Which Fude fountain pen is best for sketching?

Fude fountain pens are so named after the traditional Japanese fude brushes used for calligraphy that allow for drawing with a variable line width. The amount of pressure applied to the brush dictating the width of the line.

Which Fude size is best?

With fountain pens, the variability comes about from a bend in the nib and the user changing the angle of the pen. Imagine the tip of the nib as a triangle. If you hold the pen vertically, only the tip of the triangle comes in contact with the page, producing a very fine line. Dropping you wrist, reduces the angle of the pen and then you are writing with the base of the triangle, which produces a wider line. You can also roll the nib on its back to momentarily produce an extra fine line. These variable lines add character to your work.

Sailor Fude fountain pen

Sailor make a range of Fude fountain pens with either a 55 or 40 degree nib bend. The green Fude pen, used by many sketchers, has a 55 degree bend. This model allows you to produce more variation in line width, but is a little harder to use. You need to go slowly to maintain the ink flow and find a nice rhythm in your wrist movements to keep the nib in contact with the page.

The pink/white/brown/blue pens are all 40 degree nibs. With less nib bend, comes less line variation. The upside is that ink flow is more consistent and the shallower bend is easier to manipulate, especially for writing. If you are new to fude fountain pens, this is definitely the pen to try first.

So why use these pens?  

These pens are fountain pens that can be filled with any fountain pen ink.  Most often they are used with De Atramentis Document ink (you will need to buy a sailor converter to allow you to do this). Document ink is waterproof so can be used with watercolour without fear of losing your sketch. The line width variation is a big plus when sketching as you can make a lot of different marks with one tool.

Shop all Sailor fude pens