Rotring is a German technical writing and drawing instruments company based in Hamburg. They are pretty popular for their technical pens, of which I have several.
This reviews covers the Rotring drawing black ink. The ink is sold in either the large 250ml bottle or smaller 23ml bottles.
The big bottle comes with a tapered end you can use to refill smaller bottles. The smaller bottles also come with the tapered end that can be used to refill the Rotring technical pens.
I don't use my Rotring pens that often, and even so after months, there's no clogging. Since it's pigmented, it is not advised to use it inside fountain pens.
I've also used it to refill my Pilot Hi-Tecpoint pens.
Here's the ink test on cartridge paper. Below are close-ups. I've adjusted the exposure of the scan to retain the paper texture.
The Rotring ink is a pretty dark ink that dries to a neutral tone. It's a pigment ink so it's archival. Spraying fixative on it will not break the ink.
It has a fast drying time. It's waterproof when dry, and rubbing your finger over it will not smudge in any way.
Interestingly, the Rotring ink can dry to a slight sheen depending on the paper. On most occasions, I would consider it to be matte as I rarely see the sheen.
In the sketch above, I've used Rotring and Noodler's ink on the Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media vellum surface paper 300gsm. The left and right are inked with the Rotring and they dry to rather even surface with slight gradation. As for the Noodler's ink, you can see that it was very patchy, and the colour tone is warmer. The point is, paper makes a difference.
Another strong benefit of the Rotring is after it dries, it will not smudge even even you rub across the surface, either with your finger or tissue. That means you will have little or no chance of your hand accidentally smudging the paper when the ink is dry, and also lesser need to clean your scanner's glass.
Here's a scan of Rotring vs Noodler's ink. Noodler's is darker, and has a warmer tone that you can detect when it's not applied so thick.
One thing to note. You'll need to shake the bottle if you haven't used the ink for a long time. That's to achieve a consistent black. Seems like the whatever black particles do settle down at the bottom of the bottle with time.
The picture above compares various brands of black ink. Top half of the square's a single layer wash and the bottom has a double layer wash.
Rotring ink works great, when it dries completely, with Copic or alcohol markers. For areas where ink is dense, there's still going to be streaking because there's just more pigment there. However for line art, there should be no problems with using Copic or alcohol markers over the lines.
Conclusion
Overall, it's a very good black ink. It's quite dark, dries fast. When it's dry it's smudge-proof.
It's safe for use in technical pens since Rotring makes this ink for their pens.
Both the big and small bottles have tapered ends so they can be used to refill the Rotring technical pens. Just the the small bottle is much easier to control
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19 Comments
Do you think Rotring Drawing
Submitted by Paul on
Do you think Rotring Drawing Ink would be OK in the Rotring Art Pen?
It's a fountain pen, but it can be dismantled fully & the feed cleaned.
@Paul It should work
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@Paul
It should work
Can I use India ink inside a
Submitted by mike on
Can I use India ink inside a rotring isograph
@mike No, it’s not safe
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@mike
No, it’s not safe
Can I use rotring ink for dip
Submitted by Kiyas on
Can I use rotring ink for dip pens also can I use it for pilot parallel pens. Thank you
@Kiyas
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@Kiyas
It should work alright.
can I use this with a Pentel
Submitted by sandeep on
can I use this with a Pentel brush pen?
@sandeep You can
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@sandeep
You can
I did but the black is not
Submitted by Pierre Letoile on
I did but the black is not deep black, (less than original cartridge)
By the way, I d really like
Submitted by Pierre Letoile on
By the way, I d really like to find an ink (to refill my art brush pentel pen) which would be: [as black as original pentel cartridge] AND [waterproof] and not clogging of course :-)..... Thanks in advance !
how it performs with water?
Submitted by russel on
how it performs with water?
@russel
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@russel
It's completely waterproof
Is it really COMPLETELY
Submitted by Mario on
Is it really COMPLETELY waterproof? My experience with this ink is a bit different: the ink doesn't smudge or easily dissolve, but if I lay a wash with a brush well loaded with water (like a watercolor wash), I get a greyish halo around the ink marks, which makes it unusable for ink and wash techniques (I do let my drawing fully dry, for a day or more). I wonder if there's a problem with my bottle. I also use W&N indian ink and Liquitex ink, and they are completely waterproof, but I haven't tried them with a technical pen.
@Mario
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@Mario
Mine is waterproof. Not sure how this ink can turn bad though.
Hi!
Submitted by Saksham Arora on
Hi!
I’d like to know if the Rotring ink remains waterproof even after diluting it with water and using it for a gray wash. I don’t know if you’ve experimented with it that way, but if you have please do tell.
@Saksham Arora
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@Saksham Arora
It's still waterproof when diluted
Hi Teoh,
Submitted by The Stour Valle... on
Hi Teoh,
Would you use this in a refillable brush pen?
The others I know that you have recommended (Sailor, De Atrametis etc.) are really expensive over here.
Thanks
It should work fine in a
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
It should work fine in a brush pen. The ink is not particularly thick.
Hola, muy buen review.
Submitted by Jean on
Hola, muy buen review. Gracias.
He probado la tinta con plumillas y funciona muy bien. Lo mismo para rellenar los Pentel Brush Pen.
Lo más rescatable es su resistencia a la acuarela y los marcadores Copic. Algo difícil para otras tintas.
Saludos.
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