Maruman S163 Croquis Pocket Sketchbook Review

Recently got this set of pocket sketchbooks that includes the Maruman S163 Croquis Pocket Sketchbook that is the main subject of this review.
These sketchbooks were "Made in Japan".
Side view of all three Maruman Croquis S series sketchbooks.
Art materials that were used for this review. The letter size clipboard helps better visualize the dimensions of this pocket sketchbook.
The Faber Castell Pitt Artist pen glided effortlessly on this very smooth paper surface leaving nice dense strokes.
Even though this 96.4 gsm paper is fairly thin, the Pitt ink did not bleed through.
Uni graphite marks reference chart. The H, HB, and B leads glided smoothly on this paper.
Since I am left-handed, I often flip my wire bound sketchbooks so that the ring binding lays down on the right side away from my drawing hand . The soft Worther 7B lead smudged easily on this support while the Uni HB lead was fairly smudge-resistant.
Derwent Graphitint pencils color reference chart. Left side of each color swatch was left dry, and the right side was partially dissolved with a large Kuretake Niji waterbrush.
Derwent watercolour pencils color reference chart.
Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils (Landscape tin set of 12) color reference chart.
This fantasy armored character was drawn with a 0.6 mm Sakura Pigma Sensei pen and a small Faber Castell Pitt Artist pen. It was then colored with the Graphitint and watercolor pencils.
Test doodle before and after partially blending the water soluble pencil marks with a waterbrush.
The light washes applied with a waterbrush might warp the paper slightly, but it gets flatten back easily when the sketchbook is closed. I like the fact that the sturdy sketchbook covers are slightly larger than the pages, for it helps keep the edge of the paper clean and neat. With its convenient travel size and smooth paper that readily accepted a variety of media, the Maruman S163 Croquis Pocket Sketchbook is a good choice for a daily take-along sketchbook.

Yasutomo Niji Roll pencil holder review

Just got the Yasutomo Niji Roll in my latest Blick's order. Its design is virtually identical to the classic Derwent Canvas Pencil wrap that has been a staple in my studio forever. Thus after quickly loading it with 3 tin sets of pencils and a couple of extra items, we were ready for a side-by-side comparison and review.
Both cases unrolled. The Derwent wrap features 31 individual pencil loops and one large one, and its maximum capacity would be 36 watercolor pencils using them all. The Niji roll features 38 individual pencil loops and 2 parallel loops for holding a larger item. Thus in the picture above, the Niji roll is securely holding 39 drawing tools individually: 12 Derwent watercolor pencils, 12 Derwent Graphitint pencils, 12 Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils (nature set), 1 Sakura Pigma Sensei pen, and 2 Derwent Onyx pencils.
The Niji roll elastic loops hold each pencil so securely that they remain firmly in place while the case is open and closed. This is an improvement over the less elastic faux leather loops of the Derwent version from which occasionally 7 mm diameter pencils tend to slide off if you are not careful.
The loaded roll can even be hung on a wall given that its strap already features a hole near its metal clasp.
The Yasutomo Niji Roll comfortably holds 38 pencils in individual elastic loops and still has 2 larger bands capable of holding a waterbrush, a wide marker, or even a Faber Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (of course if you actually wanted to include any of these larger items in your roll-up sketching kit, you would have to remove some of the regular size pencils in order to be able to close it). This roll is quite a convenient pencil case for carrying your pencils and keeping them organized while sketching on-the-go. Still have to test its water-resistant nylon canvas for durability in the months to come, but it is certainly worth trying given that it retails for about half of the usual price of a Derwent canvas wrap. Recommended.

Derwent Onyx Pencils First Impression

The Derwent Onyx pencils have been in my "want list" ever since I spotted them in the Derwent website months ago.
This carded set consists of 2 medium pencils, 2 dark pencils, an eraser, and a sharpener.
The pencils are packaged with blunt pencil points. The included German compact wedge pencil sharpener quickly restored their razor sharp points with just a couple of turns.
Sample marks chart drawn on Stratmore 300 vellum bristol paper. Both pencils glided smoothly on this support without crumbling. They retained their sharp points well and were quite clean to use. The dark strokes did not smudge even when my hand brushed against them accidentally. The sample swatches on the bottom shows that the medium pencil marks were easier to erase than the the dark pencil marks as would be expected.
I am quite impressed with the strength and non-crumbling nature of their 4 mm dark graphite cores. They sharpened easily and lay down satisfyingly dark strokes quite smoothly. The Derwent Onyx pencils would definitely make a worthy addition to a sketching pencils collection.

Derwent Pencil Extenders review

Yesterday I was quite excited to receive my latest order of art supplies, for it included several items that are not available locally. Consider the picture above as a sneak peek of future reviews to come. I have been wanting to try these Derwent pencil extenders ever since I saw them at the company website months ago.
Since they were not featured at any local retail store, I had to order them through the only online retailer I could find that was carrying them in the USA. If you are a bit curious about where they were manufactured, the back of the card states that they were "Made in PRC".
This simple pencil accessory consists of a hollow metal tube capped on one end and a round knurled metal fitting that screws on the other end as shown in the disassembled models above.This 4B Tombow Mono pencil stub fit nicely in the 7 mm black extender, and the white Derwent Drawing pencil was a snug fit for the 8 mm silver extender. The extenders provide a more balanced feel for pencil stubs, allow greater control with their knurled metal grip fittings, and feel quite pleasant to the touch with their soft barrel coating. By inserting the pencil tip first into the extender, the hollow metal barrel can also function as a very sturdy protective pencil cap. If you are already used to carrying a good pencil sharpener in your field sketching kit, pencil extenders in many ways make standard wooden pencils almost as convenient to use on-the-go as mechanical pencils. Another alternative would be to find yourself a Faber Castell Perfect Pencil, but they can be somewhat hard to find lately.
The silver 8 mm holder might look quite similar in size to this red broad Kutsuwa holder, but it can actually hold the widest diameter pencils in the Derwent product range (Drawing, Pastel, Coloursoft, Pastel, Graphitint) while the Kutsuwa can only hold regular size pencils (Graphic, Watercolour, Studio).
The silver extender loaded with a Derwent Graphitint pencil.
The silver extender loaded with a Derwent Pastel pencil.
The silver extender loaded with a Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil.
The 7 mm black extender is quite similar in size to this slender blue Kutsuwa pencil holder. It works well with standard narrow pencils like the Prismacolor gold colored pencil shown below.Yet the fit can be a tad tight with some pencil brands and will likely scratch the pencil's varnished finish. Not a real issue since you would still be getting quite a few more useful strokes out of your small pencil stubs anyway. Thanks to their effective screw mechanism, these extenders grip the pencil stubs so securely that they can be sharpened effortlessly without rotating in place like they occasionally tend to do with sliding ring clamp holders like the Koh-I-Noor 1098 pencil lengthener.
Both versions of the Derwent Inktense pencils (hexagonal and round barrels) are too wide for the black 7 mm pencil extender.
Though they fit quite nicely in the silver 8 mm extender. Thus it was quite clever of the manufacturer to have both sizes packaged in the same card to ensure maximum versatility of these practical pencil accessories.
The Prismacolor colorless blender and Derwent burnisher pencils also comfortably fit in the two pencil extenders respectively. If you enjoy using wooden graphite and colored artist's pencils from time to time, this carded set of Derwent Pencil Extenders would be a good functional addition to your sketching kit. They are equally useful for extending the life of your pencil points when used as a protective cover, and for using your expensive premium artist's pencils down to the smallest stub when used as a holder. I have no doubt that they would pay for themselves in no time by increasing the useful life of your pencils if you like how they feel. Recommended.

Pens related event in Washington D.C. this coming Saturday

Hello guys in case some of you might be in D.C. this coming weekend, just got the e-mail event notice below from the Smithonian National Postal Museum. Sounds like fun and you would be surrounded by plenty sources of inspiration for your sketch crawling. I used to go visit the Smithonian museums almost every weekend when I lived in College Park, and I really missed them. Go check it out if your are in the vicinity and don't forget to blog about it for rest of us afterward.

"WHAT: Pens & the Post: Collect, Correspond, Celebrate!

WHEN: Saturday, May 29

11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

WHERE: Smithsonian National Postal Museum
2 Massachusetts Ave. NE

The National Postal Museum, along with the Pen Collectors of America and Fahrney’s Pens, are hosting “Pens & the Post: Collect, Correspond, Celebrate!” Pens, postage and mail have long gone hand in hand. Explore the shared history of pens and mail with the whole family.

The following activities taking place throughout the day:

· Make a creative card to send to a friend with young designer Sophia Breuer

· Watch an expert calligraphy demonstration by expert calligrapher Deborah Basel

· Take a fancy fountain pen for a spin at the “Pen Petting Zoo” provided by Fahrney’s Pens

· Sample a rainbow of ink colors with John Bosley, author of Vintage Inks

· Try out beautiful papers from plain to posh with handwriting specialist Nan Barchowsky

· Just in time for Memorial Day, pen a letter to U.S. military members and learn about World War II-era correspondence.

· Meet the Pen Collectors of America and find out more about the pen collecting community

· See a pen set belonging to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and beautiful stamps featuring pens and handwriting in a scavenger hunt

Short workshops provide the opportunity to learn from the experts and try new skills:

· 11:30 a.m. – Pens for Kids Workshop presented by the Pen Collectors of America

· 12:30 p.m. – Cursive for Kids Workshop presented by Fahrney’s Pens

· 1:30 p.m. – Pens for Kids Workshop presented by the Pen Collectors of America

· 2:30 p.m. – The Glory of Pen Collecting presented by the Pen Collectors of America

Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens Big Brush color sketches

After a quick warm up sketch of a couple of ninjas done in graphite, I felt like sketching in color with my set of Faber Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pens.
First color sketch try of the evening on my 11" X 14" Canson smooth bristol pad. The proportions came out a bit wonky, but the idea was to do a Chinese style fantasy warrior with some tiger motif. Really should have started laying down the under structure with a light pencil sketch, but did not feel much like erasing stray graphite lines tonight.
I am a bit happier with this color sketch also made entirely with the Pitt Big Brush artist pens and a couple of the regular size Pitt pens for the finer textures. Made sure it featured the 5-digit claws typical of a Ming Imperial dragon.

Still sketching with Pigment Liner pens - adding the XS Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen to the tool kit

After flipping through a few books on Japanese culture, Chinese art, and lost civilizations (mainly Pre-Columbian cities) for inspiration, I gathered a few sets of pigment liner pens to sketch some fantasy warriors on a 11" x 14" Canson smooth bristol sheet. For this session, I dug out a Faber-Castell 4 Pitt artist pens Manga Drawing set that includes the Pitt line smallest XS nib to supplement my usual selection of pen nibs widths. With its pigmented lightfast India ink, I was confident that it would work well with my Sakura Pigma Sensei and Staedtler Mars Professional pens.
After drawing the 2 characters on the foreground with the 0.3 mm and 0.4 mm Sakura Pigma Sensei pens, the dragon perched on the column behind them was initially drawn with he XS Pitt Artist pen.
Added a wall and a Tengu to complete the picture. The wall decorations are loosely based on frieze patterns and mythical creatures from the Chan Chan citadel and Huaca el Dragon from the Chimu culture. The 0.6 mm Sakura pen and 0.7 mm Staedtler pen nibs were used to increase the line weight of the architectural elements and the fantasy creatures' outlines.
Ended up using the smallest Staedtler Mars Professional 0.25 mm nib technical pen for the fog patterns in the sky and much of the lightest wall texture marks. The outline on the two mutant warrior characters on the ground were made thicker with a final retracing with the 0.6 mm Sakura Pigma Sensei pen.
Still having fun with this convenient selection of pigment liner pens, but I suppose I should give my brushes and dip pens with metal nibs a try one of these days as well. Probably should also start trying to to lay down the general design of the page with an initial pencil sketch to improve the composition and balance of the finished picture.

Faber Castell GRIP Trio Sharpener Review

The Faber Castell Grip 2001 used to be one of my favorite hand held sharpeners, but lately I have been disappointed with the quality of the Chinese-made models currently found in most stores.
Found this carded red Faber Castell GRIP Trio Sharpener in the art supplies section for children at a local Jo-Ann store, and was surprised to find out that it was not made in China like most of the silver models currently in the market (including the art supplies section of this same store that curiously featured the carded Chinese silver version of this same sharpener). The Chinese version tends to fall apart when opening the unit, for the silver covers do not snap securely over the hinged sharpeners assembly.
The main reason I decided to pick up this red sharpener was the "Made in Germany" statement printed on the back of its blister card. Though the new sharpener itself did not have that information stamped anywhere on its body like the old Grip 2001 silver models used to have. The red compartment covers fit nice and tight on the gray sharpener assembly, so they did not fall apart when opening the unit.
An old silver Grip 2001 sharpener and the red Trio sharpener side by side. The "colour grip" opening is wide enough to accept thinner colored pencils like Prismacolor and Derwent Inktense pencils, but it is too small for Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. For the latter, one would have to use the jumbo opening on the "universal" side of the sharpener.
The Trio sharpener features three cutting blades meant for regular graphite pencils, jumbo size pencils, and a separate sharpener and waste compartment for colored pencils. This separation should help prolong the useful life of colored pencils by keeping the graphite dust away from them. Though it might still get a tad messy if the unit is full of shavings and shaken during transport. Thus it would be best to empty its waste compartments in a timely manner.
The Derwent Graphitint pencils with their wider 8 mm diameter can also be sharpened quite easily in the jumbo opening. During the initial test, this red unit did a fair job sharpening a new Tombow Mono 4B graphite pencil and the Graphitint pencil. Yet its cutting performance was not as smooth as I remembered, or perhaps I have grown too accustomed to the steadier feel of a sharpener made out entirely of metal like my current favorite the KUM brass wedge sharpener.
While the Faber Castell GRIP Trio Sharpener might not live up to the precise cutting efficiency of my first Grip 2001 sharpener, it is still a fairly versatile sharpener for regular size and jumbo pencils with plenty of shavings storage space in its two compartments. Worth trying specially if you can get your hands on one of the increasingly rare units manufactured in Germany.