Just when I thought I’d reviewed every possible brand and variety of felt-tipped or fiber-tipped pen, I find another one. The Uni Pin ($1.65-$2.45) pigment ink fineliner pens are available in a variety of tip sizes and colors. What caught my interest specifically was the availability of two shades of grey and a sepia. The only other fineliner I could find that has a sepia is the Sakura Pigma. And the Uni Pin was the only one that came in greys.
I grabbed a couple point sizes for each color, trying to be consistent in sizing across the colors as best as I could. Unfortunately, some were out of stock so I got close. I ended up with 01 (0.28mm) in all four colors, 05 (0.5mm) in light grey, dark gray and sepia and 02 (0.33mm) and 04 (0.4mm) in black.
The Uni Pin numbering system is similar to that of the Sakura Pigma Microns where the number doesn’t always reference the tip size. A Pigma in 005 is actually 0.2mm, an 01 is 0.25mm, an 04 is 0.4mm, an 05 is is 0.45mm and an 08 is 0.5mm. Confused yet?
The pen bodies are all plastic except for a metal clip and the metal tip. The barrels are a matte finish so they are not slippery to the touch. It’s a nice detail to a plastic pen.
The tips look pretty solid across the various sizes. The metal sheaths protecting the plastics tips seem to be reinforced at the end where they meet with the housing which may keep the points from getting bent.
The black seems on par with most of the other brands I’ve tried. I think the only thing that might set it apart is the longevity of the tips which will only be determined over time and the blackness of the ink. The dark and light grey pens are very interesting and would make nice alternatives or additions in drawing. The sepia was disappointly dark, almost black. I would have preferred a lighter, warmer brown.
I tested the waterproofiness after only about five minutes so I’m not sure how dry the ink was. YMMV. The pens say on the side “waterproof”. The Rhodia paper is very smooth so that might affected how the ink adhered to the fibers and skewed the results here. I tested the ink again later and it did not move so the dry time was a bit longer than I anticipated. It may have been because of the Rhodia paper specifically. If you plan on painting over this pen, give it a good 15 minutes to dry or test it on a scrap piece before adding water to your art.
Overall, the Uni Pin has a lot to recommend it. The price is competitive. The availability of greys in a variety of widths is commendable. If you’ve already settled on a fineliner, however, I’m hardpressed to convince anyone to switch brands on these points alone. The only other factor will be to determine longevity which is something a lot of the other brands don’t have. So, stay tuned.
Tools:
- Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet
- Pens: Uni Pin Pens (Pigment Based) in Sepia, Dark Grey, Light Grey and Black
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Hi, Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens are available as fineliners in a variety of colors including sepia, and are lightfast and waterproof according to the website:
https://www.faber-castell.com/products/PittArtistPenFinelinerSIndiainkpendarksepia/167175
Faber Castells ARE great pens but the only greys they offer are the B (brush) size and not really capable of handling fine linework. These are some of the only fine and super-fine tip artists pens I’ve found in grey. It is also unusual that they offer multiple colors/shades of grey. I could have sworn Staedler used to have a super-fine grey pen but I haven’t been able to find it and their prices are unnecessarily high.
I’m going to run out to my local craft store and see if they have any of these in stock; I have a project I need a very fine tip charcoal grey pen for. If they aren’t in stock I’ll order from Amazon. They are pretty reasonable.
Check JetPens. Several of the Japanese rands offer grey fineliners. I know Copic has one in their multiliner series.
Nice review, thanks!
Regarding grey pigment liners (I have kind of a temporary obsession for grey tones in inks and pens at the moment): copic multiliners are available in two nice grey and two brown/sepia tones. And even in 0.05 nib size… I like them very much and use the grey ones on a daily basis. 🙂
I used the unipin and gave it 24 hours to paint over. Infuriatingly the ink was not set at all and the black bled into all my paint colours. Next time I will try 48 hours to paint over the fine liner.
On a different topic I am wondering if you have had any experience purchasing the unipins pens on any of the Chinese shopping platforms such as TEMU.l?All the packaging looks the same but I’m wondering if the pens are a knockoff or genuine.
Thanks for your research!
Sad about the uni pin dry times. Could be a coating on the paper.
As for Temu, it’s likely a knock-off and I would skip it. If you’re looking for better dry times, try the Platinum Desk Pen with their Carbon Black ink. It dries in a few minutes and I can watercolor over it with no issues. And the pen is full able.
Thank you. I had not heard of the Platinum Desk Pen I will see if it is available in Australia