Pentel Fude Brush Pen, Medium (XFL2L)

Things to remember if you've never owned this pen. 1) You have to turn it to the left to unscrew the cap. 2) You have to remove the red seal (after each use I unscrew the pen from the ink cartridge, rinse the nib, reattach the red seal and the ink cartridge and store the pen nib up). 3) I squeezed the ink cartridge gently over a piece of scrap paper to get it to flow, and then rescrewd it onto the nib section to get the ink to flow. 4) Remember, left turn to tighten the cap and right turn to loosen it. Yes, it seems backwards for us westerners but it's all good. 😊I love how you can go from a thin delicate line to bolder and broader strokes. The ink flows nicely and it's a rich, deep black.

The media could not be loaded. Works smoothly.Instructions:Remove the red ring around the pen and then you can safely put the pen back together and squeeze.From my experience it turns to a nice and fuzzy gray color without the water. With water it's almost jet black.

This is super fun to use. Love this pen.

Beyond excellent. This is the brush you've waited for, so why not 5-stars? Well, mine hasn't run out of ink yet. I know that sounds weird but if your trying to make a living with your brush skills, you need to know when this thing is going to die.The handle is all black, there are no visual indicators of the current ink level. Additionally you will have to squeeze that handle/ink resivore quite firmly to get the ink flowing( after open box and after periods of non use). You will need to learn to get just the smallest drop or "rings" of ink into the clear screw head just before the actual brush hairs.Remember liquid plus gravity equals waterfall, or in this case inkfall. If you push to much you will see an actual drop of ink on the brush hairs. Then you will have to wait, draw laps around your test page, until you can get a fine line that doesn't bleed.Also, I have no idea what will happen with air travel. I would suggest to keep pens with you on the plane in plastic bag. Checked luggage rides unpressurized, leading to black ink all over your stuff. However, I have not tested this.The blue tip, fine brush will do everything you need for illustration , fine lines and bold strokes. The green and black tip (standard/large) seem to big unless you are doing eastern style caligraphy or anything large for example full page kangi strokes. Sorry if I spelled that wrong.Final review, buy 2. Possibly 3, your controll of the bristles is awesome especially for fine work. You can spiral inside of a penny. Extended use you will need to squeeze handle, and wait until the standing ink level is back to "fine" quality but that is only minutes. Unless you want a dry-brush look. Waterproof ability decent, heavy brush work /watercolor may lead to black smears. Ink will beed up on Wax pencils prismacolors, ok with col-erase. Most importantly no more ink wells.Comparable product made by Beinfeng but only sold in multi-color pack. Better fine linework with Pentel, you can spiral inside of a penny without to much brush flip found in Bienfeng.

I have used this inkbrush for 4 years and still love it! Still going strong. I use this on a daily basis for my job as a caricature artist and have 4-5 back ups in case I lose one or forget it at a gig.Pros:1. it is refillable2. It has nylon bristles that last forever if taken care of...unlike many foam or brush “tip” markers that wear in a few days. This does not. It keeps a point if taken care of like you would a paintbrush3. You can control the amount of inkflow. This is where many negative reviews come from. It takes a little practice but the flow is very consistent with how hard you squeeze. I personally squeeze until I just see ink start to appear in the clear chamber. That gives me no mess and will draw about 1 caricature from start to finish! If squeezed too much and ink fills the chamber, you will get too much ink...although sometimes I Internationally do this if I know I need to fill a big area with black. Control in a brush is good and this gives you that!4. I personally like the medium tip because it keeps a smaller point and still gives me phenomenal variation of line width. I used to use the large tip but I couldn’t get a small line when the weather was hot...making the ink flow too much. Medium is my favorite now.5. You can buy these anywhere! Some of my caricature artist friends use markers and get used to one brand just to find out later that they are being discontinued. (Try to find a cone tip markette). This technology (paintbrush) has been around for centuries and will continue to be the most versatile.6. Many different line tricks! You can ink a single hair thin to a thick, bold line. You can also blow on the bristles to create splatter (see shaved head in pic), you can used dry brush techniques to create texture like in bamboo or bark. I’m sure I’ll figure out new tricks in the future.Cons:1. Takes time to learn to use. You must use this like a paintbrush, not a marker. If you’ve ever watercolored, you will catch on quickly. If you’ve never used a paintbrush, then look at some youtubes.2. Putting the cap back on should be done carefully so as not to bend the bristles. Once on, however, it creates an airtight click!It’s inexpensive and will last a lifetime. It creates beautiful lines...buy it.

Just started experimenting with this, so haven't done anything for a serious review as I've never used a brush pen before. I attached a couple photos - the brush swipes stay dark so long as you keep pressure (squeezing) the pen. Once you stop squeezing, the ink fades off the brush into a lighter gradient.