Stern Brunette

I ink using ballpoint, gel, and rollerball tipped pens. The best pens, I have learned, are gel pens from Japan that I get at Kunikuniya, a Japanese bookstore in my area. Importing pens from Japan isn't always timely, so I am always experimenting using different brands that I can find easily at Office Depot or other similar store. The biggest hurdle in finding the right pen is finding one in which the ink doesn't bead up or 'skip' when drawing directly on the graphite on the paper. When I get a new pack of pens, I will open up my sketchbook and start inking various drawings I previously rendered in pencil. If I bought a pack of pens that don't work out for me, I relegate them to be used for crazy things like writing checks or grocery lists.

This image is one of my "let's test out this pen" inks.

(BTW, the pen used here was a Japanese Uni-ball Signo .35, for those of you dying to know)