a new pen every other day.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

pen 10: bic mark it


this is bic's response to the ultra fine point sharpie featured in post number 06.
i'm going to start with the drawbacks, when compared to the sharpie, the ink bleeds noticeably more, small stops create small blobs, and i find that i have to press harder to get a more consistent line. it also makes for fuzzy detail, especially if you're working on a smaller scale. the ink also tends to run towards a purplish blue on first pass, its a nice try but i think that they should have stuck with the ballpoint.
there are several things that redeem it however. for one: it is a durable pen, solidly made, you can press hard and the nib (tip) won't break or bend, it is a permanent ink so it doesn't smear and while it does bleed, if you're working with larger format pieces it lays down a fair line, especially if you make quick decisive strokes. also depending on what you are trying to do, the bleed can help in hatching and cross hatching, it has a natural gaussian blur effect and can help fill in large amounts of space and get a great range of grey scaling once you get used to how it works. another plus that this pen has going for it is that it has a comfortable rubber grip that takes it easy on the fingers when pressing hard.

overall i'd say go ahead and get yourself one or two, it might not always be the best tool for the job but sometimes a meat cleaver works better than a stiletto.




3 comments:

Unknown said...

I absolutely love how I can see what you are describing in the drawing you made. As a lay-person and not an 'artist', it's nice that you have used language that's clear. I love pens. Thank you.

Aloquin said...

Can they be found in regular office supply stores, like Staples and Office Max? I like the effect this pen has in the illustration you did.

Patrick Brennan said...

probably, i haven't looked for one in ages though... oh and it might be good to mention the illustration for this post was much larger than it looks now, the original is about ten inches tall.