Do brush pens bring out your artistic side? They have to, right? They are some of the most expressive pens you can buy and are flat out fun to use, even if you are not artistically inclined like me. Hopefully our giveaway winner can put them to good use:
Congratulations Cassandra! Get in touch via the Contact Page and I will get the pens headed your way. You have one week to claim your prize.
Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks to JetPens for providing great products!
Over the past few years, it has become clear to me that there is almost no firm brush pen I won’t buy, even though the flexibility of a brush doesn’t really suit my ham-fisted hard-pressing writing style. When JetPens got the Pilot Fude-Makase Extra-Fine Brush Pen back in stock (as of this writing, they might be out again - they sell out fast!) I snapped up one in orange and one in pink to test them out.
I’ve only picked up a few softer broader brushes in my day, as I know full well those won’t suit my style. If that’s what you’re after, this definitely isn’t your pen of choice. It is much thinner and firmer than, say, one of Pilot’s Pocket Brush pens. The size and flexibility are somewhat similar to the Kuratake CocoIro Super Fine refills, but I’ve had always had problems with those pens having only two settings: too firm or too mushy. So, I was hoping that the Pilot Extra Fine would make for a good every day writer.
I suspect if you have a much lighter writing touch, you’ll love this pen. The brush doesn’t yield much, but you can definitely control line width easy while writing. I think I just write both too fast and too firm, so it ends up either just looking like boring old bullet-point marker strokes or I press too hard and end up mushing the brush rather than letting it glide across the paper.
Honestly, at the price point (around $3 if you can find them in stock), it is a pen that is worth taking a chance on, even if your writing style isn’t really brush pen-friendly. It comes in a wide variety of colors and, even if it doesn’t make your handwriting look stellar, makes for a nice pop of brightness when writing.
I'm having a hard time classifying the Pentel Fude Touch Sign Pen. By definition, fude is a Japanese term for brush pen, then Pentel went and encased the pen in their traditional Sign Pen barrel. When writing, it is a mix between a marker and an art pen. So, Pentel Fude Touch Sign Marker Art Drawing Pen might have been a better name for it.
The tip is very soft like a brush pen and that is the general action you get when putting the tip to the page. But, the business end of the brush tip is a very small area. This makes it act more like a marker to me. I can get a small amount of line variation, but a traditional brush pen this is not.
There is something unique about this pen that makes it very enjoyable though. I have never used a brush/felt/plastic tip pen that has been this soft and smooth. Buttery is not an adjective normally used with brush pens, but that is the feeling I get from it. Honestly, I have never used a pen with this type of feedback. I'd say it was odd if it wasn't so cool.
The Violet color I am using here is a favorite of mine. I wish more purple pens came in this shade. Just that little bit of lavender black does it for me.
Has anyone else used this pen? I'm wondering 1. What you use it for, and 2. What you think of the feel? Let me know in the comments section if you have.
