Sketch of the day: My life could use some fixative

[spqrblues]

Work has been DESTROYING me. Thankfully, rosefox coaxed me out to a museum exhibit last week, or I might have imploded. I'll post a few little sketches from that outing when I get them scanned, but in the meantime... the pen of the day is a pencil. Or, rather, a brand of pencils.

Sketch of the Day

The Tombow Mono is alleged to be one of the 3 or 4 best drawing pencils in the world (along with—so I am told—the Uni-Ball Hi-Uni, The Uni-Ball Penmanship, and the Staedtler-Mars Lumograph). The hard 4H pencil lays down a line that looks more like a 2H Staedtler-Mars to me. I have some Uni-Ball Hi-Uni pencils, but I haven't taken them out for a spin yet. Lucky for me, the Tombow pencils cost half the price at the local art store as listed on the usually reliable online sources, so I could nab a few yesterday to play with.

These pencils felt odd at first—very smooth on the page, like working with pastels. Writing with them feels a smidge peculiar, maybe because the tactile feedback seems odd. But it's really nice to draw with. This pencil wants to make you a better artist; clearly that's its sole goal in life. That, and talking you into buying fixative.

Comments

[kyleen66.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should get Al-chan one or two of those? Where do you buy such things?

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

They have them on JetPens (http://jetpens.com) (and other places), but on JetPens you have to buy 12 of a kind at a time. They're only 99 cents at the local art store (http://www.dickblick.com/products/tombow-mono-professional-drawing-pencils/), but the selection isn't as broad in-store (they have 4H, 2H, H, HB, 4H, and 6H).

Let me know if you want me to pick up some for you. And I promise I won't take 3 years to mail them, as it is well known I sometimes do with things. I could ask my office assistant to help me actually seal an envelope and march it to the post office :P

[kyleen66.livejournal.com]

Pick out three or so of your favorites and send them our way. She's been complaining that she's not "feeling" the art thing, but it could be because she's got real bad tendonitis. She's also dithering about what she really wants to pursue for a career being that she's going to graduate in may.

Speaking of that, I need to send out graduation announcements soon. You will, of course, be getting one with her senior piccy.

[vogelein.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do hope you'll let me play with them. ;)

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I'll set up a playpen and toss all the pens and pencils in :D

[(Anonymous)]

I have to ask whether you (a professional artist) think EF Blackwings are any good, because some of the hipsters at BoingBoing were drooling over them:

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/27/first-impression-of.html

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I'm probably not as good a person to ask as someone with a lot of art school experience. I'm out of the loop on a lot of the "everyone knows this is the best ____ ever" wisdom that people acquire from other artists and proper training. It's a wonder I have a working eraser.

I actually have never tried a Blackwing. I was hoping to find some of the new Palomino Blackwings on my last shopping expedition, and poked around both at a store and an antique shop that had some old pencil cases, in case I lucked out and found an old nub of one that doesn't cost a gabillion dollars. But then I saw that the art store had the Tombow Monos in stock at a good price, and I scurried away happily.

I get the impression that Blackwings excel for writing, really make it smooth and enjoyable; but I hear fewer stories about them for drawing--maybe because the pencils just hadn't been available. I hear a lot of praise from animators who swear by them--maybe because animation work has to be fast and nimble, and Blackwings are well suited to that. I'm leery of what the weight of the metal eraser holder does to the balance. But there's so much drooling over these pencils, I'm curious enough to want to try both the old and the new and find out for myself.

I haven't started on any of the Hi-Uni pencils yet, but they... smell nice. (Also, a bit distracting.) I've been pencilling the new comic with the Tombow 4H, but, although it's nice to draw with, it's so dark, I think I need to pull out the Hi-Uni 6H or harder so I don't have to ink over such a dark line.

When I learn more about all these lovely instruments, I will report!