Who doesn’t want to add color and creativity to their projects? If you’re a person like me, you will find ways to make your notes and drawing more attractive. And to achieve this level of perfectness, you can use Felt Tip Pens.
Before you go on to use them, you must know what a felt tip pen is and how to use it. It is so important. Otherwise, you will be deprived of the pen’s main characteristics.
They are the best products to take your projects to the next level. Drawing, sketching, taking notes, or even making comics, you can use felt tip markers in any way you want.
They can be your best friends in creating aesthetic looks if you treat them like one. And in this article, I am going to show you how you got to do that.
What is a Felt tip pen?
If I want to put it in simple terms, it’s a type of pen with an ink source. And this tip of the pen is made out of porous fiber named ‘Felt,’ hence the name Felt tip pen.
Felt tip pens have quick-drying ink. This makes it fun to work with. This felt tip pen is also known by many names: marker pen, sign pen, koki pen, sketch pen, etc. Depending on where you live, you may know Felt tip pen as any of these names.
As previously mentioned, “felt” is porous fiber, a highly compressed and pressurized synthetic fiber. It could also be made out of porous ceramics. Toluol and xylol are the initial dyeing solvents used.
The difference between the Felt tip pen and marker depends on its usage. A marker is used for more considerable scale writing or drawing on a large scale, and on the other hand, a felt-tip pen is used for personal writing or coloring on a small scale.
How did a felt tip pen evolve?
Let’s look at the background of Felt tip pens over the years:
- 1910 Lew Newman first patented a felt tip marker
- 1926, Benjamin Paskach patented it in the name of “Fountain paintbrush.”
- 1953 Sidney Rosenthal magic marker began to popularise
- 1958, it started to be used in various applications like drawing, labeling, etc.
- 1962 is the time when the modern Felt Tip Pen began its initial journey
- 1993, professional Illustration using marker pens began [Source]
Characteristics of Felt Tip marker
Now let’s look at some characteristics of a Felt tip marker. This will give you a clear idea of what property and features this pen shows.
Tip material
The material used in the tip can be any of these two types. There are usually two types of materials used.
The plastic nib:
Made out of plastic material. It is fragile and firm. The thinness allows smooth and thorough writing. And the plastic is encased in metal.
The conical nib:
This nib is much softer than the previous one. Its specialty is that the conical nib allows you to write, draw, or sketch with both the tip of the nip and the knee’s side. This means it adds more dimension overall and gives you more space to work with.
Tip size
There is no standard or universal size for the tips’. It can come in a vast number of variations.
And this allows the companies to make various types of products. I consider this factor an exciting concept in this field-dependent industry.
But you have to choose according to your needs.
If you want to cover up bigger paintings, your tips should be 0.04 inches to 0.05 inches. And say if you like to do small-scale writings, then your tip size should be 0.02 inches to 0.03 inches. According to what you need, you’ll have to choose your nip size carefully.
Feathering Issue
First, we need to know what is this feathering issue.
When an excessive amount of ink flows through the pen and damages your writings or work artwork. Some felt tip pen has this feathering issue, and it causes a lot of trouble to the person who is using them.
So, you need to make sure that your pen has the potential to overcome this issue.
Ink Type
The ink used in the filtered marker holds a massive role in the whole process. Whether I prefer the marker entirely depends on its ink’s performance. So this is a thing we need to consider carefully.
There are various types of inks used in the filthy Ben or markers. And they can be
- water-based
- Acid-based
- Oil-based
- Acid-free
- Permanent
The type of ink you want to work with is totally up to you.
Water Resistance
There are two types of Felt Tip Pens. Some of them are super resistant to water, which means that they will not go through any significant change when they contact water.
On the other hand, Felt Tip markers aren’t quite good in water resistance. They will most likely smear when they are in contact with water.
Water-based inks are less water-resistant, and oil-based inks and acid-based inks are High water-resistant. Choose the more water-resistant or less water resistance inks carefully.
Bleed-proof Ability
Bleeding can be a severe issue when working with this type of pen. So, before buying, you need to make sure to check out the labels and instructions to know whether your pen will bleed or not.
Statistics show that water-based inks are less likely to bleed, and acid-base materials are more likely to bleed. Make sure to get the best bleed-proof pen for your work.
Versatility
There is no doubt that the Felt Tip pen can be used in many ways. You can use it for drawing, writing, painting, sketching, taking notes, labeling, and more.
The fact that they come in various shapes with different nip sizes and applications, different types of ink allow you to explore a wide range of things.
And another thing is that the Felt tip pen can be used in multiple places so quickly that you can even explore certain places you thought that you couldn’t.
So, this gives an extra playing field to your drawing side. This is one of the reasons that this pen has become so famous throughout the whole world.
How to Use a Felt Tip pen
Felt tip pens are excellent for doing any drawing or painting. But to do a perfect job, you need to know how to properly use a Felt tip pen.
So we’re going to be discussing a few factors over here on how you can improve your drawing using a Felt tip pen.
There will be a video added on to visually watch and learn how you can do a proper job using the pen.
Getting the right supplies
You won’t need plenty of stuff to draw something with a Felt tip pen. But whatever you’re going to create, make sure that you get the right supplies.
You need to get your preferred type of pencil, eraser, scale, the desired felt tip pen, etc., before you start the entire thing.
Collect them properly and get your sand. Just start going.
Drawing setup
You know this process is similar to doing a regular painting.
First, you need to use your pencil and create an outline of the thing you’re willing to make. Afterward, you’re going to apply the colors.
And it would help if