by the end from the fumes.
  
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Joaquin Rosas

8 years ago

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Nice video!
I use the lamy cp1 fountain pen, with the EF (thinest) nib. Is pretty good for sketching and drawing in general, because you can draw with the backside of the nib to get the fine lines and add pressure to get thickest lines, that gives you like three line weights. Also the ink doesn't move with the markers, is very smooth, and its refillable.

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Nigel Alcorn

8 years ago

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I've recently taken to sketching with sharpie and it really has a great feel. Very nice on newsprint.

Probably my favorite pen right now is a black Tombow Playcolor2
It's a dual tip fine point marker, essentially. One end is much like the papermate flair, and the other is like a finer but a little softer sharpie nib. Best of all, they don't bleed with marker!

The catch - they are a PITA to find, especially if you just want a single color.

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  Nigel Alcorn
  
  8 years ago
  
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  I'll have to check it out.
  
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