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Is it a good/bad idea to use sharpies or other common pens/markers instead of the recommended brands?

11:08 PM, Sunday April 26th 2020

Obviously, I do not mean to criticize the recommended materials in any way. However, I do know that many people including myself do have items like fine sharpies among many other other brands and tools.

Is it good idea to use these with this course or should users take the extra time to purchase the recommended brands? Especially, if they do not live near a professional art store and would have to purchase them online from a supplier like JetPens or Amazon?

Thank you in advance!

Any help is highly appreciated.

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1 users agree
12:00 AM, Monday April 27th 2020

I think Sharpies ultrafine are pretty close to fineliner although the tip gets squidgy quite quicly. I have used them early on. However the Fine Point ones are really markers and not accurate enough for this.

I bought a 10 Staedtler Finelners off ebay pretty cheaply. So depending on delivery service don't think it's a big issue.

0 users agree
11:10 PM, Monday April 27th 2020

Sharpie Ultrafines are okay. One of our completionists (Svendogee) actually did the whole course with 'em.

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
Sakura Pigma Microns

Sakura Pigma Microns

A lot of my students use these. The last time I used them was when I was in high school, and at the time I felt that they dried out pretty quickly, though I may have simply been mishandling them. As with all pens, make sure you're capping them when they're not in use, and try not to apply too much pressure. You really only need to be touching the page, not mashing your pen into it.

In terms of line weight, the sizes are pretty weird. 08 corresponds to 0.5mm, which is what I recommend for the drawabox lessons, whereas 05 corresponds to 0.45mm, which is pretty close and can also be used.

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