The best lettering pens for drawing. Here is a question that all people who love this technique have asked themselves at least once. Yes, because the markers used can make a real difference. Marker or Brush Pen? And above all, of which brand? There is certainly no shortage of proposals on the market; in our online shop of art accessories, in the category dedicated to lettering pens to create drawing ideas, we find many alternatives to choose from while limiting ourselves to selecting the best brands. Today, we will try to pull strings, helping those who approach lettering identify the best markers according to their needs. We will not make a ranking but do something more valuable: we will present a selection of the best lettering pens, describing the peculiarities of each model.
Lettering: what is it?
Before we start talking about the best lettering pens, it is necessary to provide a general idea about this discipline. Too often, it is mistaken for other similar but not identical activities, such as typography and calligraphy, which generally use different accessories. For a more detailed definition of this technique, we recommend you visit our article about starting with lettering. We are sure it will provide you with helpful information!
Lettering essentials, in short
What do you need to make lettering at home? Well, in reality, you don’t need many things. First of all, of course, you need markers, and that’s precisely why we’re writing this post dedicated to the best markers for lettering. But that’s not enough: to design your writings, it will be necessary, first, to arm yourself with a drawing pencil, a drawing pencil, an eraser and sheets for sketching: for the choice of the pencil, given the graphic needs and the detail that should achieve, they can certainly go well with rather hard graphite pencils, such as the 2H, to be used with little pressure to be easily erased.
And then, you will need the right supports, and therefore the proper sheets of paper for the actual lettering, done with markers. It all depends on what result you want to achieve, but the most popular is the smooth marker paper albums with a good weight. Finally, to eventually transpose your creations into the digital universe, you will need a scanner, as well as possibly a graphics program to refine everything.
How to choose the best lettering markers
How to choose the best lettering markers? Before looking at the specific characteristics of the different models, it is good to specify that the first factor to consider is undoubtedly the quality. Many people approach the world of lettering with enthusiasm, striving to learn the fundamentals of this discipline quickly. In the beginning, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the tools and improve your manual skills. These are the first and probably most significant obstacles of lettering, and tackling them with poor quality markers, and therefore with inferior pigments, dull inks, and improvised ergonomics means inexorably complicating the road.
Of course, poor quality markers are cheap, but the savings would be only illusory: inefficient markers are, in fact, markers that are rarely used, that wear out quickly, and do not allow to achieve the desired result. Much better, therefore, to turn to quality lettering markers, looking at the brands that have earned the trust of fans of this discipline over the years. So let’s talk first of all about Winsor & Newton, Talens, Sennelier, and Sakura.
Main features of lettering markers
What are the lettering pens like? We all have in mind the classic felt-tip pens, that is, those that we already learned to use in childhood. How do the best lettering pens differ? Well, it must be said that there is no single type of lettering marker. Indeed, we go from two extremes: on the one hand, there are, in fact, felt-tip pens with a thin tip, indeed, skinny, which therefore approach the markers for technical drawing. On the other hand, the lettering markers with a brush tip or brush pens allow particular graphic virtuosity. In the set for the lettering of an enthusiast, both types should always be present, with different tip thicknesses, to always have the necessary on every occasion. It is good to equip yourself with more “normal” markers and handy gel pens to complete the set.
The best lettering markers – our list
So let’s see which the best lettering pens are: to create this selection, we considered elements such as the quality of the pens, their purchase price, and the different needs. Let’s start with the Copic Markers Hello! The Marker Copic Hello are among the best-known markers and are used all over the world. These are markers containing alcohol-based ink, absolutely non-toxic and permanent.
The main feature of this fantastic product for lettering, but not only, is the double tip. On the one hand, it has a chisel tip, and on the other, an excellent chisel tip. The Copic Ciao has ink of the highest quality inside and is available in 180 different shades, including the blender that allows the artist to create shades and light effects. Copic Markers have a unique color system, and the letters represent a hue (R stands for red, B for blue, and E for earth colors). The first digit indicates color saturation, and the final digits represent brightness.
Brush Pen by Talens
The Brush Pens by Talens of the Ecoline line are the markers that this critical – and historic – the brand offers for lettering. We are talking about markers that take advantage of the famous Ecoline ink, which unfolds in a range of 59 colors, to which a blender is added to make shades.
On our e-commerce, you can buy both the Talens Brush Pen loose, one by one, following the colors you want to use and the set containing the actual colors. The tip of these brush lettering pens is soft and relatively thin for maximum control and for smoothly defining even corners and minute details. The material of the tips is in nylon fiber to ensure, in addition to softness, a specific resistance.