Excellent waterproof non-black dark inks for sketching and use with watercolour

Quick takeaway: If you're looking for waterproof inks for your fountain or dip pens for use with watercolour, SketchINK is a great option.

A bit of background

I have used fineliners in my drawing and writing processes for a few years now and have really loved them, but with watercolour, I realised very quickly (the hard way haha) that my favourite Staedtler triplus fineliners were not waterproof.

I then got onto a variety of different fineliners from Microns to UniPins and Staedtler waterproof fineliners and I do like some of them but the things I kept coming back to were:

1. they were not refillable (neither are the triplus) and I really wanted something I could just refill to reduce plastic waste

2. they are not quite as expressive and

3. I really didn’t want to have to take many different pens with me on my travels and have back-ups of backups.

After a lot of research, I finally decided to give fountain pens a try but I wasn’t sure what ink to get. After more research, SketchINK seemed a good choice because of the price and I really liked the colours of Thea and Lilly.

Colours other than Black

I like writing and drawing in colours other than black. As far as I can remember I really have not liked using black or the typical blue ink. Uniball Signo’s blue-black and other unusually coloured pens have been my go to for everything pen-wise for that reason too but that's for another time.

When looking for ink colours for drawing, the inks needed to be:

1. Not black, but still be somewhat dark and

2. preferably in Sepia tones or other earthy tones because of the subjects I like drawing and painting

I came across Teoh Yi Chie’s review of SketchINK Thea and really liked the colour. Next stop on the online resources was Jetpens (they are such an excellent resource by the way) but because I needed it quick before a trip, I bought them from a local online retailer.

Just on that: I was so glad to find a local online store that is happily based in Perth – check out The Desk Bandit if you’re in Australia – they stock an amazing array of inks, and quite a few pens. Being in Perth at the time, I received my inks and a new pen (Kakuno EF) so quickly! I'd buy from them again in a heartbeart.

(This is not sponsored in any way by any of the above links - I am just so glad stores and resources like that exist).

To the inks themselves – I’ve included various swatches of all three below. There are brush swatches and I’ve also included the swatches with some pen nibs so you’re able to see the range of colours and shades they display.

I haven't used SketchINK Emma as much as Lilly or Thea. It is not a colour I use in my pens, but it is such a gorgeous colour, and I couldn't quite resist getting a small sample of it.

When used in/with a pen, the differences are subtle. Note also that the colours may appear different on your screen and are affected by the paper type used. The paper used above is 100% recycled cotton paper by

Nero Journals

.

Moleskine Watercolour journal. Lilly and Thea. Thea looks warmer here.

Swatches of Emma and Lilly on Rough watercolour paper.

Using the Pens

Below is a fun little illustration I did while on Christmas Island of the view from the lounge in the first place we stayed. I used the opportunity to play with these inks in pens.

Most of the outlines are done in Lilly with a Kakuna pen, while the exaggerated markings on the wood pole on the right are done with the Sailor 55degree fude nib pen and Thea ink. I should have tried Emma for the palm leaves but here I had used watercolour for them.

Playing with lines.

I really enjoy both Lilly and Thea for just about anything I ever use pens for. SketchINK Lilly is slightly warmer than Thea, and between the two, Lilly is my current favourite.

For the moment, I only have my bottle of Lilly with me, while Thea sits at home in Perth, but I'll probably swap them when I head back next. Thea is particularly interesting because is a grey but it is an interesting not-too-cool colour, and it sometimes looked more sepia than grey (see the Moleskine journal swatches above). I found myself reaching for it a lot too when I had both on me.

I thought trying both would help me pick one for the future once I’ve used up the bottles as I really didn’t want to be travelling with more than one bottle of ink, but it really hasn’t! Having used them for almost a year, I'm still not sure which I would choose out of the two. Hopefully I’ll be able to make that decision in the time it will take me to finish them both up.

Quick-drying

Drying time is a key factor for any ink you'd want to use with watercolour, and I'm happy to say these dry fast. I don’t even really have to think of dry times unless I’m using a dip pen or brush and have really put down a wet inky stroke.

For most applications, particularly using my Kakuno EF or M pens, I pretty much go straight in with watercolour. It can take a few more seconds with the Sailor 55degree fude nib pen if I've put down quite a wet stroke, but even then, I don't notice the drying time and it hasn't affected my sketching or painting.

Note: Even though these are safe to use with fountain pens, because these are still pigment inks, if you don't use your pens often, they may clog the nibs and you will need to clean them. I have had to clean my pens a few times, but they work just fine after a good clean.

Just a great all-round workhorse for sketching

If you're looking for a waterproof ink that will work in your fountain pens and with your nib pens, but don't want a black ink, these are worth a try. Which one you choose will ultimately be personal preference.

Additional bonus – they’re cheap for the amount of ink (at least compared to other options I could find). 50 ml bottles are US$13.50 on Jetpens or AU$22.50 at The DeskBandit at the time of writing.