Why do I use coloured fine liner pens in my drawing?
Today I wanted to do a quick review of the Uni Emott Fineliner pens. I have recently purchased these as they seemed to be very good value for money. I am somebody that frequently uses fine liner pens, and especially coloured fine liners when I do life drawing or portrait drawing. I do this a lot when I practice one figure from different angles, to differentiate between the drawing. I also use fine liners because when I draw, I enjoy paying attention to contour rather than volume.
Try as I might, before buying this set, I couldn't find any reviews that focused specifically on how they perform for drawings (although this incredible review focuses a lot on how they would perform for artists that use mixed media in their work, and they tested the pens in conjunction with many different materials).
In this review, I won't go into minute details describing the pens, but rather focus on thoughts I had as they related to my drawings.
Features of the Uni Emott Fine liner pens
1) Design
The pens come in a wonderfully slick designed case, and their overall design is immaculate. They are very easy to hold, they are matte and very lightweight. As a con, the box is they come in is cardboard, which I think is important to mention in case you were expecting a sturdier case from the images.
2) The Protected Nib
These pens have a unique feature of a protected nib. This is something that was very attractive to me, as I have gone through numerous other pens where the nib is normal, and I have to say I always think the pens' life always runs out not when they run out of ink, but when the nib finally breaks. Furthermore, when it comes to drawing, the nib of other pens will quite quickly change shape overtime, changing the type of lines the pen makes - so in time I cannot use them anyway as they don't draw as they're supposed to (so a pen might only last me about 10-15 drawings). With this nib, this shouldn't happen and it hasn't happened so far.
3) Colour Selection
The colour selection is incredible. The colours are rich, and each of them unique and necessary. It excited and inspires me to no end, and I cannot wait to make drawings in specific tones and values using the whole range.
How do the Uni Emott fine liner pens perform for drawing?
I have to say, overall, I am very satisfied, especially by the durability of he pens. As most fine liners are meant for writing, they sometimes don't withstand drawing. So here are some observations I have had.
a) Bright colours in the set have a more continuous coverage.
This does not really affect line drawings, but it will affect you when you want to colour something in. Furthermore brighter pens withstand rapid mark making better than lighter colours as well.
b) The pens also have a tendency, especially in lighter colours, to have interrupted lines. What I mean by this is that the ink sometimes gathers in places, not allowing for a straight line where the colour is the same throughout. This is definitely not as noticeable in drawing as I initially thought it would be, which I was happy about.
c) The ink of the pens is quite wet - meaning when you write with lighter colours over darker ones, they will spread the ink, changing the colours of the lighter one. Otherwise they perform well when overlapped.
Conclusion - would I buy again?
I do think I have to try these out for longer - but the feeling I am getting for now is that these are a bit better suited for writing rather than drawing in how they perform. Saying that, the protected nib feature makes them very good for drawing as they won't perish as easily as other pens will, so I am torn between these facts. They don't draw as well as other pens, but they will last longer, and they have an incredible colour selection. I also do believe they are good value for money. The pens can also be purchased individually which is also ideal for replacing your most used colours.
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