Cybertron Transformers out of package

Had this Transformer Cybertron leader class 2-pack sealed in its original box for quite a while (think I probably got it on sale at Costco), and finally released them from their packaging as a house-warming ritual and surprise for my 3-year old nephew. Their design and electronic features allow for some fun playtime while their scale and articulation still make them pretty effective drawing reference models.
Their humanoid facial design is fairly close to the original Generation I style of the mid 1980s. My robot sketches often tend to display a fairly heavy influence from the Transformers robots from this time period.

Recent Jerry's Artarama Loot

One of the best things of moving to North Carolina is that now I live close enough to an actual brick-and-mortar art supplies store: the Jerry's Artarama in Raleigh. On my last trip there I picked a couple of interesting items: a drawing pad made of Bamboo Paper and a Korean reference book of poses of a guy wielding a sword and riding a horse. It's like having a wooden manikin in book form with more flexible and expressive range of motion.
The Bamboo paper was off-white and fairly soft. Manufactured in China. Hope no pandas went hungry due to the production of this paper that is billed as an environmentally friendly alternative to papers made from soft and hardwoods. The paper readily accepted ink and graphite drawing tools. Will have to do some further testing with wet media and some other coloring tools in the future. Also finally got to try the Krystal Seal sleeves in the ATC size, and they worked well enough. I am now more inclined to try the larger sizes for protecting commission works and cartoon portraits at events. As convenient as online shopping can be, it can not fully duplicate the feeling and excitement of browsing through an actual store and discovering new materials to expand our creative potential.

WHSmith Pencils and assorted Faber Castell Pencils from the UK

Continuing the doodling fun with the pencil sampler from Matthias, we'll move on to the WHSmith graphite pencils in B and 2B grades. Quick reminder for new readers and budding artists: while most pencils for writing and general use that we might come across everyday tend to be the classic yellow No. 2 or HB pencil, softer B pencils often make for more efficient sketching tool choices. The latter tend to be smoother and darker allowing faster sketching speeds and lightning fast shading. I tend to prefer 2B or 4B leads for quick sketches. While some softer leads are prone to smudging and are a bit more difficult to erase completely, I seldom erase exploratory sketches so that is not much of a concern. Yet I have come to expect and accept a couple of stray graphite particles to migrate away from heavily shaded areas from to time to time. As for these WHSmith pencils, I found that the difference of a single grade was clearly noticeable. The B lead retained its sharp point longer and its test swatch had a distinct linear quality. The 2B pencil got blunt quicker laying down broader strokes and darker sample swatch with the same pressure.
With the exception of the Grip 2001 pencil, these Faber Castell pencils were new to me as open stock. Other than the Blackwing, it is rare to find artist pencils with erasers and ferrules. Both of the B pencils sported white erasers that performed adequately. I found little difference in the darkness between the Faber Castell 9000 and the Faber Castell 1117 pencils. The 1117 simply features a very thin varnish that gives its barrel a "rougher" feel expected of an economy line. The Goldfaber 4100 is clearly a student grade colored pencil with a lower pigment load compared to a Polychromos pencil. I think I liked the Grip 2001 best from this bunch. Thanks again Matthias for this sampler, and I wouldn't fret over a couple of broken pencil points. The paper pad and bubble wrap mailer were more than adequate protection for factory-sharpened pencils. All the pencils re-sharpened well and were fully functional, so none of the leads broke completely during their overseas trip.

New Room and organizing the Art Supplies Closet

Mateo arrived just in time to discover my initial attempt at organizing the supplies closet. Naturally he expects me to share all my art sets with him. Which reminded me that with adequate supervision, most of my young nephews and nieces have enjoyed trying out artist grade materials at a fairly early age.
A few of my sketching kits and messenger bags in my new studio. Luckily got plenty of natural light and a nice view of the forest.
One of my oldest art gear bags from my college years is this Rexel Derwent gym bag. currently loaded with assorted marker sets and my Pitt Big Artist Brush Pens.

Used a few open sets to get an idea of the holding capacity of the closet shelves. Still got to figure out a permanent arrangement to keep all my main drawing and coloring tools easily accessible. Hmmm! between the move and lack of access to my regular desktop set up, my blog posting frequency have dropped a tad and my 400th post came and went without much fanfare (like 3 posts ago). Had meant to do some sort of giveaway to mark the occasion.

EZ Grips and EZ Grip ResQ Pen Review

Carl from Dextek sent me these EZ Grips and EZ Grip ResQ Pen samples for review. According to the back of their blister cards, they both were made in China. First I used the ResQ pen to sketch some random doodles on white card stock, and then tried the grips with a few pencils to do a bit of shading.
Using an EZ grip with a Staedtler Norris pencil for some quick effortlessly shading. Having fairly large hands, sketching with narrow tools like regular size pencils can cause a bit of cramping and discomfort during long sketching sessions. These grips slipped easily enough on the barrels of several different brands of standard pencils, the tapered barrels of 2 mm leadholders, and over the grip area of a Sakura 127 0.7 mm mechanical pencil. In all these tests, the different pencils felt more comfortable to hold while still allowing precise control over their drawing ends. Thus I had hoped I could use the EZ grips with my favorite cartooning tools: the Sakura Pigma Sensei 0.6 and 1.0 mm pens. Sadly they were a little too wide for them. Still if you already use regular plastic pencil grips, you will probably find these EZ grips to be a suitable alternative and perhaps a bit of an improvement. Recommended addition for your pencil accessories kit.
EZ Grip ResQ Pen disassembled into its plastic components that rendered it pretty lightweight. I found my sketching experience with this pen somewhat less satisfying than with the pencil grips.
At my faster sketching speeds the line skipped, and ink blobs tended to build up on the pen tip (something that could probably be solved by replacing it with a higher quality gel ink refill). The bulky barrel felt cumbersome and obscured the drawing area, so I would not recommend it as a regular sketching tool. Yet it performed adequately as a writing tool, and the skipping seemed to decrease after further use. Worth considering for users that prefer wide barrels and ergonomic grips on their pens.

Pencils from Overseas Sneak Peek - Staedtler Wopex Pencils

Pencil sampler freshly arrived from the UK courtesy of Matthias from Bleistift.
WHSmith A5 Sketch Pad and this generous assortment of pencils made the trip safely across the pond within their bubble wrap mailing envelope with just a couple of broken pencil points. Should remember this efficient packing method of relying on a paper pad for greater structural integrity in future parcels. Plus I really like the opportunity of trying out a new sketch pad from another part of the world. As you can see there is plenty of material here for future posts and sketching videos. Most of these pencils I had not seen in person before.
The first ones to catch my eye were the color coded Staedtler Wopex 2H, HB, and 2B pencils. Go check Pencil Talk for a very detailed review of the the Wopex HB pencil. I had no trouble sharpening any of them with my handheld sharpeners during these initial tests, but the extruded rubber compound certainly felt harder and offered a bit more resistance against cutting. Thus it might be prudent to reserve a single sharpener for them to wear down and replace its blade in a timely manner. Their rubberized barrel felt quite comfortable while sketching.

While making these sample doodles and reference swatches, the three different pencil grades performed very similarly. The strong leads felt smooth and left very smudge-resistant marks. While I made the bottom 2H sample swatch lighter with less pressure, any of the three pencil grades could yield fairly dark marks indistinguishable from each other with average drawing pressure. So far I have not seen them in any outlets stateside, but they will be worth picking up as an interesting addition to your sketching pencils collection once they officially arrive to our shores. Thanks again Matthias for this neat custom-made pencil sampler.