Fountain Pens and Creating Shiny Art that Glistens!

When I first started Dream Vale Studios I liked the idea of making beautiful artwork with fountain pens. They ended up being much harder to work with than I imagined. The ink would blot and smear. I would get it everywhere. They brought no joy. I was frustrated and eventually just gave up on them.

I must have forgotten all this anguish as I’ve been wanting to give fountain pens another shot. Surely I could make this work. 

After quite a bit of research and perhaps a few foibles I landed on TWISBI Eco. These pens are easy to use, cost-effective, durable, and great for a beginner like myself. 

My first one was a blast. It’s easy to load with ink and, well, I simply had to get two more. 

So why go through the trouble at all? Well, there are a ton of inks with fascinating effects. While I do dabble around digital work, my art heart lives for the physical medium. There is a certain charm when using markers - the lines made have a life to them that adds character to my work and keeps drawing me back to them. That same allure brings me back to fountain pens. This was a sample pack with different inks. Here are a few that I swatched.

The best way to get a feel for the inks is 🥁 to draw with them! Check out these sketches using “Tranquility”. Purple is my favorite arguably the best color.

The shiny bits do make this pen clog up the nib which is still a bit of a pain. I’m not yet sure there is a way this can be fixed. But the effect is still worth the hassle. They look so pretty!

I’m excited to create more original sketches. I might even give selling them at art shows a whirl as I simply cannot get the same effect with prints.

Thanks again for spending another moment with us. 

Have a good weekend,

Arielle + Ryan