Working with different sizes of Sakura Pigma Micron pens

When I teach the Crescent Moon and Hollibaugh tangles in Zentangle 1 classes and students start filling in the black areas with the Sakura(R) Pigma Micron 01 pen, I always hear this question: "Why not use a pen with a larger point to fill in the black?" 

First, some information about the pens. The ones I have in my collection are an 01, 02, 03, 05, and 08, that vary in their pen width from .025 mm to .50 mm. Here's a sample of those pens and the line widths they produce:

In my view, there's so little difference between the 01 (the standard pen for Zentangle(R)) and the 02 that I don't think the 02 is of much help. The 03, however, is a marked difference and the 05 is a step up above that. I find that the width of the 08 pen is so wide that it's easy to be a little off and perhaps make a horrible "mistake."

Here are my tips for using pens other than the 01:

• Use the 01 to fill in along the inside or outside of the edges (like a painter "cutting in" around a window) and then use an 03 or 05 to fill the rest of the space.
• Always use your 01 pen to fill in corners. You just won't be able to exert enough control over the other pens (unless you use a magnifying glass--ugh!) to keep the corners neat.
• As your 01 pens start to "die," set them aside (marking them in some way helps keep them separated from your other pens) and use them for the hard job of filling in a lot of space.

Or, why not surrender to the process, and the focus, and the slowing down needed to fill in that space with an 01 pen instead of speeding it up by using a wider pen. That's what Zentangle is all about--isn't it? What's your hurry?