new pen challenge!

[johncomic]

For my birthday I finally relented and bought myself a G-pen [after years of reading about them in “how-to-draw-manga” books and being reminded by a recent re-read of Bakuman]. And today I decided to give this new Proper Manga Tool a bit of a test drive...

I tried out various tricks and torture tests for a while, and then did a side-by-side comparison with the nibs I have the most experience with: the Hunt 102 crowquill, the Hunt 513EF [which I am currently using to ink Space Kid!], the Gillott 170 and the Gillott 1290. And here's what I can tell you about the mighty G-pen:

Despite its reputation for being extremely flexible and difficult to handle, I found it pretty much on par with the 102... meaning pretty easy to get the hang of. The G can produce hairlines if you use gentle pressure, but so can the 102 and the 1290. If you bear down on it to spread the nib you can get a nice wide flexible line... but the 102 can do almost as well, and both the Gillotts have the G-pen beat when it comes to how wide they can go. [Especially the 1290, the most flexible nib I have ever tried -- if you're looking for something as flexible as a brush and have never tried a 1290, please do!] I also have to report that when you want to make a wide line, the G runs out of ink surprisingly fast -- I could get a longer flexible line out of all the other nibs. [BTW, even the 513 will spread and give you a flexy line if you break it in and give it enough pressure -- it really isn't as stiff and unyielding as its reputation would suggest. My own personal prejudice there...] Then again, this may just be that the G is still brand new and has that fluid-repelling newness surface that all nibs do. I was testing it against broken-in nibs, which maybe isn't fair. Once that finish wears off, the G will likely hold a bigger ink load, but time will tell...

However: I was shocked to find that the G-pen will push forward as well as pull back, and it can draw loops. The line it gives when you push is fine and inflexible, but it's there -- unlike the 102 and the Gillotts, which all dig into the paper and will not push or loop. This makes the G far smoother and more versatile than it appears to be on the surface. Only the 513 can pull off those same moves, but it does so with a much heavier line (on account of its much fatter point). So this was the biggest revelation about the G-pen for me!

Bottom line: the G is like a smoother and more versatile crowquill. It isn't amazingly better at any one task, but taken as a whole it occupies a nice middle ground that other nibs are simply too specialized to match. And if you have any experience in nibs you ought to find the G very co-operative and easy to learn. I can understand why it's so popular with the pros in Japan. If I can get more of you to pick up a G and try it out, then I have done my job!  ;)