Ink Pen and watercolour painting.

That’s a simple fix Robin, you need a waterproof pen. There are plenty of good brands available, I generally use an Edding 1800 or a Pilot Profipen. You’ll have to choose which point you prefer, 0.2 gives you a nice fine line. Alternatively you may like to try a simple dip pen, using Indian ink but not fountain pen ink which isn’t waterproof.

Hi Rob, it would seem to me that you did not use waterproof ink. I have used a pen and India ink that was water resistant. What I tend to use now is water proof ink pens that come in several sizes, that way I don’t have to worry about the bottle of ink. I don’t have a preference but would suggest a good make from your local art dealer or on line. I’m sure several people on POL will be able to advice, Lewis Cooper being one of them as he does a lot of ink pen work.

Alan beat me too it, I was typing as he posted the make he recommended is one of  the best ones.

Indian ink, Chinese ink, acrylic ink - anything, as already advised, but fountain-pen ink.  But don't try putting Indian ink into a fountain-pen, because it'd kill it in short order.  I like dip pens, now and then; prefer them to the disposable types of pigment ink pen - but sooner or later you will  spill it, or drop the bottle, and then you will be extremely unhappy with the person who told you they liked dip pens.  So - that wasn't me. Incidentally, I have seen a 'sketcher-pen', which is a fountain-pen type, but have never used one.  I bet Alan has - does he, or anyone else, know if they can be used with waterproof ink? 

How on earth did I do that..... ?   Double post, I mean..

I’ve got a Rotring Artpen Robert, if that’s what you are referring to. You can only use it with their own brand cartridges, which are waterproof and I suspect Is Indian ink. If you don’t use it for a while it does take some getting going again, a pain in fact! I’m not overly keen on drawing with it if I’m honest, it doesn’t produce particularly interesting lines, unlike say a dip in mapping pen, or my favourite method of line drawing, a rigger brush with acrylic or Indian ink. This does take some practice to master the brush technique, but the results achieved are superb. I rarely use anything else these days. Just to add, this a sort of long handled fountain pen, not the Rotring Rapidigraph needle point pens.

I use waterproof pens all the time Robin.  I've used Uni-PIN, Faber-castell, Pentel and Edding.  They are all good and come in a variety of sizes.  I tend to use 01 to 08.  I have no particular preference, except in the smaller sizes (01,02).  My heavy handed approach tends to break the points on these.  Alan suggested Edding 1800 for this problem, and he was right, the Edding pens seem more resistant to my thuggish use (you may not have this problem, but at 80 I'm unlikely to change now). All these pens take thin watercolor wash well, without any reworking of the black lines.  As I like bright color, I usually have to do some reworking of my pen lines after applying the watercolor. Dip pens (or a brush) are far and away the best way to draw with ink, you can vary the weight of your line, I use them occasionally, but in the real world find the pens like Edding etc far more convenient...and you don't get ink on your fingers.  Another possible useful addition might be a white gel pen.  I've only just started using these (wish I'd tried earlier).  For example, I've painted a black sky with waterproof Indian Ink.  I'm adding stars with the white gel pen.  Works very well.  You can use gouache of course, but 'convenience' is the bonus with the gel pens.  Just a thought...you may not need it for your work. Plenty of good advice above...this site is excellent for that.  I only use Indian Ink to cover large areas, you may not need it...I work in an illustrative' style.  It can be messy - or maybe that's just me.  See the pic below.   A large blob of black ink.  I'd decided to use a old jar of Indian Ink, couldn't get the top off, applied more pressure...the plastic top disintegrated, thick black ink slurped out and made abstract alterations to my drawing.  (Also my table, trousers and floor).  Moral...don't open ink bottles over your work. It may not be of interest, as I don't know your style of work, but the above picture was drawn with 02, 05 and 08 pens, then shaded using a charcoal gray water-soluble colored pencil.  If you don't know about these, you use them dry to add shading (as in this case), then, using a clean brush and water, you can effectively turn the pencil into a wash.  I've found it an excellent way to sketch.  You can buy single pencils if you want to try it. Good luck with your pen and wash.

I also use quite a few drawing pens of the brands already mentioned. I would add Staedtler who make handy packs of four or more varying widths, all waterproof. Micron are also good. I recently bought a Sailor Fude fountain pen which has a curved nib which produces lines from thin to much thicker from the same nib, so fun and good to use, but found to my cost that the ink is not waterproof! I’m not sure if you can buy waterproof ink for it. Welcome to the Forum Robin.

Nearly all of my work is done in an illustrative style using pen and ink with watercolour and I’ve always used the Pitt Artist Faber-Castell pens - they’re totally waterproof and come in various thickness nibs.  You can buy them at a good price from the Ken Bromley website.