Review: Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Black Ink 60

This is the Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Black Ink 60 that's made in Japan. Note that Kuretake sells several types of black ink.

I bought this on Amazon and unfortunately, there was some leakage during shipping. The bottle was just plastic wrapped. Thankfully, the ink did not spill beyond its plastic wrapping to damage my other books. That explains why my bottle looks so worn.

The ink comes in a rather large 60ml bottle. The large base is handy for keeping the bottle stable. It has a wide opening for dip pens and brush.

This ink is designed for manga and comic inking. It's pigmented so you should not use it in fountain pens.

This ink is actually quite similar to the Kuretake Sumi Ink 60 but there are some differences. This one here is waterproof while the Sumi is not.

This scan is adjusted for exposure while leaving the paper texture intact. Below are the close ups.

It's intensely black and the covering strength is fantastic. It dries to a neutral matte black.

It's able to keep a sharp edge.

It's waterproof when dried and becomes permanent and smudge-proof. Holds up well to erasing also.

Drying time is average to fast.

The only downside is if you use it in concentrated amounts, some areas may dry to produce unsightly colour breaks. It might be due to the water-based nature of the ink. For dip pen usage, this should not be a problem. For brush usage, you should control the amount of ink you use to prevent that.

Because of the colour breaks, I don't recommend this for use on artworks where you plan to sell the original.

There are actually colour breaks in the black inked areas but they don't show up when scanned.

To see how this ink compares with other black ink, visit https://www.parkablogs.com/picture/comparison-of-different-black-inks

Conclusion

The Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Black Ink 60 is a good choice for inking comic and illustration works. It's waterproof so it means you can use water-based medium such as watercolour together with it.

The price when I bought it was around US $8, which is a relatively good deal for 60ml of ink.

However, if you don't need the ink to be waterproof, you can choose the Kuretake Sumi ink which is even slightly cheaper.

Availability

Follow the direct links below to get Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Black Ink 60 on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es

Search Jackson's Art (UK) too.