Kuretake Fountain Brush Pen TAKUJO (No.8), Black Ink, for Calligraphy, Manga, Drawing, Professional, Artist, Made in Japan

I have several brush pens, but keep coming back to this one which is the cheapest of them all. It fits my hand perfect, it is light, you can refill the ink cartridges yourself with other inks (after washing the cartridge, just use a syringe to refill), and the tip is neither too soft nor too hard. Due to the low price, I am not afraid of losing it when sketching outdoors. Perhaps the only drawback (for me) is the length, as it is longer than a standard pen, and therefore does not fit most standard pen cases or it sticks out on my sketching bag. But I “fixed” mine by cutting an inch off the back, lol! I did not notice any difference in pen balance after cutting a piece off. I normally take 2 of these along, one with black ink and another with gray ink, which is a quick way to apply shade/shadow to urban sketches. And if you chose to go monochrome, you could prepare more shades and fill different pens with each. You can also buy a converter for this pen and fill it without a syringe, but the converter will cost more than the pen! I chose to use the cartridges that it came with, although I empty it and refill with waterproof ink. There is nothing wrong with the ink that comes with the pen, but it is not waterproof, and for my purpose, where most of the time I watercolor my sketches, the ink needs to be waterproof! The water based ink that comes with the pen (and other water based inks too) can achieve interesting effects as you can do your sketch and then use a water brush pen or a wet paint brush to “smear” the dark portions of the sketch to make your shades and shadows. So you might want to have some fun with the ink included before emptying the cartridge to replace the ink! So much sketching to do, but so little time, lol!

Swift arrival in good condition; No flaws or damage to the package. The pen is easily my new beloved as it is simplistic, sleek and convenient with a very nice brush tip. A bit fluffy but very soft (like an actual brush) and with great control although I could see it fraying for people of they use the brush too roughly. Produces lovely and fluid lines even with the most gentle strokes giving a great feel of flow that appeals to me for how you don't feel the friction.Setup is simple and it comes with two cartridges though it is empty so one of them is to fill the pen and the other is a refill. Pen case is hollow to allow the cartridge to be socketed into the brush (you pop the wide end with the metal ball into the slot of the brush tip) but one little thing I love is there's just enough room in the pen casing to slide the unused cartridge and give the pen a normal weighted feel. This, I like a lot. The casings are for a very lovely kind of ink and so the designs are already pleasant but being able to keep a spare ink cartridge in the pen at all times just feels thoughtful.Ink does take a bit to start flowing and I think my first one was a bit off since it looked a little emptier than the other one. When it does go, though, keep an eye on if it continues flowing well. Somehow I actually like when the ink looks spotty from slow dripping, however, and it's likely not common. You may use the ink a bit quickly, though. Try the pen first and if you like it, I would get a good supply of replacement cartridges since this feels like a pen that can last well with care.

Pros: I really enjoy this pen overall. The casing is plastic, so don't expect something with lots of weight in your hand. Would be good for daily carrying. I think that for the price it does what you expect a brush pen to do. It looks kind of cool as well, as a lot of these Japanese-made pens do.Cons: The pen has a very heavy flow of ink, at least the one I got did! Don't get me wrong, it's good to have a flowy brush pen, but I feel that this one lays down ink too fast/thick. This means that it also takes several minutes for some areas of ink to dry, which is the first time I've encountered that issue with a brush pen. Also, the darkness of the black is definitely not as dark as other brush pens I have. So in conclusion, the ink comes out very heavy but when dry, the black is not as dark as I was hoping.

This brush lays down a ton of ink.I got this to ink with as an alternate to the steel nibs (fountain and dip pens) that I have been using. The quality is great, you can get very fine and very thick lines, and much more organic lines than with steel nibs, fine liners, or even felt-tip pens. The trade off is that the brush pen is also much more difficult to control; getting thin, even lines is more difficult than with steel nibs, and my lack of confidence with the brush does still show in my work.The ink that it comes with is fine but I won't buy any more of it when it runs out. I got a Luxury Brands Platinum Fountain Pen Converter (PLAT500) and use bottled ink now. My favorite so far is Noodler's Lexington Gray, which adds additional character to the use of this brush.I also recently got a Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen, Includes 2 Black Ink Refills (GFKP3BPA).Of the two the Kuretake is the superior pen, with a better brush and the capability to utilize a converter, but the pocket brush from Pentel is about 50% shorter, and thus actually pocket sized.Still, I use this one far more frequently than the Pentel Pocket Brush pen.

I love this pen! The brush is perfect for super fine all the way to think lines. The ink delivery is always absolutely even. Brush is not dry at first touch while ink needs to flow to nib. It’s the perfect width to hold and is very comfortable. I am a self admitted pen snob and I am absolutely smitten. Buy it, you won’t regret it!