Reddit reviews Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen - Hard Type & Soft Type Earh 3 Pens Total 6 Pens Arts Value set.

For a fountain pen, I would recommend (not really calligraphy, but they do look fancy compared to ballpoints)

• Noodler's Nib Creaper: +Cheap. +Has some line variation. +Fun. +You can learn to tinker with the nib. -Not the best for new users to fountain pens (piston filler, you'l need to buy a bottle of ink too). -Not known to be the most consistent or most reliable. -Pretty low ink capacity. -Weird smell...
  
  
  
• LAMY Safari or Pilot Metropolitan: +On the cheaper end. +Reliable. +New user friendly. +Comes with ink cartridges. +Probably 2 most popular beginner pens. -LAMY has a triangle grip, so if your grip isn't "standard," it could feel weird.
  
  
  
• Jinhao (x750 or x450 are popular but they have a lot of other nice looking pens) +Fancy looking. +Really cheap. +Feels kinda expensive (heavy). +Comes with ink converter. -Bad quality control. -Need to buy a bottle of ink.
  
  
  For calligraphy, I would recommend
  
  
  
• Shaeffer pen set I started with an old, old set of these and enjoyed them very much. But they could be a little bit inconsistent sometimes.
  
  
  
• Pilot Parallel Pens. You don't need the whole set- I started with just the 2.4mm orange one and it is still my favorite.
  
  
  
• Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen The line variation that these provide are pretty clear. I prefer the hard brush.
  
  
  
• Speedball calligraphy sets are supposed to be good for beginners. I've never tried them before though.
  
  
  
• Colonial Oblique Holder I started with this and a Nikko G nib. Bought some walnut ink crystals with it- lasts a while even for small quantity.
  
  
  
  Edit: Like shugpug said, It depends what script you are trying to practice.

I bought this mixed set on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DBHOTL4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) but ended up preferring the "soft" type as it's more flowy. It turned out really pretty though! http://imgur.com/a/z6otH

I second Tombow Dual Brush pens, but there is a learning curve. You have to hold the pens at an angle to avoid fraying. Also, certain papers can cause them to fray as well, so you want really smooth paper (such as Rhodia, found on amazon)


To get a good feel for thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes though, I always recommend the Tombow Fudenosuke brush pens. They're much smaller and easier to learn on in my opinion.

Then I moved on to Tombows and Artline Stix Brush Pens.