Kokuyo NeoCritz Transformer Pencil Case Review and current sketching kits

The Kokuyo NeoCritz Transformer Pencil Case is compact, sleek looking, and functional. It is quite stable when standing upright as a pencil holder cup. Smoothly switches between travel pouch and pen holder mode. Fair carrying capacity.
After a year of moderate use, the stitching on this pencil case has held up fairly well and remains in good condition. It usually holds a selection of premium pencils (capped Mitsubishi Hi-Uni and Tombow Mono 100 graphite pencils) securely along with an elliptical Prismacolor pencil sharpener and a couple of erasers. I tend not to put anything in the velcro pocket to allow more room for the pencils, but it is big enough to comfortably hold a tube of Pentel Ain 0.5 mm graphite lead.
I like to use pencil caps on all my pencils to protect their sharp points and maximize the useful life of the interior lining. The one minor disappointment with this case was that the interior tag revealed that it had been made in China while I was under the mistaken impression that it was a Japanese product from its description. I should have known since all of my pencil cases (Faber-Castell, Buffalo, Mead Five Star, Kokuyo) have turned out to be "Made in China" after close inspection. Found this Buffalo pencil case in Canada a few years ago, and it was my first Kokuyo Kaddy Supply Tote-style pouch I own. The top red flaps feel like canvas coated with rubberized material on the outside. This desing lacks the velcro pocket in the flaps. Good carrying capacity and stands upright when opened.The mesh in the bottom has ripped at the base, so it no longer stands up straight. It currently holds spare pens and sample tools reserved for students to try.

Relative sizes of my main two sketching cases. These are virtually permanent residents in my sketching backpack.
The compact and versatile Mead Five Star Stand N Store pencil pouch is readily available at local office supplies stores and usually priced at half as much as the similarly designed Kokuyo Campus Critz Pencil Case. I use mine to carry a selection of gel pens, brush pens, and spare ink cartridges. Very conveninet for its ability to stand upright to dispense tools and its small velcro compartment that can securely hold small items like erasers, ink cartridges, and tubes of spare graphite leads.
These are the contents of my main sketching kit that I carry everywhere. It provides all the tools I need for class demonstrations plus plenty of pencil and pen options to tackle any sketching opportunities that I might encounter. The Mead Five Star Xpanz Zipper Pouch has the largest carrying capacity of all my pencil cases, and its 3 compartments allow me to keep it all well organized and within easy reach.
Should be a no-brainer, but it is usually more efficient to pick your pencil case inner lining color so that your drawing tools stand out against it. You can be more productive if you can spot and pick your chosen pens faster. That's why I stopped storing darker colored pens and pencils in this Faber Castell black nylon pencil case and reserve it for storing my silver finish pens like the Copic Multiliner SP pens. If you look closely at the inner tag, you'll notice the "Made in China" label. Lately I realized that all my pencil cases seem to be coming from China. Even items from Japanese lines like Kokuyo and German Faber-Castell are being manufactured in China. Another sign of globalization I suppose, but I am beginning to miss the days when quality items were actually manufactured in Japan, Germany, and the USA.
While pencil tin sets are fairly slim and portable, remember to secure them with tape or rubber bands so that the contents don't spill inside your sketching bag during transit. One drawback is that these containers are not sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of frequent travel, and they tend to dent and warp rather easily.
This Real Simple brown nylon zippered pouch from Target loaded with a selection of Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens that include the Shojo and Shonen Manga sets plus black, light flesh, and couple of light grays make a very efficient portable coloring set.

Review of the Pilot FriXion Color-Pencil-Like Erasable Gel Ink 0.7 mm Purple Pen

Got this prize from JetPens today, so it seemed like a good opportunity for a mini review and a quick visual comparison of this purple color-pencil-like erasable gel ink with some graphite leads and the violet 0.7 mm Pilot Color Eno lead.
This Pilot FriXion Color-Pencil-Like Erasable Gel Ink Pen is a comfortable smooth writing instrument that produces rich deep purple marks on the Georgia Pacific 110 lb white card stock that can still be easily erased with the cap's rubber tip thanks to its heat-sensitive ink. Its dark vivid purple stands out like a 4B lead and is considerably darker that the Eno violet 0.7 mm lead with the added advantage that erasing it does not leave behind any erasure debris.
On delicate thinner papers like this Kolo sketchbook paper, heavy application of the heat-sensitive ink can not be erased without damaging the paper as shown in this close-up. The friction required to fade heavier purple ink build up ends up ripping the paper surface apart. Yet single strokes on it and on regular 20 lb printer paper, vanish easily with just a little rubbing without visibly damaging the paper. Fun choice for taking notes and doodling, but I would not recommend using it for signing any documents or checks ;).

Coloring with Copic Markers on translucent vellum

The black and white image was flipped horizontally and printed on a sheet of translucent vellum on a jet printer, so that it could be colored with alcohol-based markers from the back without dissolving the black illustration outline. This is a view of the back of the sheet of vellum where the markers were applied.
The marker colored image was scanned and flipped back to its original position with Photoshop. Thus the finished image of the Steampunk mecha was colored with Copic Sketch markers and Faber Castell Pitt Artist brush pens from the back and outlined with a 0.35 mm multiliner on the front of the sheet of translucent vellum.
Added another layer of marker coloring with the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on the front of the vellum illustration to make the mecha's colors a little brighter and better defined.

Review of the Kuretake No. 8 Fountain Hair Brush Pen loaded with waterproof Platinum ink refills

The Kuretake No. 8 Fountain Hair Brush Pen is a great drawing tool that ships with Kuretake non-waterproof ink cartridges. Finally used up these original refills, so I could finally test how well this brush pen accepts the waterproof Platinum ink cartridge refills.
The brush tip was soaked overnight in water and Koh-I-Noor pen cleaner to remove all traces of the old dried ink. The old Kuretake cartridge was also cut open to retrieve and save the metal ball bearing which can reportedly be used on newer ink cartridges that lack this feature.
Both refills are similar in size and design, so the Platinum cartridge fit perfectly within the barrel of the Kuretake No. 8 brush pen without any undue effort.
The Platinum ink dries waterproof very quickly. As soon as this sample doodle was completed, it was placed under a running faucet. The water stream did not affect the dark rich marks in the slightest on either side of the page no matter how long the sheet of vellum was kept under the flowing water.
Thus, the Kuretake No. 8 brush pen loaded with a Platinum Pocket Brush Pen ink cartridge refill proved to be a very effective and versatile drawing tool that can easily lay down waterproof marks of varying line width. Highly recommended for field watercolor kits and sketch crawls.

Steampunk Mecha Brainstorming doodles for Robot-Japan Fun Draw

Brainstorming some random ideas for the latest Robot-Japan Fun Draw.
Sort of had "Big O" in mind when sketching this early concept.
Just a test sketch with a light-blue 0.7 mm lead which proved to be rather ineffective as a non-repro blue pencil.
Some random face plates in profile view.
Considered a few face masks designs and possible mechanized dragon heads.
Struggling with the actual "Steampunk Mecha" guidelines since I did not have actual references handy when I sketched these ideas. Just was trying to squeeze out any "steam" or "fumes" design motifs that were already floating in my mind.
Couple of 2 mm leadholder drawings while waiting at the Clinic.
Guess my idea of "Steampunk" really boils down to adding lots of steam vent pipes in odd places of the mechas and filling the background with lots of puffy steam clouds.Trying out a reference background of a Japanese Feudal town partly because I think it looks cool and because I do not have a reference background of a Victorian city at hand :P.