Pens on a Budget: ScanNCut drawing

Since moving the blog, we haven’t done an updated post on pens. I thought today as there won’t be a live stream at 11am, today’s the day to rectify that. These all fit either the Brother Universal Pen Holder or the 3D Fun Printz/Plannercraft Pen Holder (some both).

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This post is going to focus on great pens that are available on a small budget. These are perfect for beginners, but I’ve also gone for pens with a wide range of colours and finishes for those who are really confident of creating with colour. These pens can also be used in your regular crafting but for fibre tip pens, you may want to keep a separate set and the ScanNCut will flatten the end.

1: Scribblicious 60 Gel Pens set

These fit both pen holders perfectly without tape. We never recommend using tape in pen holders due to the amount of resources it uses and the potential for residue transfer.

The set contains 60 pens divided into 5 tiers: 12x Pastel, 12x Neon Glitter, 12x Metallic, 12x Glitter and 12x Fluorescent.

First tip: keep them in their storage box to easily identify which set the pen belongs to. The caps can be a little difficult to take off if you have any dexterity issues (I’d a bad arm when I was playing with these, so Ian had to do a lot of removing caps LOL).

The colour range is fantastic and only beaten by the Arteza Inkonics (but they don’t have glitter or metallics). Pastels: There is a white in the pack, but this is very subtle compared to some other brands like the Uniball Signo or Arteza White Gel Pen. The same can be said for the other pastel colours in the pack and I would class them as semi-opaque. Glitter: The glitter colours are translucent but packed with sparkle. For best results, lighten up your pressure and slow the speed right down. Metallic: These are more like regular gel pens with a subtle glittery shimmer; these can travel a little faster than their glitter counterparts.

2: Zebra Doodlerz Gel Pens

These are available in standard colours, neons, pastels and glitters. They only fit the 3D Fun Printz universal pen holder due to the shape of the barrel.

The glitters have one of the largest glitter particles of any gel pen; they have a 1mm nib to allow this to flow. This means these pens really sparkle and are great where you don’t want to use foiling. If filling areas, use the foiling setting to avoid smudging your artwork.

The pastels are slightly more opaque than the Scribblicious ones but this can also be attributed to the wider nib.

3: Uniball Signo

These come in lots of finishes: standard, highlighters, metallics, opaque white and sparkles. Until the Arteza White Gel Pen, the Uniball Signo Broad was my go to white pen.

These only fit the 3D Fun Printz universal pen holder due to the shape/width of the barrel.

4: Pilot Frixion: Erasable gel pens

These are available in a more limited palette and fit the Brother Universal pen holder in the Clicker Style pen, or both holders in the capped pen format (remove through the bottom on the Brother Holder).

The benefit of these is they erase with heat making them ideal for temporary guides on paper, card and fabric. I use them for my watercolour classes as they give bold outlines easy to see on camera, but they vanish with the application of a heat gun.

5: PaperMate InkJoy

The InkJoy range has three sections: normal ballpoint, Gel and Liquid pens. These pens write beautifully with a smooth action.

Gel pens have a 0.7 nib and come in a comfort grip clicker style. These fit the Brother pen holder easily; and with a little patience you can get them into the 3D Fun Printz holder (the clip can get in the way). The colours in this are vibrant and are great for playing with fill line width.

Liquid pens have a 0.5 metal nib making them great for technical drawing work. They work best in the 3D Fun Printz holder and dry really quickly so you can speed up your drawing. The metal tip means you do’t get blunting on the end like you would with a fibre tip pen such as the Arteza Inkonics.