Is there dip pen and ink drawing software?

Dip pen drawing is well covered by Easel by Zaweba, a free and offline painting studio for Windows, which includes dip pens with G-nib, mapping and drawing nibs that run dry, plus reed, bamboo and quill pens, brush pens, and technical and ruling pens. You can draw with India, walnut, acrylic or sumi ink, or with ink wash, on any of its 37 surfaces.

Dip pens are loved because they are unpredictable in a useful way. A nib carries only a little ink, the line swells and thins with pressure, and you have to stop and dip again. Many digital pen tools give a perfect, endless line. Easel aims for the real behaviour instead, including the moment the nib starts to run dry.

The pens on offer

The dip pens come in three nib types. G-nibs are the flexible nibs comic artists use for lines that swell; mapping nibs are fine and stiff for small detail; drawing nibs sit between. All of them run dry, so long lines fade and break the way they do on paper.

Reed and bamboo pens give a broader, rougher line with more character. A quill gives a softer, more traditional mark. A brush pen lays down a flexible stroke with a brush tip. Technical and ruling pens are there for steady, even lines.

Alongside these sit the pens added earlier: biro, fountain pen (nib angle matters, and ink creeps into absorbent paper), calligraphy broad nib whose line width follows the stroke angle, felt tip and fineliner.

The inks

India ink is the classic black for line work. Walnut ink is a warm brown often used for sketching. Acrylic ink is a strong colour ink. Sumi ink is ground on the stone, and the longer you grind, the darker it gets. There is also ink wash, for laying tone with a brush.

Pressure and paper

A pen tablet makes a difference. Easel uses pen pressure from a tablet when one is attached, and pressure sets how deep the tip reaches into the grain as well as how much it lays down. With a mouse you still get good lines, just without the pressure variation.

The surface changes the line. Hot-pressed watercolour paper and cartridge paper are smooth and suit fine nibs. Rough paper breaks the line up. Rice paper bleeds along its fibres, and a fountain pen's ink creeps into absorbent paper. Scraperboard is worth a try too, since blades scratch it back to white, a natural partner for ink.

Working habits that help

Plan where you will re-dip, just as you would with a real pen. Long continuous lines are where a dry nib shows itself, and a little hesitation at a corner is often a good place to reload.

Use guides when you need them. The ruler, French curve and ellipse guide are there, and strokes that start on the ellipse guide follow it. A tracing paper or acetate sheet over the picture can hold pencil guides that never merge into the ink, and Ctrl+H shows or hides it.

Combine ink with wash. Line and wash drawings work well in Easel, since watercolour flows and dries with darker edges and ink wash adds grey tone.

Saving and exporting

Undo keeps 80 steps by default. Save as .zeasel to keep everything, or export PNG, JPEG or TIFF at 1x or 2x. If you want to clean up or add lettering in a more conventional editor, a PNG can be sent on to Paint by Zaweba.

For anyone who wants to practise pen and ink without blots on the desk, it is a free way to get the feel of a nib that behaves like one.