A fountain pen for artists: Pilot Justus 95 impressions.

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, edmundronald said:

My impression is one gets just a bit of line variation with pressure, or speed, but also fairly fine lines are possible if holding the pen lightly. (this part is of interest only to sketchers who hold like a brush, not writers who have to grip the pen close to the nib). 

 

My experience with a Pilot Justus 95, as someone who writes with it: 

 

 

[AmandaW]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

My experience with a Pilot Justus 95, as someone who writes with it

Thankyou. Very helpful explanation of the hard vs soft settings.

[edmundronald]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

My experience with a Pilot Justus 95, as someone who writes with it: 

 

 

Yup! I agree with everything you say. There's 2 things I'd like to add for writers: 

- This pen can deal with very different, extreme, papers thanks to the flow adjustment. With some other pens, if the paper doesn't cooperate you'll end up reaching for Mr. Bic.

- My impression is the half-way setting between hard and smooth is the sweet spot for general use. I somehow get the feeling that this is where it likes to be to express line variation. 

 

[AmandaW]

For drawing purposes I am intrigued by a pen that allows such control of the wetness of the line. I can't think of any other that does that.

[edmundronald]

24 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

For drawing purposes I am intrigued by a pen that allows such control of the wetness of the line. I can't think of any other that does that.

Yup, to buy the pen, I tested it on 640g Watercolour Arches Torchon, which is sort of the offspring of an arranged marriage between cardboard and toilet paper

This is incredibly nice watercolour paper (or board) because it basically turns watercolour into gouache, the paint stays where you put it. None of that business of wondering where the water will escape to. It also costs about $15 a sheet these days, so the only way for me to justify using it  is  to tear it up into quarter sheets. On the other hand, if you foobar one side, you can just use the other, or just do 2 sketches one on each side when on the go, which doesn't really work with Arches 300g. 

[edmundronald]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

My experience with a Pilot Justus 95, as someone who writes with it: 

 

 

I think I erased part of a response. I would agree with one of the reviewers as to the Justus being a distraction for science writing; now that I have it I'll use it, but if that were the main intent  I would use an 823 as a grail pen there, but any of the "normal" pilots would doubtless be smooth enough to allow distraction-free writing; the result might lack "expressivity" but that is not required while noting equations.  I don't write letters, and anything intended for publication is composed straight into  a computer (Latex, Scrivener).

 

Edmund

[edmundronald]

One week update. 

 

I finally found where my Custom 91 (M) had been sulking, and got it out for a note taking comparison with the Justus. Horses for course, for quick notes  I find the flashy Justus completely outclassed  by the humble 91 . The 91 is ever so much smoother. And fatter, moister on paper. To the point where I wonder whether it hasn't been worn down by a year of sketching. The feel of the Justus (F) is scratchy while writing, a bit like the old dip nibs I learnt to write with. Wait, artists love dip nibs, don't they? 

 

As far as sketches go, I enjoy the feeling of precise line control I get from the Justus. 

 

Moral of the story: I am really enjoying my Justus as a sketch pen. But I don't "need" it. A $3 branded artists's 0.5 or 0.3 fineliner from Micron or Unipin or Staedtler would do the job almost as well on a good day. But the Justus is more fun.

 

One strange thing: I can't really get the Justus to start properly on the hard setting on artist paper, without pressure, while writing. Set at medium or soft, no issue. 

 

Edmund

 

Meeting doodle.

 

[Estycollector]

On 4/26/2025 at 6:09 PM, A Smug Dill said:

 

Sure. The issue is not whether those factors are present, but whether the content of the reviewer's comment can be considered/assumed to be entirely personal feelings, without the reader or viewer first looking at the objective data. If personal feelings are only part of it, then the qualifier of ‘entirely’ makes that statement logically invalid.

Instead of feelings, maybe the better word is experience. Our subjective experiences can lead to a logical conclusion. 

[inkstainedruth]

This has been an interesting thread to read.  

I'm not familiar with the Justus, so don't know what there is special/not special about the nib.  Does it have some give/flex to it?  Is it like a Sailor Zoom nib (where he tipping is ground so that you can get line variation from the angle you hold the pen in relation to the paper?  Or something else entirely?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[edmundronald]

On 5/3/2025 at 10:30 PM, inkstainedruth said:

This has been an interesting thread to read.  

I'm not familiar with the Justus, so don't know what there is special/not special about the nib.  Does it have some give/flex to it?  Is it like a Sailor Zoom nib (where he tipping is ground so that you can get line variation from the angle you hold the pen in relation to the paper?  Or something else entirely?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

The Justus nib itself has a nice, somewhat flexible nib, but what's special about the pen is an added device that adjusts the feedback,  nib hardness and ink flow. My post describes  _my use or mis-use _ of the pen for sketching, but you will find a description of the mechanism in other reviews or videos, for instance the one I linked to in my first post. This mechanism is AFAIK fairly unique, making the Justus a one of a kind modern pen. 

 

Edmund