Caran D'Ache Fixpencil 44, Koh-I-Noor, and Pilot 3.8 mm leadholders picture review

Continuing with the photo reviews of some of my collected sketching tools. We'll take a look at the rather rare 3.8 mm leadholder category. Clutch pencils in this size can be occasionally found online and are virtually non-existent at brick-and-mortar stores. Their main advantage is that they are fairly strong and seldom break even when applied vigorously on the support. When storage space is severely limited in a field sketching kit, a single leadholder and a handful of selected 3.8 mm color leads make for a fairly compact sketching set that take up less room than their equivalent in regular wooden pencils. Was lucky enough to nab the Caran D'Ache Museum set with 3 Fixpencil 44 leadholders and the Koh-I-Noor Polycolor with another 3 metal leadholders during a couple of clearance sales. Both leadholder brands feel quite sturdy and rather heavy.
While I enjoy these leadholder sets from time to time, I have to admit that they are really not very practical due to the awkwardness of having to switch leads when changing colors, scarcity of sources for replacement refills, and their high cost compared to regular pencils.
The Pilot Watercolour ergonomic plastic leadholder is the lowest priced, shortest, and lightest in the 3.8 mm category. Unlike the other two metal leadholders, this compact sketching tool features a twist advance mechanism. It is also marketed as the Pilot Croquis Rotating Lead Holder with short graphite leads available in H, B, and 6B degrees. While inexpensive and ideal for field sketching, it does not feel as precise as the other two since the plastic holding clip allows the lead to rattle much more than the set of metal clutch jaws would allow. Three options for sharpening 3.8 mm leads include the built-in lead pointer in the push button of the Fixpencil 44, the sharpener from the mini pencil set, and a pad of sandpaper.
The two metal leadholders whole and with their components taken apart.
Color chart comparing the Caran D'Ache Museum leads and the Koh-I-Noor Polycolor leads to some colored pencil brands: Prismacolor, Derwent Artists and Coloursoft pencils, Faber Castell Polychromos and Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. The Faber Castell Albrecht Durer pencils are probably the best all around and versatile coloring pencils if one prefers bright saturated colors and the most opaque washes. I always have a canvas wrap with a set of 36 watercolor pencils ready to go on a moment's notice.

e+m Holzprodukte Graffiti 1983 clutch pencil and Lama Li Bubble Book bundle - great deal for artists and 3.0 mm Leadholder collectors

The e+m Holzprodukte Crayon Graffiti 1983, the latest addition to my 3.0 mm leadholders collection, is a well-balanced 3.2 mm leadholder made from natural beech wood that feels great in the hand. Very comfortable for hours of doodling fun. Chubby leadholders are also well suited for little hands. My little niece couldn't put down the Scribbler 1600 during a doodling session when she was only 2 yeras old.
For those of us that occasionally enjoy sketching with hard-to-find fairly break-resistant 3.0 mm drawing leads or collecting mechanical clutch pencils, this Dick Blick clearance bundle deal for under ten bucks was hard to beat: a Savoir Faire Graffiti Pin Head Colored Pencil 3.2 mm leadholder and a Lama Li 6"X8.5" Bubble Book with 65 lb. bright white laid pages suitable for sketching and journaling with dry media, brush pens, and markers.
The 3.2 mm pink crayon lead works quite nicely for coloring though its rather soft and brittle. It arrived broken and stuck inside the Graffiti leadholder. I had to bang it repeatedly against my drawing board and poke it with a 3.0 mm HB graphite to coax the pink waxy fragments out of the leadholder chamber.
While designed for holding all surface crayon refills (3.2 x 70 mm), the Graffiti 1983 can also hold 3.0 mm graphite leads.
The pink waxy crayon lead is rather crumbly and does tend to get stuck on the clutch mechanism. The color marks are not erasable even with an electric eraser. The coloring lead is fun to play with, but I decided I rather keep a cleaner more reliable Caran D'Ache Technograph graphite lead in the Graffiti clutch pencil. I have even found an online source for the tube with 12 color crayon refill leads, but I have not tried this retailer yet.

Link to Pilot Hello Kitty Cap Limited Edition Hi-Tec-C Gel Ink Pen Review

Just got this Limited Edition Hi-Tec-C gel pen for review, and decided to post it in my kid friendlier blog.

Koh-I-Noor 3X0 0.25 mm Rapidosketch pen review

Got this Koh-I-Noor Rapidosketch single Pen Art boxed set a while back hoping that its performance would've been close to that of the now discontinued Rotring Rapidoliner as a reliable quick-sketching tool. The latter featured disposable cartridges and had a radius nib design that allowed the pen to be held at a comfortable angle and glided smoothly on the paper in every direction for quick flowing drawing strokes. The Koh-I-Noor Rapidosketch pen is refillable with the Rapidograph Ultradraw waterproof black ink bottle provided in the set which is compatible with watercolor coloring once dry. Unfortunately its 0.25 mm stainless steel nib feels rather "scratchy" even on smooth surface papers (like on the Moleskine sketchbook shown), and the pen nib tends to skip producing broken lines at faster drawing speeds. Thus I tend to pick up a Copic Multiliner SP, a Pentel Slicci, or a Pilot Hi-Tec-C gel pen first when I need a fine 0.25 mm line since they are all smoother and more comfortable than the Rapidosketch pen. While I'm not inclined to try pointillism any time soon, the Rapidosketch pen seems better suited for stippling and technical drawing applications rather than quick sketching.

Another colored cartoon sketch

Coloring outline drawn with a Pentel Pocket Brush pen for calligraphy and Prismacolor Archival Marker with a bruh nib.
Faber Castell Pitt Artist's Big Brush pens were used initially to color an inkjet printer copy of the original outline, but the lighter pens noticeably smeared the printer ink. Thus decided to try to finish coloring the picture with alcohol-based markers instead.
Colored with the Copic Sketch Markers which did not smear the inkjet printer black outlines.

Faber Castell Pitt Artist's Pen Big Brush and Pentel Pocket Brush pen test doodle

Faber Castell Pitt Artist's Big Brush Pens were used to effectively color an outline drawn with the Pentel Pocket Brush pen on a Kolo sketchbook. These two fine drawing tools proved to be compatible with each other. The Pitt pigmented inks did not smear the waterproof outline of the dry Pentel ink drawing.

Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen Big Brush Cold and Warm Grey sets robot sketch 1

The Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen Big Brush warm and cool grey sets are convenient for quickly building texture and volume in monochromatic sketches by simply starting with the lightest grey and gradually refining the details with increasingly darker shades of grey until reaching final detailing with black.

Pencil Cases and Storage Pouches collection and current main sketching kit

Found a Christmas tin magnet set on clearance yesterday at Target, and the first thing that came to mind was that it would make a nice pencil case. For 98 cents, it turn out to be a good addition to my collection of pencil cases and storage pouches (Note: got lowered to 48 cents by 01/07/09). Being larger than the Rotring Art Pen and Caran D'Ache storage tins, it is deep enough to hold three Pitt Big Brush pens and a few accessories. Since the bottom and lid are not hinged, I'll probably use a rubber band to keep it securely closed.This new addition got me thinking that I might have a bit of an addiction for art supplies especially when I started counting all the storage tins, pencil cases, and storage pouches I have managed to collect through the years. So I pull most of them for a group shot and do a mini review (yup, a couple did not fit within frame but duplicated the styles already shown). Started with my oldest Japanese pencil case that I got back in High School decades ago. The Speed Racing plastic case is solidly built with heavily padded lids on both sides that keep the contents well protected but reduce storage capacity: its shallow compartments just hold a 6 pencil stand on one side and 3 boxes of Faber Castell 2 mm leads and a couple of 0.5 mm leads on the back side.
The Derwent pencil wrap is ideal for hauling sets of 36 colored pencils for field sketching, and keeps them neatly organized under any conditions. The Kokuyo NeoCritz Transformer Pencil Case in grey and neon orange is a nice gimmick case that can stand upright to double as a pencil cup and can hold quite a few supplies for easy access. Its bright orange trim makes it easy to spot inside dark carrying bags. I have thought I lost the Faber-Castell Black nylon pencil bag many times because it blended so seamlessly inside a black backpack. For larger capacity and functionality, the The Mead Five Star version of the Kokuyo Kaddy Supply Tote used to be my daily sketch kit. It can hold even the longer brush pens like the Kuretake #8 hair brush fountain pen and the Rotring Art Pen, can be opened and stood upright for easy access, has a velcro flap compartment for smaller items like lead cases and sharpeners, and its lower mesh body keeps tools visible. The Mead Five Star Xpanz Zipper Pouch is my current default sketching kit when I feel like lugging all the studio tool options around in a back pack. It's two main large zipper pockets can hold an enormous amount of pencils, markers, and accessories well-protected and organized. Even with all the components shown on the picture, there is still room left for a few more sketching tools.
The small front mesh pocket keeps the 2&3 mm lead pointer, pencil sharpeners, and Boxy eraser quite visible and readily accessible at all times.
UPDATE: While I got mine on clearance after the Return-to-School campaign at a major retailer awhile back. Just recently spotted this Xpanz case at Office Depot, in case anyone cares to give it a try.

Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens and Prismacolor Premier Archival Markers - Pigment liner tests on the 2nd day

Continuing to enjoy the Big Brush pen format. Making calligraphic marks are a breeze though I'm not prone to making any sort of artsy lettering. It's easy to see that indeed the Big Brush Pitt artist pens would be ideal for illustration, architectural renderings, calligraphy, and fashion design applications.
While it would take a long time to verify the "lightfast" and "archival" claims on the labels of the Big Brush Pitt artist pens and the Prismacolor Premier Archival Marker pigment liners. Verifying their "waterproof" claim is quite simple: sample marks were made on Moleskine watercolor paper, allowed to dry for a couple of minutes, and watercolor washes were run over them 3 times with a 1/4" flat brush. I am happy to report that all passed the waterproof test with flying colors with absolutely no smearing nor feathering under these testing conditions. Any of them would be perfectly suitable for mixed media ventures and would work well with watercolors.
UPDATE: The Pitt pens and Prismacolor Archival markers also work well with each other. These doodle pages were drawn with the Premier Fine line markers and colored with the Pitt Artist pens.

When coloring outlines done with a black Pitt brush pen and a Kuretake Fountain Brush Pen #8, there was some smearing especially with the latter.

First impressions of the Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens

I liked two Faber Castell Big Brush Artist Pen features from the start: unlike the original Pitt artist brush pen the name and number of the color were both printed on the pen body, and they were manufactured in Peru. Thus it's easier to tell them apart and they come from the legendary country of the Incas and Machu Picchu.
I like the flexibility and organization afforded by the wallet sets. Making the 4-color palettes easy to find and for customizing portable sketching kits according to subject and mood. Since the original Pitt Artist brush pens are not clearly labeled with the name of each color, it's easy to get them mixed up especially in the larger boxed set. The Big Brush 4 pens-wallet sets are particularly handy for doodling quickly on the go. The Skin Tones set can be particularly useful for coloring caricatures, portraits, and figures. The boxed set of 48 original Pitt Art brush pens fits well in any studio. The original Pitt Brush and Big Brush formats complement each other well. The manufacturer's website does recommend that pens should be stored horizontally for best results.
Color chart of the Pitt Artist Pens sets on white Lama Li sketchbook laid paper. The first thing that struck me about the ink in the Big Brush Pitt Artist pens was that it seemed to be so much darker than the same colored original Pitt Artist brush pen. In general the original Pitt Artist Brush Pens' inks looked paler than the ink of their corresponding colors in the Big Brush Pens format. The Big Brush pens feel very juicy and lay down intense rich colors. In order to achieve the same intensity of the Big Brush Pink Carmine and Dark Phthalo Green pens with the smaller brush pens required layering at least 2 coats on top of each other.
Color chart of the Pitt Artist Pens sets on white sketchbook paper. Even though each set comes packaged with a chart of the full Pitt color range, it is always a good idea to paint your own color chart to get an accurate reference of how the Pitt colors will actually show on its intended support and to get some practice time using the larger brush nibs. These pigmented inks worked great since they dry quickly on top of the surface of the paper without seeping through it. Even with 5 coats of black 199, the ink did not bleed through on this thin white sketchbook paper. Each color swatch was done with one coat on top and 3 coats on the bottom to show the intensity range that can be achieved with each pen.
Note that the combined six wallet sets of Big Brush pens contain 3 Black pens and 2 Cold Grey IV pens, so you might want to wait for the boxed set if you want 24 different colors in your palette set. Since I actually prefer having the extra black and grey pens, I chose all 6 sets and simply ordered an extra loose Cinnamon pen to widen my skin tones palette.
So far, I am pretty happy with the performance of the Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens for quickly filling in a coloring outline and for sketching boldly.