Been needing this exact video--other browns have failed me. Got a bottle of Diamine Red Ochre on this recommend and it is performing gorgeously for pen and wash. Super quick drying with no feathering on watercolor paper, completely waterproof. True to its name, the hue is super harmonious with various oxide earth pigments. Holding out hope it won't clog pen too badly. Thank you!

Many of the Renaissance Masters used sanguine to sketch with including Leonardo da Vinci. If you remember his notebooks often have that red Ocher -ish type of color. It's because it's the most organic looking. Done lightly it's like red and darker it gets darker and darker.
I keep that butterscotch, red ochre and black in my three pens in my pocket, 24/7. Plus an eraser and pencil.

Diamine forever ravine (black) might be my new permanent black for watercolor.
With carbon black you need to let it sit for over an hour to not tint the paint. I let it sit for hours for important stuff.

The diamine forever black is paintable a seemingly impossibly short time after drawing. At least on cotton.

Try it out.

Sepia Brown surprised me. It does seem more visually interesting than a pure black.

Thanks for this excellent permanent ink comparison, Teoh!! I’ve used a few of these in my sketches and really like the variety of browns and reds. I picked up bottles of the Diamine Forever inks in Cherry Red, Sky Blue and Honey Pot and now mix my own shades. You can get an infinite variety and it’s really fun!!!  Diamine isn’t kidding, though, when it says to carefully clean out your pens if you’ve left them sit for a while. I try now to sketch a little everyday with all of my inked pens just to keep them in good working order.

Thanks for the review Teoh. I have used brown ink for ten years, as I had this idea that mistakes would look less offensive in brown. It’s true! These days I use De Atramentis Document Brown (kindly sent to me by the company) and some of the Sketch Ink colours too. I must check out the lady you mentioned.

That comparison ist a good idea. I use Rohrer and Klingner Thea and I love it, actually it is gray and it is advertised as such.

Years ago a teacher recommended using waterproof sepia ink instead of black for nature paintings. The contrast of line versus paint is lower and more natural. So I tested several sepia inks for color tone and water resistance. I prefer a sepia that leans to gray rather than red so I like the DA urban sepia. I also expected Diamine red ochre to be too red for me, but it dried to a nicely muted tone so it came second. I did not try any of the inks you showed and I use Platinum pigmented sepia (red toned) in my expensive Sailor 14K fude nib pen. It hasn’t clogged or dry started even though I may have weeks between uses and dont clean like I should. The water resistant gray toned ink i like is Noodler’s Whalemans Sepia. I don’t put Noodlers ink in my vintage or gold nib pens, though.

I too love the red ochre! I love De Atramentis Document Ink. It's great to have this chart of colors. Thanks for doing this!

Yes, love sketching with brown. Thanks for the reviews of all the inks. I've been using Noodlers Polar Brown. It's waterproof and works well in cold weather. You can add a few drops of Noodlers black to darken to taste.

A super important video for ink geeks ;)

It's so fun to see all your "assembly line" sketches come together! The red ochre does look good with your watercolor. For urban sketching and making comics, I mostly use DeAtramentis Document Urban Grey, Green Grey, & Fuchsia, Sketch Ink "Lilly," and Diamine Forever Smoky Mauve.

Thank you, Teoh. This is such a good and needed demonstration. I want to use the browns in florals and landscapes.

Fun video! By the way, the Thea Sketch Ink looks black when you use it in a concentration, as you are doing by using a fountain pen. If you paint with it or use a wide nib, it looks like a warm gray.

Mahalo for a friendly and instructive video. I LOVE red ochre from Diamine Forever Ink!

Very useful comparison!  Thx, Teoh! 🐶

You are the BEST. These were all inks I was curious about, thanks so much!!

Thank you for making this video.  I really appreciate the comparison because I really like the look of brown ink but do not want to buy the wrong one.

Thanks for the video.  Great comparison. I purchased a 2 ml sample of each of the Diamine Forever inks and found them to be really slow drying compared to the Rohner and Klingner Sketch inks...especially when used with a Fude Pen.

I enjoy this so much! Amazing content, best wishes to you and your future projects! 🌻

Oh my goodness. I love Bingying too. She inspired me to try brown ink for my sketches. I didn’t feel like it suited my work but that’s ok, I think it looks great in other people’s work. Thank you for giving Bingying attention, she definitely deserves it.