(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best liquid ink rollerball pens

To all the readers who may ask themselfes what I bought in the end, it was the following combination. I got my GF:


Rhodia Meeting Book A4+ It arrived today and it's basically what you can see on the picture. The paper seems a little too smooth but we will see for a rollerball. Maybe I'm just not used to that kind of paper.

Parker IM Rollerball It's a real silver, like in the description. Although on the picture it appears more like champagne. Looks beautiful, feels like "heavy" quality.

Parker Urban Premium I ordered this one as well. From a material point of view, it doesn't feel quite heavy as the regular IM. I like the design and the color scheme a little bit more. It's not a girly pink but a real nice, slightly rosé tone. I'm not sure which one to keep, will decide the comming days.

Jinhao 450 gold This one I ordered today, does anyone know, what material the gold version come? Is it plastic or metal as well?

Black mate Jinhao 450

Talking about fountain pens all the time I thought I should give it a try for myself :) :) The original thought of mine was to keep the mate black one as a backup. So if I like the golden one for my GF and if it works well, I'll keep the black one for myself.

I would say solid gold (or even completely gold plated) is probably on the gaudier side of things, but that's just me. There are plenty of great pens that fit this category though.

The Cross Peerless is a large pen that comes in gold-plated among other colors, just look around using that name. This is an American brand that makes most of their pens in China. You can also try out the Townsend collection, there are a lot of color options with this one, they're more affordable, and they're a solid, comfy pen to write with (I own several).

You can go Italian and pick up a Montegrappa Parola, no gold options, but the black with silver/chrome-trim is a fantastic looking option for an executive type (I own it in red). It even manages its own unique style on top of that, making it an interesting as well as professional looking pen. Another Italian pen, the Aurora Talentum is a great looking pen that I've had my eye on.

You could try a Waterman Exception, it's been on my "Must Buy" list for a while and it's great (Especially the Night and Day gold version), though I've heard it makes a better desk pen than a pocket pen (the lacquer scuffs). A more affordable (and in my opinion, better looking) Waterman is the Perspective. This one is at the top of my Buy list, albeit in the blue. These pens are made under an originally American brand now owned and operated in France.

Have you considered making your own sketchbooks? I'll buy Moulin du Roy Watercolor Paper rolls and make sketchbooks of various sizes and use an internal copic stitch to bind it. (I can provide more details on my version of the stitch, it's a bit different than the videos that describe it. Also, it's cheaper to get the rolls... but I haven't been able to find it available to link you to it. Keep an eye out for when they refresh the stock. It's MUCH cheaper to buy rolls and cut it up.) What's awesome about making your own sketchbook is a few things: You save money, you can choose your own size, and you can choose your own paper. Out of frustration at the lack of choices I learned to make sketchbooks right around my sophomore year in art school. Lately I've been using a small red square sketchbook and enjoy it.


I love my Pentel Hybrid Technica pens. They come in various sizes, from tiny to large. The 0.6mm is a larger size. Another good choice are the Copic Multiliners. You can refill these, replace the tips, and you can paint with copic markers over them. They do bleed with water washes, but if you're careful you can watercolor with them.


My other suggestion is to find a good art store. Do you have any privately owned art stores in your area? Ones that cater to artists, rather than the hobby lobby type. What's awesome about that is that you can explore in person, rather than trying to browse web pages.


A note, I've included many amazon links. They are not affiliate links. These are all items I used when I was earning my degree or after, when I worked at a professional art store.

I'm a lefty, and I know your struggle with writing instruments. Like /u/yoimhungry, I also spend way too much money in fountain pens, and I could recommend you a bunch of those. I'll just stick to one. The Pilot V Pen is a great option as far as starter fountain pens because they're cheap, write really well, and the ink is good for even low quality paper since it dries pretty quickly. It also comes in a good variety of colours. There are a variety of options you can find if you search for it on amazon. The ones I sent you are just examples of all the ink colours. At around 6 Pounds or so, it's a good deal.

I would also recommend a Pilot MR if you're looking for a roller ball. It's a gel roller ball which uses Pilot's G2 rollerball refill (which are easy to find) and to top it off, the colour options are classy, and it's really well built. These come in at around 11 or 12 pounds, which is over what you wanted, but is really reliable.

In terms of my favourite pen, it's hard to choose. I have around 28 fountain pens right now, and my favourite would probably be my Nexus Titanium Plus; a pen made with titanium components. That was one that I helped kickstart for, and I was super excited when it arrived.

Oh, nice! I've had pretty good experience with Microns, though they don't come cheap.

I've been in love with the Foray Rolle 0.7mm's for the last few years, though my handwriting isn't much to look at it's such a satisfying feeling pen. Tactile bliss.

Thanks for the contest! :)

1. Pens - I love pens and can use whatever color I want. :)
   
   
2. I'm totally a goddamn BADASS!!
   
   
3. My funniest work story is about my former boss. She used to use one of those large physio balls as her chair because of some hip issues with sitting down all day. One day, she was pissed and stormed into her large cubicle. She must have misjudged sitting on the ball or didn't pay attention because we all heard a loud scream and then an even louder thud! Several of us ran in there and she was on her back with legs up in the air - with her skirt around her waist!! OMG, we were all dying laughing, and so was she! Note: although funny, luckily she was not hurt during this incident.
   
   
4. /u/blanchetastic
   
   
5. PC load letter! What the fuck does that mean?

> Although I want it to be efficient as well so that I can write quite quickly as well.

Type of pen makes a HUGE difference for me, both how it looks and how easily it flows when writing.

Your will vary, but fine/micro tips (like these) completely DESTROY my handwriting, how easy it is to write, everything. Medium point and felt tip are effortless and look the best. In a perfect world, a sharpie would be my writing tool of choice, lol.

I know these aren't the designer series but it's the blue ink vision elite fine. Some of the reviews are iffy but I just ordered them today plus it's shipped and sold by Amazon. Great return policy if it's not the full pack http://www.amazon.com/Uni-Ball-Vision-Stick-Rollerball-60134/dp/B00006IE8K

I only put a blacklight on each for a couple seconds and my camera couldn't quite focus on the tomoes well enough. But the imagines still look pretty clear imo

I also received my Itachi today and plan on doing the same thing. I already added the GITD paint but I'm going to leave it overnight to dry before drawing on top of it

Almost forgot. Before anyone asks, I used this brand paint for the glow affect. The neutral paints are a clear/white paint that glow whichever color you buy and the fluorescent paint are certain colors that will glow relatively the same color. And I used this pen. Nothing really special about it. It just has a fine tip that's what she said and it's my favorite pen that so happens to be right next to me

Thanks for the compliment! It wasn't a special artists pen or anything just a black rollerball. I think it was this make which I bought as a single in the supermarket for about £2. Did the pencil outline first then inked it in. Glad you responded to this one because I was trying something quite different here than what I usually do on the blog! :)

Best pen depends on the paper.

These are excellent on white copy paper: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006IE8O/

For notebook paper (thinner and bleeds through), Zebra pens will always be my favorite: https://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Ballpoint-Retractable-Refillable-Stainless/dp/B00NHV6VH0/

http://www.amazon.com/Staples%C2%AE-StrataTM-Liquid-Rollerball-Assorted/dp/B00GPF866O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405539994&sr=8-1&keywords=staples+strata

I really like these, they have a liquid ink which kinda reminds me of a fountain pen whenever I use it. A comfortable grip and smooth tip makes it a really cool pen that I use whenever I don't have a FP in my hand.

Camera : Quite Black Pixel

Logitech Marathon M705

Uniball Vision: Blue, Fine

Pentel Twist-Erase .5

Pilot V5 Percise Extra Fine

CRKT M16

Black Ice Zippo

Nite Ize Key Tool

Zelda Heart, Bead KeyCharm from a friend

I like these 5 packs: Pilot G-tec-c4

They sell them as singles in the bookstore, btw.

That said, they are not super high end - but they are pretty utilitarian, vivid, the ink dries quick and in general they drastically changed taking notes by hand, for me.

I tend to like thinner pens as well, so I get it. I didn't find these to thick for me, but your mileage my vary.

Getting beyond what I can personally attest to, but Parker has a selection of rollerballs in that price range. Not sure if they are on jetpens, but here's an amazon link:

https://smile.amazon.com/Parker-Gun-Metal-Rollerball-1750428/dp/B000UV676A?sa-no-redirect=1

I haven't personally used them, but I also have seen many recommend Lamy on here. Here's a link (JP):

https://www.jetpens.com/Lamy-Al-Star-Rollerball-Pen-Medium-Point-Blue-Green-Body-Black-Ink/pd/12250#index=1

Hope this helps.

They're great pens! I almost exclusively use those and 0.8mm Sharpie pens for drawing, the Uniballs are fantastic for lining and fine hatching while the Sharpies have a much more organic feel to the stripes they lay.

Before I got into fountain pens, I loved the blue Uniball Insight. Very bright blue ink, and a smooth enough writer. You can get them in black and red as well, but the blue is the most interesting IMHO. The feed looks like it can hold enough ink to fly without leaking, but I can't be sure if that is the case. If it did leak, it probably wouldn't be bad.

Not capped but the Pentel Energel RT Alloy would feel at home in big hands.

The Sheaffer 300 is my favorite "big" fountain pen. You may like the roller ball. If I am not mistaken you can use a G2 refill in them without modification. Unfortunately I only have the fountain pen, but it works in a sheaffer aggio rollerball I have and both take the sheaffer slim refill.

Turns out the US availability isn't quite what I expected, sorry to get your hopes up :(

Not sure what Goulet shipping is like (I'm UK based), so the $13 here might work out cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/J-Herbin-Refillable-Rollerball-Pen/dp/B00A6VZYKE/

I'd recommend checking eBay for the metal rollerballs, but looks like they're about $30 + whatever shipping is charged to get it to the US. Someone else US based might have an idea where else you might be able to get them, though!

You could easily make your own. Buy a cheap Platinum Preppy fountain pen. They are about $5 US. Or you can get a J Herbin rollerball for about $14. Then fill it with a mixture of lemon juice and water. This link can give you some ideas.

Oh, gotcha. You mean a rollerball pen that takes fountain pen ink? The only thing I could find was this one from J. Herbin.

I'm from Brazil, but i already found another one that is refillable, but i can't find it in a local shop.
This one https://www.amazon.com/Foray-Liquid-Rollerball-Medium-Barrels/dp/B00F63HPYU

Oops, forgot to link them.
https://www.amazon.com/uni-ball-Vision-Rollerball-Point-0-7mm/dp/B00006IE8K/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=uni%2Bpen&qid=1550149090&s=gateway&sr=8-7&th=1

There's a whole club for you guys. They even made customized pens for the members.

not worth the effort.
http://www.amazon.com/J-Herbin-Refillable-Rollerball-Pen/dp/B00A6VZYKE
just buy one.