Dr. Ph. Martin's Star India Ink Bottle, 1.0 oz, Matte Black

I'm a professional illustrator and visual art educator, specializing in drawing: I've worked with pens and pencils for over forty years. For my purposes, this ink is far and away the best India ink I've found for use with a dip pen. It's very liquid, so it flows nicely across paper surfaces. I use a variety of substrates, so it's important to have a bottle of ink on my drawing table that isn't clumpy or sticky - especially upon drying. This ink dries surprisingly quickly, and is quite opaque and matte upon drying. If I fill a large shape using a brush, there are few, if any, marks that show... I really appreciate the graphic quality of a solid, opaque black. Dry marks just look amateurish - the finish of this ink is very professional. The best surfaces for my use of this India ink are 100# Strathmore Smooth Bristol Board and other smooth or plate papers. It's also quite waterproof upon drying. If the illustration I'm working on requires washes of watercolor or other watermedia, some inks reactivate and pollute the bright or light colors with puddles of leaky black ink. Not this stuff! Once it's dry, it stays put and does NOT reactivate. That means it's easy to erase pencil construction lines. And washes of color go down cleanly.

It's lightfast, archival, and waterproof when dry. It's a really nice dark black that has a lovely matte finish (no glare); you can also dilute with water if you wish to work in layers. The ink has great flow and is fairly dense compared to other india inks, though for really large areas of black, windsor newton gouache is still best in terms of consistency. Dr Martins makes three types of black india ink:1. Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star HiCarb India Ink2. Dr Martins Black Star India Ink Matte3. Dr Martins Bombay Black India inkThe HiCarb version is the darkest and also dries matte (it's also available on amazon). The Bombay line also has a good assortment of other colors so you can do layered transparency washes with ease, but I like its black the least out of the three. I purchased a bottle of Black Star India Ink (matte) for $12 on amazon though you can find it for less -- for example, Art Supply Warehouse currently sells it for $6.65 per bottle, even cheaper in bulk. It's also available in bottles of 8 and 32 oz. It is a rarer ink, not one that many art or craft stores commonly carry.For black and color, another good line of inks to consider is the Daler-Rowney FW acrylic artists paint. The colors are very vibrant and you can work with great subtlety, layering transparent non-water soluble layers for added depth.

illustration major here, my professors a professional illustrator who often does industry work and he recommended this ink, needless to say, out of all the inks ive tried, this one is by far my favorite. literally so smooth, gorgeous opaque pigment, and good for the price id say

I’ve purchased many bottles of the Black Star Matte India Ink and it is my go-to black for watercolor. I love all of the Dr. PH Martin’s paints and inks, they are absolutely wonderful, but Black Star is especially fantastic.It is a rich black, and dilutes to a neutral grey without any overly cool or warm tones. I usually wet my paper and/or brush when using the ink straight to thin it slightly and ensure an even distribution. It works well diluted, so it’s easy to create mid tones.Once dry, it is completely waterproof and you can layer watercolors, inks, or gouache over it without risk of bleeding.Love this stuff!!

I bought this ink because I was tried of spending $4-8 for a single brush pen that ran/dried out in about a month. This ink is perfect, the bottle is small but you really just need 2-3 drops in the marker's barrel to refill it. Don't go over that or you'll have a leaky marker!Some of the Markers I used to refill:Kuretake brush pen No #4Mirco pensTombow brush pensPentelAnd Even Water Color PensThe only problem ( it's not really a huge problem) is that it was smudge if you add water. Though that's ONLY if your using thin paper/haven't let it dried. It takes awhile to dried (about 10 mins, but I just leave the piece alone for 20 mins)If your having problems with smudging try thicker paper like card stock, watercolor paper or marker paper.

I found out about this brand and this specific matte black Black Star formula around 2013 or so. It instantly became my favorite ink to use. I wish I could fill all of my pens with this ink it's so good. I stopped drawing in ink for a while and when I picked it back up again I bought different brands of India Ink. I still regret wasting money on those other brands. After my disappointment with the other inks I decided to give old faithful a try and I'm happier than ever with my ink drawings.What I really love is just how dark the pigment is. It dries quickly and I like to give it a little while to cure before going over it with other wet mediums. But after 10-15 minutes of curing (maybe 30-45 if you're heavy handed or have large inked in areas), you can dump as much watercolor or ink-wash on it as you want and it will stay put! Glides smooth over surfaces and truly dries matte. I use this with brushes as well as dip pens and it doesn't clog up the nibs. If leftover ink dries on the nib, it easily comes off with water and a rag, or you can just very lightly scrape it off if you have no respect for yourself like me. It's also just washed out of the brushes I use with it after a normal brush cleaning.I wish I could buy giant bottles of this ink! Highly recommend!

This ink is absolutely bleed proof if you take time to allow it to fully dry before coloring over it (with water based ink\paint) I use watercolor markers and no matter how wet the lines got there was no bleed at all. Line edges perfectly crisp. Lovely.Also beautiful in washes/thin layers, as tone/shading for black and white drawings. Water thinned ink is similarly indelible once dry.