After twenty-three days I have been informed that I should be starting to decide for myself what is important and, perhaps more importantly, what can be left out. Not sure about this. Neuschwanstein Castle could easily become another exercise in drawing every window, tower and architectural detail, so I try to concentrate instead on the overall shape of the castle. The windows become little marks, the trees are mostly blobs of green with a few loose lines, and quite a lot of the reference photograph simply doesn’t make it onto the page.
For no particularly artistic reason, I decide that a German castle deserves a German pen and ink, so today’s sketch is done with my Pelikan M809 and Lotte ink. This is obviously an entirely sensible way to choose a drawing instrument and definitely not an excuse to own more fountain pens.
I probably worked the sky a little harder than necessary and the left hand side of the castle, but I’m pleased that the building itself remains relatively simple. More importantly, I’m beginning to feel less obliged to copy what is in the photograph and more comfortable deciding what the sketch actually needs.
The Verdict – Slightly ahead of yesterday’s Sagrada Família. Not necessarily because it is a better-looking drawing, but because I was given more freedom today and apparently didn’t make a complete mess of it. The castle is simplified, the trees are suggested rather than drawn individually and the edges are allowed to disappear. The sky could have been left alone sooner and one side of the castle is slightly heavy, but the important lesson seems to be sticking: I don’t have to draw everything I can see.
Today’s challenge is about simplifying something that really doesn’t want to be simplified. The Sagrada Família is covered in extraordinary detail, but rather than trying to reproduce it all, I concentrate on the overall shapes of the towers and use broken lines and small dark marks to suggest the complexity. I use my Pilot Custom 742 with Posting nib, turning the nib over occasionally to produce the heavier black marks. I am beginning to enjoy the contrast between the very fine normal line and the much bolder marks produced this way. I also make a deliberate departure from the reference photograph. The pond in front of the basilica is distinctly brown, but I decide that painting a large brown area across the foreground will do the sketch no favours, so I keep the water very understated instead. Perhaps the most useful lesson today is that the reference photograph is there to be interpreted rather than copied.
The Verdict – A substantial recovery from Day 22. The building is immediately recognisable without being over-described, and the restrained colour works particularly well. The loose group of buildings on the left shows how little information is actually needed to suggest architecture. Most importantly, I am beginning to make decisions based on what the sketch needs rather than simply following what appears in the photograph. Score 8.4/10
I like art materials. I have accumulated quite a lot over the last few years. I used to work away from home for extended periods and always found time to check out Cass Art and Jackson’s before heading home. I would walk through the door and my wife’s usual greeting was Christmas has come early, again … Surely, the next time I was home I would start sketching and painting. This never happened, buying them and actually using them were mutually exclusive. Then I retired and had no excuse. At the start of 2026 I went sketching on a weekend course in Grantchester and things took a turn. A few weeks later I found myself writing the following confession to the course group:
My name is David and I am a penaholic. It started four weeks ago in a church hall, of all places, in a sleepy Cambridgeshire village, where I met like-minded people; good and honest people. Or so I thought. I should have known better. The villagewas notorious in the 1960s for having a murder every week for eight weeks every year [geddit? Grantchester – see TV series]. I digress. Some of the people — and they know who they are — talked about pens. Pen collections. Pen shows. Capless pens. And not only about fine nibs, but ultra extra fine nibs. At that point they might as well have been handing out crack cocaine. One bloke, the ringleader obviously, spoke about Posting nibs and Music nibs, and casually mentioned where to get them. That was it. I was gone. Now here I am. Five days clean. It’s been hard. I tell myself I’ll be fine. My only advice? Stay away from these people… at least until June.
Things have not improved, just ask Cult Pens, my fountain pen retailer of choice. If I was a gambler the betting shop would not allow me to bet anymore given the money I have spent. Fortunately, for Cult Pens they have no such moral responsibility.
I did indeed buy those UEF and Music nib pens along with several more since. I intend to write about and show these pens and anything else in the way of paper and ink that the Loose Nib fancies. They will be far from technical reviews and are unlikely to discuss finials, tines and barrels and will be more about how they look and feel to write and sketch with. There are plenty of YouTubers who discuss the ins and outs of pens and do this very well too.
The Platinum Century 3776 with Ultra Extra Fine Nib and probably most peoples favourite water proof ink, Platinum Carbon Black.
This is a lovely pen with a lovely weight and balance. It is super fine; fine, generally, being the choice of most urban sketches which is also the size I prefer for general fountain pen writing – I am not a fan of bolder nibs. The nib is so fine it can almost tear into some cheaper paper and clog the nib up. But on 165gsm plus paper it moves really well with some feedback which I like to feel as the nib moves across the page. As I mentioned the Platinum was my first sketching pen. My first pen after leaving school was a Montblanc Classique, purchased when I formed my own one-man company in 2008, with the intent of signing big money contracts. This pen had a medium size nib, not that I was aware in 2008 that pens came with varying size nibs. My Montblanc was what they* call a wet writer, that is, it dumped a river of ink when the nib touched the paper and the line is a lot bolder in width than I like to write with, but who cares it was a Montblanc**. Needless to say I didn’t sign any contracts with it, let alone any big money ones, and I, sadly, didn’t really enjoy writing with it given its bolder, smoother (as opposed to a nib with feedback) and wetter line. There is also a difference in sizes between western and eastern manufacturers. Japanese nibs generally tend to write finer than their European counterparts, although there is no universal standard and individual manufacturers vary. As a rough rule of thumb, a Japanese Medium, for example, can often produce a line closer to what a European manufacturer might call Fine. So my Lamys and Kawecos, both German brands, were both purchased in the smallest nib sizes I could get, which at the time of purchase I thought they would not be far off the Platinum UEF, but they were and a lot off. I have been able to resolve my wider nib issues by purchasing standalone nibs and changing the bolder nibs with finer nib sizes. Both these companies make spare nibs for interchanging with pens, at a much cheaper price than buying a new pen with a different size nib. They are so simple to change that even I could do it. Well done Kaweco and Lamy!
The Kaweco’s are very small in length and the plastic ones super lightweight. I love my brass version which has a great weight, as you would expect. The Lamy Safari’s are used by most Urban Sketchers or were at the start of many sketcher’s fountain pen journey. It is almost like a rites of passage for any Urban Sketcher. They are relatively cheap so in someways it is a no brainer to get one.
They are excellent pens and if you use the converters you can fill them with waterproof ink if your sketch is going to use any watercolour. Most of the Kaweco and Lamy cartridges I have used tend to be water-soluble.
As good as these pens are, you may have gathered I don’t tend to use these pens much now and being the founder/ CEO/ FD of The Loose Nib, social hierarchy dictates I use a more sophisticated pen(s) to reflect my social standing. Given my references to the word nib in the text above, you can probably understand my reasoning in calling this website the Loose Nib!
Onto the next pen …
*’They’ being pen officiandos of the fountain pen world. ** With all my recent purchases I have stayed clear of Montblanc pens, mainly because I hear that even their extra fine nibs are still pretty bold. Nevertheless if a MB 146 or 149 crossed my path at a fair price I would probably bite the hand that offered it.
The Challenge Today’s challenge is about looking up. The Chrysler Building provides the focal point, but rather than trying to reproduce every window and architectural detail, the aim is to use perspective, selective line and tone to create a sense of height. I use a Lamy Safari with a fine nib and black waterproof ink, adding water with a brush to pull tone from some of the lines.
What I Learned This is not a sketch I particularly like, but perhaps that is part of the challenge. The crown becomes too busy and loses some of the elegant Art Deco structure of the building, while the main tower could feel more solid. There are, however, things here that I probably would not have done three weeks ago. Large areas are left almost untouched, the surrounding buildings are suggested rather than described, and some edges are deliberately allowed to disappear. The dark foreground shapes and converging street do much of the work in creating depth and directing the eye upwards. It may not feel like progress when I look at the finished drawing, but perhaps learning what to leave out is progress in itself.
Verdict – Not one of the strongest finished sketches of the challenge. The crown is overworked and the tower lacks some of the solidity and elegance of the reference. But there is considerably more restraint here than there would have been at the beginning of the challenge. The disappearing edges, largely empty surfaces and simplified foreground show increasing confidence in suggestion rather than description. The lesson is better than the drawing — and sometimes that is enough. Score — 6.8/10
The Challenge Today’s challenge is an old bookshop, with the emphasis firmly on simplification and restraint. The instruction is to establish the main structure of the building without describing every architectural detail, using changes in line weight to create depth and allowing unfinished areas to suggest the surrounding street. And, specifically for me, not to draw every brick.
The Sketch I decide to keep this one monochrome and use my Sailor 1911L Naginata Togi filled with Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri brown ink. The Naginata allows me to vary the line considerably by changing the angle of the pen, with broader strokes used for the main structure and finer marks for smaller details. I also take some of the same ink with a brush to create darker areas and patches of tone (a trick I learned at @sketchloose), giving the drawing depth without introducing watercolour. I concentrate most of the detail around the shopfront, reducing the books to simple marks and allowing the neighbouring buildings, pavement and parts of the façade to remain unfinished.
The Verdict – simplification works particularly well around the edges of the drawing, where very little information is needed for the neighbouring buildings to be understood. The strong roof lines establish the building immediately, while the loose collection of marks making up the bicycle reads surprisingly clearly. The lower half of the sketch feels particularly relaxed. The upper façade is slightly more controlled and symmetrical, with the three windows becoming a little too carefully described compared with the looser shopfront below. A few stronger dark accents around the awning and doorway might also have anchored the bottom of the building more firmly. Most importantly, however, the drawing demonstrates increasing confidence in leaving areas unresolved and allowing the viewer to complete them.
The Challenge Today’s challenge is a Venetian canal, with the emphasis on simplifying the architecture and, once again, tackling reflections. The instruction is to avoid drawing reflected buildings and instead treat the water as a collection of broken vertical marks, interrupted lines and patches of tone, while leaving plenty of untouched paper.
The Sketch When in Italy, use an Italian pen. Today I bring out one of the bigger guns from my arsenal, a Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age with an EF nib, filled with Octopus Write & Draw Elephant Black. I establish the canal first before working upwards through the bridge and buildings, deliberately leaving parts of the architecture unfinished rather than describing every window and detail. For the water I try to follow the instruction literally, using loose broken marks and pale washes rather than attempting to draw recognisable reflections. The gondola provides the focal point and a little splash of colour.
The Verdict – The reflections work well because they remain broken and understated, with enough untouched paper for the water to breathe. The unfinished upper section of the building on the left is particularly successful: very little is actually drawn, yet the eye completes the structure. The central tower and darker building provide useful focus, while the bridge is described without becoming overworked. The main criticism is the gondolier’s pole, which creates a rather assertive diagonal across the canal and would have been better lighter or partially broken. There are also a few areas around the waterline where the marks become slightly fussy. Overall, however, the sketch feels lively rather than laboured and shows increasing confidence in leaving things out.
The Challenge Simplify a complex Japanese temple gate into its main shapes, concentrating on the sweeping roof, supporting structure and areas of shadow rather than trying to describe every beam, bracket and architectural detail.
This was hard. I drew it quite quickly, which probably helped because there was little opportunity to become too precious about the complicated architecture. The large roof became the main shape and I tried to let the washes and shadows describe much of the structure underneath. I still got drawn into too much detail beneath the upper roof and the junction on the right became confused. I also managed to smudge some of my splatters, although apparently I am under strict instructions not to attempt a repair. The biggest lesson was that when faced with something complicated, drawing larger and more decisively can work better than slowing down and trying to draw everything.
The Verdict – The sweeping roof is the success of the sketch. It dominates the page, has plenty of energy and immediately gives the building its character. The restrained brown, grey and pale blue palette works well and the unfinished areas beneath the roof help rather than hinder it. However, the upper structure contains too many competing marks and the right-hand roof junction becomes muddled. A couple of considerably darker shadows would also have given the building more depth. The accidental splatters can stay. Most importantly, this looks like a sketchbook page rather than a careful architectural illustration — and that is progress.
Score: 7.6/10. I am getting confused between a sketchbook sketch and a finished painting and I still need to be clearer in my head the purpose of each sketch.
Day 18 was Amsterdam canal houses, with the challenge concentrating on the rhythm of the tall narrow buildings, perspective and reflections. I was supposed to choose where the detail lived rather than treating every building equally, avoid carefully drawing every window and allow some of the architecture to merge together. Reflections were to be suggested with broken marks and shapes rather than drawn as upside-down copies of the buildings. The other important instruction was to keep the colour restrained and leave plenty of untouched white paper. As it turned out, I managed some of those instructions rather better than others.
The Sketch
I tried to concentrate on the overall shapes of the buildings rather than individual architectural details, allowing some windows to become little more than marks. The two banks create a strong perspective into the distance and I used warmer yellows and oranges on the left against cooler blue-greys on the right. In the water I tried to suggest the reflections rather than reproduce the buildings accurately. Unfortunately, once the watercolours came out, my interpretation of “restrained colour” became increasingly liberal and considerably less white paper survived than intended. Nevertheless, I like the liveliness of the result and I think I am becoming more comfortable allowing lines, windows and buildings to remain incomplete rather than explaining everything.
The Verdict – there is increasing confidence in the drawing. The irregular façades, broken windows and wandering rooflines feel much more like a sketch than a careful architectural record, while the two banks create a convincing sense of depth. The warm buildings on the left work particularly well against the cooler mass on the right and the reflections are suggested rather than laboriously copied. However, the brief specifically asked for restrained colour and plenty of untouched paper, and apparently Amsterdam proved too tempting. The right-hand buildings in particular have become a fairly continuous blue-grey mass and leaving perhaps 25–30% more white paper would have introduced considerably more light and sparkle. This is more ambitious than Day 17 but not quite as controlled. Score: 8.5/10. Reasonable Tyrant’s instruction:Colour isn’t the problem; knowing where not to put it is. And now stop — don’t touch it again.
Today’s challenge was a café on a street corner, with the emphasis on simplifying a busy urban scene rather than trying to record everything. The main things to think about were the sweep of the perspective around the corner, keeping the distant buildings subordinate, suggesting rather than describing the people inside the café, and using changes in line weight and tone to create depth. Most importantly, the challenge was to decide what could be left out.
The Sketch
I started with a quick preliminary sketch while waiting for guests to arrive, which helped me work out the main shapes and decide what was important before attempting the finished version. For the final sketch I used my Pelikan M600 EF for the finer lines and a Sailor Fude de Mannen Blue fountain pen for the heavier marks. Rather than adding colour, I used an ArtGraf water-soluble graphite stick for the shading, keeping the whole sketch monochrome. Preliminary drawing with loose Nib sketchbook below
I deliberately simplified the distant building and vehicle and treated the two figures inside the café as little more than dark shapes. The graphite gave me a quick way of establishing the large tonal areas without becoming involved in colour. I am beginning to realise that loose sketching is as much about deciding what not to draw as it is about drawing what is there.
The Verdict – This is a considerable improvement on the preliminary sketch, not simply because it is more finished but because the decisions are better. The café frontage sweeps convincingly around the corner and gives the drawing a strong sense of perspective. The pale vehicle and loosely indicated building on the left establish the street without demanding attention, while the large graphite fascia provides a strong tonal anchor.The two figures inside the café are particularly successful. They are barely described, yet immediately read as people. Likewise, the distant architecture is reduced to a handful of lines and marks rather than laboriously explained. These are both signs of increasing confidence in allowing the viewer to complete the drawing.The combination of the fine Pelikan line, heavier Fude de Mannen marks and soft graphite works extremely well. The uneven graphite is an advantage rather than a defect; it gives the sketch atmosphere and prevents the tonal areas becoming flat.There is still a tendency to add more information than necessary around the café glazing, where some of the vertical divisions and smaller marks could have been omitted. That is now the next lesson: having discovered simplification, push it a little further. Score: 8.5/10 Reasonable Tyrant’s instruction:Stop explaining everything. Give the viewer enough information — then trust them.
Day 16 took me to a Parisian boulevard. After the confined perspective of yesterday’s narrow Italian street, the challenge was to deal with a much broader scene of buildings, trees, pavements and open space. The aim was to create depth without drawing every window and balcony, concentrating instead on the larger shapes and allowing the details to become increasingly simplified as they moved away. The sweeping pavement and kerb were important in leading the eye into the scene, while the trees and figures were there to provide scale and atmosphere rather than become subjects in their own right. Once again, the real challenge was deciding how much information was actually necessary.
The Sketch
This felt much more like my own drawing. I concentrated on the central building and allowed the architecture around it to become progressively less defined. The sweeping kerb helped establish the depth without needing carefully constructed perspective, while the figures were reduced to little more than marks. The trees were another matter. I am still not entirely comfortable with them and have a tendency either to describe them too much or make them look like an afterthought. Nevertheless, I was pleased that the drawing felt less like an attempt to reproduce a photograph and more like my interpretation of the scene. Trees, however, definitely need more work.
The Verdict – This feels much more like an individual drawing than a copy of the reference. The central building contains enough information to be convincing without becoming architectural illustration, while the sweeping kerb and surrounding buildings create a strong sense of depth. The trees and figures are increasingly becoming suggestions rather than carefully described objects, which is exactly the direction this challenge should be taking. There are still places where the pen could have stopped a few lines earlier, particularly around the roof and balconies, and a stronger foreground shadow might have anchored the scene more firmly. The trees remain uncertain, but that is a problem to work on rather than disguise with more detail. Score: 8.7/10. I still think that is far too generous, although annoyingly I agree with most of the assessment. Reasonable Tyrant’s instruction:If you don’t know how to draw a tree, drawing twice as much tree is unlikely to solve the problem.
