5 Expert Tips on How to Find the Perfect Ballpoint Pen for Drawing

Need help finding the perfect ballpoint pen for drawing?
Check out our expert tips! I show you how to pick a pen that suits your unique needs.

5 Expert Tips on How to Find the Perfect Ballpoint Pen for Drawing

1. Draw something real
2. A good pen doesn’t blob
3. Look for a wide sensitivity of the pen pressure
4. Get a retractable pen
5. Consider a cheap ballpoint pen.

This morning,
I arrived 1 hour early at the Consulate of France.
I walked around to kill time and I found a pen shop!

Let’s test some pens.

I’m looking for one with good comfort
that will bring higher results in drawings for your sketchbook!

5 good practices to choose the best ballpoint pen for you.

There are so many ballpoint pens out there. I could recommend some of my favorites for industrial design sketching, however, a good choice of pen depends also if you have a “heavy wrist”.

Heavy wrist: A tendency to draw too dark.

TIP 1| Draw something real

The draft paper at the art shops for people to test pens never has any drawings inside. We often see a few hatching and little writings of random words. I believe artists and designers don’t test the pens the right way.

• Choose a ballpoint pen and draw something.
• Use it in real conditions: draw perspective lines, curves, shadows, line weight, light reflection…
• If you wonder what to draw, simply look around you.
  I choose this cute red pencil sharpener to draw.

TIP 2| The best pen doesn’t blob

• Many ballpoint pens start to blob after drawing with it for a while.
• Choose one that doesn’t blob after many strokes.
• If it blobs early, avoid it or you will keep cleaning your nib all the time.
  Plus getting stains on your drawing and hand palm.

TIP 3| Look for a wide pressure sensitivity

• Find a ballpoint pen that offers a wide range of contrast from very light to dark.
• When we draw with a ballpoint pen in design sketching, we do not aim to erase. Starting a sketch light is important.
• Test your pen with plenty of construction lines for example.

TIP 4| Get a retractable nib

• How many pen caps have you ever lost?
• How many clothes, bags, pencil cases… have you stained by a pen with a missing cap?
• How many times has your pen rolled and dropped on the floor?
• To avoid all these inconveniences, I recommend a retractable pen.
• It is optional, but it is great to sketch on the go!
  (Example: Urban sketching or doodle note-taking)

TIP 5| Consider a cheap ballpoint pen

This non-branded ballpoint pen cost 5000VND (Vietnamese dong) = USD$0.22 only. Ballpoint pen technology is now a commodity:

• You can find great pens for cheap
  (but also expensive ones with lower quality or defaults.)
• Don’t judge a pen by its price or look.
  But by your own test and experience.
• The simple design of pens is often the best.

Extra shopping time!

I couldn’t resist to adopt a few more pens and pencils.

A flashy pink graphite pencil STAEDTLER 2B was calling me.
So I tested it drawing Doraemon as I did for the pencil sharpener. 🙂

Next time you go to a pen shop, draw something, and feel free to send me your drawings by email at choutac@thedesignsketchbook.com :).