purple ink

Colors Review: Paper Mate Liquid Flair, Assorted Colors, Medium Point

by Andrew

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Although I didn’t like the Paper Mate Liquid Flair for writing, it turns out that it’s a pretty great pen for drawing and coloring. It’s comfortable to hold, and the medium, felt tip does a great job at filling in areas. Though smearing and bleeding can definitely be an issue, it might be worth the trouble for some of the bright and vivid colors.

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This set comes with seven colors (plus black): blue, red, green, pink, orange, turquoise, and purple. Some of the colors almost look like highlighters, which isn’t something I tend to like. But the red, blue, and purple are dark and vivid – great colors.

If you’re doing detailed work, this might not be the pen for you – the medium point and the smearing issues would make it less than ideal for that application. But for general coloring, it does a great job. Each pen also has a different design on the barrel, which is a nice touch.

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Colors Review: uni-ball Signo 207 Assorted Colors (Blue, Red, and Purple)

by Andrew

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This uni-ball Signo 207 color set is best characterized as utilitarian, meant for taking notes but probably not for drawing pictures. Along with black, the set includes three basic colors: a blue and purple, both of which have a fairly standard dark shade, and a red, which is somewhat brighter. They are comfortable to hold and don’t seem to skip or bleed, but they still don’t quite live up to the high standard set by the micro (0.5mm) version of the Signo 207.

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While this color set has reliability and comfort, the Signo 207 micro stood out for its professional look and its ability to avoid smearing. By replacing the black grip and silver accents with cheap-looking rubber and white plastic, the professional look is mostly gone. And the smearing is among the worst I’ve seen, especially the blue ink pen.

This Signo 207 color set is not an outright bad set of pens. They’re mostly a disappointment given how much I like the Signo 207 micro. Still, a color set of Sharpie Pens or Pilot G-2s are better options, no matter if you want them for work or art.

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Colors Review: BIC Velocity Assorted Colors, Ballpoint, 1.6mm

by Andrew

BIC Velocity Color Pens

At 1.6mm, these BIC Velocity ballpoint pens are terrible for writing, but their colors make them all right for drawing. For ballpoint pens, which tend not to have the greatest-looking colors, the pink stands out quite nicely, and the purple takes a good dark note. The green and blue are bright, but they seem to come out a lighter on the page.

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Just like the Velocity Gel pen, the clip feels pretty flimsy, and I’m not a fan of the way the grip flares out near the tip. However, they are still relatively comfortable to hold. There is plenty of blobbing up with the ink, so be prepared for some smearing, but the ink flow is both smooth and consistent.

Because of the thick 1.6mm line and the blobby ink, I can’t imagine artists enjoying these Velocity colors. On the other hand, this seems more like a set of colored pens to give to kids. Keep in mind, however, you may need to replace them soon because these pens don’t have a very large ink cartridge.

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P.S. My apologies to How-To-Draw-Funny-Cartoons.com for butchering this hippo. And, yes, it is supposed to be a hippo.

Colors Review: Pilot G-2 Mosaic Collection (blue, green, red, and purple)

by Andrew

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If nothing else, the Pilot G-2 Mosaic Collection improves upon the original G-2 design in at least one important way by hiding the ugly G-2 refill. The barrel is instead covered in a pattern of broken hexagons, mimicking mosaic artwork (hence the name), and each barrel matches the color of the ink inside.

In addition to black, there are four colors: blue, red, green, and purple – all of which are quite dark. The green, the lightest of the bunch, is something like a darker shade of aquamarine. The red is more of a “blood red,” and is actually a great color for standard writing.

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They write like typical Pilot G-2 pens, which is a mostly positive experience, and they come in a 0.7mm tip. There is some smearing, especially with the black ink, but I had no issues with the pens bleeding through the page. If you’re looking for darker colored gel ink pens, these are a pretty good choice – especially that beautiful dark red.

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Colors Review: Sharpie Pen, Basic Six Color Set

by Andrew

Sharpie Pen Colors

Lately I’ve been a big fan of the Sharpie Pen – they draw such clean lines, it feels like my handwriting always looks better when I use one. So I was excited to play around with this set of six basic colors: black, blue, red, orange, green, and purple.

The blue and green look fairly standard to my eye, but the orange and red are quite bright. On the other side of the scale, the purple is fairly dark. In fact, I would actually consider using the purple in place of a black pen for writing.

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These pens aren’t the greatest at filling an area with color. However, this might be a good addition for anyone using Sharpie permanent markers in their artwork, as it could allow for adding more details. And luckily, I didn’t have any bleeding issues with these colors like I did with the standard black Sharpie Pen.

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