For the Fun of It - fountain pen drawing part two
flex nib drawing & fude nibs!
Hi! My name is Ashlyn Anstee, and I tell stories with words and pictures. Sometimes, that’s picture books (like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Select “Hedgehog”), or graphic novels (my series “Shelby and Watts”), and sometimes it’s animation (I’ve directed at places like Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network).
This column, “For the Fun of It”, will also have words and pictures. Sometimes it will be stories, or how-tos, or thoughts. A little bit of everything. Hope you enjoy!
Flex-nib!
Part of what drove me back into fountain pens was the greater variety of flexible nib options! Flex nib pens give greater line variation, with just a bit of pressure. Dip pens have a lot of options for flexing, but there used to not be as many options (and the ones that were there were pretty finicky!
What you need for flex-nib pens is a feed (the part that the metal nib connects to) needs to be able to keep up and distribute ink on the page. Flexing can use a lot of ink (with those nice line variation you’re looking for).
Flex nibs can feel like a brush! The really flexy ones are known as wet noodles.
Favorite flex options (from $ to $$$)
You might remember a previous column where I talked about my vintage pen. Vintage pens had a much wider range of flexibility (particularly 30s and 40s pens!). I love mine, but I don’t recommend you start with a vintage pen unless you can find one from a family member! It’s impossible to test flexibility through your computer screen, and vintage pens can be a bit finicky. Especially since there are so many great options now!
Fountain Pen Revolution
First up: Fountain Pen Revolution’s flex nib options!
FPR has both a steel flex nib ($) and a gold flex nib ($$). The steel is ridiculously affordable(for flex)- I have an Ultra Flex nib in their free Muft pen, which means the whole pen was ~$20!
They also have lots of other options of pens where you can add a flex nib (cute ones!! pink ones!! matte black grown up ones!).
I splurged on their gold nib pen late last year, and it’s AMAZING. Smooth, squishy… It’s $$$ though, and only worth the upgrade from the steel if you really dig flex.
Noodler’s
You might have heard of the Noodler’s Ahab pens. Personally, I hated mine. It smells of vegetal resin (which smells kind of like weird sweet garbage), and it leaked and yeah. I think FPR is a way better option, and supposedly the owner is really great about emails if you have any questions.
Pilot
Another option is the Pilot 743 or 912 with an FA nib (FA stands for Falcon Nib, but it’s NOT the Pilot Falcon pen, yes it’s confusing). The numbers are different sizes of pens- basically any of their custom pens with a falcon nib has a nice lil bit of flex to it.
I got a 912 cos I got a good amazon deal (sometimes you can snag them half off). I heard about them through Well Appointed Desk, and even got the juicier feed they recommends. I like mine- it’s smooth. It doesn’t offer a ton of flex though, more a gentle bounce. This is one of my favorite pens to sketch with, for that reason. It feels like a pencil in pen form.
Zebra G Nib madness!!!
My current favorite pens are modded Zebra g-nib fountain pens.
G-nibs are a type of manga nib with a hairline fine tip, you buy them in boxes and use them as dip pens… EXCEPT now you can also use them as fountain pens (which means no dipping, bless!!). These are HANDS DOWN my favorite. They have insane range, and feel like my fave Ronald Searl or Edward Gorey drawings. The main problem is that you have to change nibs every few weeks. You can’t really leave the nib in the pen and forget it, because it rusts! There are chrome ones (they come in a box of 10 for ~8$ usually). The titanium ones don’t rust as fast, but they also don’t flex as much. It’s a pretty big tradeoff, but g-nibs are cheap and personally, I haven’t found the rusting as annoying as I thought.
Oh also, before you put the g-nibs into your pen, you have to scrub them to get the production oils off. Feels like a whole production but trust me, it’s worth it.
You can get a g-nib in a few ways…
Mod!
First, you can mod one yourself! I did this to one of my Jinhaos, following this tutorial. It was VERY mad science, and frankly I was scared the whole time of breaking something. The fit is pretty tight! It does work though! Super fun cheap experiment, especially if you already have some nibs laying around!
Special G-Nib pen!
You can buy a specialty made g-nib pen! I have this one from Chicago-based maker Desiderata Pens. It says “Bad-ass motherfucker” in tiny letters on the side. I want to sign contracts with it. The g-nib fits easily into the feed, and the pen is gorgeous. I know Tom’s Studio also used to make a g-nib pen but they recently stopped. I think some pen makers are afraid of the finicky nature of changing the nibs, which is fair! Those tend to be more in the $$$ range, so I don’t recommend them unless you know you like g-nibs.
G-Nib HOUSING!
Here’s another easy way to do it. IMO this is even better than modding a Jinhao, because it’s almost as cheap, and just involves changing out a feed/nib yourself. Flexible Nib Factory makes G-nib housing! They make it for 9 (!!) different kinds of pens. Heck, you might be able to get it for a pen you already have! (They have Jowo, Bock, Conklin… Tons!). I really like the look of Moonman pens, so I picked up a Moonman C1 and a FNB Zebra G-Nib housing. It’s ~40$, but it screws right in.
Non-rusting G-Nibs
If you are afraid of rusting, you can give the Bluedew nibs a shot! You can buy just the nibs, and they fit into most Bock pens (particularly Moonman ones!). I like Bluedew- they are definitely nice in that you can leave it in and not worry about rust. They are a little stiffer than traditional G-Nibs though! I would still absolutely recommend them, but maybe after trying one of the cheaper options above.
Flex away my babies!
Those are my Flex Nib options!! If I was just starting out, I’d recommend Fountain Pen Revolution as the most affordable and long lasting option. After that, you can dive into experimenting and seeing which pen fits your drawing style.
Fude!
Our final nib in our fun-nib olympics… Fude (foo-deh) nibs were originally developed in Japan, to make more calligraphy style strokes (Fude actually means brush in Japanese).
They’re bent at an angle, so you can get a variety of line widths by moving the pen and rotating it. They have a bit of a learning curve, to be honest, to figure out what angle creates which lines.
I have fude nibs on a few pens! I think it’s a great affordable option. They can make THICK lines and thin lines and I’ve already waxed way too much about them.
There’s also Sailor Fude de Mannen pens, they’re usually around 12$. I picked up the 55 degree angle one. It’s a different vibe- a little thicker/juicier than my others!
Big Boy Pens
The next, and a wildcard favorite are the Duke Confucius.
I picked up this pen because of Parka Blogs again. It has a SUPER LONG nib. Big daddy nib, truly. It’s awesome. The only thing is that the pen itself is pretty… garish??? Like when I take it out, people are always like “what is that, what is going on there”. I knew there had to be a better way, so I hunted until I found another version on Aliexpress. It’s the same pen (as far as I can tell), but in plain black. Unfortunately, you can only get it on Aliexpress.
I love these for big swatches of ink. Especially if I’m out in a cafe (or frankly, at home on my couch where my cats are prone to knock over bottles of ink), it’s nice to be able to get those big ink swatches without using a brush.
I really love a nice light lavender, and Sailor 173 which is a gorgeous peach. I’m going to talk a bit more about “smooshing” in my final column, but they really smoosh around the lines and give a watercolor vibe.
If you’re looking for an affordable big nib vibe, also check out Pilot Parallel pens. A converter can fit on the back (though it runs out quickly), and you can use any color at all in them.
In Conclusion
I’ve been loving drawing with fountain pens. I think the variety of nibs, and inks, make them a fun media to play with. I think what I like is the element of chaos. With a pigment liner or micron, it’s a very controlled line. I’ve always loved the wobbly difference of a brush, and now with flex-nib fountain pens, I can get dip pen vibes without covering myself, my table, and my cats with ink splatters.
Next week- ink! INKS!!!
Thing of the Week
Again in this column, I’ve given you far too much to buy. This week, I want to share a few of my favorite podcasts!
Sonic Weekly- This is my husband Grant’s Sonic podcast! Listen, before I got married, I didn’t really know anything about Sonic. Now, I arguably know too much!! He also has an amazing pop culture podcast that’s a once-a-month show at the Alamo Drafthouse.
Casefile- this is my favorite true crime podcast. Maybe it’s just because he has an Aussie accent, so it’s soothing to listen to. My favorite ep is the 3 parter on the Silk Road… THRILLING.
Fountain Pen Series:
Part 1: Why Fountain Pens?
Part 2: Nibs
Part 3: Fountain Pen Ink.
Part 4: Experiments
Oh my gosh i've been wanting a flex nib so this was ana amazing post to find!
Thank you for sharing this!