Pen, Ink and Watercolor Wash Sketching.

Download Free Drawing & Sketching Tip Sheets, Practice Sheets, and Tutorials - Rotring and Platinum Carbon Pens

View All Free PDF
Sketching Downloads

Rotring ArtPen and Platinum Carbon Pen Review Tip Sheet.
Compare pictures of fine and extra fine line widths for pens and ink.

My favorite ink is waterproof Carbon Black Ink made by Platinum, a large Japanese pen company. Because it is pigmented rather than dye based, it might clog pens so they should be cleaned more frequently. For this reason, I had been using the Rotring ArtPen with the optional converter that makes it easy to clean. There is even a thread describing how the entire Rotring ArtPen can be disassembled for cleaning. Read the thread at: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28736

Actually, I’ve kept the ArtPen filled with the Carbon Ink for over a year and only flushed it with water once or twice. I do, however, make sure to write with the pen every few days so that the nib never dries out. Platinum Carbon Ink is sometimes hard to find, and while recently searching for it on Ebay, I found the Platinum Carbon Pen that is made especially for the ink. I was delighted to learn it is regularly available in an Ebay store. I knew there was a specific pen for the ink because Russ Stutler had reviewed it on his site, www.sketching.ca, but I thought it was only available in Japan. The review said that, because of the pigmented Carbon Ink, the pen had been designed with a special channel a little larger than usual. Of course I ordered a Carbon Pen along with more of my favorite ink and this review is the result of my having two pens compatible with the ink.

The two pens are very similar in size, in appearance, and in their capacity to use the pigmented ink with no worries about clogging. The Rotring ArtPen is designed for sketching and is very easy to clean. The Carbon Pen is designed specifically for use with Platinum Carbon Ink. They both have converters for filling and slip caps that fit tightly to keep the nibs from drying out between uses, and long slender barrels that provide a nice balance in the hand.

The Rotring ArtPen offers a choice of an extra fine or a fine nib. The Carbon Pen has a recessed nib available only in a fine size. The pens are about the same length. Either with cap is about 7" and without cap is 6.5". Neither cap can be posted.The illustration above shows the different widths of lines made by the three nibs. They are all quite firm, but write very smoothly and can be turned upside down to get a finer line. The watercolor washes were added over the black lines to show the waterproof quality of the Platinum Carbon Black ink. Samples of the line widths are on drawn on AquaBee Super Deluxe Sketchbook 93 lb. paper, 5" wide x 3.5" high. Platinum Carbon Black Ink, Pens used as noted, Winsor Newton watercolor wash.