I have been using a pelikan fountain pen for about a year now, and recently started to practice a more formal style of writing. Went down to the local hobby store and picked up at Staedtler calligraphy pen set. I've been using the extra fine, which suits me well, but I've read around that Rotring makes a fine calligraphy pen. Unfortunately, I have run into a problem. There are a few pens that I'm confused about, namely the art pen, the lettering pen, and the calligraphy pen. If anyone has any experience with these pens, could they perhaps clue me in on the differences between these two? I'm interested in the calligraphy style nib, but the art pen comes in an extra fine which seems to be smaller than the 1.1mm calligraphy pen. Any help would be appreciated. I'd rather buy one of these than a new nib for my Pelikan and have it ground to an italic.

There is a member here, Splicer, who uses rOtrings. He might be more on the drawing side of things, but he probably knows enough to get you started.

I guess I should take my cue and jump in here.

I have a few of the ArtPen, but none of the "lettering" variety. I believe it's a round nib that comes in a variety of widths. It should be similar to the Speedball "B" series pens. They could be ovals like the Speedball "D" series pens; I just don't know since I don't have any and have never looked at them closely enough.

The "Drawing" ArtPen and the "Calligraphy" ArtPen are basically the same pen, but the "Drawing" nibs are standards (and come in EF, F, M, and I presume B but I've never seen one) and the "Calligraphy" nibs are either stubs or italics. I'm not sure which they are. The EF absolutely puts down a finer line than the 1.1. I think the M puts down a finer line than the 0.9! Indeed, the M puts down a line about the same weight as my Rapidograph #2, which is supposedly a 0.60mm.

The ArtPen is a fairly inexpensive pen. I'd definitely get a couple of those before having a Pelikan modified. If nothing else, you'll have a better idea of what your needs are after using the Rotrings.

Thanks for the info! That was just what I was looking for. I'm going to place an order for a M drawing and the 1.1 calligraphy as soon as the banks open up tomorrow.