Uni Pin Fineliner Drawing Pen Set of 9 Black Ink with Different Nibs

Product Information

I reviewed this last because I don’t want my familiarity with this product to influence how I evaluate other pens. I’ve still not changed my mind after the test. This is by far the best performance for the money IMHO. Nibs wear well and generally are quite durable. Ink flow is smooth across most paper types I use for sketching.

It would be great if there were a table that rated these pens on these characteristics to get a full picture.Despite having known about the Multiliner , I’ve not tried it out until now. Perhaps due to the negative experience I’ve had with the more costly Multiliner SP series. Main difference being the Multiliner version is fully plastic and disposable while the Multiliner SP has refill tubes, changeable nibs, tool sets, etc. What surprised me was how good the ink flows and how well it holds up to layering. I was also somewhat surprised by the cost. It’s very competitively priced and performs better than most brands within its price range. Aside from drawing and sketching, Fine-liners are a good alternative to the more expensive technical pens for detailed draft work. However the pigment ink may not be as rich as technical isograph pen inks. Fine-liners can also be used for writing and are quite nice to write with. But they’re not as economical when used as a writing pen – there are obviously much more affordable ball-point and gel type pens on the market for that purpose. Fine-liners also don’t require much pressure on paper, so they’re not recommended over ball-points if you need to write on those pesky carbon copy sheets. Strengths & Weaknesses.

Fine-liners are felt or hard plastic fiber tipped pens that are usually disposable, comes in a variety of pen widths and are generally used for drawing and sketching. They are also known as technical pens. It is a relatively modern development and an offshoot of the more “traditional” Isograph technical pens. Before fine-liner pens came along, there were very few options for fixed width pens that go smaller than 0.5mm. Today, pretty much every major (and smaller) stationery manufacturer with a respectable pen lineup have their own range of Fine-liner pens. This review aims to shed some insight on some of the available types out there. I guess I’ll have to introduce myself first. My name is Jerry Teo. I’m a freelance technical/scientific illustrator based out of Singapore and a friend of Parkablogs. You can find more of what I do here ( www.teo-ology.com). I run a weekly webcomic Rex Regrets that might be more familiar to other crowds. I mostly sketch with fine-liner pens without pencils, coz I’m lazy. So Parka asked me to do a review on the available brands out there today. Now that we’ve established that…. What’s a Fine-liner Pen? I’ve used the Zig Millennium previously and I liked how it was smooth and easy on the paper surfaces I use on a typical day. More recently Kuretake offered the ZIG Mangaka version. Zig Millenium supposedly uses a photo-safe, archival grade ink that can be used to mark photographs, while Zig Mangaka is lightfast (won’t fade easily with exposure to light) and smudge proof when used with Alcohol based markers and watercolor. I do have a single Copic Multiliner SP – which, if I’m honest, isn’t spectacular for its price. The pens reviewed were pretty much are on par, if not, straight up outperforms the Multiliner SP. To me, it simply isn’t worth the price. It sure looks great in that aluminium chassis though. Uchida Marvy was a familiar brand that I’ve used and rejected. Ink quality was poor, pen didn’t feel robust in the hand. Despite the low cost, it just can’t match up to the consistency of the lines the slightly more expensive pens provide.

It’s Time to Draw a Line in the Sand

The disposable nature also plays against these types of pens. In the long run, the total cost of buying and discarding these pens may end up being higher than Isograph technical pens or a drawing fountain pen. Heavy users of fine-liners, like me, often end up having piles of plastic tubes lying around after the ink has run out. Being mindful and practicing good recycling habits should alleviate some issues that these pens bring to the environment. Pens Reviewed The test is not completely scientific, although I try to achieve some consistency in the tests I put the pens through. Most of the tests were done on A4 100gsm copier paper (from PaperONE). This replicates the most common conditions which I work in – cheap paper so I can sketch loads. The pens were also briefly tested on Strathmore Bristol paper (smooth 270gsm), Fabriano Tecnico (240 gsm) and Clairfontaine fine grain Drawing Paper (224 gsm). Some artists swear that dispite pens being labled as being a size larger than other brands, they seem to draw lines even thinner. This is theorized by some to possibly be due to the ink spread/paper penetration, but I would love to see if this is true when lines are drawn on the same paper, side by side.