Review: Spectrum Noir Artliner Pigmented Pens

Spectrum Noir has recently sent me a few sets of pens to check out. Thanks to the increasing popularity of my Youtube channel, I've been able to get products that I've not known of to feature on my blog.

Spectrum Noir is an art supplies manufacturer from UK. They make pencils, pens and markers.

The set of pens I have here belong to the Artliner series. They are basically technical pens with pigmented inks.

These are blacks in sizes 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.8 and a brush pen.

These are from the neutral pack with grays and sepia (or brown). Sizes are 0.05, 0.3 and a brush pen.

These are the coloured pigmented pens with 0.3 tips.

These are the coloured pigmented pens with brush tips.

I did a search online and it seems that these pens are not sold individually.

There are only 8 colours in the range. Tip sizes for the coloured set is fixed at 0.3.

The brush tip is small and sharp. Since it's a sponge tip, it's not that flexible, but it can still be used to create hand lettering art. The difference between thin and thick strokes is not as significant compared to real brushes or more flexible brush pens though.

These Artliners use needlepoint tips.

Felt tip pens like these are best used on smooth paper. The Spectrum Noir Artliners draw quite smoothly on such paper. Ink flow is good.

The alcohol ink dries fast and does not smell. Since they use pigmented ink, they are waterproof while dry. I'm not sure how lightfast they are though.

The hatching lines are drawn with the 0.05 and the thick lines with the brush tip.

The gray coloured ink from the Neutral set is a bit light though. The sepia or brown colour is nice.

These coloured pens are quite fun to use, to play with.

These were drawn with the brush tips.

On these two pages are stroke transitions from the six sizes, from 0.05 to the brush tip.

Conclusion

The performance of the Spectrum Noir Artliners with needlepoint tips feels very similar to other brands of technical pens I've used. They write and draw smoothly on smooth paper.

Highlight of these pens would be the use of pigmented ink. More specifically, the coloured pens also use pigmented inks. It's quite difficult to find coloured technical pens that use pigmented inks. The ink dries fast and is smudge-proof and waterproof when dry. This makes it suitable to be layered with other mixed media.

The downside is, it does not seem that the pens are sold individually. So if you use up a particular size or colour, to replace that, you would have to buy a whole new set.

The other downside is the brush tips are quite small. They work fine though. Smaller brush tips like these can be used for calligraphy but the sponge tip isn't as flexible compared to the bristles brush tips.

Availability

Find more reviews at Dick Blick Art Materials (US) | Jackson's Art (UK)