NEULAND FAN: Eddy Phillips

Neuland markers have quickly become an indispensable tool for me in exploring creatively and building clarity through graphic recording and graphic facilitation. The range of sizes, nib shapes and colours allow for precise and intuitive decision-making in relation to colour and mark making. Their versatility helps me to create a diverse range of work, and variation within each individual drawing, serving the different needs of the drawing I do.

BigOne Wedge Nib: crisp lines and contrast

One of my favourite Neuland markers is the BigOne Wedge Nib, which I love for its ability to produce long, crisp lines that add areas of finesse to a drawing. It’s been a game-changer in its power to produce a bold, defined stroke. The wedge shape and the uninterrupted flow of ink ensures consistent line width, making it ideal for projects where clean lines are important.

I tend to use the BigOne Outliner (black) Wedge Nib for imagery that needs to be thick, precise and to stand out, for example line work in an organisational logo. You can see the quality of the line in this graphic for the Poverty Alliance, where the pencil image needed to contrast with the rest of the drawing whilst tying together the strands of the event through the line the pencil has ‘drawn’. 

I use coloured BigOne Wedge Nib markers where I want to create graphic shading, embracing the technical limits of the marker (i.e. the visible overlapping ‘felt-tip’ effect) to create an interesting surface appeal. I tend to use a lot of Pastel Blue (303), particularly for imagery relating to water and flow, as well as Soft Rose (203), Light Green (401) and Brilliant Yellow (500). You can see how I’ve used Pastel Blue to indicate the sea in the map section of this graphic (and how this resonates with a similar use of the same marker in the title section.

For more expressive lines and dynamic shading, I tend to go for Neuland's Art Brush Nib markers. The brush nib offers a versatility that makes it easy to switch between bold strokes and delicate detail, which is also useful when creating artwork that demands a variety of line weights and shading techniques. The brush nib's ability to mimic the strokes of a paintbrush makes it great for graceful curves and intricate hatching. In this the section below I’ve used Brush Nib Art Markers in Grey (101), Light Green (401) and Black (100) for shading and to capture the fluidity of the natural world.

The similarity to a paintbrush or signwriter’s quill also mean that the Art Brush Nib markers can be a nice tool for lowercase titles using writing styles similar to roundhand styles used in signwriting.

Outliner Range: Crafting hierarchies 

In graphic recording I find that effective visual communication often relies on creating hierarchies within content. This is where the black Outliners range comes in handy. I utilise Outliners in in various sizes and nib shapes, and these help to delineate and emphasise different levels of information. In particular, I use BigOne Outliner with either the brush nib or wedge nib for larger headings, the No.One Outliner Round Nib for subheadings and the FineOne Outliner for more detail and speech. The FineOne is the pen that gets worked the hardest during most of my graphics!

The markers in the Outliner range also have the benefit of drying quickly, which means they don’t bleed when covered by ink from another marker. This is really useful when going over a word or phrase with another colour to highlight (allowing for another level of hierarchy).

New Cover Pens: Work in Reverse

I’ve also recently got my hands on some Neuland Cover markers. Like the Outliner range, they’re great for creating strong black and white contrast, but in reverse! I love the way that you can layer on a dark background first and then add bright white on top, creating a kind of blackboard effect that works well for bullet point information or signposts. The blocked out areas of black with Cover Marker overlaid stand out in a way that is hard to achieve through black on white.

I’ve also found that it works well to add a stroke of Cover Marker over a coloured area before going in with an Outliner, because it increases the contrast between the black Outliner and the background colour, aiding in readability. 

Refillable and Replaceable Nibs: Drawing sustainably 

As well as loving the technical capabilities of Neuland’s pens, the fact that the markers are refillable - and the nibs replaceable – means that waste and environmental impact is reduced. 

Refilling the Neuland markers is a straightforward and also creative process, because it’s possible to buy empty markers that can be filled with a mix of inks to create new colours. I’ve been filling empty FatOnes and empty No.One Round Nibs for a while now and I’m excited to start doing some colour mixing soon!

Visit www.inkyshop.co.uk to buy the Neuland range of products from Inky Thinking UK, the official Neuland UK reseller.

Eddy Phillips, Graphic Recorder, Eddy Draws