Platinum Fude Brush Pen Review

I’ve been enjoying dipping my toes into the world of refillable brush pens. I’m a long way from ever being able to use them to write with but they’re so much fun for drawing. You can get lovely little sketches done in just a few moments. It was therefore either a happy coincidence or a sign that someone actually reads my site when Pen Heaven contacted me to ask if I wanted to take a look at the Platinum Fude Brush Pen.

Thank you to Pen Heaven for sending me this pen. These are my own opinions, based on spending several weeks trying it out.

Price: £20
Tip size options: nylon brush
Barrel options: black aluminium
Ink type: comes with a black carbon cartridge; can take any Platinum cartridge or use a Platinum converter to use any bottled ink
Size: 13.5cm long, 1.1cm diameter

The pen has a reasonable metal clip. It’s quite stiff and I’m not convinced it would take much abuse but it’s perfectly functional. The cap pushes on to close and to post. It posts quite securely and being a very light pen, posting doesn’t affect the balance at all.

Not only is this pen light, it’s also quite slim. I like slim pens but it is something to bear in mind if you’re not so keen. Personally, I find it to be very comfortable to hold and the coated aluminium finish gives it a feeling of class. This feels like a high quality pen.

It looks classy too. Black and gold isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it’s not mine particularly either, but I think this pen gets away with it. It’s not over the top. I think it looks great, actually.

This is a lovely pen to look at and hold and it also uses Platinum’s Carbon Black ink, which is an excellent permanent pigmented ink. It holds its own with watercolour and ink. Last Friday’s picture was started with the Fude Brush and finished with Tombow ABT watercolour pens. However as it takes a (proprietary) converter you can use any ink you like.

So far we have a pen that looks good, feels good in the hand and uses great ink. Wouldn’t it be a shame if it turned out to be horrid when you put brush to paper? Fortunately that isn’t the case. The more I use brush pens the better I’m able to define what it is I’m looking for in them. There needs to good ink flow but not so much it’s hard to control. In particular, it helps if you can ‘dry brush’: stroking the side of the brush across textured paper leaves a textured effect and doesn’t fill in all the gaps. It needs to be possible to get a fine line all the way up to a good broad stroke, along with everything in between. The Platinum Fude Brush Pen manages all of this, although care needs to be taken to get the very finest lines.

This is a lovely pen. The metal barrel and tasteful gold details look and feel good. It uses excellent ink by default and any ink at all as an option. The brush is easy to control and gives a great variation in line.

Pros

Great ink
Excellent control
Good build quality

Cons

Small (this may not be a con, of course, depending on your preference)
Not convinced about the robustness of the clip