If you are looking to get into brush lettering, you've probably come across the Zebra Disposable Brush Pen and the Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen.
They're both great brush pens, but what exactly is the difference between the two?
Let's find out by putting them to the test in our first ever Pen Versus Pen: Zebra Disposable Brush Pen versus the Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen.
We'll be comparing these pens using the following criteria.
Let's begin.
Tip type:
Both the Zebra and Tombow have plastic felt tips with strands of plastic fibers pressed together into one mass.
As you can see, the tips look extremely similar. But do they perform similarly? Let's find out.
Line width:
The Zebra Brush Pen is available in Extra Fine, Fine, and Medium tip sizes.
The Tombow Fudenosuke only comes in Fine, but has two firmness levels: Hard and Soft.
Because of its softer tip, the Tombow Soft version produces a similar line width to the Fine Zebra.
The Tombow Hard tip is similar to the Zebra Extra Fine
Firmness:
In the Zebra Pens, the Extra Fine is extremely firm, while the Fine and Medium are slightly less firm.
For the Tombow Pens, Hard is extremely firm, as we expected, while Soft has a similar firmness to the Zebra Fine and Medium.
Elasticity:
Elasticity refers to a brush pen's ability to spring back to its original shape.
Both the Zebra and Tombow Pens demonstrate high elasticity.
However, plastic felt tip brush pens generally begin to lose their elasticity after extensive use, especially if you use a lot of pressure.
If you want to do dramatic line variation, we recommend choosing a softer brush pen.
That way you don't have to press as hard.
Ink flow:
Both pens have superb ink flow with no skipping and very little streaking.
We did notice that the Zebra has a more consistent ink flow though.
It also handles quick strokes better than the Tombow, which tends to pool at the beginning and become drier towards the end.
Colors and pigmentation:
The Zebra Brush Pen is only available in Black.
The Tombow Fudenosuke also comes in Black, but offers a double-ended brush pen with gray on one side.
In terms of pigmentation, the Zebra may appear more pigmented because of its more even ink flow.
But if you go slowly with the Tombow, you'll see that the pigmentation is on par.
Now that we've done all the tests, you can see that these pens are very much alike.
You can't really go wrong with either.
But which one should I get?
Here are our recommendations: if you're a beginner, start with the Zebra Extra Fine or Tombow Hard.
The extra firm tips make these pens easier to control.
Intermediate users can consider the Zebra Fine or Tombow Soft.
These two pens can create more line variation, which allows you to do more dramatic brushstrokes.
The Tombow Soft is also great for giving your lettering a sketchy or rustic look because of its subtle fade.
You can control the gradient by how quickly you make each stroke.
We recommend the Zebra Medium for bold lettering, but because of its softer tip, this pen is better suited to intermediate or expert users.
If you want the added choice of gray, go for the double-sided Tombow.
Both sides have the same brush tip as the Tombow Fudenosuke in Soft.
We hope this face-off video has helped you decide which pen is best for you.
Tell us which one you think the winner is!
You can find them all at JetPens.com!
Which two pens do you want us to compare next?
Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for watching!