Art Equipment Review : PH Martins India Ink

Hiya! 

This is my first blog post as a freelance illustrator, and what better way to begin than with an art review!

As you can tell by the title, I'm going to be reviewing the highly recommended Dr Ph Martins black star India ink in matte. I bought the 1 ounce / 29.57 ml bottle which only cost £4 on Amazon (I'll include a link at the end of the post). I've only used this once but for my artwork, I was looking for something that was water resistant and that was intensely dark. And this one seemed to check all the boxes (oh and also something affordable). The bottle has a dropper as a lid, so you have more control over the amount used. Which is beneficial in the long run, however, does depend on the scale of your artwork. Artists who usually work with large canvases maybe purchase 2 bottles or a larger bottle, for those who work with anything from A3 and lower, 1 bottle should be sufficient.

He Holds me like a seashell screenprint art

It also claims to have a matte finish, which is definitely the case, as you can see from my recent piece, the finish on the hand lettering and illustration is quite matte. Dr Ph Martin's does sell other inks with a glossy finish and in various colours if that is the effect you're looking for. Obviously, it can be used for other forms of art, not just hand lettering or calligraphy, it can also be used as a watercolour and airbrush medium. The reason why it’s more directed towards calligraphy is because of the "non-clogging" capabilities that would be ideal for fountain pens or other traditional/technical pens.

Overall, for me, this is a great purchase, especially at only £4! It doesn't spread when water is added (once it has dried completely) and stays matte. It's very dark, so it does make my hand lettering stand out. It also can be used with watercolour brushes, airbrush tools and pens, so the ink is quite flexible. This would be great India ink for many artists out there, but if you're someone who isn't really patient and isn't a fan of constantly dipping ink back and forth, I do suggest a brush pen. Two popular brush pens are the Pentel Pocket brush pen, which comes with refillable ink cartridges, the Tombow Dual brush pen, Tombow Fudenosuke pens and the Faber Castell Pitt artist brush pen.

If anyone has any other Brush lettering mediums, please don't hesitate to comment down below!

If this post helped you at all, please don't forget to share and subscribe to my weekly art posts!

Thanks for reading, Keep being creative!

Glo X

P.S, I've included some links below of some other Brush pens, they're affiliate links so if you purchase from clicking the links below, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost from your purchase.

Dr Ph Martin's Black star waterproof India ink in Matte : https://amzn.to/2VpYVqO

Pentel pocket brush pen: https://amzn.to/2WzCY5h

Tombow dual brush pen: https://amzn.to/2VeuAGI

Tombow Fudenosuke Pens: https://amzn.to/2VtPsi4

Faber Castell Pitt: https://amzn.to/2Hjnwnc