Cartoon portrait

Graphite cartoon portrait drawn with a Graffiti leadholder loaded with a Caran D'Ache Technograph 3B lead.

Update on the brush nib durability of the Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens

After using a Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush Black Artist Pen for a couple of hours to draw large sketches on an easel for a Manga sketching workshop, the brush nib tip frayed a bit. Thus it seemed like a good opportunity to test if the regular Pitt nib flipping trick would also work on the large format pens.
The unpleasant surprise was that once the frayed brush nib was removed, the other end turned out to be blunt (no fresh sharp tip waiting on the other end like with the regular Pitt Artist pens). Thus the nib flipping trick does not work with the Big Brush Artist Pens :(.
Took this comparison close-up shot of a fresh nib next to the frayed one before re-inserting it back into its barrel.
The good news is that even with the frayed tip, the pen still works reasonably well with just a faint thin line that might pop up from time to time depending on the angle that the pen is held.
So be extra careful when handling your brand new Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens if you want to maximize the useful life of the fine point of the brush nib.

Pentel Side FX mechanical pencil and Levenger Graphiti Grip 2 mm mechanical pencil photo reviews

The latest additions to my mechanical pencils collection are shown above. The Pentel Side FX mechanical pencils can often be found as carded value 2-packs bundled wih a spare jumbo eraser at most office supplies super stores. The Graphiti Grip 2 mm leadholder is more a mid-priced luxury type German mechanical pencil that is available through Levenger. It comes packaged in a sharp-looking zippered tin case along with a unique package of 6 spare 2 mm graphite leads.
Both mechanical pencils work fine as comfortable sketching tools, but the Graphiti Grip feels a lot heavier and more substantial. Its wide comfortably wide cherry wood grip and heft of its brass metal barrel allow great control in effortlessly creating marks of varying line weight while sketching. Its design certainly make it one of the most elegant 2 mm leadholders in my collection.
The Sakura Sumo Grip has a similar barrel width size and also features a twist advance jumbo eraser, but unlike the Side FX its metal sleeve is retractable making it safe to haul around in your pocket without the fear of sticking yourself with the painful metal tip.
The Pentel Side FX mechanical pencils are available in blue and gray and come in 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm lead diameters. Its built-in pocket clip and hexagonal profile prevent it from rolling off inclined drafting tables. From the Pentel website: "The side advance automatic pencil with dial-up convenience. Turn dial left to advance eraser, right to retract. Jumbo eraser is larger than all ordinary pencil erasers. Convenient side button advances lead without changing hand position for continuous writing. Large barrel with no-slip latex-free grip offers greater writing comfort". While available at most office supplies super stores as writing instruments, they also work well as inexpensive sketching tools with the only drawback that the metal lead sleeve is not retractable thus rendering it not pocket safe.

Blast from the Past: Staedtler College Drafting Sets

After all the recent Staedtler drafting tools loot that I've acquired recently, a bit of nostalgia moved me to dig out my old college drafting sets for an impromptu photo shoot to make some quick visual comparisons and conduct a simple size matching test.
Even after a couple of decades the thread size of the Staedtler technical pen design has remained the same, so this new technical drawing pen model can still be attached to my old compass set to whip out some quick circles with pigmented ink.
The current mid-priced Staedtler Mars Professional Technical Drawing pen certainly requires less effort to maintain and use than my old college technical pens. Every time the ink reservoir runs out, the entire inner pen body along with a fresh metal clad felt tip can be quickly and easily replaced without any mess. Just wonder if it will retain its shine and performance as well as the old technical pens did throughout the years. The original technical pens were quite reliable and fairly easy to take apart for cleaning (though the cleaning process could be rather time-consuming and messy). They were also rather susceptible to clogs and nib damage when cleaning was less than adequate or maintenance was rushed. The smallest 0.2 mm pen nib in the College set was damaged long ago when putting the nib assembly back together, and it is now missing the weighed drum and needle from the pen nib cylindrical housing. While all the parts of the 0.4 and 0.8 mm pens seem to be there, I am not feeling nostalgic enough to fill them with fresh ink for a quick drawing test. The new maintenance-free disposable formats, ranging from the Pigment liners set to the Mars Professional Technical Drawing pen, have spoiled me to the point of avoiding clean up duty as much as I can.

First impression of the Staedtler Mars Professional Technical drawing pen set

Ooops did it again! Got a bunch of drawing and drafting supplies earlier today. Always wanted to try one of these neatly packaged Staedtler Mars Professional Technical drawing pen sets. Finally was lucky enough to find one that was not overpriced. Keep your eyes open for them at office supplies stores blow out clearance sales.
Pretty sharp looking pen, and a lot lighter than one might think. Its ergonomic grip features an integrated roll-stop boxy protrusion on the side that prevents the pen from rolling off the drawing table. It draws smoothly at different angles unlike traditional technical pens. Its 0.25 mm felt nib tip encased in a metal sleeve feels quite solid, but it is far more pleasant to use than the scratchier Koh-I-Noor Rapido Sketch 0.25 mm pen. Very good first impression. Plus the test doodles dried quickly and did not smear when colored with the water-based Pitt artist pens.
These pictured Staedtler product lines perform pretty similarly since they are both new. Given the significant difference in their suggested retail prices, I'd imagine that the Mars Professional Technical drawing pen must be sturdier than the lower priced Pigment liner pen and should last longer. Further testing and time shall reveal the truth.

A couple of exciting additions to my Ancient Cultures Reference Library

Dad just brought me the Spanish version of the "Sipan: Discovery and Research" book that I picked up last year on my trip to Sipan and Huaca Rajada not realizing that the English version contained just about half the photos and text. It seems that the average tourist prefers a lighter book when shopping at the Museum shop before flying back home. Personally I like to have access to as many photos and minutiae on the discovery process at the archaeological site of Huaca Rajada as humanly possible. Now I just have to get back to Xian someday to pick up one of their site museum books on the Terracotta Warriors that features a reconstruction with their original color palette of green and red. Still kicking myself for not getting one when I had the chance. TIP: Do not worry about the extra weight and always pick up the souvenir books offered for sale during tours at major archaeological sites, for they are not so readily available back home even through Amazon.
This massive slip-cased tome, "El Brujo: Huaca Cao", was an awesome unexpected surprise. Thanks a bunch Alejandro! While I had heard of this archaeological site and seen brief mentions of it in other reference books and tour guides, I had no significant information on the research and discoveries at El Brujo Archaeological Complex from the past 18 years. Now got tons of reference photographs and essays to study for a more complete understanding of the Mochica culture. Yup, I am a nerd and frustrated archaeologist ;). Actually this wealth of information on the Ancient World comes in handy to give a fresh twist and greater believability to fantasy characters and imaginary environments by including some aspects and designs from actual archaeological records into sci-fi worlds.
This particular spread showcases 12 of the 44 nose ornaments found inside a cotton cloth bag buried with a Mochica lady: "Señora de Cao". This type of jewelry is a pretty common find in burial sites for the nobility. While not crazy about this particular fashion style, drawing such ornaments on the nose of a High priest or local lord might lend the character an air of mystery and authenticity.

Couple of disappointments in my last batch of "Art Supplies"

Finally completed my collection triad of Japanese supreme wooden pencils (Tombow Mono 100, Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, and the Pentel Polymer 999) with the arrival of a dozen Pentel Polymer 999 HB pencils in my last JetPens order. While I'm glad to have had the opportunity to add this pencil to my collection, I am not particularly impressed by its performance fresh out of the box which is in itself a pretty nice example of cardboard packaging seldom seen in the stationery aisles anymore. This pencil is shipped unsharpened and is fairly rare in the US market with its elegant matte black finish and silver cap accents. Started removing the bulk of the exterior wood layers with a Panasonic(R) KP-310 Electric Pencil Sharpener, and then tried to finish sharpening it with a new General's All Art colored pencil sharpener. Yet the graphite core offered great resistance against the cutting blade edge and cracking at the tip. It did not sharpen easily even with a fairly new Prismacolor sharpener (graphite point still split and cracked even while holding the sharpener vertically to reduce stress) and it drew ok but nothing spectacular. To be fair, the slogan on the box reads "the highest quality for general use" which probably means mostly writing applications. Thus they are not making any claims of being second-to-none art tools since their true top grade offering is the virtually impossible to find Pentel Black Polymer 999α. Maybe I am being too picky, already biased by the awesomeness of the Hi-Uni, and this was not by any means a structured blind test.
Did a couple of quick test doodles, and the Polymer 999 did show to be a tad darker than the same grade in the Hi-Uni range. Its lead feel on the same paper was nowhere near as smooth as the Mitsubishi Hi-Uni or the Tombow Mono 100 though.

Sorry to report that I find this pencil to be nothing special, and that most users (other than the most dedicated pencil collector) would be better served by ignoring this wooden pencil offering and just go for the best choice in existence: the legendary Mitsubishi Uni-ball Hi-Uni.



I had waited a long time to try this Kuretake Disposable Medium Pocket Brush Sign Pen since I already have several working brush pens that are quite reliable like the Premier Archival markers and the Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens. I had hoped this pen's substantial nib size would have made it a suitable tool for quick sketching of large scale cartoons and caricatures, but unfortunately the nib ink flow is so slow that yields only pale and streaking lines when attempting to draw longer strokes.

Fresh out of its sealed package, this brush pen's initial test marks showed heavy streaking or a "dry brush" effect as if the pen was already partially dried when drawing at normal speeds.
Very busy gold lettering covers one side of the pen's barrel. Not a particularly attractive design since all that text makes it look rather cluttered. I even left the capped pen pointing down on a pencil cup for a few minutes to see if gravity would speed up the ink flow, but it did not seem to have any effect.
Even when considerably slowing down my usual drawing speed, the pen started to streak just after a couple of dark strokes (notice the white streaking in the wavy lines inside the bird body outline). When going very slowly, it is possible to achieve uniform dark lines with it. Thus it would probably be an adequate tool for calligraphy and careful rendering of Kanji. I would not recommend this pen for sketching and drawing though. While both these tools may have failed my arbitrary standards for quality sketching tools, they may very well be perfectly fine for their intended purpose of general writing and Eastern calligraphy.