My Twisbi Vac700R Fountain Pen

…who am I kidding…I have loads! And you show me an urban sketcher, and I’ll show you a pen hoarder – one who has an accumulation of pens with different brands, different styles, and different nibs!

But at times I want to venture out urban sketching, and only carry one pen with me. Do you think it’s possible?

Urban Sketching with One Pen

The other day I went out to the cafe to sketch people with just my sketchbook and Twisbi pen. It worked fine, because I wasn’t drawing scenes that needed any line weight definition between foreground, mid-ground, and background. But when you’re drawing more complex scenes, the weight and variation of your line can help you create a sketch with depth.

The Obvious Choice of Pen for Line Variation

Fude Nibs

Lots of urban sketchers opt for Fude Nib pens. These have bent nibs of varying degrees that help you create a variety of line weights with just one pen. I’ve tried the 55° Green Sailor Fude nib, and the 40° Dark Blue Sailor Fude, and I also have an unbranded Silver 40° that’s cute and a little more compact than the Sailor brand, that I found on Vinted and couldn’t resist.

If you rotate or tilt these pens as you hold them, you can achieve ultra thin to broad ink lines within a single stroke. The 40 degree nibs are easier to manipulate, but the 55 degree nib is more dynamic. But I feel there’s a steeper learning curve to get comfortable with the lines it creates, as they can be somewhat erratic. But if you’re looking for that level of dynamic line, maybe these pens are for you.

Video on How to Use both Sailor Fudes

Urban Sketcher Emma explains what fude nib pens are and compares the 40° and 55° nibs side by side, to show how the tilt affects line thickness and versatility.

I played around with these pens when I first got them, because there are some well known urban sketchers who swear by fude nibs, but I wasn’t in the right era of my sketching journey to deal with them. Maybe at a later date I will – which is why I’m hanging onto them!

Is my Twisbi Pen … the one?

At the moment I’m committed to my Twisbi Vac700R. I love the look of it and how it feels in my hand when I sketch. I especially love how much ink it can hold in its tummy (2.3ml)! It’s what’s referred to as a demonstrator pen, which means you can see the internal components (like the ink level) through the transparent body.

It’s also good for taking on a plane. You can fill it with ink and shut off the ink supply when you’re in flight, so you don’t get an explosion of ink. Did I mention she’s beautiful? Every pen has slightly different and unique colour markings. Her name is Iris and she’s the new titanium finish Vac700R.

I’m using a fine nib with black waterproof R&K Sketch ink. When I use this pen with the same pressure as if I was writing, the pen creates quite a substantial line. I hadn’t real realized how prominent the line was until I was doing some beach bums sketches the other day.

On the image on the left I used the Twisbi pen, and on the image on the right, I used a fine liner.

On the figure Twisbi figure, you can really see how well it stands out from the background. Whereas on the fine liner figure, there isn’t as much depth delineation between the figure and the background.

This got me thinking about the impact of ink lines when urban sketching, and the importance of being able to vary the weight and style of your line to achieve depth and accentuate your focal point.

Now I’ve introduced you to Iris, I’m going to have to put her through her paces to see whether she could be the one.

More Articles about Iris and her capabilities coming soon