Nonetheless, they make for excellent starter art pens for anyone experimenting with colored fine tips for the first time, such as children. This will give you a feel of what it’s like to draw with finer nibs in different pigments, minus the concern of messing up! For this reason, I recommend trying out these FriXion color fineliner pens by PILOT. It’s crucial to point out right off the bat that these aren’t your typical color fineliner pens: this product is a mix between a marker and a fineliner pen. Besides ink pens, fineliner pens are terrific for manga comic art. If this is an illustration style you’re interested in pursuing or aiming to perfect, I highly recommend this set by Sakura.

The colors in this set are also superior quality, with tones ranging from deep, dark colors to vibrant neon hues. Know that these art pens may bleed a little, depending on the surface. I advise testing them on different types of paper before applying them to your final project. Choosing the right fineliner for you depends on what size tip you need. They are made from fine felt tips, ranging from 0.03mm to 0.8mm. If you need a fine line for art and drawing, it's helpful to have a selection of different nib sizes. This will give you greater control and flexibility over your creations. But if you want a fineliner for writing, a 0.3mm medium tip might be best so your writing isn't too fine. If you’re someone who appreciates making notes, diagrams, and charts on paper as opposed to on screens, then you’ll really value the thin precision that the nib of a fineliner will give to these. I usually work with a standard pen body and a range of nibs, depending on the effect I want to achieve. For this test we are looking at how well the fineliners work with alcohol markers. I am using a Winsor & Newton ProMarker Brush Pen. So that the smudging can be seen easily, I have chosen an amber coloured pen to use with the fineliners. I’ve drawn a series of different marks with fineliners and gone over the top of them with the ProMarker. In the fourth test, I put the coloured marker down first and drew over the top in the fineliners to see how that compared The other issue with Promarkers which becomes apparent on some papers is the issue of feathering. As above, there was the least feathering on the RENDR paper, the second-most successful being the Stillman & Birn which (as described in the paper section above) behaved almost like a bristol board with some pens, bristol board usually being appropriate for solvent markers. There was also reduced feathering on the Touch Twin marker pad – though of course the thinness of this paper means there’s considerable bleed-through which impacts regularly on the sheet behind.

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This paper behaved the strangest with water (leaving a grey shadow on the paper even when dry) and, randomly, created immense amounts of feathering with the dip pen (more detail in the pen review below).

Unlike the Uni Pin (my old favourite) there is not a completely uniform line, however, that’s what makes the Microns great for sketching – that little loss of control can create happy accidents in my artwork which adds something unique. The only downside of this effect is that although the Microns go down to a size 0.05 (as does the Uni Pin range), the ink flow is such that the Micron 0.05 is more comparable to a size 0.1 in the Uni Pin. In fact there’s very little difference (in my experience) between the 0.1 and 0.05 in the Micron, whereas with the Uni Pin, the 0.05 line is astonishingly fine. I’ve used many drawing pens over the years, but this Sakura Pigma Micron Pen review will show you why I adore this particular set of pens! The Pens that Started It All These simple drawing pens are like the Swiss Army knife of my drawing toolbox. They are fantastic for a number of different reasons. Waterproof & Archival Ink The thing about Sakura fineliner pens is that they’re incredibly versatile and offer consistent results across a range of creative hobbies, whether scrapbooking, illustrating, manga art, note-taking, or writing. Rotring nibs are very fine and produce a smoother line on smoother paper as the nibs tend to catch on very textured paper. This was the case in this test. However, one of the most interesting findings in this test was that on the Strathmore Bristol Smooth the Rotring line produced a tag (or “blob”) at the start of the line.

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Finally, I gathered some general information on the performance and experience of using each pen overall and my own personal preferences based on the kind of work I do. Fineliners are perfect for those moments when you need precision and clarity in your colour drawings, illustrations, charts and graphs. They are also increasingly being used for writing too, with their unique, smooth feel. The RENDR though not for me as a day-to-day paper due to its greyness, would still work well for me on solvent-pen projects where I’m aiming to scan and convert to a digital art work. I would normally use the Bristol board for pre-digital work, but the still-reduced feathering on the RENDR might tempt me to switch over. Some papers can surprise you – such as the Stillman & Birn Sketchbook – which can feel like a traditional mid-smooth sketchbook, but behave more like a super smooth Bristol Board with ink pens and even Promarkers. It has the best of graininess and the best of smoothness which makes it very versatile. I enjoy fineliner pens for drawing just as much as any sketch-loving hobbyist. However, being unable to undo or erase occasional mistakes as you would with pencils can sometimes be frustrating.

I always think of Staedtlers as comparable to Pilot Drawing Pens (described above) however this is due to greyness that they both produce in comparison to some of the other disposable pens in the test. Where the Staedtler exceeds the Pilot Drawing Pens is in the nib consistency. Staedtler nibs do not change shape over time like the Pilot Drawing Pens and are reliable in terms of nib size-to-labelling (like the Uni Pins). One thing that I have found with them in direct comparison to the Uni Pins is that the nib sizes as-labelled tend to be wider than the Uni Pins for the same size. Again, this means that the Uni Pin 0.05 is the finest available nib in a disposable drawing pen that I have found. Besides manga art, these pens are suitable for other drawing styles too. For example, I find them particularly great for tattoo artists who draft zillions of sketches daily! Also, as someone who’s fond of mixing traditional drawing with software like Procreate and Adobe Illustrator, they’re perfect for digital manipulation. I once used this pen on Bristol board and it was still not touch-dry and was smearing a week later. The second ink test is Daler Rowney FW Ink. This is an acrylic-based ink and we are using Lemon Yellow. Again, I have I’ve drawn a series of different marks with the fineliners and gone over them with the ink. The acrylic ink was of course smudge-proof and waterproof within 30 seconds across all papers with no visible feathering… with one major exception…

Want to go all out? Then Coptic fineliner pens are your answer. Copic products are lavish and expensive but worth every penny if you’re after top-of-the-line art pens and supplies. In this test, the Rotring varied considerably (across several criteria) from paper to paper more than any other pen used. On smoother papers (Strathmore Bristol Board and Stillman & Birn) there was considerable ink run on the water test. In fact, there was some ink run (when used with water) on all papers except the RENDR.

Enjoy a good doodling sesh? So do I! Here’s a great fineliner pen set if you’re looking for something easy, cheap, and suitable for teens and adults who find relaxation in occasional sketching. Nevertheless, the pure joy of the Micron ink flow and drawing experience means that I will certainly be using it in future for any work where I need a less controlled effect and have been using them pretty much non-stop since conducting this test, just with a 0.05 Uni Pin or Rotring for those extra-light touches, texture or cross-hatching. Both inks produced similar results for this test. All the fineliners resisted smudging quite well apart from the Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner. Again, with it being water-based, this was expected. I did notice some small smudging from the Winsor & Newton Fineliner when used with the Drawing Inks, especially on cross hatched marks, but it performed fine with the Acrylic Inks. I also tested the fineliners on top of the ink once dry. All pens worked well, but the Stabilo Point 88 seemed much more faded.Eventually, I went to college and stopped doing art for years. I never got rid of my art supplies because I desperately wanted to do art more and I couldn’t afford new supplies as a broke college kid. Years later, when I started bullet journaling again, I pulled my Microns out of storage. They once again became my steady favorites, even after years without use. Little did I know that these old favorites would be an important part of my journey towards becoming a professional artist. Where to Find Sakura Pigma Micron Pens My least favourite to use was the Derwent Line Marker fineliners. It’s a good pen if you work in more technical way, but not so great for my drawing style or the way I hold a pen. The one that surprised me the most was the Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner. The truth is I would normally dismiss this pen as a cheap children’s pen, but it really did well in most of the tests and gave the others a good run. The colour range is excellent, and I will definitely be using these again when I want to introduce colour to my drawings. It has been a great experience looking at all these fineliner pens in such detail. My favourite is still the Uni-Pin Fineliner, but I am a creature of habit. It just seems to be the best value for money, comes in a great range of nib sizes, has a decent colour selection for sketching and the nib is very hard-wearing. The pigment ink is waterproof and relatively smudge proof, but not great for Watercolours.