Alright, so one of my best friends is a great artist and is really into comics, so I thought a good birthday gift idea would be to buy him some good pens to work with. However, while I'm an artist too, I don't typically work in ink so I have no idea what kind to get for him. Does anyone have good suggestions? I'm working on about a -40 budget. Thanks for the help!
If he is already using a brand of pen, I wouldn’t suggest you purchasing anything other than what he already uses. Artists tend to work most comfortably with the tools they know. The risk of you buying something else, for your friend is that he may put them away and never use them.
I have gone through years of using art pen nibs, crowquill, Rotrings, RapidOGraphs and many others, but, I finally settled on plain, old, ordinary, Sharpie Markers for what inking I still do on paper. They are clean, easy to use and, for drawing in the field, are readily replaceable at, virtually, any grocery or convienence store and bait shop all over the nation. If I needed a replacement Rotring, I’d have to go out and find an art supply or stationery store. There might not be one handy in the middle of the Mojave Desert, Yosemite Valley, or the Western shore of Lake Tahoe.
If someone asks me what kind of art supplies they can get for me, I ALWAYS suggest a gift certificate. That way, I can be sure to get EXACTLY what I need.
I always get on well with Rotring Isograph pens. They’re refillable, accurate, the ink is great and they make drawing a pleasure. Aaaaah.
I’m a graphic designer, I still use them for cartoons, illustrations, roughs etc. Our tutors at uni recommended that we buy a set for an illustration module and I’ve loved them ever since.
You might be able to find the "College Set" – three pens (nibs – 0.25mm, 0.35mm, 0.5mm), a technical pencil, a rubber and an ink bottle. I’ve seen this set on eBay UK for about £30 new – you could pick them up cheaper individually or second-hand. I’m not sure if you can get them in the US but they ROCK! I think they’re worth tracking down.