Drawing with a fude or calligraphy pen

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!

"Koosje, what fude fountain pen should I buy?" I get this question a lot.
I cannot tell you nor advise you on what pen to use - it's too personal of a choice. But in today's video, I will show you one of my favorite pens, and how I use it in my sketchbook.
The fude nib is a calligraphy nib. The nib is at a bent angle. Fude refers to Ofuda, the Japanese name of the brush that is used in Japanese calligraphy.
In this video I am showing you the Sailor Fude de Mannen. Mannen means fountain pen in Japanese. 

The nib at a bent angle can give you a very expressive line quality for calligraphy and drawing. The line thickness depends on the angle at which the nib is aligned with the paper. The more parallel to the paper, the thicker your line, the steeper the angle, the finer the line. And then you can also use the nib upside down, for the thinnest of lines.
This pen nib has a 55 degree angle. There's also a navy blue version that has a 40 degree angle. You can buy cartridges of ink for it, or a converter so you can use your own ink - like for example Platinum Carbon Black ink, which is waterproof ink that's suitable for fountain pens.

Changing the angle as you are drawing takes a bit of practice,  it might feel a little tricky at first, but look at all the amazing different marks and line quality you can create with it! It' hard to explain how the changing of the angle is used, you need to find out yourself by doing. 

If you first do a page of mark making, you'll get a feel for the playfulness of the line. Your line can also be rather unpredictable, and that's part of the fun. 

You can use the thick line to your benefit and emphasize on certain areas of your drawing. The thick line is great for quickly filling in darker shapes. A more delicate line allows for more detail. And with this pen, you can do all of that.
Holding the pen at a steeper angle allows for thinner hatching lines, or even using the very tip of the nib by holding it upside down for the thinnest line. 

So no, I am not going to tell you what pen to buy. But hopefully you do understand why drawing with this pen gives me so much joy. 

Speaking of the joy of drawing: I am currently working on a book about drawing: Life is better when you draw it. The whole process is pretty exciting. You can sign up to stay in the loop about the progress of the book: https://www.koosjekoene.com/book 

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Materials shown in the video:
-Sailor deMannen fude pen (55 degrees angle)
-Platinum Carbon Black ink