Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Kolinsky Menso Brush Extra Fine, horse & goat hair brush, designed for fine liner, Great for professional artists, hobbyists, art students, art teachers and calligraphers

A superior brush for inking! A great feeling brush!

If you've ever used a watercolor rigger (long haired brush for lines) this Japanese brush is very similar. It has long brush hairs, over an inch, and the slim belly comes to a fine point. NOTE: You need to wash the stiff sizing out the brush before the first use. I was able to get thick and thin lines with the brush. I'm actually fairly good drawing with a brush (years of practice) and I'm comfortable with a brush in hand. If you prefer to draw with a pen or marker, using a brush takes some practice. But some cartoonists and Manga artists prefer a brush to a pen. If you are a watercolorist, this is a fine choice for a rigger, that brush that makes fine lines for vines, stems and of course, ship rigging, which is how it got its name. Get two, as you can reserve one of them for frisket (the rubber cement masking fluid used to block areas out from paint.) If you are new to Manga, you are going to find this frustrating to use but for artists who have used brushes extensively, this is a great addition to the pens. If you watercolor, this brush performs better than any rigger I've tried. At this price, it's a great addition to the brush roll.

Nice brush with a good snap-back action - Kolinsky Sable. This brush takes a good paint load and produces very fine lines for a long, long time. Since the handle and hair length are different than a western brush it will take a beginner accustomed to a Windsor Newton or similar brush a bit of time to coordinate and adapt their handling technique. I would say this brush is somewhere between a rigger (pin-stripe/ liner) brush and a standard Windsor & Newton or Raphael brush. The overall taper of the brush begins as a very fine sharp point and becomes larger as it nears the ferrule. This allows the brush to hold more paint or ink than a standard rigger that is larger in it's mid-section and gradually tapers to the ferrule. Although I have not used it long enough to see how it will wear. Some brushes wear thin and others loose their points and go "round". Going "round" happens with all of the Windsor Newton Series Seven brushes that I have ever used. I really prefer the Raphael 8408 or 8403 (?) or the Windsor Newton Sceptre Series Gold II 202's. The W&N Sceptre brushes wear thin - which I prefer. Waiting to see how this brush performs before I buy another. This brush is good for all water based mediums.

I had gotten what I expected I had paid for- a decent brush point, and a long heel perfect for holding lots of ink. I had to snip stray hairs, but after some exploration, was able to settle with a decent tip without ruining it. Good value inker and liner brush.

Great brush. Very fine point when wet but it looks splayed when totally dry. This you can see in both the pictures with my hand. The other is just my humble sample of work. My only negative comment is that I wish the handle was thicker for my older hands. Thank you for reading my review.

This brush has a long and very light body. The bristle is really good for ink and watercolor. It carried a lot of ink and that's good. It's kolinsky, so you can be sure that it has all the positive features of this kind of hair. The problem, for me, is that the bristle is too long, and although the point holds a fine tip kind of well, it bends too much and it gets really complicated to achieve the kind of lines I want to make. Even drawing in a more expressive way is not satisfying. Maybe the brush is awesome for a different approach then mine. But if you're looking for a good brush for fine lines, inking and hatching, this is not a good choice.

I love this brush! The Kolinsky sable is soft, it retains plenty of water, and forms a lovely fine point when we; it also keeps that point as you paint, which is cool! When painting, the line is clean and free of streaks. The brush as a whole is nicely made. For the price, it's a great deal! Other brushes of this quality will set you back two times the price.

A very nice brush that feels to me like a cross between a Sable Round and a Sable Rigger. It’s a little shorter than a normal rigger but holds a surprising amount of ink or paint. It’s very easy to control both the line width and the release of paint/ink. I find myself reaching for it more and more in place of a #2 or #4 Round and it’s completely replaced all but my finest riggers.