Pen, Ink and Watercolor Wash Sketching.

Download Free Drawing & Sketching Tip Sheets, Practice Sheets, and Tutorials - Waterproof Black Inks

View All Free PDF
Sketching Downloads

Comparison of Three Waterproof Black Fountain Pen Inks:
Platinum Carbon, Noodler’s Bulletproof,and Pelikan Fount India.

When laying down watercolor washes over black ink lines, the artist needs a waterproof ink that will not run when it becomes wet or be smeared by the action of the brush.

Many such inks are suitable for dip pens, but only a few can be used in fountain pens without clogging. These three inks are manufactured for use in fountain pens and I have used all of them with success. Noodler’s is a dye-based ink that becomes waterproof when it contacts the cellulose in paper. Platinum Carbon is pigmented and comes with a warning that fountain pens must be cleaned regularly to prevent clogging.

It did not happen in this sketch but occasionally my brush has dislodged a bit of black from the top of a thick Noodler’s ink line that has not fully contacted the paper and become waterproof.

I applied very wet washes over the flowers and leaves of these first two sample drawings. You can see that the black lines remained sharp and did not run or smear on either of these waterproof inks.

These first two inks are totally waterproof, while—as you can see in the lettering samples—the pigmented Pelikan Fount India will smear and run a little although it retains the basic black line. This can sometimes be useful. To demonstrate these qualities, I lettered the name of each ink with a heavy, thick pen line, allowed it to dry, and then washed it with wet blue watercolor. Then I lettered it again with a light thin stroke and washed it with red.

I used a very soft brush and a light touch when applying the washes to the lettering above. The ink ran but the basic line remained sharp. Since Pelikan Fount is not as waterproof as the other two, it must be used with care. I tinted the petals on the flowers at right with a dry brush and washed each of the leaves with one quick stroke. When adding the background wash, I only touched the black lines where I wanted the ink to run and create grey shadows behind the stem and leaves.

Comparison of Three Waterproof Black Fountain Pen Inks
that are available for use in fountain pens:

Platinum Carbon Black
Noodler’s Bulletproof Black
Pelikan Fount India Black

Click to download the Free PDF Download

A Comparison of Three Waterproof Black Fountain Pen Inks.

The free Reader opens the PDF files.