This pen is a game changer! ✶ Urban Sketching (Scotland) 

I LOVE my permanent Green Grey ink! I didn’t even think about using it for sketching, but now I want to try it! It’s called ‘posting’ the cap on the pen body.

The decision fatigue before a plein air session is so real!!! This pen reminds me of the versatility of a quill brush in watercolor...so much variety from thin to thick!

I typically use a fude pen. Happy to be reminded about these pilot pens. They’re super wonderful. Gorgeous drawings. Loving that green grey ink.

The pen is indeed amazing, thanks for sharing...but more amazing to me is that you can draw so beautifully while wearing mittens!!

The Pilot has a geometric nib that creates linear marks of different widths based on the angle..perfect for buildings. There are also FLEXIBLE nibs that vary line width with pressure-they were standard in the 19th and early 20th century. Found today on vintage F pens and made by a few European and Asian pen companies

This was very helpful, thank you! I hope Pilot sees the video, so they can make those two suggested improvements to the barrel design. I also didn’t realize I could get a refillable cartridge and use my own choice of ink. Useful info! 👍

I've had these pens for years & never thought of using them for sketching. Thanks for sharing!

These look like so much fun! To be able to vary your line weight without changing your pen is the dream! Fabulous sketches, particularly for a first experience with a new pen.

I bought these pens 15+ years ago for a calligraphy course and they haven’t been used much since but you’ve inspired me to try drawing with them. The thought never occurred to me 😂 so thank you!

I totally get the decision fatigue! That's why I like to own only a few art supplies. One set of watercolors, less than 10 brushes, one set of colored pencils, one set of graphite pencils, one or two ink pens. I'm less overwhelmed this way and I get to know each tool. I think less and make more! Plus I use things up before buying more 😊

This week comes my birthday and thanks to your video, I just ordered the 3,8mm pen as a gift from me to me 😊 Thank you for the idea!

Thanks for the review. Yes, a ink and wash video would be awesome, a Patreon tutorial series would be delightful. PS, congrats on the Portable Painter ambassadorship, you're now featured on their website.

It's cool to see these in action! I love the line weights and textures you were able to achieve. You have awakened the want monster for the pens 😆

Great video! As a fountain pen enthusiast and if you’re willing to tinker a bit you can remove the nib off of the Pilot Parallel and put it into some other compatible pens with a large ink body. This may solve the annoying problem of the cap not posting on the back. Opus88 seems be a top choice to make this ‘franken’pen

Fantastic architecture illustrations. The pens are fab Great video/ excellent camera work and super editing. Keep sharing.

Pilot Parallel 6.0mm is my favorite tool for sketching. It's very unwieldy at first but takes the 'perfectionist pressure' off - kinda does its own thing. Really easy to clean and doesn't dry out. I also favor flat brushes in watercolor so the sharp angular look is very cohesive when I sketch with both

Love the Hahnemuhle paper for ink studies and drawings! This looks so amazing, and I love that you’re able to put your own ink in it. Thank you for sharing!!

Hello from Canada😊 This video inspired my ink work , introducing me to a new tool. I bought 2 pens and i am so enjoying them. Your green gray ink is gorgeous, another path to explore. You explain so well, and show off your environment just as successfully. Thank you so much for sharing😊

There are two pretty easy ways to make the cap post to the back of the pen while you use it.(That's what the call it when the cap sits on the other end of the pen while you use it: "posting".) First way is to cut the body of the pen any the indented line. There's a depression on the thin end of the pen body and right next to it is a line that goes around the body. It used a pair of tin snips to slowly squeeze and spin the pen, wearing away at that spot, rotating and increasing pressure until the end cracks off (and goes flying, so be careful!). The cap will then post on the other end, but also if you press the cap on a smaller black cap comes out of the cap, stuck to and sealing closed the end of the pen. Second way is to wrap tape around the pen at a spot just inside of the depression. I use gaffer tape, but you can use washi or masking tape if you wrap it very tightly. You should be wrapping it as tight as you can no what what, but gaffer tape is a little more forgiving. Duct tape is too soft and gooey. Keep wrapping until you have about 2mm of thickness of tape on the pen. Stop wrapping when the cap posts snuggly to the end of the pen. If you go to far, peel off a half turn at a time until it feels like it's going on comfortably. This is usually the method that I do but I'm trying method one out for the first time. Doing the tape mod leaves the pen longer, but I'm trying to decide if I prefer a shorter pen. EDIT: I know it's only been a few weeks, but I already think that I very much prefer a longer pen. I should have suggested the tape method first!

Oh wow do I ever relate to this video and ‘decision fatigue’! I actually have these pens in my studio sitting there for years after I wrote one word with them the day I bought them and then never to be seen again. This is such a great way to use them that I had never thought of. Thanks for the great idea Sarah and awesome video as always 💕

The form of the Pen won’t hold the cap very well since it is smaller in diameter on the upper end. But since the cap comes with a clip, there is other options. Maybe a wide rubber band or a flat shoelace could do the trick and hold it during your drawing session? Also the zipper of your backpack could be helpful if there is this little loop laces attached. Nice pen - I agree, the variety it brings is very tempting and fun to work with.

I modify these pens to get an angle on the nib. It makes it even easier to draw and the line variation is amazing! I have all the sizes and will be teaching a class here in San Francisco about how to do it.. FUN!!!

Wow! Those pens are impressive. They really can cover a solid are fast. And to be able to create essentially four different line weights with just a turn of the nib is fantastic, especially for plein aire sketching. I think these would be particularly useful with sketching architecture. Thanks for sharing. Finally something useful from the random reels that Instagram throws at us.

You woke up my "Want Monster"!!! hahaha thanks for the review!

I found your channel from the interview with the frugal crafter. You have a new fan, subscribed!

Never seen these pens before! They look really interesting. I do a lot of my work just in pen/ink, so I'd love to try these. That green-grey ink is a gorgeous shade! Loved your sketches, btw, and I've been where you were in the video 😊🩵🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I introduced this pen to my minimalist sketching kit a few months ago as well :) I had the entire set of 4 widths for many years, but I only used them for calligraphy practice (which I do very rarely). I use the 1.5mm one for sketching, but I might add a wider one in a different color too. I combine it with a waterbrush for ink wash technique and I'm quite happy with how quickly I can create a pretty decent sketch. The "connoisseur" term for the cap fit is "posting". The Parallel Pen cap doesn't post, and yes it's annoying :( On the positive note, this pen just never dries out when left unused because the screw-on cap fits so tight. I had issues with some other fountain pens evaporating ink ridiculously fast, which is why I switched to the Parallel Pen.

Thanks for discussing these, I'd been neglecting mine. Time for a revisit. Plus, I love that ink, such a great color!

I’ve built up a collection of 100+ fountain pens (all different types, from Platinum Preppy to a Visconti Homo Sapiens), but the pens that I ALWAYS keep inked and in my EDC case are my Pilot Parallels and a Vanishing Point. Pilot has some innovative pens and exemplary quality control

Thank you, that’s the pen I’ve been looking for.

Thank you for braving the cold & sharing this pen with us!

Sarah, thanks for this useful & beautiful review! Love your drawings!!! 🥰💚💖

I have the full set of these for calligraphy. Time to try it out for sketching.

Such a fun idea and the sketches are simply beautiful! Thank you for sharing. 😊

Your videos are very calming and informative

First I thougt: „I have a Fude Pen. I don’t need something else. I won’t buy it!“ But then I remembered that before I bought the Fude Pen I had tried a Faber Castel Pit Pen with a calligraphy nib and I enjoyed so much drawing with it, using the different widths of the nib, but the smallest possible line was too thick for sketching most of the time. But as I had loved it and saw in this video what you could do with this pen - I ordered one as I have to try it 😇

So much fun in fresh air!

Hi from Glasgow! Glad you enjoyed your time in Scotland in spite of the cold weather! I'm in awe at your confidence to draw directly with ink without pencil sketches. I'm always so nervous about making mistakes so props to you for just going for it. Your drawings are so good!

It is good to know that these are compatible with the converters, I have to try that out. I love Diamine's Earl Grey ink, it has a similar greeny grey tone to the ink you used, but also has a little bit of a lavender tone that comes out when you use it with a water brush for washes, though it isn't a permanent ink like the Diatrimentis ones.

So beautiful,love it.🖌️🎨❤️

This has genuinely inspired me to give this more of a go in 2024! Absolutely adore your channel!

Oof, that grey green ink looks absolutely wonderful. I may have to actually clean up that old fountain pen just for that ink!

Fantastic. Beautiful art and great comments about the pen and how it might be used. Thank you.

Dang Sarah, why do I continue to watch ... my wish list is getting so long and now I am in love with that green-grey ink!!! You did an amazing job of your architectural features!!

Oh am absolutely loving the sound of the sea lapping the shore on your outro ❤

Oh that’s a great looking pen! It looks like it is definitely going to be a fun addition to the ink & wash paintings that you enjoy doing. I am going to have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing this wonderful information about this cool pen.

Beautiful sketches! These look so fun!

Hi Sarah thank you so much for this video. Love your artwork, your videos are so beautiful.

These sketches look awesome!❤

The scenery in your video is very peaceful looking. Thanks for sharing the views of where you live. Scotland definitely is on my travel bucket list. Also, how easily you develop your drawings. Appreciation from New Braunfels, Texas. Please keep sharing.

oooh that looks like a gorgeous pen! I love that green shade too 🥰

Looks so relaxing and fun🎉🎉

What great sketches. I love this pen, I picked up the 3.8 one for learning calligraphy. I had never thought to use this to sketch with. Such a fun video. You've inspired me to add this to my sketch kit and give it a go. Thank you for another great video

I've been using dip pens for about a year and been thinking about plein air painting. These pens have made up my mind. Thank you.

Beautiful sketches. Thanks for. the info!

great too see Scotland the place I've always wanted to visit but my son 's travelling distances are not very long due to his health problems and we can't leave him at home either even though he's old enough so watching your shows has to suffice. ,love that drawings of buildings with that ink pen interesting can't see myself using it knowing me I'd have ink all over the place oh well keep doing what your doing.

Where has this pen been my whole life! Totally love the look of your page!

I have a bunch of these pens that I use for lettering - never thought to use them for sketching. Brilliant! Thank you for the idea!

They look fab! I’m going to have to try!! ❤

Beautiful drawings. I will get one of those broad Pilot pens, on the strength of this. @7.35 you 'post' the lid, I discovered recently.

Great video Sarah! Seeing the video in the YT feed inspired me to get mine out and try it. I think I bought one about a year ago. Embarrassingly, I forgot it had an ink cartridge, and started by dipping the pen in an ink bottle. Then I was like “I can’t believe how long one dip in the ink lasts!” 😊 It was a lot of fun. There is something about these pens that releases creativity.

What a lovely video. I have just recently started working on more art projects. It’s been so much fun! I actually found this pen about a year and a half ago. This info will really help!

Oh this makes me so happy. I love my Pilot Parallels so much 💖

Sailor fude another gem of a fountain pen

This is absolutely gorgeous! The pens are really interesting, might put these on my next Christmas list. The ink is great too! I currently use Rohrer and Klingner Sketch Ink in Lotte(black) and Thea (warm grey) and I love them both, but the green grey is one I now want to try out! Beautiful work!

I really fell down the fountain pen rabbit hole last year, they’re so fun to draw with. I have a fude nib which is a little similar to this one, with the ease of creating thin and thick lines, it’s so much fun! It’s such a warm fuzzy feeling knowing you have a tool you’re always excited to use

I really like the look of this pen and I love your ink color choice. I also like how these pens are different colors for the different sizes. I now have the urge to find one of my old non waterproof pens to draw with, so I can 'paint' out the ink. It's been a lot of years since I last did that and I quite enjoyed it.

I’ve had this pen in my wishlist, just waiting for an excuse to buy it. Thanks for the review, this answered a bunch of the questions I had! Btw, lovely sketches!!!

ooh going to have to drive up there this summer and look around 😀

Beautiful sketches!

I got one of these as well. I think it was a recommendation in a skillshare calligraphy class. Never considered using them for sketching, but those sketches looked great! Agree with you about the cap. I never know what to do with it while using the pen. But lovely pen and I've considered getting it in more sizes (currently going through another calligraphy/handlettering phase). I've only used it with the pilot ink cartridges, but it's great to hear that it would also work well with archival ink.

That look like a really useful pen! Great channel, finally youtube recommends something good

Fabulous green ink! Reminds me of Daniel Smith perylene green, one of my favourite watercolours. Contrast in mark making is really pleasing to the eye. Thanks for sharing. Jill R 🇬🇧

Thank you. I've literally just bought some of these beauts. You should be on commission 😊. You live in such a stunning place.

i love using these for calligraphy but never tried drawing with them. will definitely try now, thank you for the amazing idea!

Very interesting pens! I am definitely interested in seeing more with them. I like the sound of line and wash. I am with you, the car looked like every European squat car!

Thanks for the info😊

I must try that pen , thx for sharing...🎉

I love the Pilot parallel and I love Opus 88 fountain pens. You can interchange the Pilot nib with the Opus 88 and have a larger ink reservoir. I love it!

Thank you so much Sarah! I bought the Sailor pen and the waterproof ink on your recommendation, but I find that the line is not thick enough. And then you discovered the solution to my problem - the Pilot Parallel pen. Yay!😄

I only have one of them 2.4 Love it! I truly enjoy your art!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="374">6:14</a> The sketch on the right makes me feel like I'm reading a scary story/comic and am dreading what happens on the next page. Very nice.

I love these! I use them for Hebrew calligraphy, but you make a compelling case for drawing. They do work a treat, don't they!😀

This set is in my cart. Excited to see how you used the pen! 🔥 🎨 the term for putting the cap on the end is 'posting' AKA the cap cannot be posted. 😊

Round these parts, we call 40F a warm spring day. It always amazes me how mild the weather is in the UK compared to here in the US (especially the upper midwest)

Thanks for the video, Sarah! I've been thinking about purchasing one but your video convinced me to do so. I hope it arrives soon! I saw another video on another channel where the nib and feed of the parallel can be put into a Moonman M2 which is a demonstrator pen that is inexpensive but more importantly hold a great deal of ink. I'm sure these parallel pens use up a great deal of ink so this would enable one to be able to see how much ink is remaining in the pen. I have a Moonman M2 that I am going to try this with.

Cool video! Thanks for showing this pen in use for sketching. I had heard about it for lettering. It looks fun. I bought fude nib pen and found it difficult to get used to drawing lines. I might need to add these to my wish list.😂

I’m so gonna buy this!! I’m dying to try one out now 😮

Great video! Definitely going to give this a try. An alternative to sanding the handle might be to use something like athletic gauze, or similar, wrapped around it. This seems common for some ink artists who find wood handles too slick.

going to have to add this to the review list

Those look like a ton of fun to sketch with. Definitely going to look into them. Thanks for putting this video up, otherwise I probably never would have known about them (or that ink, for that matter). 🍺

Oh wow, I have these pens for lettering but never thought to sketch with them. I also didn’t know you could use anything but cartridges 🤯. Looks like a Pilot-con 40 insert. Yahoo, this just opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Thank you so much!!!!

Nice! I have some of these for calligraphy but had not tried drawing with them

Beautiful sketches in a wonderful setting. I only wish it was ~30° warmer and I was sketching alongside you!. I love De Atramentis Document Green Grey -- in fact the sticker that covers the camera on my laptop is the label from my green grey box 😂 I've been experimenting with mixing DA document inks. I added a little yellow to some green grey to get a warm green that doesn't look like pickle juice. 🥒 I have the 1.5 and 3.8 parallel pens and enjoy drawing with them. Thanks for another great video.

Am working with a small brush now and it is slow going. More hours required getting my chops together. Where it looks good it is amazing and where it is bad it looks like the finger painting of a five year old. Also gearing up to making another comic book with a nib pen. It is always a struggle but also a joy. My best wishes to you always for being someone who inspires.

Wow! Now I am so tempted to sketch like you. I’m off to sketching… right after I procrastinate 😂😂

these look amazing pans thanks for sharing

I’ve almost bought this pen several times. Now I think I’ll pull the trigger. Thanks for your review!

New subscriber from Canada, love your style and that pen is quite a tool. Of course it depends on the skill of the operator and you seem to do it very well.

Before I continue with the video (Love these wide nib Pilot Pens), I was stunned by the little house that could under the shadow of the bridge by the sea in your drone shot intro. I jumped to Google maps and toured around the city of Cullen. What a beautiful place you live in and a stunning spot to draw at. I feel so at peace. Oh, most likely the calligrapher / hand-letterer who draws with this pen is the great Seb Lester. Look him up.