Review: Kuretake Synthetic Brush Pen (DT140-13C) 

They are Platinum cartridges - I used them with Platinum Carbon Black ink which is water- and bomb-proof. Cartridges are handy for travel and there is the converter for home.

I have both the synthetic as well as the sable brushes and I use DeAtrimentis Document Black ink in it. This ink is waterproof on every paper brand I have tried, (s&b, Fabriano artictico, Arches leuchtum and stratmore 500).It works perfectly with watercolors

I have a Kuretake brush pen in red. I love it. I am using it to learn brush lettering as one of my new years resolutions. I clean mine with water and a bulb syringe, but only when it feels like I need to clean it. Mostly I can just keep refilling the pen. I am using noodler's heart of darkness for lettering practice.

do not use warm water, it'll damage it. use normal water on the synthetic one with hand soap, and room temp water on the sable with brush soap, or gentle hand soap. you can even use shampoo. all this applies to traditional brushes. but... I can't recommend you washing these... unless for some reason you want a different color ink. also, do not use high carb or shellac inks. anything low quality that just says "indian" or "Chinese" ink. Dr.ph martin's black star works, and noodler's waterproof/bulletproof inks.

I was skeptic first, because i have a lot of watercolor brushes (with natural hair) that I an proud of and a synthetic one can't do better. But I have to thank you for the review, it is a gorgeous pen (and I love fountain pens) and you can can draw really nice with it ( you can ink drawings, you can draw directly, you can doodle) I love it now ! Thanks again.

I have the somewhat cheaper number 8 pen, which I absolutely love. I just use Platinum Carbon ink in mine, it is waterproof and comes either in the cartridges or in a bottle that you can refill the converter from. I have had it for several years now and have had no problem with it clogging. Thank you for the review of this pen, I may have to pick one of them up.

Quick tip, when you take off the gold ring on the Platinum Converter, it will fit snugly into the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.

Nice brush pen. Cool effects one can get with it. Thanks for the great review Teoh. 👍 😄

I got my first brush pen last month. I don't know how I ever drew with anything else.

I have Platinum Carbon Black water proof ink in a charger in mine. It flows beautifully and has also survived quite long periods unused in storage.

Nice brush pen! I got one to use with my Bombay India Inks since those don't play nice with most of my other fountain/tech pens. This style of brush pen is so good for keeping the tip moist when you have harsh india or waterproof inks that might otherwise dry out easy.

Very cool! Nice review Teoh! Will definitely get one of these to try out! Thank you so much for sharing!

Love the variety of strokes, and the texture looks great. Thanks for sharing your experience :)

I like your sketch, I have been experimenting with brush pens and have found them to be a really nice way to warm up before working on illustrations. They are fun to use. 😊

I liked this pen so much that I bought the one with the sable brush. I use platinum carbon ink with it. It's my go-to brush pen with watercolor. Thanks for this review, Teoh!

I use Carbon Ink cartridges in my pen like this. I really love it.

I’ve been using the 50 style with the sable brush... I got the converter and I’ve been using Noodlers’ bulletproof ink .. I absolutely love this brush pen .. it does take getting used to, but it feels so nice to hold and draw with.. i just wait a bit longer than usual, to be sure the ink is dry, before using watercolors on top of the lines.. I bought it awhile ago, because of your recommendations ;-))))

I really love kuretake brush pens though I love the ones with natural brush. They are really good for sketching and playing around with ink. Nice review! Also Kuretake Cambio ink is waterproof.

Would love to see a side by side comparison review with the Pentel pocket brush pen!

The Kuretake cartridges you get with the #13 pen is very water soluble. It works well with a Pentel Aqua Brush on watercolor paper to make nice inkwash gradations

You have a great channel , its been so helpful. Decided to go with this pen after your video comparing all types

Hi Teoh, I love drawing with brush pens and this one looks great. I like the dry-brush effect. I'll have to try it. Thanks for the review 😊

I have Kuretake No. 8 which is a longer version of this with a roll stopper instead of a clip, I think. I wonder if I can just purchase platinum preppy ink cartridges and use that for this brush pen.

I’m never disappointed when I see your videos ❤️

Thank you Teoh Yi Chie, very helpful as always.

SO excited about this video. I just got this brush pen in the mail tonight and I haven’t opened it yet! 🤗

I want to buy everything you feature ):!

Thank you so much for all your reviews, you are the man🙏.

Very interesting and helpful video also liked the painting you did as well so keep the videos coming and thank you so much for sharing your videos with us.

I might try these out one day.

Looking forward to your future video on inks that are okay to use in brush pens! Would love if you included pigmented or waterproof fp inks in that review as I can't get a clear answer on whether or not those are generally okay to use or if only certain brush pens can handle it (e.g. apparently the kuretake ones are okay with platinum carbon black but sailor brush pens are not?). I like the crisp lines from the sable haired kuretake more but the dry brush kind of texture definitely has its place too.

I've been using the kuretake pens since 2017, and my overall experience about these are not all that good. My first pen is the one you've reviewed and the problems was, that after some months, the synthetic brush started to lose his shape and the pointy tip. Because of that I had to replace it in the beginning of 2018. Not only the replacement head behaved like the first one, also the cap stopped working and I couldn´t closed the pen properly since. Unfortunetly, I've ordered also the Platinum adapter and the carbon ink and because the brush wasn´t working as should, I've used relatively a few times. Later in 2018, I've ordered the sable version No.40, and as the first one I was expecting an even better perceived quality. I wasn't like so. After a few months (3-4) also the pointy tip and the shape of brush, started to give in. Altough I like the general feeling of the pen and the versatility of use, I'm a bit disappointed with the usability span. I do mainly illustration and don't have a "heavy hand" dealing with pen. So, I can only assume there's a construction problem with it? One of the things everyone should have in mind is, be care of the way you insert the brush in the cap, because there is a "second" cover inside who could damage the brush if not inserted correctly.

DT140-13C Body：Aluminum ／ Cap：Aluminum ／ Clip：Carbon steel ／ Section：PP ／ Tip：Polyester

I was just checking this out online today! Really helpful review ❤️💙👍

👌👽👌 always nice vids. Keep em coming

Great review ! You should use these with red ink on some of your next sketches :).

The sable does not snap back. I am using it only for dry brushing.

That is one cool looking pen

They have pigment ink version for these if you want something waterproof. :)

Great review. When not using the pen, is it better to store it with the tip down or up? And when cleaning the tip with warm water, would you recommend this after each use, or after the cartridge has emptied out?

wow, may i ask you what kind of paper are you using? i love the effect that this pen can create

Great review. What needle size and siringe do you use to refil the cartridge?

Cool. Any opinion on the Petit3? Liking the portability. I've been having fun with them. Also enjoying the Duke 551 and 209, but kind of struggling with the ink delivery and my line control.

I love the pen! I think I´ll buy it!

Hi Teoh, love your videos and thanks for all the effort making them. To this video I have a question and I'll be most grateful if you can please have a look. I'd like to bring a traditional Chinese brush, a bamboo dip pen and a bottle of sumi ink for plein air, but I can't figure out a way to deal with some challenges. My first challenge is I need to wash the brush fairly quickly when finishing, otherwise the sumi ink will dry on it, but to wash a brush with sumi is quite a dirty work, I'm afraid to dirty the surroundings. I thought I can run to a sink somewhere, but I know the black water will stain the sink. I wonder if I just wrap them with cling film and bring them home, but I don't really want to use seemingly unnecessary plastic material. The second challenge is how to pack them, the risk of a leaking bottle and a brush that will always be a bit dirty, the only thing I can think of is to put them in a plastic bag, but I really hate this plastic bag idea. Maybe you already think "Just get this brush pen then!", but I'd love to hear your opinion on this according to my setting, do you think that this kuretake synthetic brush pen can be a possible replacement for all my tools? Best wishes, J

Nice and usefull video, thank you Teoh ! 👍 💖 🕊

I already use it and I love it :-)

I was very happy to find a video about my fav kuretake pen, but mine dried out... I was trying to revive it with water, but it doesn't seem to work. What would you recommend?

Very nice!

Hi, I have a very specific question regarding ink flow. If you notice in frame 3:54 of your video, the line that you drew was not a solid black line. I love that effect in brush pens. But one time, I cleaned the pen. Not sure if it had anything to do with it but from then on, when I draw, I always just get this dark solid line no different from when using an ordinary sharpie marker :( I've even tried to reduce the pressure that I apply when setting pen on paper, hoping to get that texture back but to now avail. I'm thinking it has to do with ink flow. Do you know of a way to adjust ink flow so that I get that non-solid, textured effect that I think you were trying to show in 4:04?

I know the difference between the 40 and 50 is purely cosmetic ( body ) , both have sable hair But what abou the 13 , what are the differences compared to 40/50 ?

teoh ive tested some inks with my kuretake sable brush pen (I use it everyday) and my pentel pocket brush pen, and the best so far ive tested is the aristo ink for rapidograph, flows like the original ink and is waterproof, I dont remember if rotring ink was ok too, you can check my instagram for samples @juanmoru

I would think it gets through quite a lot of ink, hope it can use cheaper inks.

Hey Theo can you please do a review on note taking for the 2018 iPad pro 11 inch with the second gen apple pencil i would really appreciate it.

Awesome review, Teoh. I have been looking for something like this. I'm using a Pentel right now, which works very well, and manually refilling the cartridges. The grip is a little slim for me though. Can India inks work with these brushes (the kind that can block up a fountain pen)? I wonder if a bit of silicone grease will help with the seal?

Can we smudge the ink on paper to give an effect?

Would you recommend noodlers bullet proof fountain pen Ink with this or another type? And does it flow the same out of the pen?

have you tried the platinum cf5000? much nicer brush pen. for travel it's great . really nice quality

I have the no. 40. The bristle tips flayed ever so slightly at the tip. Is there a way to bring them back to a fine tip

Can you use it for watercolour, with water, like the plastic ones?

Is there any brush pen that good for drawing fast and doesn't give "dry brush" effect?

Woah, you bought it! how is it compared to no.40/50 brush? it really feels the same?

Its a really good brush pen, but insane hard to use for me.

Do you know if could u refill this brush pen with Kuretake Zig Black ink?

Thanks for the review. Curious to know how it stacks up against the Pentel Pocket Brush in usage.

Should I store this pen brush side down or up??

ink converter 500 #0?

How long does the brush last?

Im the 200.000 viewer

Tests out if ink is waterproof on drawing, ruining it.

I ruined my sable tip with Dr Martin's permanent india ink (likely meant only for nibs), and the tip will not stay sharp anymore. So, "will last longer" certainly does not mean "not fragile". Also, your thin line game is weak.

That´s not a good paper for that brush (I ve used them for years). It´s too rough and absorbent. ;)