What is the best black felt tip pen or fineliner? I am putting 19 different pen brands to the test in this blog post. I feel like every company makes a fineliner. It is a super versatile pen can be the basis for a lot of work. Black felt tip pens can be used by artists, note takers, students, general users and letterists. Based on the characteristics some fineliners will be better in some situations than others.
I tested really known brands and some more basic brands in this test. I tested anything with a felt tip or metal tip point. The fineliners were tested in 7 catergories; sizes, ghosting, smudging (drying time),
blackness, use with highlighter, water solubility, and feathering. I will go into detail for each one and show the test in this blog post.
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Number of Sizes
The first critirea I looked at was number of sizes of the pens as illustrated below. Sizes are super important when picking a black felt tip pen because the different sizes of pen can be used in different ways. Really thin lines are good for detail work while brush and other large sizes are good for filling in areas. Some users such as planners may not need as many different sizes and having a pen in more than one size will not matter.
The sizes for the pens are as follows Micron (10) Uni (10), Arteza (7), Copic (7), Staedtler (7), Winsor and Newton (7), Derwent (6), Faber-Castell (5). The rest came in sizes of 3 or less.
Using with a Highlighter/Marker
The next test was use of pen with a highlighter or marker. It is super annoying to draw or letter something and go to fill it in just for it to smudge when colored in, otherwise the pen needs to wait to be dry in between highlighter application, which can be annoying if trying to plan out something in a planner. The best pens to use with highlighters were Arteza, Zebra Sarasa, Tombow Brush, Stabilo and Noted by Post It. These did not need time to dry in between fineliner and highlighter application. The worse were any markers/pens by Crayola.
Water Solubility
The next test is water solubility. While this can be a good thing for watercolor, it is not a good thing for a fineliner. From the test below the fineliners either passed or failed. The fineliners that passed were uni, arteza, copic, stedtler, micron, faber-castell, winsor and newton, derwent, sharpie felt tip, sharpie ultra fine, sharpie fine, sarasa, take note!, and tombow brush. Everything else failed. It was interesting to see some of the fineliners did not have a black underbase. The click art had a yellow underbase, and the blen had a purple underbase, while on of the Crayola had a blue underbase.
Ghosting and Bleedthrough
The next test was ghosting and bleedthrough. Ghosting is when the writing can be seen on the next page and bleedthrough is when the ink bleeds to the other side. Sharpie and alcohol markers are really bad for bleedthrough.
Most of the pens were good with ghosting and bleedthough. The pens that failed the test were Sharpie ultra fine and crayola take note!. The ones that had mild ghosting/bleedthough were Staedtler, Zebra Click and Tombow Thin Brush.
Smudge Test
The smudge test is similar to the use with highlighter or marker except it is jus the pen by itself. The fineliner is put down and attempted to be smeared. A little time is given and then it is tried again. I personally like ot use a pen that does not smear at all because I tend to smear things if given the chance. The best fineliners for not smearing are: Tombow Brush, Stabilo, Zebra Click, Zebra Sarasa, Sharpie Felt Tip Medium, Sharpie Felt tip Fine, Crayola Take Note, Noted by Post It, Sharpie Ultra Fine. The worst for smearing was anything Crayola. Be careful when coloring!
Black Scale
Another test was how black the pen is. I used a grayscale card at first and then tried paint samples instead. The absolute best for being closest to black were: Micron, Winsor and Newton, Uni, Scribble Stuff, Zebra Blen. The worst were; Arteza, Noted by Post It, Sharpie Ultra Fine. Frixion was the absolute worst being almost gray.
Feathering
The last test was feathering. Feathering really depended on the paper. Bascially feathering is if the ink spreads when applied to the paper. It really depends on the paper that is used. The worst were the alcohol markers, the Sharpie Fine and Ultra Fine. with Arteza spreading a little. There rest did not spread at all.
Results
The best pens according to the results and the ruberic that I made for scoring each pen were the Micron Fineliners. The only areas they did not excel in were the smudge test and the highlight test. Anything Crayola performed really bad and were the worst fine liners/pens.
If sizes were not a factor, Tombow Brush and Zebra Sarasa came in first place with Micron third. For me Micron won this test because it performed so well and I love having so many different sizes of pens. Since I conducted this test I have gathered more pens, including the other sizes of Tombow pens. Look for a part 2 coming. What felt tip pen is your favorite?
