The Pen Nib Game

A fun way to get to know a new art medium

I recently stumbled across my old calligraphy set from college and thought I would dink around with them. That led me to a fun idea for a game you can play by yourself or with someone else!

First I started by just drawing my messy desk with each individual nib.

(The B-nib is HOT, right?)

These scratchy doodles had such interesting varieties of line that it made me think of a game. So I bring to you:

The Pen Nib Game

OBJECTIVE: Have fun playing with pens, and learning what kind of marks they make in combination with each other.

RULES: Only dip each tool ONCE in ink. Once the ink runs out, you have to switch nibs/tools. You get to pick what tools you play with. I used dip pens and brushes.

Round 1- Use only black ink

Round 2- Use colored inks

The round ends when every tool has been used once.

IMPORTANT: The drawings are not meant to be good! It is about getting to know the tools and the kinds of marks they are capable of making and learning how long you can use that tool before it runs out of ink.

Hint: If you use brushes, they hold A LOT of ink (especially natural ones) so if you are playing with someone else and somehow rigging up a point system, you can figure out how to use that to your advantage (the longer the tool is used, the more points, maybe?)

Notes: In retrospect, the game is a bit more fun if you just use colored ink. I got a bit tired by the time I switch to the colored ink and didn’t do much more.

Here are my results (The red marker was added later when I sat down to analyze what I liked about the marks. You obviously don’t have to do that.) I just drew from pictures I found on pinterest.

If you try this, I’d love to see your results! What did you learn?

I learned that I am IN LOVE with the b-nib. I had to play with it a little more after I got tired of the game. The sketches above are done on a smooth paper, so I wanted to see what the b-nib could do on textured paper so I switched to my watercolor notebook, which has cold press paper in.

The B-nib, G-nib, and a brush might be my new favorite tools! I’m off to try some more experiments!

Thanks for reading! Let me know how the game goes for you!