Kuretake ZIG Inktober Special Set, ILLUSTRATION BASIC SET 3 for Manga Drawing, Lettering and Calligraphy, Professional Artist Quality, Made in Jap...

Kuretake has become one of my all-time favorites when it comes to brush pens and ink. I'm not a fan of the mangaka 003 simply because it's not pigmented enough, it's finicky and often has to be gone over. The nib is a bit too tough imo. The white brush pen is okay, but it will hopefully be improved. I know they've been trying different kinds recently so fingers crossed for the future! With everything being water-based, it's fun for loose sketching with the inclusion of light watercolors (pencils then brush or just brush). I can say with full confidence that I'll be purchasing some more sets when I can. Out of all the ones included, the fude pen and cartoonist brush pen no. 22 are currently tied for favorite.

I love the black pen it's very thin and the brush tip is awesome(also the pattern on it is so pretty!!!) But the white pen is really difficult to use and just squirts out a bunch of white ink that makes it difficult to use no matter how softly I click the thing it leaks out all at once and leaves very little left on the brush tip. Otherwise, good.

The brush pen really feels like using a fine gel eyeliner. It felt sort of strange. Even the the outer casing it came in sort of looks like it too. Other wise, its a great brush pen for small detailed work. Purchased this because my favorite illustrator, Kloodwig uses and endorses this. :-)

I just received this set, and Im already obsessed!! As an emerging artist with a graphic style, Ive tried many hundreds of pens. This simple set provides an impressive breadth of stroke options. The two brush pens are capable of creating both bold lines and wispy textures-a rare find in pens v. paint or ink brushes. Im excited by the gray pen as well! I love a subtle shadow or contrast, and this ink delivers a beautifully light sheer impression. As expected, the Zig .01 tip creates crisp, fine-lining detail. It does the job, but I wouldnt say it performs better than many others in my collection. Finally, the white pen is meh. On the positive side, it does create a visible white contrast on the first stroke. Contrary to the manufacturers description, though, I couldnt achieve a more opaque contrast by going over the line several more times. The pens soft tip almost seemed to re-absorb the white ink with each stroke. It also picked up some of the black ink, creating more of a gray effect. The tip is self-cleaning, but it I wasted some of the white ink trying to clean it off on scrap paper. and I had to waste white ink. I decided not to take off a star for this flaw, as I could probably have mitigated the problem by waiting longer for the black ink to dry. Overall, I enjoy the other pens enough to tolerate this mediocre one. Cant wait to try their other sets!!

Having bought a whole lot of art supplies in the past I would have to say that Kuretake is one of my favorite brands, by far. Well, Kuretake and Sakura as well. This Inktober set is very cool and Ive had a lot of fun drawing with it so far. I especially like the ZIG Clear Color Real Brush in this collection. It is what made all of the light gray in my drawing that Ive included in my photos showing me using most of the pens in this set. Ive bought large packs of the ZIG Real Brushes before and they can help you create really cool artwork I think. Also, Im not sure what the longest pen is called, everything written on it is in Japanese Kanji I believe. But it is very versatile in that it gives a fine point type pen/marker on one end. And the other end of it is a brush type pen that allows you to paint thin or really thick lines like a real paint brush. I still dont exactly understand what the two white tip pens or brushes are for? Im not sure if they put out white ink or if they are for combining colors together. But, I still really like this set a whole bunch and plan to buy the other ones in the Kuretake Illustration Collection. I think that this set is number 2 in the collection. In buying art supplies I would have to say that buying either German, or like this set, Japanese art supplies are my very favorite. And this Kuretake set of illustration pens and brushes does not disappoint in the slightest. I hope this review was helpful and thanks for reading :D.