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

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.

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!

Update: I had to come back and update my review because it turns out this is handy for getting nice blacks when doing watercolor. The ink blends well with the paint, and if you have syringes you can refill the cartridges. So they're not a total loss. I was just initially disappointed that it wasn't going to work for lettering (at least for me). Maybe if you're an expert you can get finer lines with lettering than I can.Original Review: There's no doing calligraphy with this pen, unless you want to write HUGE letters. Please note, this pen is NON-RETURNABLE. It's impossible to write with and maybe ok for art, but there's way better solutions for that. Don't buy.

Nice thin tip, great ink flow. Fun and easy to use.I’m using these Kuretake brush pens in journals and also on hot press watercolor paper. The tip is good quality.I’m enjoying these so much that they are now a staple art supply in my kit.Another great thing is if you’re out and about and want to make a quick sketch in your journal, these brush tips in different sizes are very expressive. Nice variation of line thickness and the ink has been flowing flawlessly for me.

I am really happy with my new purchase because it's absolutely great! I'm a very, very, very heavy writer. I like to push down extremely hard wuth the pen and often the other inky pens I use are terrible. I usually get them from Office Depot or Office Max or 1 of those types of places. I never liked the results and I always ended up smudging the page. It was really annoying because then I had to start all over again each and every time.I really love the fine lines on this pen. Although I'm not an artist, I have to write a lot for my job. I need to turn in my reports at my work & they have to look very neat and orderly, so I love the results of the pen. My work comes out neat, legible and easy to read. There are no smears, or any need for bottles of whiteout which is what always happens with other pens that I use. I love, love, love the brush strokes!!!!!!!I also love the feel of this pen. It doesn't put as much stress on my hand as other ink pens that I've used before which I love as well. Definitely recommend it!! You have got to try it for yourself.