(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)
If you're a professional artist or letterer, the ShinHan Art Touch Liners are probably going to rank pretty close to perfect. They have a great build, and the ink is archival, acid-free, water resistant, lightfast, and smear-proof. They tick a lot of the essential boxes for creating a quality piece of work--though, of course, some of those features come with compromises.
These pens are constructed really nicely. The body is strong and well-molded. The cap fits and posts well. The clip is a bit shallow, but it's flexible without being too bendy. I do wish the colors were more clearly labeled--it's just a narrow stripe at the bottom or a disc on top of the cap that indicates color. If they were in a case looking straight-on, there's no way to tell. The body is also a bit busy with text. A lot of it is useful information, should the pens be mixed in with other media in a case, but some of it could be cleaned up a bit, I think.
The brush tips on these are really impressive. They're flexible and springy and make great lines from very, very fine to nice, thick swooshes. They've maintained their shape perfectly and I don't feel like I'm going to break them.
The only real disappointment factor for these, I think, is the pigment. While it boasts an excellent list of scientific qualities, the color is just not saturated or vibrant enough for me. Every color looks a bit washed-out. And perhaps it is its quick-dry nature, but it feels very dry to work with as well.
Still, I think they're excellent tools that will make artwork that will last. At $24.50 for a set of seven, they're not cheap, but the build quality will likely lead to a longer lifespan than some of the cheaper alternatives. They'd make a wonderful gift for an art student--or a snazzy reward for participating in Inktober!
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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