Drawing inks have been used by illustrators and designers since their introduction by Winsor & Newton in the 1890's, where the main requirement is a brilliance of colour. A range of 26 colours is available, offering outstanding brilliance and transparency. The inks are made from soluble dyes combined with shellac binder, which imparts the water resistant characteristic (except Indian Ink) and also gives a gloss finish when applied thickly.
The colour is ready to use from the bottle but may be diluted to reduce strength or increase transparency (but use distilled water to avoid the dye separating from the binder). Because drawing inks contain dyes, they do not possess the lightfast properties of pigmented colours and should not be used in work intended for display in lighted areas. The exceptions to this are white and black, which are pigmented, and gold and silver which are metal based.
It should be noted that Liquid Indian Ink, a less intense black with a brown undertone, is non-waterproof. Dip pens and brushes are recommended for the application of Winsor & Newton drawing inks. These inks are unsuitable for use in fountain pens due to the shellac binder.
Every colour is available in 14ml bottles, and gold, silver, black and liquid Indian ink are also available in 30ml bottles.