Review on Rohrer & Klingner sketchINK Lotte - 50ml Ink by Kristen Reid

TL;DR Excellent spreadability, no smudging or smearing, surprisingly long lasting (see below) and incredibly affordable. I would recommend it to any artist who likes to draw with fountain pens (it also works with fountain pens or brushes, but there are better inks for that). This is probably my new favorite drawing ink. I'm honestly very impressed with it so far. OK. So this is going to be a long review because I'm comparing two great colors and have a lot to say about them. So what do I compare it to and by what criteria do I use it? Compared to my current one, De Atramentis Document Ink is my favorite and I'm happy to report that Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Ink compares very well to them. Criteria for comparison are: blackness, flowability, spread, shading, durability and cost. Buyers beware: paper thing. Each of these comparisons (with the exception of the bleed and bleed tests, which were performed on cheap notebook paper) are based on tests performed on an inexpensive sketchbook that I have used for dozens of ink drawings and trust for this purpose. Atramentis Document Ink, Black, as well as Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Ink, Lotte are really black. However, they are roughly the same dark gray tones. Each of them can be layered to make them darker. Remember that the darker you make the more blur you should expect when you apply damp medium to the black lines and the worse your bleed will be. Both can be diluted or applied with a damp brush to create shades or shades of grey. wash off (the longer you wait before applying the brush, the less wash off you will get). Flow: Both colors flow very well. Rohrer & Klingner is the weather of the two. Smudge/Smudge: None of these colors bleed, Rohrer & Klingner bleeds slightly worse than De Atramentis (although at 74lb (120gsm) no bleeding at all). Durability: Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Ink, Lotte may actually be more durable than De Atramentis Document Ink. You can partially lift each of these with an eraser (Rohrer & Klingner to a lesser extent) and each will bleed a little if you run wet media over them, but surprisingly I see that Rohrer & Klingner bleeds less than De Atramentis. Conclusion: Rohrer & Klingner Sketch, Lotte inks perform as well or even better than De Atramentis document ink (compared to above). The real catch is that Rohrer & Klingner costs less than half the ink of De Atramentis. Just for fun, here's a bonus comparison, not for black inks, but for the variety of inks in their respective collections, and some thoughts on the color options available in each. De Atramentis document ink is available in 12 colors, but 4 of them are shades of blue. Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Ink is available in 10 colors, two of which are blue. De Atramentis Document Ink Colors: Rather prosaic, but they have cyan, magenta, and yellow, so you can mix almost anything you want. I haven't tried mixing them, so I guess you can get any shade you want. More interesting are Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Inks from the bottle, they have an earthy, naturally mineral look. However, mixing can result in cloudy colors. Vroni is pink, Carmen is gold and Marlene is blue and they blend well... I love this ink so much I will probably have a bottle of each for a while and I need to check how well they are blended. Until then, I assume they won't produce rich colors.